What was the last classic martial-arts film you watched?

[Drunken Monk]

1 hour ago, KUNG FU BOB said:

Welcome to my world @Drunken Monk... bwahahaha!

THE EXECUTIONER is an interesting place to start your Sonny Chiba journey as it combines elements from many of his better-known films.

I do enjoy his samurai/ninja/cop/assassin/gangster/adventure/science-fiction films (he's been in just about every genre), but his karate flicks are easily my favorites. My recommendations to you are:

THE KILLING MACHINE - This one delivers a strong story, performances, and brutal action.

THE STREET FIGHTER - Classic, savage Chiba with him as the character he was born to play (though Chiba didn't agree).

RETURN OF THE STREET FIGHTER - More of the good stuff.

THE STREET FIGHTER'S LAST REVENGE - For some reason, they changed his character, but still entertaining.

KARATE BEAR FIGHTER - As his teacher, Mas Oyama, in a highly fictionalized, extremely exploitative, karate-fest.

KARATE BEAR FIGHTER - More over-the-top madness with bloody fights aplenty.

KARATE WARRIORS - Sort of The Street Fighter meets Lone Wolf and Cub.

SOUL OF CHIBA - This one is a low-budget affair, with a somewhat non-sensical, convoluted plotline, but it's grindhouse as Hell.

These all feature plenty of action.

Thank you, @KUNG FU BOB. I'm definitely looking for fight-fests starring Chiba-san so I really appreciate the recommendations. I need to pick up the Street Fighter collection that came out a number of years ago andm, when payday rolls around, I'm pre-orderign the Karate Bear Fighter/Karate Bull Fighter double pack. So hopefully I'll have plenty of Chiba to wach soon!

[ShawAngela]

16 hours ago, saltysam said:

Thrilling Bloody Sword

Not sure what i just watched, except to say i thought it was rubbish.Bonkers doesn't mean good. Thinking of the 70's classics Chang Yi and Lee Quin were in, to see them mucking about in this crap was sad.Not the movie for me

I didn't like the movie either, or at least, I only found it to be so-so. I didn't like Chang Yi's character, who acted like a capricious child during most of the movie, and I was disappointed by this.

Unless I mistake this movie with another, isn't it in this one that there was also Wong Tao playing his opponent?

[ShawAngela]

6 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

I didn't like the movie either, or at least, I only found it to be so-so. I didn't like Chang Yi's character, who acted like a capricious child during most of the movie, and I was disappointed by this.

Unless I mistake this movie with another, isn't it in this one that there was also Wong Tao playing his opponent?

Sorry, I mistook this movie with Phantom Kung Fu.

I don't remember my feelings about Thrilling Bloody Sword, and the comment I wrote above was actually for Phantom Kung Fu!

[KUNG FU BOB]

6 hours ago, ShawAngela said:

If I remember well, I began this journey many years ago when I bought the HKVideo dvd release of the movie Shaolin Karate, or something like that, together with a boxset of the Street Fighters movies, in which I also discovered Etsuko Shihomi for the first time.

Some weeks ago, I did a search into my boxes, and realized that I have a small collection of Japanese movies, including three boxsets of Hideo Gosha's movies, and also either the story of Judo, or the story of Aikido, I don't remember, and I was looking or something else, so, didn't took the time to verify all the titles I have.

It was the good old days when I bought everything related to action or martial arts Asian movies...

 

SHAOLIN KARATE is an alternate (the French) title for THE KILLING MACHINE (the USA title), whose true (Japanese) title is SHORINJI KEMPO. This movie rocks! Etsuko Shihomi is in this one too. She was only 16 when she started working under and learning from Chiba and was still in her teens when she starred in SISTER STREET FIGHTER.

Hideo Gosha has directed some fantastic films. Of the others mentioned, it could be Akira Kurosawa's JUDO SAGA (1943), aka. JUDO STORY. Or perhaps it's POWER OF AIKIDO (1975, aka. The Defensive Power of Aikido), with Sonny Chiba as a co-star alongside his real-life brother Jiro Chiba.

You're not alone with that.

 

6 hours ago, Drunken Monk said:

Thank you, @KUNG FU BOB. I'm definitely looking for fight-fests starring Chiba-san so I really appreciate the recommendations. I need to pick up the Street Fighter collection that came out a number of years ago andm, when payday rolls around, I'm pre-orderign the Karate Bear Fighter/Karate Bull Fighter double pack. So hopefully I'll have plenty of Chiba to wach soon!

My pleasure. I'm always excited when someone is discovering these films. Regarding THE STREET FIGHTER trilogy, the Shout Factory set is nice, but the Region 2 release from Arrow is even better, improved in some key areas (plus, Tony Stella's artwork for it is amazing). Yes, that double-bill "beast" set is a must-have. Keep in mind, that the exploitive titles refer to specific scenes within the individual films, but for each, the main focus is on karateing the Hell out of other fighters.

If these films thrill you, the two Sonny Chiba Collection sets from Shout each feature 7 films, and a lot of greats of varied genres are included in them.

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

HAPKIDO and LADY WHIRLWIND, nuff said. Loved the interview with Angela Mao, she looks fantastic.

[DrNgor]

Fierce Among Strong (Taiwan, 1975: Yeung Yee-Muk) - aka Snake Shadow Rivals; Deadly Kicks in Snake's Shadow; Chessboxing Rivals - Generic basher with some good fight scenes. Lee Yi-Min plays a guy named Pang who murders the brother of the local evil clan leader, played by Miao Tian, for killing his father years earlier. This angers the clan leader, Chen Er-Hu (Lung Fei), who starts terrorizing the locals in his search for Pang. There is also a wanderer named Fan (Kang Kai), who joins Lord Chen's gang, but is secretly planning revenge for Chen having raped his wife years before. Fan and Pang eventually team up to defeat the evil Chen.

The fighting is pretty solid for such a cheap film--I don't know who the choreographer was: Lung Fei? Chen Hsiang? It feels like a transition between the "basher" and "shapes" styles. Lee Yi-Min fights mainly with his legs, which is pretty cool. He doesn't have the powerful kicks of his Korean contemporaries, or Bruce Liang and Tan Tao-Liang, but he looks coordinated and not of that powerless leg flailing from so many basher actors were guilty of at some point. Lung Fei makes a great villain, whose secret kicking technique involves hiding a metal plate in his shoes and joint-kicking his opponents in the shins.

[sadisgate]

5 Pattern Dragon Claws (1983)

Stars Dragon Lee (didn't realise he was so short) and Hwang-jang lee as the villain (of course). Pretty enjoyable if hardly original movie. Usually no more than a few minutes without a fight and there is some fairly good stuff here, particularly the final fight where Hwang-jang unleashes his er thunderfoot technique (wonder where they got that from)

The Dragon Kid (1975)

Rather slow paced affair about a theatre actor and kung fu expert who teams up with an undercover actress to steal Chinese artifacts from the head of comunications who is in league with the Japanese. The main character comes across as passive and kinda dopey but not in a fun jokey kind of way and the fights are few and far between. Things come alive a bit near the end but even the final battle with the Japanese general is nothing special.

Young Heroes (1983)

Suprisingly enjoyable Wushu esq romp about a group of martial arts kids who are being pursued (beyond any sane reason) by a group of Qing generals. Cleary inspired by Shaolin Temple the year before, the child actors do a pretty good job in the action side of things and some fast paced choegraphy. One of the kids called big man has an older wife which is kinda weird. The kids high pitched chinese voices can grate at times but overall this was suprisingly good.

[Yihetuan]

Chu Liu Hsiang and Hu Tieh Hua - Dir. Lin Yang [1980] (Taiwan)

Based on a Gu Long novel, it's essentially a wuxia buddy road movie starring James Tien and Alan Lau who while attempting to clear his name meets a bunch of peculiar characters while traversing the Gobi desert including a formidable female swordwoman named Stone Mercy Goddess. The ending had shades of ETD all over it although a bit anti-climatic for my liking. Overall, not a lot of swordplay although the intro was also awesome with two swordsman fighting in a rainstorm with their movements only seen during the flashes of illumination from lightning strikes.

 

[ShawAngela]

On 5/4/2024 at 9:42 PM, DrNgor said:

Fierce Among Strong (Taiwan, 1975: Yeung Yee-Muk) - aka Snake Shadow Rivals; Deadly Kicks in Snake's Shadow; Chessboxing Rivals - Generic basher with some good fight scenes. Lee Yi-Min plays a guy named Pang who murders the brother of the local evil clan leader, played by Miao Tian, for killing his father years earlier. This angers the clan leader, Chen Er-Hu (Lung Fei), who starts terrorizing the locals in his search for Pang. There is also a wanderer named Fan (Kang Kai), who joins Lord Chen's gang, but is secretly planning revenge for Chen having raped his wife years before. Fan and Pang eventually team up to defeat the evil Chen.

The fighting is pretty solid for such a cheap film--I don't know who the choreographer was: Lung Fei? Chen Hsiang? It feels like a transition between the "basher" and "shapes" styles. Lee Yi-Min fights mainly with his legs, which is pretty cool. He doesn't have the powerful kicks of his Korean contemporaries, or Bruce Liang and Tan Tao-Liang, but he looks coordinated and not of that powerless leg flailing from so many basher actors were guilty of at some point. Lung Fei makes a great villain, whose secret kicking technique involves hiding a metal plate in his shoes and joint-kicking his opponents in the shins.

I loved this movie, but I felt that there were some missing scenes. For instance, Kang Kai tells Li Yi Min's uncle that he brought him the blue bag he carries in order to show him something, but we never see nor know what was in the bag and what he wanted to tell him. It seems to me that I posted some comments about this movie earlier, pointing out all what I thought was cut.

It was a enjoyable   moment to see Kang Kai's and Li Yi Min's fights and pairing.

[Yihetuan]

The Legend of Chu Liu Hsiang (1980) - Dir. Lin Ying [1980] (Taiwan)

Alan Lau again in the titular role made the same year as my previous entry & involving some of the same actors but this one wasn't as good or engrossing as the one with James Tien. One of the actors involved in both films is Hsiao Huang-Long and if you don't know the name, surely you will know the face. He's sort of the comedic relief in both but he's really annoying and unfortunately the ending with him in a critical scene drags this down a few notches.

I will say even if Adam Cheng's portrayal of Chu Liu Hsiang from the TVB series is superior, it's not a knock on Alan Lau. I found Alan Lau's portrayal to be very good as well. It's different a bit more understated and perhaps not as charismatic & certainly not as flirty with the ladies but he does play it with an earnestness and conviction. His acting was not the weak point here but more the script and convoluted story which didn't hold my interest.

[Yihetuan]

Adventure Of Shaolin aka 5 Elements of Kung Fu - Dir. Wu Min-hsiung [1976] (Taiwan)

Re-watched again after a long time. I've always enjoyed these indies as they make up for the lack of budget and polish compare to their HK contemporaries with zany weapons, over the top villains, imaginative fight scenes, etc. While this is not the best of that example, it's still watchable. The plot is really all over the place involving secret Shaolin training manuals, a family's long awaited plan of vengeance, a corrupt and evil Pai Mai character specializing in Buddha's Poison Palm technique replete with darkened hand effects.

As I mentioned this is fairly middling as far as the fights go but there were some decent ones in particular involving Polly Shang Kwan & Wang Kuan-Hsiung but the final fight against the evil Baron (played by Cliff Ching) was a bit of letdown due to a twist that the viewer can sense a mile away. He was pretty much invincible, so I guess that's the only way to defeat him but still fell a bit shortchanged. The most entertaining sequence in the entire film for me was the...

Spoiler

the human bridge formed by the Shaolin Temple acolytes at the behest of the head monk allowing Wang Kuan-Hsiung to 'walk on water' and escape his persecutors.

I saw this via @Akuma's uncut custom widescreen English dub composite print using insert VHS footage. the only caveat is some scenes of dialog reverted back to German with no subtitles, But overall, probably the best version available.

[saltysam]

The Deadly Chase

Sort of an independent version of Shaws The Delinquent, Charlie Chin is the rebellious brother always getting into lumber ,frustrating his detective older brother. Not bad at all, very short at 75 minutes, plenty of motorbikes and scrappy bashing action, notably a long climactic one with Charlie and baddie James Nam. I watched Jamal's custom, wide with english subs, recommended.

[ShawAngela]

Rage of the master 1971

I finally found a mandarin copy of this movie, with bits of English language at times, so I guess that it must be as uncut as possible, but I still feels that there are some missing scenes in it. This is one of the first Chiao Chiao's movies I saw on the big screen when I was 14, and there are at least the ending credits that are missing, in which she was shown with Wang Yu (I guess, because I didn't memorize his name at that time), each of them in a medallion.

I still love this movie, but I'm angry with Chiao Chiao's ending in it, as well as the lack of fights for Kang Kai. Li Yi Min was very young in this movie, he looks like a teenager!

[Yihetuan]

Stranger from Shaolin aka Formidable Lady from Shaolin - Dir. Tony Lou Chun-Ku & Jeon Jo-myung [1978] (Hong Kong/Korea)

Another one of those films where you have to suspend belief in thinking an attractive young lady (Cecilia Wong) is a man but otherwise she wouldn't have been allowed to train at the Shaolin Temple. Standard revenge tale where Cecilia Wong's character is attempting to get revenge for her slain family at the hands of some vicious Manchus. Best part is the evil Manchu lord uses his queue as a devastating whip like weapon and only Cecilia's training in Wing Chung can close the distance and defeat him. The training sequence with Cecilia is one of the highlights. I watched  @Akuma's excellent widescreen version.

Edited May 13 by Yihetuan

[kuenfist]

3 hours ago, Yihetuan said:

Stranger from Shaolin aka Formidable Lady from Shaolin - Dir. Tony Lou Chun-Ku & Jeon Jo-myung [1978] (Hong Kong/Korea)

Another one of those films where you have to suspend belief in thinking an attractive young lady (Cecilia Wong) is a man but otherwise she wouldn't have been allowed to train at the Shaolin Temple. Standard revenge tale where Cecilia Wong's character is attempting to get revenge for her slain family at the hands of some vicious Manchus. Best part is the evil Manchu lord uses his queue as a devastating whip like weapon and only Cecilia's training in Wing Chung can close the distance and defeat him. The training sequence with Cecilia is one of the highlights. I watched  @Akuma's excellent widescreen version.

One of the first films who shows alot of wing chung training methodes like tripal pole and the bamboo ring. Good one. Hope a Blu Ray is coming in the future.

 

[paimeifist]

9 hours ago, Yihetuan said:

Stranger from Shaolin aka Formidable Lady from Shaolin - Dir. Tony Lou Chun-Ku & Jeon Jo-myung [1978] (Hong Kong/Korea)

Another one of those films where you have to suspend belief in thinking an attractive young lady (Cecilia Wong) is a man but otherwise she wouldn't have been allowed to train at the Shaolin Temple. Standard revenge tale where Cecilia Wong's character is attempting to get revenge for her slain family at the hands of some vicious Manchus. Best part is the evil Manchu lord uses his queue as a devastating whip like weapon and only Cecilia's training in Wing Chung can close the distance and defeat him. The training sequence with Cecilia is one of the highlights. I watched  @Akuma's excellent widescreen version.

I like this movie, solid action, solid plots besides the common issue you mentioned, an attractive woman being mistaken for a man by a bunch of people... Its memorable to me as being a standout of a 50 film set where many of the films are not very good.

At the time It caused me to try to find more of Cecilia Wong as she had a good fighting performance here - I dont remember finding many other films where she performed notably well in the fights though.

[kuenfist]

3 hours ago, paimeifist said:

I like this movie, solid action, solid plots besides the common issue you mentioned, an attractive woman being mistaken for a man by a bunch of people... Its memorable to me as being a standout of a 50 film set where many of the films are not very good.

At the time It caused me to try to find more of Cecilia Wong as she had a good fighting performance here - I dont remember finding many other films where she performed notably well in the fights though.

She did a good job in Shaolin Ex Monk and the The Four Invincible. Her carrer where small she made only 23 Films (HKMDB) or 31 (HKcinemagic). But most of the time fu !!!

[ShawAngela]

2 hours ago, kuenfist said:

She did a good job in Shaolin Ex Monk and the The Four Invincible. Her carrer where small she made only 23 Films (HKMDB) or 31 (HKcinemagic). But most of the time fu !!!

She also played in TVB series, such as Legend of the unknowns and The Eunuch. She must be in several other ones, but I don't have time to search for the titles, now.

She looks very good in Legend of the unknowns.

[shukocarl1441996347]

Stranger from Canton.

[Whoishe]

I also really liked Cecilia Wong performance in "Stranger from the Shaolin/Formidable Lady from the Shaolin". I will have to check some of the movies with her you guys mentioned above as well.

There is also a TV series produced by TVB named "Formidable Lady from the Shaolin/Shaolin and Wing Chun" from 1987, starring Michelle Yim that I hope to go through one day.
 

PS. I've just realized that "Legend of the Unknowns" I know as "Thirteenth Sister", which is also on my watchlist for some time. Sharon Yeung also plays there and opening theme is just fantastic.
 

 

Edited May 14 by Whoishe

[Yihetuan]

On 5/12/2024 at 12:16 PM, saltysam said:

The Deadly Chase

Sort of an independent version of Shaws The Delinquent, Charlie Chin is the rebellious brother always getting into lumber ,frustrating his detective older brother. Not bad at all, very short at 75 minutes, plenty of motorbikes and scrappy bashing action, notably a long climactic one with Charlie and baddie James Nam. I watched Jamal's custom, wide with english subs, recommended.

According to the Schröder media German dvd the run time is 80 mins. I take it that's the source Jamal used for the custom?

https://www.ofdb.de/fassung/91169,454942,Fliegenden-Feuerstühle-Die/

https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=886897

[Yihetuan]

The Romantic Double Rings - Dir. Peng Yi-chang [1979] (Taiwan)

Still have no idea what this is about? Just a mess of a wuxia film that aspires to being a clever whodunit but is so boring and talky that by the twist is revealed, the viewer is left in a coma. The print I watched is 4:3 with the burnt-in English subs horribly chopped off the screen, so you only get bits and pieces of the dialogue. Imagine sitting through this crap for an hour and 15 minutes with the only saving grace the final fight scene. The title refers to a weapon with jagged blades inside. But not worth sitting through this agony just to see the finale. I would've turned this off earlier if not for the lovely Sun Chia-lin getting groped.

 

[Super Ninja]

3 hours ago, Yihetuan said:

The Romantic Double Rings - Dir. Peng Yi-chang [1979] (Taiwan)

Still have no idea what this is about? Just a mess of a wuxia film that aspires to being a clever whodunit but is so boring and talky that by the twist is revealed, the viewer is left in a coma. The print I watched is 4:3 with the burnt-in English subs horribly chopped off the screen, so you only get bits and pieces of the dialogue. Imagine sitting through this crap for an hour and 15 minutes with the only saving grace the final fight scene. The title refers to a weapon with jagged blades inside. But not worth sitting through this agony just to see the finale. I would've turned this off earlier if not for the lovely Sun Chia-lin getting groped.

 

We're stuck with that version I'm afraid. I had a hard time tracking it down and remember I was disappointed with the movie. I still hope a widescreen version would do the wonders of proving RDR to be a minor gem I was expecting it to be, guess that's as probable as finding the original print. Chang Peng-yi can certainly do better. 

[ShawAngela]

4 hours ago, Yihetuan said:

The Romantic Double Rings - Dir. Peng Yi-chang [1979] (Taiwan)

Still have no idea what this is about? Just a mess of a wuxia film that aspires to being a clever whodunit but is so boring and talky that by the twist is revealed, the viewer is left in a coma. The print I watched is 4:3 with the burnt-in English subs horribly chopped off the screen, so you only get bits and pieces of the dialogue. Imagine sitting through this crap for an hour and 15 minutes with the only saving grace the final fight scene. The title refers to a weapon with jagged blades inside. But not worth sitting through this agony just to see the finale. I would've turned this off earlier if not for the lovely Sun Chia-lin getting groped.

 

 

42 minutes ago, Super Ninja said:

We're stuck with that version I'm afraid. I had a hard time tracking it down and remember I was disappointed with the movie. I still hope a widescreen version would do the wonders of proving RDR to be a minor gem I was expecting it to be, guess that's as probable as finding the original print. Chang Peng-yi can certainly do better. 

Didn't Fusian release a DVD of this movie under the title Romantic Rings, or something like that?

[Super Ninja]

1 hour ago, ShawAngela said:

Didn't Fusian release a DVD of this movie under the title Romantic Rings, or something like that?

Not according to this list found here on the forum. Fusian's interest were obviously a decade older swordplay films. Maybe you confused it with Ringing Sword?

 

Fusian Films (2007):

Eight Immortals (1971) (Classic Collection - 5827-6)

King of Kings (1969) (Classic Collection - 5838-6)

Young Avengers, The (1969) (Classic Collection - 5839-6)

Whirlwind Knight (1969) (Classic Collection - 5845-6)

Absurd Brave (1969) (Classic Collection - 5846-6)

Bloody Mask (1969) (Classic Collection - 5847-6)

Duel with the Devil (1970) (Classic Collection - 5856-6)

Fight for the Agreement (1968) (Classic Collection - 5857-6)

Famous Swordsman (1969) (Classic Collection - 5860-6)

Lady 9 Flower (1969) (Classic Collection - 5862-6)

Ringing Sword (1969) (Classic Collection - 5863-6)

Fire Bulls (1966) (Classic Collection - 5903-6)