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

[QueMuchita]

The Invincible Eight, decent early swordplay from Golden Harvest. I think this was Nora Miao's first appearance on screen, I seen Sammo in there too as one of the henchmen.

[AlbertV]

The Rage of Wind - will be posting review shortly

[Cold Bishop]

Rage of the Wind: I really wish a widescreen, Mandarin copy would show up, as it's an essential basher.

One point people miss: this film was a certified blockbuster, as big as some of the films it was imitating. I believe it even cracked the top 10 gross of the year in Hong Kong. The fact it made Shaw/Golden Harvest money leads many to credit it with legitimizing "Indie" films, and certainly legitimized Ng See-Yuen, who would close the decade a mogul.

[Killer Meteor]

Rage of the Wind: I really wish a widescreen, Mandarin copy would show up, as it's an essential basher.

One point people miss: this film was a certified blockbuster, as big as some of the films it was imitating. I believe it even cracked the top 10 gross of the year in Hong Kong. The fact it made Shaw/Golden Harvest money leads many to credit it with legitimizing "Indie" films, and certainly legitimized Ng See-Yuen, who would close the decade a mogul.

Ah, The Ninja Warlord!

[Secret Executioner]

Ah, The Ninja Warlord!

Sounds like the title for a Godfrey Ho movie.

[Secret Executioner]

The Rage of Wind - will be posting review shortly

Just read it and it was some interesting material you provided. Really nice read there.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Picked up the Jackie Chan 8 Film Collection at Target for $5. I wanted to get it for a good version of Magnificent Bodyguards and the longer version of Dragon Fist. I haven't watched Bodyguards yet but Dragon Fist is good. Nice to finally see the longer version. Probably not in my top 10 for Jackie but it's up there.

"Huh? Wow. Hey listen! Hey! Look at this girl! Look at her! Look at her! Wow! Woowwww!"

[fatcat]

Interesting to read your thoughts on Bruce Liang. Most of his films are not high art but his physical performances can be really impressive. My first impression of him was through watching Magnificent Bodyguards. Not the best performance of his career and it didn't impress me much. Then again apart from James Tien the whole film is not that good. Ill have to watch Call Me Dragon one day. Look out for The Godfather Squad and Little Superman if you get the chance.

There is not a karate duo I enjoy more than Liang / Kurata!!!!

I just wrapped up the Victim. Man, Beardy and Sammo looked great!! Chang Yi too. This is my favorite performance from Beardy I think

[stills]

8 diagram cudgel is bueno

[stills]

Knight of old Cathay

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Dragon Fighter (1979)

AKA Duel Of Death, Struggle Through Death.

Starring- John Liu, Ma Chin Ku, Wie Ping Ao

Average Kung Fu flick Starring rubber legs John Liu. one of a few men to defeat Chuck Norris in open competition. Liu was a big star in Taiwan were he made this film and many others. A student of fellow actor Tan Tao Liang (The Hot The Cool The Vicious), he is known for his unique and impressive kicking skills.

The films basic plot revolves around a gold mine run by your usual moustache clad bad guy who loves supping tea. Liu is kidnapped and forced to work in the gold mine run by the villains. The conditions are so bad they simply kidnap people rather than advertise job vacancies in the local paper. Wie Ping Ao appears in the film, a well known Hong Kong character actor. Well known for his role as the Chinese translator in Fist Of Fury and the camp mafia man in Way Of The Dragon. Unlike his usual villainous role here he plays a good guy who helps his fellow workers.

Dragon Fighter is not anything special but slightly different to many of the films churned out at the time. We don't get to see the hero do his thing until an hour into the film, as he slowly learns his Heaven Legs technique. Once he’s mastered the style all hells breaks loose and he goes about kicking the spit out of everyone.

Oddly one of the cast members has been named Fuck Chueng which surely must be a joke?. The version I watched is called Dragon Fighter released on the Hollywood DVD label. It’s a poor full screen cropped print with some very bad audio in the finale. Had to laugh at the use of the Jason And The Argonauts soundtrack in certain scenes. One to watch for fans of 70s chop-sockey flicks and John Liu otherwise avoid it.

As you say this one is just average. I enjoyed it. I wish the fight scenes were better and there was more of them. It's not one of John Liu's best. His fights look like a kicking training video. I don't think I've seen the main villain before and he's nothing special as a fighter. The story isn't very good. These guys are prisoners, taken from their family and forced to work. But when they think the working conditions are too bad, they threaten to strike. Not very smart. The thing that makes this movie interesting is that it is more character driven than most oldschool kf movies. A dark movie that seems to be afraid to get too dark. Things are lightened up at times with some comedy, usually right after John Liu and friends have taken a serious beating.

[DragonClaws]

As you say this one is just average. I enjoyed it. I wish the fight scenes were better and there was more of them. It's not one of John Liu's best. His fights look like a kicking training video. I don't think I've seen the main villain before and he's nothing special as a fighter. The story isn't very good. These guys are prisoners, taken from their family and forced to work. But when they think the working conditions are too bad, they threaten to strike. Not very smart. The thing that makes this movie interesting is that it is more character driven than most oldschool kf movies. A dark movie that seems to be afraid to get too dark. Things are lightened up at times with some comedy, usually right after John Liu and friends have taken a serious beating.

Picked this title up because of John Liu's presence but its nothing special. Ive got a copy of Master Of Death on DVD that I need to watch too,

I put Return Of The Kung Fu Dragon on last night but wasn't that impressed. They clearly didn't have much of a budget to pull off this fantasy Kung Fu flick. Chan Sing doesn't get much time to showcase his skills either:sad:. Saying that it did keep me entertained in the early hours of the morning. The dubbing and the bad costumes were pretty funny too.

[Secret Executioner]

Man Called Tiger (HK, 1973)

Not sure what to think of this one. It's good, but it's still not a great movie - there are much worse ways of spending 76 minutes TBH. The action is solid, Wang Yu and James Tien display some really good fighting. But the plot isn't that engaging and has a lot of tropes of the genre: lead character driven by revenge (for his dead father who was a Kung Fu master), evil Japanese as bad guys, gambling stuff (and cheating of course), underworld war between gangs, betrayals and set-ups...

Hopefully this will turn out to be the worst of the 4 films on the Jimmy Wang Yu Collection 4-movie pack.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Picked this title up because of John Liu's presence but its nothing special. Ive got a copy of Master Of Death on DVD that I need to watch too,

I put Return Of The Kung Of Dragon on last night but wasn't that impressed. They clearly didn't have much of a budget to pull off this fantasy Kung Fu flick. Chan Sing doesn't get much time to showcase his skills either:sad:. Saying that it did keep me entertained in the early hours of the morning. The dubbing and the bad costumes were pretty funny too.

The only thing I remember about Kung Fu Dragon is that the villain's beard is so long a servant has to walk around with him to help carry it.

[DragonClaws]

During the scene where the phoenix city is attacked it suddenly turns to night. Bad editing? or somebody cut a few scenes out. I think the film would have been better if Shaw Brothers handled it.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Flyer and Magic Sword 1971 Hong Kong Movie in Thai, no English Subs. Fights by LKL/Pops. Stars the late Mit Chanbara, who died during the making of the film.

Here is my review from Fuflix-

Okay, I don't speak a lick of Thai, but I can tell you, this is one wacky ass movie! Everyone suffers melodramatically, and Begotten neglected to tell you that when they call this movie Flyer and Magic Sword, we're talking a dude that can fly! He makes David Chiang's Roving or Wandering Swordsman (I forget which) land locked! Mit flys for miles it seems like. Not just over a fence or castle wall, but halfway across the province. I don't know what the story was about, but it seemed that they were fighting over a salt mine, and everyone that worked there was miserable, and I guess, slaves. Anyway, the guy that grew up to be the mustached dude from the lucky stars movies hires Tin Yau to go and kill a few of the competition, which is Shih Kien and his gang. Anyway, it turns out that Yau likes to kill. A lot. And he's not too picky about who he kills, random people, the hooker Stanley Feng gave him for sex, the hooker that caught him killing said hooker, and just about everyone he runs into. Eventually he kills Mit's(the Flyer) Mom and little brother, or grandma and son. I don't know. It's all sort of a blur. He uses magnetic boots to trap Yau's sword, then deflects his magic boomerang blades. It's pretty nuts. There are some good melee's and fights, after all, Lau Kar Leung arranged them, and this is the period he was hitting his stride. But there's also plenty of weird stuff. The film has a professional look, more like a Golden Harvest or Shaw Brothers look in a lot of parts, so there's that. I would say check it out! That is, if you are up for something weird, LOL!

Edit/Delete Message

[paimeifist]

Man Called Tiger (HK, 1973)

Not sure what to think of this one. It's good, but it's still not a great movie - there are much worse ways of spending 76 minutes TBH. The action is solid, Wang Yu and James Tien display some really good fighting. But the plot isn't that engaging and has a lot of tropes of the genre: lead character driven by revenge (for his dead father who was a Kung Fu master), evil Japanese as bad guys, gambling stuff (and cheating of course), underworld war between gangs, betrayals and set-ups...

Hopefully this will turn out to be the worst of the 4 films on the Jimmy Wang Yu Collection 4-movie pack.

The general consensus is that it's better than "The Tattooed Dragon", but I disagree. I thought the Tattooed Dragon was pretty good. Although not as much action as you expect in a Jimmy Wang Yu movie, it had a pretty good plot and acting.

I think I actually fell asleep during A Man Called Tiger

[stills]

Ninja: fist Of fire.

Forgot I'd already seen this one. Pretty decent

[stills]

Drunken tai chi

Pretty damn funny.

[paimeifist]

Fatal Needles vs Fatal Fists

Very good movie. I was very surprised by how good the characterization, story, and acting was (especially from the usually wooden Don Wong Tao). At first the plot reminded me of Awaken Punch a little with Don Wong vowing not to fight again, and going through hell before unleashing his fury.. But it ended up becoming a much more complex movie than that overall. I really liked Chang Yi's character, as a villain who is more of a smooth gangster than an evil villain..he actually tries not to kill anyone, so long as he can push his dirty business! The heros also challenge each other's morals, is revenge or defending friends worth additional lives, or your own values? Lo Lieh doesn't last long, which sucked, but his death was a big deal, and the result was part of what makes the movie great. But he and Don Wong seemed to have great chemistry, so it would have been cool to see more. The abrupt kung fu movie ending was a pretty big bummer after building such a strong foundation though.

The fighting was very good overall. Don Wong is his usual strong and intense self, Tommy Lee really shined and showed great kicks, and another good finale between Don Wong and Chang Yi.. With that said this isn't really a fight movie, the fighting takes a back seat to the good plot.

This is simple stuff for a normal flick, but great stuff in an indie kung fu movie. Great Lee Tso Nam movie. I am really growing more fond of Don Wong and Chang Yi the more I see their collaborations. Really good characterization and plot. If the ending was better it could be great. .

The dub was good, with a ridiculous amount of but stills, I counted three in less than 10 seconds at one time I believe! Haha, Chen Fu Hung also sports some silly fake chest hair, it basically looks like they taped a wig between his man boobs!

[DragonClaws]

Fighting Of Shaolin Monk (DVD)

A/K/A Killer Priest, Kung Fu Exorcist

Directed By- Fu Di Lin

Starring-Chen Sing, Lei Chen, Chin Hai Chen

Kung Fu meets the super natural in this crazy piece of old school Hong Kong cinema. A shady looking Taoist priest turns up at a village ridden by drought. The local doctor and his son suspect he’s hatching some bad scheme. A traveling Buddhist monk played by veteran Hong Kong actor Chan Sing turns up and makes things difficult for the Priest and becomes the doctors son's master. That’s the basic loose plot that’s made harder to follow by the fact the film appears to be edited for its international release.

Many of the action scenes look cut along with many non-violent dialogue scenes. It appears some scene's are also in the wrong order. Having not watched the original HK version I can’t say what's been edited out?.

There are few obvious jump cuts and plot holes though. In one scene the hero’s girlfriend is kidnapped by the evil Taoist monk. Next thing she's free and taking part in the hero's kung fu training. In another scene Chan Sing is listening to a conversation taking place behind a closed door. Then it cuts abruptly to the door being open and he’s suddenly in mid conversation with a person. Some of the action scenes start or end abruptly giving the impression they’ve been trimmed down too. The run time is 1-hour 22-minutes so Id take a guess and say around 8-minutes has been edited out. Most of these films have the average run time of 1-hour 30-minutes. Many releases got altered for the international market and this film appears to be a casualty of this.

The version I watched comes from the Hollywood East label. It's basically a bootleg release presented in widescreen with a grainy and sometimes faded looking print. Still it was enjoyable and worth watching if you’re a fan of Chan Sing. His performance as the monk Tamo is what made this film worth viewing. Id love to see the original cut with restored picture and sound.

[Tex Killer]

Ironfisted monk. One of the weakest Samo Hungs oldskool movies I have seen. Last 17~minutes are good so it was not totally was of time...

[DragonClaws]

Ironfisted monk. One of the weakest Samo Hungs oldskool movies I have seen. Last 17~minutes are good so it was not totally was of time...

I watched this one over the weekend and thought it was really good. The 20-minute finale is a great highlight but I enjoyed the film start to finish. This film was Sammo Hung's first effort as director. A lot of the comedy doesn't sit too well with the more serous scenes. The version I watched was the Hong Kong Legends disc which reduces the two rape scenes. I prefer films not to be altered but in this case it didn't ruin the film at all.

[Secret Executioner]

Crazy Horse, Intelligent Monkey (HK, 1982), from the Flying Fists Of Kung Fu 12-movie set

An indie movie starring Chi Kuan Chun as the lead. I was thrilled because it had CKC, but it's an indie so one shouldn't go in expecting something on par with more classic works of his like Disciples Of Shaolin or Shaolin Martial Arts.

The movie sees CKC as a guy on his way to his uncle's house as he is worried he hasn't heard of his mother in long (a couple of years). On his way, he meets a bumbling comedic character (Hon Gwok Choi) who thus sticks around as his sidekick. That guy is kinda annoying but somehow likeable too, and I found he reminded me of Stan Laurel (must have been his whinning and his attitude compared to the serious character portrayed by CKC).

In spite of some good comedy and likeable characters (though Hon Gwok Choi may be a bit annoying at times), the movie isn't that good. The first two thirds feel a bit long and the story is a bit hit and miss with stuff that seems like obvious filler. The movie picks up once our heroes get picked up by a master who teaches them kung fu, as the training mixes nice action, some funny comedy (Hon Gwok Choi having problems with a monkey) and some really WTF moments (this movie has a scene is devoted to a drunken horse...). And the end fight is really nice with Hon Gwok Choi showcasing nice Monkey Fist while CKC uses Horse Style (to the surprise of everybody since the movie seems set in a time when Horse Kung Fu hadn't been invented yet).

The most irritating thing I found here was the quality of the release. This is a VHS rip from a rather bad VHS (lots of grain) that was badly done with conversion issues and the movie even freezes for a few seconds towards the middle... The sound is okay, though some dialogue seemed hard to understand.

[DragonClaws]

Crazy Horse, Intelligent Monkey (HK, 1982), from the Flying Fists Of Kung Fu 12-movie set

An indie movie starring Chi Kuan Chun as the lead. I was thrilled because it had CKC, but it's an indie so one shouldn't go in expecting something on par with more classic works of his like Disciples Of Shaolin or Shaolin Martial Arts.

The movie sees CKC as a guy on his way to his uncle's house as he is worried he hasn't heard of his mother in long (a couple of years). On his way, he meets a bumbling comedic character (Hon Gwok Choi) who thus sticks around as his sidekick. That guy is kinda annoying but somehow likeable too, and I found he reminded me of Stan Laurel (must have been his whinning and his attitude compared to the serious character portrayed by CKC).

In spite of some good comedy and likeable characters (though Hon Gwok Choi may be a bit annoying at times), the movie isn't that good. The first two thirds feel a bit long and the story is a bit hit and miss with stuff that seems like obvious filler. The movie picks up once our heroes get picked up by a master who teaches them kung fu, as the training mixes nice action, some funny comedy (Hon Gwok Choi having problems with a monkey) and some really WTF moments (this movie has a scene is devoted to a drunken horse...). And the end fight is really nice with Hon Gwok Choi showcasing nice Monkey Fist while CKC uses Horse Style (to the surprise of everybody since the movie seems set in a time when Horse Kung Fu hadn't been invented yet).

The most irritating thing I found here was the quality of the release. This is a VHS rip from a rather bad VHS (lots of grain) that was badly done with conversion issues and the movie even freezes for a few seconds towards the middle... The sound is okay, though some dialogue seemed hard to understand.

I tried to watch Heroes Of Shaolin Part 2 last week and had to turn it off due to bad pixelation. This occurred just as Yuen Biao makes an appearance in the film. I fast forwarded the film but it effect the rest of the movie too. Shame it didn't happen with one of the poorer titles in the Mill Creek collection. Its the first title Ive had problems with in their box set.