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

[Killer Meteor]

Tiger Over Wall (1980: Lu Chin-ku: Hong Kong)

I am quite behind many in watching independent Hong Kong martial art films that I thought it was time to watch one that I have seen mentioned many times on this site.

Overall this is not a good film. You can tell it was rushed with some characters appearing than never appearing again (dyed gwailo appearing with I think mother and father.) It starts off with a “Warning Chinese and Dogs Not Allowed” sign (reference to Fist of Fury aka The Chinese Connection, yet apparently Chinese and dogs are allowed since the main resident (Glen Thomson) has a Chinese wife who has a dog. Plus there are plenty of Chinese playing behind that sign. Actually it is best not to think logically about this one because some of the character’s behaviors, horrible English dubbing, and plot thread disappearances will drive you a little batty. I think most people who rewatch this ignore the exposition and just go to the two main fight scenes which are the high points of the film. Or they judge the film solely based on the finale -- “It's the most important part of the story, the ending.” I have no issue with the main plot though with the disappearance of a dog being the impetus to start all the action (see John Wick or Seven Psychopaths for other good films dealing with a dog being the cause of it all.) But I can see viewers with the problems I mentioned above wanting to turn it off at the halfway point. That would be a mistake for martial art fans.

The Chiang Tao/Phillip Ko fight scene is underrated, but that is because the best scene in the movie is the final fight and this one is a bit too short. I liked the use of the umbrellas.

The last fight is awesome and understandably well liked among the martial art film fan illuminati. I do agree that it picks up (in Spinal Tap talk it goes to 11) once the weapons have been dropped, but still Phillip Ko with the staff and Hwang Jang-lee with the guan dao. I may be in the minority, but after watching this several times I think Hwang outperforms Ko with the weapon as well as mix in kicks while wielding the guan dao. He does more of a variety of movement while Ko seems too typical (while still being good) with his staff. But the fight scene shines most when they get down to hand-to-foot fighting. Hwang is awesome and one of my favorite on screen fights as his kicks are fluid, he can use punches to good effect and he works combinations (the key for great fight scenes) effortlessly with multiple spinning heel kicks (or spinning heel kick to roundhouse to spinning heel kick to roundhouse and repeat) and works well against the hybrid mantis form of Ko.

Random thoughts: Chan Lau as the village idiot makes me miss Dean Shek. Do you ever think about combinations of actors like what would Dean Shek (in his prime) have been like with Pauly Shore? Imagine a road movie starring those two. The biting scene reminded me of a similar scene in Beach of the War Gods. As mentioned by others: what the hell was with Hwang Jang-lee’s dubbing voice. I felt bad for Hwang as it undercuts his character by sounding like a smoking castrato who is accidently taking estrogen therapy instead of testosterone.

Is there a Cantonese version of this available for this Hong Kong film?

Random annoyance: I hate the amount of ads at HKMDB now. It has been driving me crazy being interrupted so many times for commercials and ads.

The Vengeance Video DVD has a Chinese track, I think

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The Vengeance Video DVD has a Chinese track, I think

Mark (former member here) wrote me that there was a Mandarin track but not a Cantonese one. Earlier I read that the Vengeance release on VHS had one (Mandarin.) All the youtube clips (and my Brooklyn Zu aka Ground Zero DVD) have the English dub.

Interesting to read that the neck/twist break is missing from several of the releases (makes sense why I did not see this on the youtube clip; I'll check my DVD to see if it is there.) Where does this neck break happen in the film?

[DragonClaws]

Mark (former member here) wrote me that there was a Mandarin track but not a Cantonese one. Earlier I read that the Vengeance release on VHS had one (Mandarin.) All the youtube clips (and my Brooklyn Zu aka Ground Zero DVD) have the English dub.

Interesting to read that the neck/twist break is missing from several of the releases (makes sense why I did not see this on the youtube clip; I'll check my DVD to see if it is there.) Where does this neck break happen in the film?

The British censors had a habit of cutting neck breaks in films up to the late 90's. A similar edit was made to Exit The Dragon Enter The Tiger amongst other edit's.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

random comments on:

Goose Boxer (1979: Chin Ming: Hong Kong)

The Fearless Hyena influence is still felt with Goose Boxer which was released later that year in 1979. You have a comedic martial art movie with a made up style and masochistic training scenes. There is a somewhat different twist where the student is really not a willing one under the sifu (though Jackie Chan was not always that willing under his sifu’s either.)

My goodness the comedy is bad here. The movie gets better when more focus is on the crane, goose and sex style martial arts, especially the last two fights. I’m a Lee Hoi-sang fan so I will watch anything he is in and I like best the fight with him versus Phillip Ko. I probably should not be routing for him against Charles Heung in the finale though – ungrateful forced student. Some of this film reminds me of Knockabout which also came out earlier than this and is probably an influence.

Addy Sung Gam-loi’s eyebrows should have a credit of their own as they seem to have a life of their own.

Whenever I go over a 1970s martial art film I then look it up in Dr. Reid’s The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s. While it is missing a decent amount of Golden Harvest capsule reviews it is still normally a great resource, especially in dealing with the martial art aspect of the film. The reviews are rarely film criticism. Now he hates this film, mainly because of the use of the “little person.” Unfortunately he gets plot aspects of the movie quite wrong and does not even mention the sex manual which is a big part of the plot. This leads me to wonder if he paid attention to the film, not counting that he timed all the training and fight scenes (a big plus with this book.) HKMDB has the wrong year for this movie as well. I had to go to HKFA to get the proper release date.

What do you think of the use of the “small person” in the film? Is this a sore spot in the film? Now you probably did not need the biting of the groin in the film (or do you), but Charles Heung probably did not need the poop in the face either. Maybe he did, but I did not need to see it.

Is there a Cantonese version of this available?

[DrNgor]

What do you think of the use of the “small person” in the film? Is this a sore spot in the film? Now you probably did not need the biting of the groin in the film (or do you), but Charles Heung probably did not need the poop in the face either. Maybe he did, but I did not need to see it.

The crane style was great. The comedy, not so much.

With regards to the dwarf, I didn't find his role offensive like I did in Shaolin Deadly Kicks, IIRC. That movie played the "pretty woman being married off against her will to an unattractive guy (who happened to be a dwarf) and thus needs to be rescued by the hero" card. That rubbed me the wrong way.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

The crane style was great. The comedy, not so much.

With regards to the dwarf, I didn't find his role offensive like I did in Shaolin Deadly Kicks, IIRC. That movie played the "pretty woman being married off against her will to an unattractive guy (who happened to be a dwarf) and thus needs to be rescued by the hero" card. That rubbed me the wrong way.

I have not minded broad comedy with my kung fu. There are films like The Miracle Fighters and Drunken Dragon that I hold highly. Given there comedy goes more to the extremes, but as you might know I've been a fan of Jackie Chan so his films have been very high on my lists over the years.

I found it nowhere near as offensive as Dr. Reid did, mainly since he wasn't treated separate that much (a few jokes concerning his height, not too mean-spirited) and didn't look worse than Tin Ching (who had an outstanding and long career, just not here). Cheung Sin-Ming (looking at his filmography I see he was in The Private Eyes as well as Winners and Sinners -- six films in all.) He even helps with the winning blows against Lee Hoi-san.

If I was doing a proper review I would add the fact (what I'm doing now ) is that the two main combatants (Phillip Ko and Lee Hoi-sang) were wearing Qing style wigs. Obviously this is a Republic-era film (I'm thinking only the Qing would keep the queue for awhile longer), but interesting that they were against each other.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

The small person seems like an ok guy to me. Just keep him away from my groin! This movie is kind of bad, but I love it. Good choreo and a really interesting student teacher relationship between Lee Hoi San and Charles Heung.

[paimeifist]

I believe the neck snap occurs shortly after the revenge aspect of the movie comes in to play, although I can't pinpoint it. I'll skim through it either tonight or tomorrow an give you a better answer on that.

Death Duel of Kung Fu

Very good movie, with a decent story, above average fighting, with a few great fights. All of the fights in the movie are above average, but nothing special for the most part.. With that said, whenever any combination Wong Tao, John Liu, and Eagle Han fight each other, it is pretty exceptional. As much as I want to go with my guy Wong Tao, I have to say of the three he had the weakest (but still very solid) performance...although he did have the best single move of the movie, more on that in a bit!

John Liu was very impressive with the boots in this one, I mean at times he throws close to ten kicks with one leg without letting it touch the ground. More surprising, I feel he showed a wider array of kicks than he usually does. He seems to do it all from sweeps, roundhouses, to jumps! I am not familiar with Eagle Han Yin, but this guy was a great screen fighter here, and a good bad guy to boot! He is a very graceful yet powerful looking kicker, who also showed a huge variety of kicks in this, as well as being good with the hands. His ability to go from a sweeping trip-kick to a high roundhouse was pretty awesome.

Now on to Wong Tao.. I feel like they told him not to kick a lot in this because they already had two huge kickers! While he doesn't show a lot of variety in this one compared to other films, he still shows some impressive acrobatic feats, and his usual high intensity. Oh yeah, speaking of his intensity, he straight jump kicks Eagle Han in the mouth, and it connects.. No, this isn't masterful choreography (well, it is, but you know what I mean!).. The man gets kicked right in the face, and not with a little leg extension kicks, a flying jump kick! I literally said "holy shit!" out loud when it happened, and proceeded to rewatch it 3 times before finishing the movie.. Serves them right, they should have let him kick more!

The acting is pretty bad here for the most part. Wong Tao is a better actor than what he showed in this. With that said, John Liu acts well in this, and his charisma is a good counter-weight to Wong Tao's intense demeanor. The story is nothing special, but there is a little bit of mystery surrounding a couple of characters that keeps it interesting. There are even a few subtleties in the camera shots that don't hit you til' a couple twists are revealed! There are some sweet locations, grassy plains, forests, and an outdoor building with huge statues surrounding it! There are also some cool training scenes. They aren't super creative, but what the actors do in said scenes is actually impressive....no wires/effects!

Anyway, while the story isn't horrible, this is a fight movie... Especially if you want to see some kicking action. While it has been a while since I watched a John Liu flick, I think this has to be one of his best performances overall! Wong Tao is his usual intense self, and shows some good acrobatics, while Han Ying is just masterful looking. Throw in a pretty lady, and some solid minor fights, and you have a pretty damn good flick!

I feel like I should remember/comment on the other fights in this more than I did.. Both fights with the men with spears vs Wong Tao and John Liu are very good as well, but the end fight reeaaaallly overshadows it. Similar to the umbrella fight being overshadowed by the finale in Tiger Over Wall, but not quite as good.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Watching Wong Tao train is something to behold! I was very impressed with Wong Tao in this, but I agree that John Liu and Han Ying overshadow him. They must have trained really hard before this movie because damn they look good. And it's one of John Liu's coolest characters. Good acting from him.

Speaking of that kick that Wong Tao lands on Han Ying, I'm pretty sure the exact same thing happens in Secret Rivals. Wong Tao comes out of nowhere to kick Hwang Jang Lee, but they edit it before it connects. I rate these movies almost even, but I've always had a feeling that Death Duel was trying to be a Secret Rivals remake. Secret Rivals 2.0

[paimeifist]

Yeah I'll be watching that tonight, it will be fun to compare! If it wasn't for Eagle Han Ying, they would probably be hard to differentiate if you hadn't seen them recently. I hardly remember Secret Rivals, but I think some of the locations from it were also used in Death Duel of Kung Fu.

You cant stop in mid air, so if it comes close to Hwangs face, I'm sure they either editing Hwang eating it (like Han Ying did) or edited Hwang avoiding it and ruining the scene, lol. I'm looking forward to seeing another great Don Wong flying kick.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Yeah that's what I mean about them wanting to remake Secret Rivals and improve on it. They definitely improved the the kick to the face. The whole final fight in Death Duel is much better than Secret Rivals, aside from the stunt doubling.

[paimeifist]

Wait, stunt doubling?! What did I miss?

[DrNgor]

Wait, stunt doubling?! What did I miss?

For a lot of these movies with kickers (Secret Rivals, Snuff Bottle Connection, etc.), stunt doubles usually Corey Yuen, Yuen Biao and the Yuen Brothers are used to perform the acrobatics.

Okay, screw my To-Watch Pile. I'm doing a Wong Tao triple-header this weekend. Thanks for nothing, guys!

[paimeifist]

For a lot of these movies with kickers (Secret Rivals, Snuff Bottle Connection, etc.), stunt doubles usually Corey Yuen, Yuen Biao and the Yuen Brothers are used to perform the acrobatics.

Okay, screw my To-Watch Pile. I'm doing a Wong Tao triple-header this weekend. Thanks for nothing, guys!

Rofl, the same thing happened to me!

So the "impressive acrobatic feats" of Don Wong weren't him?!? Or more likely, Han Yings acrobatic moves?

I have a good excuse; bad PQ.

[DragonClaws]

I believe the neck snap occurs shortly after the revenge aspect of the movie comes in to play, although I can't pinpoint it. I'll skim through it either tonight or tomorrow an give you a better answer on that.

Death Duel of Kung Fu

Very good movie, with a decent story, above average fighting, with a few great fights. All of the fights in the movie are above average, but nothing special for the most part.. With that said, whenever any combination Wong Tao, John Liu, and Eagle Han fight each other, it is pretty exceptional. As much as I want to go with my guy Wong Tao, I have to say of the three he had the weakest (but still very solid) performance...although he did have the best single move of the movie, more on that in a bit!

John Liu was very impressive with the boots in this one, I mean at times he throws close to ten kicks with one leg without letting it touch the ground. More surprising, I feel he showed a wider array of kicks than he usually does. He seems to do it all from sweeps, roundhouses, to jumps! I am not familiar with Eagle Han Yin, but this guy was a great screen fighter here, and a good bad guy to boot! He is a very graceful yet powerful looking kicker, who also showed a huge variety of kicks in this, as well as being good with the hands. His ability to go from a sweeping trip-kick to a high roundhouse was pretty awesome.

Now on to Wong Tao.. I feel like they told him not to kick a lot in this because they already had two huge kickers! While he doesn't show a lot of variety in this one compared to other films, he still shows some impressive acrobatic feats, and his usual high intensity. Oh yeah, speaking of his intensity, he straight jump kicks Eagle Han in the mouth, and it connects.. No, this isn't masterful choreography (well, it is, but you know what I mean!).. The man gets kicked right in the face, and not with a little leg extension kicks, a flying jump kick! I literally said "holy shit!" out loud when it happened, and proceeded to rewatch it 3 times before finishing the movie.. Serves them right, they should have let him kick more!

The acting is pretty bad here for the most part. Wong Tao is a better actor than what he showed in this. With that said, John Liu acts well in this, and his charisma is a good counter-weight to Wong Tao's intense demeanor. The story is nothing special, but there is a little bit of mystery surrounding a couple of characters that keeps it interesting. There are even a few subtleties in the camera shots that don't hit you til' a couple twists are revealed! There are some sweet locations, grassy plains, forests, and an outdoor building with huge statues surrounding it! There are also some cool training scenes. They aren't super creative, but what the actors do in said scenes is actually impressive....no wires/effects!

Anyway, while the story isn't horrible, this is a fight movie... Especially if you want to see some kicking action. While it has been a while since I watched a John Liu flick, I think this has to be one of his best performances overall! Wong Tao is his usual intense self, and shows some good acrobatics, while Han Ying is just masterful looking. Throw in a pretty lady, and some solid minor fights, and you have a pretty damn good flick!

I feel like I should remember/comment on the other fights in this more than I did.. Both fights with the men with spears vs Wong Tao and John Liu are very good as well, but the end fight reeaaaallly overshadows it. Similar to the umbrella fight being overshadowed by the finale in Tiger Over Wall, but not quite as good.

I watched a lovely clean widescreen print of this yesterday. Ill post my comments shortly:smile:.

[DragonClaws]

Death Duel Of Kung Fu (1979)

Directed By- William Cheung Kei

Starring- John Liu, Eagle Han Ying, Wong Tao, Charlie Chan Yiu Lim.

"Even if they send a whole army after me, I wont be deterred"

Death Duel Of Kung Fu is a classic action packed example of independent Kung Fu cinema at its best. A Taiwanese production set in China during the Qing dynasty. The film was actually filmed in Korea with some stunning locations on display. Martial Arts ace Wong Tao plays ming patriot Shung Ching Kwei who has just successfully completed a mission to kill one of the Qing marshals. . He' been pursued by some hand picked Qing warriors led by Lord To Ko Lan (Eagle Han Ying). John Liu plays Sun Sen who appears to be playing both sides, leaving the viewer unsure who he's really helping until the finale. All this goes on whilst Dominic Frontiere's Hang Em High soundtrack plays in the background. That western theme appears in many of the low budget Asian productions of the era.

Death Duel Of Kung Fu might not hold up to the bigger budget Shaw Brothers/Golden Harvest films. However it's still a highly enjoyable film with some top notch fight scenes staged by Ching Yuet San (Mad Monkey Kung Fu)& Mang Hoi. John Liu and Wong Tao are both on fine form as always. Eagle Han Ying puts on a superb physical performance as the films evil white haired hard as nails villain. During the finale he takes a full on kick to the face which must have genuinely hurt. The film also features a random topless gambling scene. A woman is seen hustling old gamblers by flashing her assets. Ive never seen this going on in my local gambling establishments . The version I caught was a nice clean widescreen print on YouTube. I'm certainly going to buy a physical copy of this film now.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Wait, stunt doubling?! What did I miss?

Death Duel has some horrible stunt doubling for the 3 main actors.

[DragonClaws]

Death Duel has some horrible stunt doubling for the 3 main actors.

Good point, but its often a problem with these films. The difference in hairstyles and the body type of the doubles stood out. I overlooked this because of the decent performances and fight choreography.

[paimeifist]

I feel like a failure for not noticing this..

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Good point, but its often a problem with these films. The difference in hairstyles and the body type of the doubles stood out. I overlooked this because of the decent performances and fight choreography.

Definitely. For kickfighting fans it's a dream movie. Nice review. It's pretty cool how we all keep getting fixated on a single movie.

[DragonClaws]

I feel like a failure for not noticing this..

It easily done especially if you really enjoy the film. I tend to notice stunt doubles more if I'm bored or not enjoying a film. You did a good review and you cant cover every single aspect without writing a whole book on the film.

[DragonClaws]

Definitely. For kickfighting fans it's a dream movie. Nice review. It's pretty cool how we all keep getting fixated on a single movie.

If Id known I would have reviewed your second recommendation Morgoth, Iron Swallow. DDOKF was a good Wong Tao film but he didn't show off his legwork much.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Iron Swallow is better than Death Duel:smile:

[DragonClaws]

Iron Swallow is better than Death Duel:smile:

I'm sold already lol, I did read about this film in Impact many a year ago. It on my to watch list now.

[DrNgor]

I'm sold already lol, I did read about this film in Impact many a year ago. It on my to watch list now.

I watched this about two years ago during a Judy Lee/Chia Ling binge. I don't remember much about it, though.

EDIT: Found my Crane Fighters review. Said I:

With all that said, my judgment of the film ultimately rests on two factors. The first is: How does this fare against Chia Ling’s other movies. The Crane Fighters is regularly included in fans’ lists of the best Chia Ling movies, alongside No One Can Touch Her, Queen Boxer, The Female Chivalry, and Iron Swallow. No One Can Touch Her (aka Against the Drunken Cat’s Paws) is a pretty good movie that suffers from an ensemble climax that takes a lot of the attention away from Chia and an all-too brief final one-on-one fight. The Queen Boxer is a crude movie on all accounts, although its high-concept finale; Judy Lee/Chia Ling wipes out several dozen men armed with axes all by herself which is fairly memorable. The Female Chivalry is great if you want to see Chia Ling kicking people in the head for 80 minutes, although everything else is rather bland. That just leaves this film and Iron Swallow. If you ask me, Iron Swallow is Judy’s best movie, whereas The Crane Fighters is the best Chia Ling movie. Iron Swallow had a more interesting plot and some well-played moral conflicts, plus a better supporting cast in terms of martial arts skills. It also sidelined Judy Lee during a good portion of its middle act, which was sort of disappointing. There’s never any doubt that The Crane Fighters is Chia’s film and her film alone and she owns nearly all of her fights.