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

[Morgoth Bauglir]

I feel like a failure for not noticing this..

You are way off buddy! You're not a failure haha. Did you watch on a smaller screen?

[masterofoneinchpunch]

You are way off buddy! You're not a failure haha. Did you watch on a smaller screen?

Many times I see the tale-tale signs: long shot with camera, not showing face (hair changes color or length or moves like an unglued toupee, person changes color or length or adds/subtracts facial hair, etc...), usually a highly difficult move is involved (usually a Peking opera style move) so you even see guys like Hwang Jang-lee get doubled on certain shots.

But yeah sometimes if you get so involved with the fighting it might not be noticeable. I usually only notice it when I rewatch a fight. Unless it is a Simon Yuen fight, then you always notice it.

[paimeifist]

Morgoth, I watched it on my livingroom TV on Hulu, rofl..Yeah, I guess I was just in to it! I agree Master, you can't miss Simon Yuen doubles, and also when a man doubles a woman of course. Good review DC, I think I pretty much agree with all of what you said about DDoKF.

I have a bunch of Don Wong flicks on my watchlist now. I've been talking about Battle of Shaolin for some time now, I think I am just going to finally get it... Wong Tao + from what I hear a great Lo Lieh performance? I already know I like it.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

I've been fooled countless times. Sometimes it is hard to tell, like in The Damned they put a lot of effort into it and the doubling is seamless.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Morgoth, I watched it on my livingroom TV on Hulu, rofl..Yeah, I guess I was just in to it! I agree Master, you can't miss Simon Yuen doubles, and also when a man doubles a woman of course. Good review DC, I think I pretty much agree with all of what you said about DDoKF.

I have a bunch of Don Wong flicks on my watchlist now. I've been talking about Battle of Shaolin for some time now, I think I am just going to finally get it... Wong Tao + from what I hear a great Lo Lieh performance? I already know I like it.

I don't remember if he gets a lot is screen time, but yes Lo Lieh is very, very good in Battle of Shaolin.

[paimeifist]

I really, really liked Fatal Needles vs. Fatal Fists. Wong Tao was solid all around, and there was great acting throughout. Its a shame after such great characterization and a good story it has a typical ending (and the final fight is nothing special either!)Wong Tao and Lo Lieh seemed to have good chemistry too, and it made me wish they had a movie where they were partners longer. (I know The Damned isn't that :-()

So after actually checking out the prices on the other Battles of Shaolin on amazon, I bought it without hesitation... It went from the $14 I paid, to $65.. :-O. I also got another movie I've been dying to see that I won't mention til' after I watch it.

[paimeifist]

Shaolin Temple Strikes Back

Pretty good movie. The story is simple and nothing special (it's a Joseph Kuo flick). The movie opens up with a bang, and within the first 5 minutes you know Chen Shan is going to be a bad man. I really liked the tense "on the run" feeling the first 15 minutes had, and wish it stuck with that... But it's a Shaolin movie.... Unfortunately I felt the middle of the movie seemed to drag a bit, outside of a couple scenes featuring either Mark Long or Chen Shan. There were mainly some dull training, and ok comedy scenes during this part of the film. I wish they would have used this time to explore the relationship between Mark Long and Chen Shan, or build some characterization..

Anyway, the last 45 minutes or so of the movie is great. Filled with awesome fighting, especially the final sequence that is a war with multiple fights on screen at a time. Lung Siu Fei was a decent leading man and fighter, but he is overshadowed by Mark Long(who plays a similar character to his in Five Fighters from Shaolin), and moreso by Chen Shan, who is in top form in this. Chen Shan looks so damn good here, powerful, shows kicks that compete with the best kickers, and mixes in some of his signature throwing! He evens does Hwangs flying triple kick, and it doesn't disappoint. My only complaint about the fights is that some from earlier In the film are so dark you can't see what's going on, and also they're under cranked, but they're still highly enjoyable despite the under cranking.

This movie seemed to have a pretty big budget for what it was. There were extras, and better costumes than you usual see in a Kuo flick. I also really liked the soundtrack, even if it is only like 3 songs, it doesn't matter if they're awesome.

Even though this isn't a great movie, and it isn't one of Kuos best movies, I'd still consider it a must see. It's interesting to see a Kuo film that really feels epic at times. Chen Shans performance is top class, and Mark Longs monk character is always awesome. The fighting is very good, and pretty brutal at times. Chen Shan really does bring explosiveness and power that few other of the time could compete with.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

I think STSB was Joseph Kuo's last hurrah. He really went all out. Your review nails it. There's a lot of things I don't like about this movie, but damn the fight scenes are good. And a good soundtrack also helps. My biggest problem is the dubbing for Cliff Ching Ching. He plays the large invincible villain. The guy who is taking out people left and right in the finale. They give him the puniest voice possible.

I was a bit disappointed in the final fight. The war scene is epic, but the finale between Chang Shan and Chia Kai is disappointing. It's good, but I was hoping for more after seeing their incredible 1 on 1 fight in 7 Steps of Kung Fu. But the scene does kind of make sense. Chang Shan was too tired to put up a good fight I guess.

Credit has to be given to Mark Long's fighting, and acting performance. It could be argued that he outperformed Chang Shan. (But of course I go with Chang Shan:xd:)

BTW nice notice on Mark Long in Five Fighters and STSB. I always felt that his characters in those movies were somewhat related.

[paimeifist]

Well I look at the finale as both the fight between Chen Shan and Leung Siu Fei, as well as when he fights Ga Hoi. Looked at in that way, Chen Shan gets to do plenty of owning before getting owned himself. I'll go with what you said as far as how Chen Shan gets punked at the end, he was simply too tired. Whether this was intended or not I'm not sure, but it's a much better explanation than "Ga Hoi's character could have ended this all along, but decided to spectate instead."

Mark Long was awesome, but I feel like there wasn't enough of him. It doesn't help that all of the scenes that were too dark to see were scenes of him fighting. My main problem with the movie is that it is a Shaolin movie, lol. I feel like due to that, it automatically had to resort to training scenes for a lot of the run time, and this movie didn't do them well enough, or build characterization through them. Due to fulfilling shaolin movie clichés, more interesting aspects of the story/characters were rushed in. (Mark Long/Chen Shan, their "brothers", and their history!). I also feel like they couldn't decide if they wanted it to be a serious drama, or a kung fu comedy, causing neither aspect of the movie to have an impact.

This movie had a good foundation for a story but it just wasn't capitalized on at all. It makes the movie disappointing because the potential for greatness is clear, but it just falls short. It sounds like I am talking mad smack about this movie now, but it is still a very good movie that I enjoyed plenty, and I'd consider it a must see. I feel what I put in bold above is the reason it may seem like I'm bashing it a lot for a movie I actually really like and recommend.

[DragonClaws]

Shaolin Temple Strikes Back

Anyway, the last 45 minutes or so of the movie is great. Filled with awesome fighting, especially the final sequence that is a war with multiple fights on screen at a time. Lung Siu Fei was a decent leading man and fighter, but he is overshadowed by Mark Long(who plays a similar character to his in Five Fighters from Shaolin), and moreso by Chen Shan, who is in top form in this. Chen Shan looks so damn good here, powerful, shows kicks that compete with the best kickers, and mixes in some of his signature throwing! He evens does Hwangs flying triple kick, and it doesn't disappoint. My only complaint about the fights is that some from earlier In the film are so dark you can't see what's going on, and also they're under cranked, but they're still highly enjoyable despite the under cranking..

One of the many problems with some of these old worn out film prints is the picture quality. Some did simply have bad lighting, but others just need restoring. The first time I watched Way Of The Dragon with Bruce Lee it suffered from a lot bad lighting issues. When he pursued the gunman who attempts to shoot him. The whole sequence was just too dark too see. The DVD releases rectified this problem a lot.

Nice paimefist, I cant decide what Kung Fu flick to watch for my late night Saterday viewing?. Thanks to reading this thread & members recommendations, Ive got too many great films to pick from.

[paimeifist]

One of the many problems with some of these old worn out film prints is the picture quality. Some did simply have bad lighting, but others just need restoring. The first time I watched Way Of The Dragon with Bruce Lee it suffered from a lot bad lighting issues. When he pursued the gunman who attempts to shoot him. The whole sequence was just too dark too see. The DVD releases rectified this problem a lot.

Nice paimefist, I cant decide what Kung Fu flick to watch for my late night Saterday viewing?. Thanks to reading this thread & members recommendations, Ive got too many great films to pick from.

Yeah, I bet this one could be restored, but I'm sure the chances of that happening are slim to none. I believe it was an outdoor scene, so I'm sure the lighting wasn't too bad, it's also a Joseph Kuo flick. I don't recall seeing lighting issues in other flicks of his I've seen, and he is an ace at capturing fights!

Yeah, everyday there are at least 5 movies I thinking of watching, I generally just grab one at the last minute. It is a pain, but a welcome pain, lol. This community make watching these great movies three times as fun!

[DrNgor]

Death Duel of Kung Fu - Basically a remake of The Secret Rivals with your usual Ming patriots plot tossed in to differentiate it from its inspiration. I wanted to know who played Kei Kei (sp.), since her name wasn't mentioned on the IMDB. The film is mainly Worth it for the fight scenes, which are many. Wong Tao uses the mantis, instead of the usual hung gar/Southern styles, while John Liu uses his usual Zen Kwun Do. Eagle Han Ying kicks major butt with his tae kwon do/mantis style, an amalgamation of Wong and Liu's styles. The last fight is a wonderful bootfest.

Question: What was the point of Charlie Chan's character in the movie?

Okay, I saw your guys' DDOKF, and now I'll raise you a:

Wild Panther (1984)

Modern action film from Taiwan starring Chen Shan, Don Wong Tao and Eagle Han Ying as the villain. Chen Shan plays an ex-Special Forces guy who now has a family in South Korea and owns a boutique with one of his female colleagues. Eagle Han Ying plays a Vietnamese criminal who's killing members of his team trying to find your typical name list McGuffin.

According to the IMDB, this film was a Category I (like a G or PG) film. That's weird, when you consider the brutal treatment of the film's female characters (torture, rape, beatings, shootings, etc.) and the general violence of the subject. Sadly, Don Wong Tao spends most of the film in an office, though he gets two short fights, including one against Chen Shan. Wong Tao gets to kick a little bit more than usual here. The action, staged by Peng Kong, mixes basher-like fighting, gunplay, explosions, and even some improbable trap-oriented action. Chen Shan doesn't impress so much here, although Eagle Han gets in some good kicks in the finale. Entertaining, but nothing great.

[Secret Executioner]

DragonClaws and paimeifist: feeling your pain guys, as though having tons of unwatched movies wasn't bad enough - I usually hesitate between a couple of movies, and sometimes I spend so much time wondering what to watch that I waste the time I had to watch the film, thus I don't watch anything.

Discussing these movies on here doesn't make things easy either cause I feel like it's giving me even more difficulty picking a movie since I keep reading about movies I have and so I wanna watch them - or I read of movies I find could be good so I purchase them and it makes matters worse because I end with even more movies to choose from for my movie time.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

paimeifist that's too bad some of the scenes are dark on STSB. This isn't an issue on the VCD version.

[paimeifist]

I'm definitely up or watching STSB again with a version that is lighter! I'll have to make myself a copy of Wild Panther and check it out. Morgoth posted on this one a few months back too. We all know those feels GHW, haha!

I watched Shaolin Iron Claws

Another Don Wong flick, that also uses the name list plot. The story wasn't great, but it had a cool "feel" to it. It felt kind of like a detective movie, although the audience pretty much knew what was going on. Don Wong played a police chief and is trying to get to the bottom of a string of murders. Lee Yi Min plays his partner, and Chang Yi is the big baddie. Don Wongs character is really cool in this movie, as he tries to figure out who is behind the crimes, very good acting and fighting performance from him and that's the reason to watch this. The finale was pretty good too. Chen Sing is in it for like 10 seconds at the beginning! The opening credits and song were pretty awesome. I tink there were also some attempts at comedy here, but they were few and they fell flat too.

Entertaining movie, but one I won't rush to watch again. It's worth a watch for Don Wongs cool character and good all around performance, as well as a good end fight.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Chang Shan is my favorite fighter so I'm bias, but I think I enjoyed Wild Panther a little bit more than you Dr Ngor. It was awesome seeing him in a lead role, even if it is a substandard movie. Han Ying was quite good too. He can play a nasty villain. I love the hospital scene where Ching Kuo Chung has to kill his friend. I can't remember how exactly it went down. It was weird.

It was strange to see Chen Sing with such a small role in Iron Claws. An easy paycheck for him. I think he throws one punch.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Death Duel of Kung Fu

Question: What was the point of Charlie Chan's character in the movie?

He's there just to add another villain to the cast. Plus it's part of the Secret Rivals vibe that Death Duel is going for. I believe that Chan plays the same type of character in Secret Rivals 2.

[paimeifist]

Even though Chen Sing was only in the movie for a minute, he was still incredibly bad ass!

[DrNgor]

He's there just to add another villain to the cast. Plus it's part of the Secret Rivals vibe that Death Duel is going for. I believe that Chan plays the same type of character in Secret Rivals 2.

He actually had a character in SR2, with a motivation (screw Hwang's goddaughter or whatever she was). In DDOKF, he shows up in the first scene and practically disappears until his fight with Wong Tao.It's a point against the film in comparison with the SR films.

[DrNgor]

I'm definitely up or watching STSB again with a version that is lighter! I'll have to make myself a copy of Wild Panther and check it out. Morgoth posted on this one a few months back too. We all know those feels GHW, haha!

I watched Shaolin Iron Claws

Another Don Wong flick, that also uses the name list plot. The story wasn't great, but it had a cool "feel" to it. It felt kind of like a detective movie, although the audience pretty much knew what was going on. Don Wong played a police chief and is trying to get to the bottom of a string of murders. Lee Yi Min plays his partner, and Chang Yi is the big baddie. Don Wongs character is really cool in this movie, as he tries to figure out who is behind the crimes, very good acting and fighting performance from him and that's the reason to watch this. The finale was pretty good too. Chen Sing is in it for like 10 seconds at the beginning! The opening credits and song were pretty awesome. I tink there were also some attempts at comedy here, but they were few and they fell flat too.

Entertaining movie, but one I won't rush to watch again. It's worth a watch for Don Wongs cool character and good all around performance, as well as a good end fight.

Is this the one whose finale has them fighting a bunch men armed with claws attached to cords? That's a novel idea in itself' considering how many films feature the claw as a weapon.

[paimeifist]

Well, there are two or three men with the weapon, and it is used more towards the end of the film. Surprisingly, it isn't utilized or emphasized nearly as much as you may think given the title.. Or maybe that isn't so surprising?

[Morgoth Bauglir]

He actually had a character in SR2, with a motivation (screw Hwang's goddaughter or whatever she was). In DDOKF, he shows up in the first scene and practically disappears until his fight with Wong Tao.It's a point against the film in comparison with the SR films.

Ah, I see. That's definitely a point for SR2.

I think the claw weapons finale is the Wong Tao/Chang Yi movie Two Assassins of Darkness.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Even though Chen Sing was only in the movie for a minute, he was still incredibly bad ass!

Hell yeah he was. He should have had a bigger role, but a cameo from Chen Sing is much better than not seeing him at all.

[DragonClaws]

Death Duel of Kung Fu - Basically a remake of The Secret Rivals with your usual Ming patriots plot tossed in to differentiate it from its inspiration. I wanted to know who played Kei Kei (sp.), since her name wasn't mentioned on the IMDB. The film is mainly Worth it for the fight scenes, which are many. Wong Tao uses the mantis, instead of the usual hung gar/Southern styles, while John Liu uses his usual Zen Kwun Do. Eagle Han Ying kicks major butt with his tae kwon do/mantis style, an amalgamation of Wong and Liu's styles. The last fight is a wonderful bootfest.

Question: What was the point of Charlie Chan's character in the movie?

Okay, I saw your guys' DDOKF, and now I'll raise you a:

Wild Panther (1984)

Modern action film from Taiwan starring Chen Shan, Don Wong Tao and Eagle Han Ying as the villain. Chen Shan plays an ex-Special Forces guy who now has a family in South Korea and owns a boutique with one of his female colleagues. Eagle Han Ying plays a Vietnamese criminal who's killing members of his team trying to find your typical name list McGuffin.

According to the IMDB, this film was a Category I (like a G or PG) film. That's weird, when you consider the brutal treatment of the film's female characters (torture, rape, beatings, shootings, etc.) and the general violence of the subject. Sadly, Don Wong Tao spends most of the film in an office, though he gets two short fights, including one against Chen Shan. Wong Tao gets to kick a little bit more than usual here. The action, staged by Peng Kong, mixes basher-like fighting, gunplay, explosions, and even some improbable trap-oriented action. Chen Shan doesn't impress so much here, although Eagle Han gets in some good kicks in the finale. Entertaining, but nothing great.

I couldn't find the name of the actress who plays the femme fatale either DrNgor. Her name is not listed on the HKMDB credits either. Ive seen her in other films, Bruce & The Shaolin Bronzemen for one.

DragonClaws and paimeifist: feeling your pain guys, as though having tons of unwatched movies wasn't bad enough - I usually hesitate between a couple of movies, and sometimes I spend so much time wondering what to watch that I waste the time I had to watch the film, thus I don't watch anything.

Discussing these movies on here doesn't make things easy either cause I feel like it's giving me even more difficulty picking a movie since I keep reading about movies I have and so I wanna watch them - or I read of movies I find could be good so I purchase them and it makes matters worse because I end with even more movies to choose from for my movie time.

I didn't end up watching any Kung Fu films at all last night. Ended up viewing one non Asian film then went to bed.

[DrNgor]

I couldn't find the name of the actress who plays the femme fatale either DrNgor. Her name is not listed on the HKMDB credits either. Ive seen her in other films, Bruce & The Shaolin Bronzemen for one.

I wonder if she was the same one who flashed the abbot in Ninja vs. the Shaolin Guard.