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

[paimeifist]

Good reviews Master... I have to say, the plot of wanting to fight someone and having himself imprisoned to do so sounds pretty awesomely badass to me! But it sounds like it isn't too well done, and you didn't sound too optimistic about it in general.

Kung Fu Genius is one of those films I remember watching, and enjoying, but have virtually no memory of it outside of that. Ironically, another movie I've been considering revisiting a lot lately that I feel the same way about is another Wilson Tong headed flick - Daggers 8. (That was also commented on here very recently!).

Lastly, I was also a huge fan of Joe Calzaghe! He didn't get the respect he deserved, and was often labeled as a guy who pretty much won on his high workrate and awkwardness... While those two elements were part of what made him great, his best assets were his ring IQ/ability to adapt (IE. Mikkel Kessler bout), and his footwork.. My coach actually uses Calzaghe as an example often, especially being that I am a southpaw with similar assets(although no where near the level) myself. Its funny, he seems to be an unpopular fighter, it was awesome to see him mentioned on here! To quote Roy Jones "People say he slaps, well those slaps hurt!"

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Good reviews Master... I have to say, the plot of wanting to fight someone and having himself imprisoned to do so sounds pretty awesomely badass to me! But it sounds like it isn't too well done, and you didn't sound too optimistic about it in general.

... Lastly, I was also a huge fan of Joe Calzaghe! He didn't get the respect he deserved, and was often labeled as a guy who pretty much won on his high workrate and awkwardness... While those two elements were part of what made him great, his best assets were his ring IQ/ability to adapt (IE. Mikkel Kessler bout), and his footwork.. My coach actually uses Calzaghe as an example often, especially being that I am a southpaw with similar assets(although no where near the level) myself. Its funny, he seems to be an unpopular fighter, it was awesome to see him mentioned on here! To quote Roy Jones "People say he slaps, well those slaps hurt!"

Oh I loved that aspect of the film. If I do a proper review of it I'll have to emphasis that more (the fault of this being a quickie review that got larger than I originally had planned; as you might know if I spend a lot more time on a review it goes in the review section .) Watching the full screen version certainly did not help though. The plot was decent, but a better filmmaker could have made more of the whole film. You can do better by seeing a Jimmy Wang Yu film for example.

Joe Calzaghe: I'm an American and a fan. Normally I would not put those two together as anything significant but I've read over and over how yanks did not understand the fighter. I guess I'm in my own little bubble, but I followed him over the years and was always annoyed how he was underappreciated. For example he was always the underdog in many of his last fights. I remember how Lacy was supposed to destroy him (the reverse happened of course; Sugar Ray Leonard became a fan of his during this fight). The same goes for Kessler and Hopkins. Part of this problem I do blame on ESPN's Dan Rafael who was never a fan of the fighter. I'm not sure why other than his style irked him (since he has liked many British and European fighters) but he was always underrating him (until the past few fights where he eventually had him on his top lists including pound for pound -- Rafael caught a lot of flack for this over the years BTW.)

But back to Joe, part of his style of fast hitting had changed over the years because he kept breaking his hands (I understand because I have smaller hands for my size and I have to hit perfectly or I can damage them.) He was fast and the angles do throw off many fighters. He has such a beautiful and unique style that I feel boxers appreciate more than the general public (this includes England/Wales/Europe as well.)

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Hey Master what did I say about Kung Fu Genius? I'm just curious:tongue: I like the movie but I don't think I've ever talked about it really highly. I would recommend it as one of Cliff Lok's best. It is quite a showcase for him. I think they focused a bit too much on the quantity instead of the quality of the fights in Kung Fu Genius, but the fights are good, so it's a small complaint. The movie is worth buying for Chan Lung's duck style alone.

I've been thinking about giving Tiger's Claw another chance. I'm sure the Pagoda DVD is a beauty. I recently bought the Pagoda My 12 Kung Fu Kicks because I wanted to give it another chance, and I did enjoy it a lot more than the full screen version. But now I think I'm gonna pass on Tiger's Claw. I remember it was substandard. No need to torture myself. I do enough of that. In fact I've already tortured myself today. A Van Damme 3 pack. I just watched Double Impact:cry: Next up is Cyborg:cry: But after that I get to treat myself with Death Warrant.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Hey Master what did I say about Kung Fu Genius? I'm just curious:tongue: I like the movie but I don't think I've ever talked about it really highly. I would recommend it as one of Cliff Lok's best. It is quite a showcase for him. I think they focused a bit too much on the quantity instead of the quality of the fights in Kung Fu Genius, but the fights are good, so it's a small complaint. The movie is worth buying for Chan Lung's duck style alone.

I've been thinking about giving Tiger's Claw another chance. ... No need to torture myself. I do enough of that. In fact I've already tortured myself today. A Van Damme 3 pack. I just watched Double Impact:cry: Next up is Cyborg:cry: But after that I get to treat myself with Death Warrant.

Believe it or not it was the sentence (direct quote) I remembered:

"Kung Fu Genius- I wouldn't consider this a classic but I like it a lot. It was great to watch it widescreen. "

I had seen it also mentioned a few times on here as a fun film and one of the better independent films. I thought it would make a nice companion piece to Tiger's Claw.

Well check out the Shaolin Tiger's Claw link I put to get a reminder of the film.

Sorry about the Van Damme trio. Well you still have one more. I wonder if you will make it or have you signed your own Death Warrant.

[DragonClaws]

Tiger’s Claw (1974: Ng Tan)

Kung Fu Genius (1979: Wilson Tong)

This is an interesting duo of Hong Kong independent films to watch back-to-back. First because they both star Cliff Lok but there are several things to compare against. The older one is a basher and the second one is a shapes film. When I watched Tiger’s Claw I was wondering if this is the same Cliff Lok I had seen in other films as the fighting is very sloppy and he comes off looking like he has the fighting ability of Jimmy Wang Yu (this is not a compliment.) * But when you watch the later film Kung Fu Genius you notice that his abilities are there and intact. Lok can be a little sloppy with form but he can do a lot (usually only doubled for difficult moves.)

It is also interesting to see Lok being used as almost a clone of someone more popular in both movies. In Tiger’s Claw he seems like a Jimmy Wang Yu character (except for the ending which I do not think Wang Yu would allow at that point in his career) and in Kung Fu Genius you can easily tell the Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung influence (which you would also see in several other Cliff Lok movies.) Both are good examples of their time period and how fast the martial art movies was to change in Hong Kong. You have a serious morality play of the first film with a too cocky protagonist and you have a very silly comedy kung fu film with a too cocky protagonist in the later.

Tiger’s Claw has the more straightforward storyline. But it is somewhat unique because it is not based on a revenge plot, but it has more of a wuxia plot in a kung fu film of a martial artist (Cliff Lok) looking to be number one in a fighting world (really one of his own creation though.) He mows people down until he hears of a great martial artist named Tiger (Sek Kin: Enter the Dragon) who is imprisoned. What does he do, yes he gets himself jailed so he can break him out. Now there is a twist to the film as well as some moral didacticism. The ending reminded me of Samurai Assassin (kudos to who have seen this) as it went along though that conclusion was by far more grim.

Kung Fu Genius is literally about a very skilled martial arts practitioner (Cliff Lok) who is a kung fu genius and sets up his own school and proceeds to make enemies with his personality and looks (just looking at Lok makes me want to hit someone.) The difference here is that the plot is much more jumbled, the kung fu much better and comedy is added. I liked this one more because of the massive amount of fighting with a variety of real and made-up styles (already very common to do with kung fu comedies.) Some of the highlights include an iron ring (Hsiao Ho) versus long staff and fan vs. fan with the director and fight choreographer Wilson Tong. So, of course, I like this film more.

In Kung Fu Genius when you have a sidekick/student like Cheng Kang-yeh you pretty much know what is going to happen to him in the film. Like Dean Shek he is typecast and audiences expect a not-so-good martial artist as comic relief who is going to come to some type of bad end. However his descent into madness has to be one of the great “that’s all it took” moments. This is not a steady decline like King Lear but more reminds of the suicide of the lover in Milk which was hilariously capricious though based on a real-life incident. But that leads to a later meeting of two mentally challenged martial artists which is the nadir of the film. Of course it does make one wonder how good of a teacher could Cliff Lok’s character actually be (this scenario seems to come up a lot) when your student is that untalented.

Note: I saw the full screen version of Tiger’s Claw on the Brooklyn Zu Vol. 1 9 pack of films. It is full-screen and if you compare it to the widescreen prints available on youtube you notice about half the film is missing. It’s that bad and I easily recommend it watching on youtube. This would be a bigger crime if the film was better and the choreography had more to it. The Kung Fu Genius copy on the The Great Impersonators set release is widescreen and looks great (I had bought this set for this movie and what Morgoth had said about that film.)

* I am not the only one to state this. In The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s Dr. Reid states: “Though the fights are fast and furious, the kung fu looks sloppy, which is surprising for someone of Cliff Lok’s abilities.” Unfortunately the book does not have a capsule review for Kung Fu Genius which is by far the better film in terms of fighting choreography and should be of more interest to people here. Of course this is very reminiscent of bashers. You could mix a variety of people into the film, often with no martial art background, combine with a slapping type of fighting (not like Joe Calzaghe who would actually hurt someone with that style -- yes I was a big fan of his), put it in the Republic era of China and bam you have a movie.

Dr. Reid also notes a hilarious dubbing mistake in the film. I caught it as I kept wondering how that person could be his dad when it was only 10 years ago he was sent to prison. They later changed the time period to 20 years in the dubbing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlG3XPHwceQ: notice the aka Shaolin Tiger’s Claw. You will see some more scenes on this that are not in the full screen version.

I used to own Kung Fu Genius on VHS and cant recall much about it now. I'm curious to see it again now after reading you review. Soon as I pick up my old multi-region DVD player Ill give it a second chance.

Picked up an old school film yesterday in the local second hand shop Shaolin Kung Fu starring Wen Chiang Long and produced by Joseph Kuo. It's an old Taiwanese film made in 1974 I think. Not sure if to watch this or Master Of Death with John Liu next?. Had a break from the older Kung Fu flicks recently by watching a few Gary Daniels films.

[Secret Executioner]

masterofoneinchpunch's review of Kung Fu Genius convinced me I should get that The Great Impersonators set.

I was hesitating as it looks nice and I have been pleasantly surprised with the Flying Fists set, but I already have a couple of the movies off this set - namely Dragon Lee's Big Boss 2 in the Dragon 4 Pack set and French DVD releases of Bruce Le's Enter The Game Of Death and of Marvelous Stunts Of Kung Fu.

Will be a nice companion to the Flying Fists and to the (soon to be delivered) Kickin' It Shaolin Style sets I own.

No need to torture myself. I do enough of that. In fact I've already tortured myself today. A Van Damme 3 pack. I just watched Double Impact:cry: Next up is Cyborg:cry: But after that I get to treat myself with Death Warrant.

Funny, I've been considering watching that Double Impact DVD I have sitting there among my "to watch" DVDs.

[DragonClaws]

masterofoneinchpunch's review of Kung Fu Genius convinced me I should get that The Great Impersonators set.

I was hesitating as it looks nice and I have been pleasantly surprised with the Flying Fists set, but I already have a couple of the movies off this set - namely Dragon Lee's Big Boss 2 in the Dragon 4 Pack set and French DVD releases of Bruce Le's Enter The Game Of Death and of Marvelous Stunts Of Kung Fu.

Will be a nice companion to the Flying Fists and to the (soon to be delivered) Kickin' It Shaolin Style sets I own.

Funny, I've been considering watching that Double Impact

You find once you bought so many Martial Arts films its hard not to double up on some titles if you buy box sets. When I got the MillCreek 100-Moive set for Christmas I already had 12 of the films on their.

[Secret Executioner]

You find once you bought so many Martial Arts films its hard not to double up on some titles if you buy box sets. When I got MillCreek 100-Moive set for Christmas I already had 12 of the films on their.

True that - I think the Iron Fist Frenzy 50-movie set (one half of the 100-movie pack) is actually made up of next to only stuff found on either of the Flying Fists, Kickin' It Shaolin Style, Great Impersonators and Way Of Five Finger Death Strike 12-movie sets.

[DragonClaws]

True that - I think the Iron Fist Frenzy 50-movie set (one half of the 100-movie pack) is actually made up of next to only stuff found on either of the Flying Fists, Kickin' It Shaolin Style, Great Impersonators and Way Of Five Finger Death Strike 12-movie sets.

Yes those sets are The Iron Fist Frenzy set broken down into sections. The other 50-Movie pack in the set has been available befor they released the other sets.

[Secret Executioner]

And speaking of Asso Asia films, I watched The Magnificent (HK, 1979) this afternoon.

Set in 1911, this film deals with a general (played by Chan Sing) who plans to use an old lord (and his coat of arms, which would be used as a symbol) to overthrow the newly established Republic and restore the old Qing order. The local commissioner (Carter Wong Ka Tat) will try to thwart his plans, gaining help from the lord's daughter (Doris Cheung) on his way.

This one's a mixed bag. Directed by Chan Siu Pang (director of The 18 Bronzemen and The Fatal Flying Guillotines) and with Godfrey Ho credited as assistant director, it starts with a nice fight in a mountain set up that gets ruined by the credits running and interrupting...

Then, we get rather boring and confusing stuff (there's also a Dragon Lee cameo at a point, but some awkward editing butchers his fight and we don't know what happens to him - it literally goes "fight starts between Chan Sing and two of Wong's men, including Dragon Lee"/"switch to Carter Wong's office where he decides to go investigate"/"Carter Wong is now on the scene of the fight" with an obvious cut between Wong's office and Wong facing Chan Sing) until the focus gets on Carter Wong and Doris Cheung trying to find a way to defeat Chan Sing. The movie is available on the Shaolin Iron Men set about Bronzemen, but it must be really only because it has 18 Bronzemen star Carter Wong in it and also because Chan Sing practices a style called the Golden Bell that makes him immune to blows and hits from weapons until you hit a certain vital point - even that is confused, because it seems you must hit said vital point (or about 30 of them...) before poking his eyes and kicking him in the groin (while a combo of these two seemed enough in other movies - go figure), though here it's more grabbing the groin (insert sexist comment about Doris Cheung grabbing a guy's groin, cause she's the one who does it). Anyway, the Golden Bell/vital points thing leads to great training scenes with Carter Wong and Doris Cheung, while Chan Sing looks pretty badass practising his Golden Bell.

Not a bad start for the Kickin' It Shaolin Style set. I expected it to be much worse seeing the slow and rather boring start, but the enjoyable score (I especially like the tune to which Wong and Cheung train), the performances by Chan Sing (who's a great bad guy in this one), Carter Wong (who is a bit stone-faced but a good lead) and Doris Cheung (her character isn't ruined by a dub that has her saying "daddy" a lot, which sounds a bit ridiculous) and the really good action (the leads have nice moments and there's some great kicking in there) make the movie watchable and it gets really enjoyable in the second half when it loses the big confusing stuff.

The release itself isn't that great though: as I mentionned, it has awkward editing at points (looks like some scenes were cut), it's fullscreen with a lot of stuff being cropped out and the picture gets a bit grainy at points, but it's still very watchable if your standards aren't too high.

The trailer is very nice, but it could give high expectations on this film:

6_85O1qt4Ag

[AlbertV]

Death Force aka Fighting Mad, a Blaxploitation-Filipino action thriller directed by Filipino legend Cirio H. Santiago. Review is on the main page

[DragonClaws]

And speaking of Asso Asia films, I watched The Magnificent (HK, 1979) this afternoon.

Set in 1911, this film deals with a general (played by Chan Sing) who plans to use an old lord (and his coat of arms, which would be used as a symbol) to overthrow the newly established Republic and restore the old Qing order. The local commissioner (Carter Wong Ka Tat) will try to thwart his plans, gaining help from the lord's daughter (Doris Cheung) on his way.

This one's a mixed bag. Directed by Chan Siu Pang (director of The 18 Bronzemen and The Fatal Flying Guillotines) and with Godfrey Ho credited as assistant director, it starts with a nice fight in a mountain set up that gets ruined by the credits running and interrupting...

Then, we get rather boring and confusing stuff (there's also a Dragon Lee cameo at a point, but some awkward editing butchers his fight and we don't know what happens to him - it literally goes "fight starts between Chan Sing and two of Wong's men, including Dragon Lee"/"switch to Carter Wong's office where he decides to go investigate"/"Carter Wong is now on the scene of the fight" with an obvious cut between Wong's office and Wong facing Chan Sing) until the focus gets on Carter Wong and Doris Cheung trying to find a way to defeat Chan Sing. The movie is available on the Shaolin Iron Men set about Bronzemen, but it must be really only because it has 18 Bronzemen star Carter Wong in it and also because Chan Sing practices a style called the Golden Bell that makes him immune to blows and hits from weapons until you hit a certain vital point - even that is confused, because it seems you must hit said vital point (or about 30 of them...) before poking his eyes and kicking him in the groin (while a combo of these two seemed enough in other movies - go figure), though here it's more grabbing the groin (insert sexist comment about Doris Cheung grabbing a guy's groin, cause she's the one who does it). Anyway, the Golden Bell/vital points thing leads to great training scenes with Carter Wong and Doris Cheung, while Chan Sing looks pretty badass practising his Golden Bell.

Not a bad start for the Kickin' It Shaolin Style set. I expected it to be much worse seeing the slow and rather boring start, but the enjoyable score (I especially like the tune to which Wong and Cheung train), the performances by Chan Sing (who's a great bad guy in this one), Carter Wong (who is a bit stone-faced but a good lead) and Doris Cheung (her character isn't ruined by a dub that has her saying "daddy" a lot, which sounds a bit ridiculous) and the really good action (the leads have nice moments and there's some great kicking in there) make the movie watchable and it gets really enjoyable in the second half when it loses the big confusing stuff.

The release itself isn't that great though: as I mentionned, it has awkward editing at points (looks like some scenes were cut), it's fullscreen with a lot of stuff being cropped out and the picture gets a bit grainy at points, but it's still very watchable if your standards aren't too high.

The trailer is very nice, but it could give high expectations on this film:

6_85O1qt4Ag

I remember seeing an old poster for this film in IMPACT Magazine that said Dragon Lee cameos in the film. Did you spot him in the film GHW?. Vengeance Video released a copy of this but I cant comment on the quality.

[Secret Executioner]

I mentionned his cameo - he essentially shows up at a point to fight the villain. He can be seen in the trailer BTW (around 2:30 - strange they mention a special appearance by "Bruce Lai"...).

[DragonClaws]

I mentionned his cameo - he essentially shows up at a point to fight the villain. He can be seen in the trailer BTW (around 2:30 - strange they mention a special appearance by "Bruce Lai"...).

Sorry GHW I missed that:tinysmile_angry2_t:.

When the film was released in the U.K in the 70's it suffered at the hands of the censors. It might be sourced from an old U.K theatrical print?. I know the Vengeance Video release restores these censor edits. Then again the editing in these old films is not always good. It might simply have been edited very badly.

[Secret Executioner]

Sorry GHW I missed that:tinysmile_angry2_t:.

When the film was released in the U.K in the 70's it suffered at the hands of the censors. It might be sourced from an old U.K theatrical print?. I know the Vengeance Video release restores these censor edits. Then again the editing in these old films is not always good. It might simply have been edited very badly.

If the unedited print runs for 85 mins, I wouldn't want to see the edited version. But with some abrupt cuts here and there and a rather short running time (plus a very cropped fullscreen ratio), I'd say it's an edited print sourced from a VHS or something.

[DragonClaws]

If the unedited print runs for 85 mins, I wouldn't want to see the edited version. But with some abrupt cuts here and there and a rather short running time (plus a very cropped fullscreen ratio), I'd say it's an edited print sourced from a VHS or something.

I have the same print GHW so Ill check it out. Its one of the title's I planned on writing about at some point. Some of the American prints can be sourced from an edited down T.V prints. Occasionally old cut U.K theatrical prints get used, as is often the case with Fist Of Fury 2.

Last year I watched a film called Fighting Of Shaolin Monks a.k.a Killer Priest. That appeared to suffer from some having a few non violent scenes cut. Posted my thoughts on this here but I don't think anyone else had watched the film to comment about it.

[DrNgor]

Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin - Still one of my all-time favorite Jackie Chan movies and old school kung fu movies, period. It's obvious from the choreography (by Chan) that he was trying to develop his style of having the protagonist take on numerous opponents simultaneously, as opposed to the usual "bad guys circle the good guy, and then attack one at a time". Nora Miao kicks butt in what's my favorite role for her. There's also a swearing contest, pipe fu, stress ball fu, spear fu, cane fu, cloth fu, daggers, sabers, tonfa, and gosh knows what else. The soundtrack includes familiar riffs from The Spy Who Loved Me and even the opening music from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. More than 40 minutes of the 90-minute run time is made up of fighting. A true classic.

[paimeifist]

Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin - Still one of my all-time favorite Jackie Chan movies and old school kung fu movies, period. It's obvious from the choreography (by Chan) that he was trying to develop his style of having the protagonist take on numerous opponents simultaneously, as opposed to the usual "bad guys circle the good guy, and then attack one at a time". Nora Miao kicks butt in what's my favorite role for her. There's also a swearing contest, pipe fu, stress ball fu, spear fu, cane fu, cloth fu, daggers, sabers, tonfa, and gosh knows what else. The soundtrack includes familiar riffs from The Spy Who Loved Me and even the opening music from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. More than 40 minutes of the 90-minute run time is made up of fighting. A true classic.

Sounds amazing, good review Ngor. You mentioned this movie a few times in your book, although I have to be honest and say nothing you said about it grabbed my attention like this post.. But that is probably due to having SO MANY movies I want to watch due to your book already, and many movies with "Snake" and/or "Crane" in the titles that you also discussed.

[Secret Executioner]

Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin - Still one of my all-time favorite Jackie Chan movies and old school kung fu movies, period. It's obvious from the choreography (by Chan) that he was trying to develop his style of having the protagonist take on numerous opponents simultaneously, as opposed to the usual "bad guys circle the good guy, and then attack one at a time". Nora Miao kicks butt in what's my favorite role for her. There's also a swearing contest, pipe fu, stress ball fu, spear fu, cane fu, cloth fu, daggers, sabers, tonfa, and gosh knows what else. The soundtrack includes familiar riffs from The Spy Who Loved Me and even the opening music from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. More than 40 minutes of the 90-minute run time is made up of fighting. A true classic.

Great review here. I remember really enjoying this one when I first saw it. Could be one of my fav' Jackie films as well.

[DragonClaws]

Snake and Crane Arts of Shaolin - Still one of my all-time favorite Jackie Chan movies and old school kung fu movies, period. It's obvious from the choreography (by Chan) that he was trying to develop his style of having the protagonist take on numerous opponents simultaneously, as opposed to the usual "bad guys circle the good guy, and then attack one at a time". Nora Miao kicks butt in what's my favorite role for her. There's also a swearing contest, pipe fu, stress ball fu, spear fu, cane fu, cloth fu, daggers, sabers, tonfa, and gosh knows what else. The soundtrack includes familiar riffs from The Spy Who Loved Me and even the opening music from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. More than 40 minutes of the 90-minute run time is made up of fighting. A true classic.

This one stood out a lot amongst Chan's other early efforts. One of the few Lo Wei films he did that Ive watched many times over the years. I always love the fight he has at the end with the three spear wielding fighters. Kam Kong is great too as the films villain taking on anyone who gets in his way.

Well worth watching paimiefist.

[DragonClaws]

Writing Kung Fu

(1979)

Directed By- Bolo Yeung

Starring- John Chang, Bolo Yeung, Johnny Cheung, Candice Yu On-On

Grim and unusual Kung Fu flick directed by Martial Arts super villain Bolo Yeung. John Chang (Snake In The Monkeys Shadow) stars as a teacher in a small rural village. He has no kung fu skills and often suffers at the hands of the local gangsters. A stranger (Bolo) appears in town one day pretending to be salt/tea trader. Only he's really a famous murderer Ah Yen who once wiped out an entire village on his own. Soon things go from bad to worse for the teacher. Before you know it he's getting drunk and acting like a loon. Meanwhile Ah Yen is plotting to rob the local gangsters and make off with their loot. Lucky for the teacher he drops on a pair of winos who are also skilled in Martial Arts. Throughout the course of the film our hero stops hitting the bottle and gradually picks up the art of kung fu.

I was a little disappointed the first time I watched this movie. It’s not a bad film but I kinda expected more action from a film directed by & starring Bolo. The fight choreography is really good however with some great acrobatics, but there's just too little of it. Bolo steals the film as the evil Ah Yen, who likes to play the flute whilst he fights his enemies. This sight alone is worth watching the film for. Despite some goofy moments most of the film is very serous and grim in tone. No classic, but still worth a watch for fans of old school Martial Arts cinema.

[Secret Executioner]

Writing Kung Fu

(1979)

Directed By- Bolo Yeung

Starring- John Chang, Bolo Yeung, Johnny Cheung, Candice Yu On-On

Grim and unusual Kung Fu flick directed by Martial Arts super villain Bolo Yeung. John Chang (Snake In The Monkeys Shadow) stars as a teacher in a small rural village. He has no kung fu skills and often suffers at the hands of the local gangsters. A stranger (Bolo) appears in town one day pretending to be salt/tea trader. Only he's really a famous murderer Ah Yen who once wiped out an entire village on his own. Soon things go from bad to worse for the teacher. Before you know it he's getting drunk and acting like a loon. Meanwhile Ah Yen is plotting to rob the local gangsters and make off with their loot. Lucky for the teacher he drops on a pair of winos who are also skilled in Martial Arts. Throughout the course of the film our hero stops hitting the bottle and gradually picks up the art of kung fu.

I was a little disappointed the first time I watched this movie. It’s not a bad film but I kinda expected more action from a film directed by & starring Bolo. The fight choreography is really good however with some great acrobatics, but there's just too little of it. Bolo steals the film as the evil Ah Yen, who likes to play the flute whilst he fights his enemies. This sight alone is worth watching the film for. Despite some goofy moments most of the film is very serous and grim in tone. No classic, but still worth a watch for fans of old school Martial Arts cinema.

The title kinda rings a bell, not sure where I heard of this before though...

[DragonClaws]

The title kinda rings a bell, not sure where I heard of this before though...

It has been discussed on these forums before but cant recall which thread.

[Secret Executioner]

It has been discussed on these forums before but cant recall which thread.

Guess so. Maybe I saw it was on some multiple movie pack too, but I couldn't say for sure.

[DragonClaws]

Guess so. Maybe I saw it was on some multiple movie pack too, but I couldn't say for sure.

There's is the Vengeance Video release R2 and a U.S release paired with Ninja Killer. There the only one's I know of but I'm sure there's more.