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

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Was not expecting to like Attack of the Joyful Goddess as much as I did. But it was a good mix of murder plot, horror and a pinch of fu. Chiang Sheng was quite good and the end fight was pretty crazy. I wouldn't mind seeing this in Chinese eventually too.

[ShawAngela]

I finally watched the Terracotta version of this movie.

What a superb non stop action movies, with very good fights.

Isn't the music theme with the drums also used in some Shaw Brothers' movies ?

Also, I noticed at least one still showing a scene that I din't see in the movie, with Cheng Lei and the other disciples holding the buckets on bamboo sticks as if they were holding a ladder on their shoulders.

Chan Wai Man and Danny Lee are as evil as possible in this movie !!

[ShaOW!linDude]

KUNG FU ZOMBIE

http://www.kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?p=258453#post258453

[DragonClaws]

Interesting review ShaOW!linDude, sounds like Kung Fu Zombie is as far out as Shaolin Drunkard.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Interesting review ShaOW!linDude, sounds like Kung Fu Zombie is as far out as Shaolin Drunkard.

Haven seen that one, but I've seen Taoism Drunkard and I hated that.

[paimeifist]

Come on Shaowlin, you know you like the watermelon monster! Lol!

I revisited Heroes of the Wild over the weekend. I got the "venom mob" films release so I could see a fight scene that was cut from the version I had on the mill creek set. I still love this movie, it has a cool "wandering hero" feel to it, and the relationship between Chen Sing and the kid is very cool. This Is my favorite Chen Sing performance, he is too cool in this! Throw in a mysterious masked villain, Hwang Jang Lee, Yuen Biao, Corey Yuen, Lo Lieh, and Doris Lung and you got to have a fun. The fights are good throughout, and as with many indies, the outdoor locations are cool. Yeah there is some poor editing, not much of a story(but it's still enjoyable, and above average), and the dub some may not appreiate(but I love it!), but overall it's a real cool entertaining flick. The fight scene that was cut from the mill creek set is awesome and features some pretty dazzling swordplay, definitely worth getting another release of this great movie imo.

Oh, and the kid threatening people that Chen Sing will "Smash their mouth in!", is still some of the best stuff from any classic dub!

[DrNgor]

Come on Shaowlin, you know you like the watermelon monster! Lol!

I revisited Heroes of the Wild over the weekend. I got the "venom mob" films release so I could see a fight scene that was cut from the version I had on the mill creek set. I still love this movie, it has a cool "wandering hero" feel to it, and the relationship between Chen Sing and the kid is very cool. This Is my favorite Chen Sing performance, he is too cool in this! Throw in a mysterious masked villain, Hwang Jang Lee, Yuen Biao, Corey Yuen, Lo Lieh, and Doris Lung and you got to have a fun. The fights are good throughout, and as with many indies, the outdoor locations are cool. Yeah there is some poor editing, not much of a story(but it's still enjoyable, and above average), and the dub some may not appreiate(but I love it!), but overall it's a real cool entertaining flick. The fight scene that was cut from the mill creek set is awesome and features some pretty dazzling swordplay, definitely worth getting another release of this great movie imo.

Oh, and the kid threatening people that Chen Sing will "Smash their mouth in!", is still some of the best stuff from any classic dub!

Glad you like it. It's one of my favorite old school movies of all time.

[paimeifist]

Glad you like it. It's one of my favorite old school movies of all time.

I feel the same, especially when it comes to independant flicks.

[DragonClaws]

Haven seen that one, but I've seen Taoism Drunkard and I hated that.

Ive never heard of Taoism Monk before dude. I picked up Shaolin Drunkard based on Yuen Woo Ping directing and choreographing the fights scenes.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Ive never heard off Taoism Monk before dude. I picked up Shaolin Drunkard based on Yuen Woo Ping directing and choreographing the fights scenes.

If you get a chance to watch the earlier Miracle Fighters as well. Crazy, crazy comedy. The comedy comes first, it is weird often made up elements, but I liked both films (I have not see Taoist Drunkard which comes after Shaolin Drunkard.) I have a weird liking of Taoist comedies. I also like several of the Mr. Vampire films that I have seen.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Come on Shaowlin, you know you like the watermelon monster! Lol!

Ugh! Please don't make me recall that!

I revisited Heroes of the Wild over the weekend. I got the "venom mob" films release so I could see a fight scene that was cut from the version I had on the mill creek set. I still love this movie, it has a cool "wandering hero" feel to it, and the relationship between Chen Sing and the kid is very cool. This Is my favorite Chen Sing performance, he is too cool in this! Throw in a mysterious masked villain, Hwang Jang Lee, Yuen Biao, Corey Yuen, Lo Lieh, and Doris Lung and you got to have a fun. The fights are good throughout, and as with many indies, the outdoor locations are cool. Yeah there is some poor editing, not much of a story(but it's still enjoyable, and above average), and the dub some may not appreiate(but I love it!), but overall it's a real cool entertaining flick. The fight scene that was cut from the mill creek set is awesome and features some pretty dazzling swordplay, definitely worth getting another release of this great movie imo.

Oh, and the kid threatening people that Chen Sing will "Smash their mouth in!", is still some of the best stuff from any classic dub!

This sounds pretty good! And it's a film with Biao in it that I've never seen. Putting it on the list to get.

[DragonClaws]

If you get a chance to watch the earlier Miracle Fighters as well. Crazy, crazy comedy. The comedy comes first, it is weird often made up elements, but I liked both films (I have not see Taoist Drunkard which comes after Shaolin Drunkard.) I have a weird liking of Taoist comedies. I also like several of the Mr. Vampire films that I have seen.

I have read about Miracle Fighters but haven't watched it yet. Ill add the title to my ever growing list of Kung Fu films to watch.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

I have read about Miracle Fighters but haven't watched it yet. Ill add the title to my ever growing list of Kung Fu films to watch.

It's neverending. Add that to all the other genres and countries I am interested in and it's a lifetime pursuit.

[paimeifist]

Ugh! Please don't make me recall that!

This sounds pretty good! And it's a film with Biao in it that I've never seen. Putting it on the list to get.

Biaos part is small, but he does have a couple nice fight scenes.. But even without Biao, I'd recommend putting it on your list to get! Good stuff all around, and everyone involved puts on a solid performance.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

If you get a chance to watch the earlier Miracle Fighters as well. Crazy, crazy comedy. The comedy comes first, it is weird often made up elements, but I liked both films (I have not see Taoist Drunkard which comes after Shaolin Drunkard.) I have a weird liking of Taoist comedies. I also like several of the Mr. Vampire films that I have seen.

Yeah! Creativity and craziness is one of the main things I look for in a movie. And I'm into the non comedy magic movies just as much, like Boxer's Omen and Seeding of a Ghost.

[DrNgor]

My first choice for the Roundtable Review didn't deliver on the title, so I'll post my thoughts here:

Struggle Karate (1971) - It was a struggle alright. Struggle to understand (I watched the Turkish-dubbed version), a struggle to figure who played who, and a struggle to enjoy. The movie was released a good two months before The Big Boss set the bar to dizzying new Heights, so this film is understandably crude in comparison. It's also cheap, drab, badly-edited, and just a crappy film all around. Aficionados might find a certain charm in it for all those reasons.

Wong Yung (the Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre films) plays an enforcer for a local crime boss (Yee Yuen, who often played a Japanese heavy) who carries out an assault on a local school. Everybody is murdered except the master's daughter (Cheung Ching-Ching, whose short career included Champion of the Boxers and One-Armed Swordswoman), who's taken captive. Wong Yung is having women problems with his girlfriend (Qin Mi, whose career was even more short-lived, the only other martial arts film she made being Extreme Enemy). I guess to shore up his prospects with her, he saves the daughter from his boss's cronies and sets her free. The act of defiance becomes full-on rebellion once they kill his girlfriend. Thankfully, he has the dead master's daughter, her brother, and their friend to back him up.

With regards to the title, there is a scene where the bad guys are beating/torturing the brother character, including five guys dressed in karate gis. Strangely enough, they disappear from the film after that scene, including the finale.

The film is almost non-stop basher action. We know what that means: Everybody kicks low and without power. Wong Yung throws scores of Mississipi Haymakers which are apparently enough to kill people in a single hit. Everybody has bionic legs and is capable of jumping like the Hulk. Cheung Ching-Ching uses lots of backfists and chops in her fights, although they lack any sort of real intensity (being pre-Bruce Lee, I can't complain too much). I don't know who the action diretor was, although I'm guessing it was Wong Fei-Lung (Story of the Dragon and Shaolin Deadly Kicks), who plays one of the bad guy's main henchmen. His work in those films was pretty solid, but here he was probalby learning the ropes. The fight editing is horrific, with the settings changing from forest to mountain to Lord-knows-where-else in between cuts.

Musical cues are taken from On Her Majesty's Secret Service and from Akira Ifukube's backlog (re: the guy who scored Godzilla and other Japanese sci-fi films). In the end, it's a bland affair and mainly a curiosity for people who want to see what pre-Bruce Lee films were like.

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Struggle Karate (1971) ... In the end, it's a bland affair and mainly a curiosity for people who want to see what pre-Bruce Lee films were like.

Well there were plenty of good wuxia films, but pre-Bruce Lee kung fu (unarmed combat) films are not too many yet at least not in quality.

It is funny to see guys in karate gis doing basher forms .

Does not sound like a good film.

[DrNgor]

Well there were plenty of good wuxia films, but pre-Bruce Lee kung fu (unarmed combat) films are not too many yet at least not in quality.

It is funny to see guys in karate gis doing basher forms .

Does not sound like a good film.

My next film, which will probably fit the theme from the looks of it, is another pre-Big Boss (or at least pre-Fist of Fury) film. After that, I'm definitely going to have to jump to the New Wave for my following review.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Sounds like they struggled to put karate in the movie:tongue:

[DrNgor]

A Brave Girl-Boxer in Shanghai (1972) - Having unexpectedly enjoyed Yen Yu-Lung's choreography in Duel of Karate, I decided to check this film out to see if he had pushed his craft forward. I'm proud to say that he did. The story covers the same ground as Judy Lee/Chia Ling's Queen Boxer, as it follows the exploits of Ma Wing-Jing's sister (thus making it an unofficial sequel to Chen Kuan-Tai's Boxer from Shantung) as she seeks revenge for her brother's death. Being an early 70s basher, that mainly means that Miss Ma will be kicking the living s*** out of everybody she meets until she fights the right person. Doris Lung fans should rejoice, because this is 80 minutes of her kicking a** and taking names.Her moves aren't as flashy as some her later films, but Yen Yu-Lung's choreography is a bit more varied and crisper that it was in Duel of Karate.

[Secret Executioner]

Rebel Of Shaolin AKA Shaolin Traitor (Taiwan, 1977)

Shaolin Temple is in turmoil as monks are murdered and a precious artefact is stolen. A wrongly accused monk (Carter Wong) will have to uncover the actual traitor as the royal family seems eager to see Shaolin destroyed and counts on the events going on at the temple to make matters worse.

A pretty bad low budget flick. The locations, settings and costumes are nice (I must admit I'm a sucker for Fu flicks with monks and temples, I'm always pleased when these are involved), the soundtrack is really cool (a tune that sounds like something out of a Spaghetti Western), but that's about it.

The story is really confused (though I wanted to see how all this would end), the action is okay, but not that abundant nor great (kudos to the variety of weapons used though - staffs and swords are used a lot and Carter Wong even uses a pair of sai -, but you get some nice shapes as well), the characters are either uninteresting (I never felt too invested in what would happen to Carter Wong, though I had some sympathy for him and Polly Shang-Kwan) or annoying (especially Doris Lung as the princess, she's so obnoxious I ended rooting for whoever would kill her), you also get the usual character in drag that fools everybody but the audience (and here it's Polly Shang-Kwan as Carter Wong's unexpected ally) and the little there is of comedy is more obnoxious than funny (thinking of a scene involving supposed slapstick between Wong and Polly Shang-Kwan), except for a very badly dubbed crazy old master who gets unintentionally funny (because his voice is so bad I can't really describe it).

Actually, the only thing that made me raise an eyebrow was the strangest set-up for an ambush. Carter Wong passes by two guys who are whipping the crap out of a poor lady and it turns out the three were a bunch of fighters out to get him - even the chick is fighting him. Yeah, cause at a point in the movie Wong keeps being attacked by fighters after Shaolin issued a warrant (as everyone believes him to be the murderous thief since he kept being found next to the victims) ... And I believe one of them was Chang Yi (who actually only makes a cameo here - and I failed to spot the recurring Lung Fei, who is also in this one according to hkcinemagic).

Basically, I'd put it on par with Duel Of The Tough another Shaolin-related movie I saw recently. The ambush and Polly Shang-Kwan are what I liked the most (I find Polly Shang-Kwan really cute, even when she's dressed as a man - actually, am I the only one who thinks chicks in these films look really cute when they are pretending to be dudes ? Happened to me with several films, and I sometimes even find them cuter as dudes actually...). This film is really worth a watch for the completely unfitting dub of the crazy old master, and/or if you're a Carter Wong or a Polly Shang-Kwan fan (or a fan of both, or if you'd like to see them team up, though they have little time together really).

I'm beginning to lose faith in that Kickin' It Shaolin Style set,as I've seen about half of the movies and I put this as the third best - interestingly, the two titles I enjoyed the most in this collection are the Asso Asia film The Magnificent that also stars Carter Wong teaming up with a lady (a way less obnoxious Doris Lung) and that whacky Taiwanese (again) film called Super Dragon that has Polly Shang-Kwan as a tomboy-ish chick (looking strangely cute in her manlyness), only this time she's not posing as a guy (she was apparently raised as a boy since her father had no son) and she's out to avenge her father and she ends (again) teaming up with the lead guy (after wanting to kill him though).

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Lung Fei has a cameo one on one fight with Carter Wong early into Rebel of Shaolin. Chang Yi plays Carter's crazy teacher. I love almost everything about Rebel of Shaolin. I think really good choreography is the only thing it's lacking. It's kind of a depressing movie, but that's the way I like em.

Love love love Girl Boxer! I don't think Ive ever seen a woman so petite kick so much ass.

[Secret Executioner]

Lung Fei has a cameo one on one fight with Carter Wong early into Rebel of Shaolin. Chang Yi plays Carter's crazy teacher. I love almost everything about Rebel of Shaolin. I think really good choreography is the only thing it's lacking. It's kind of a depressing movie, but that's the way I like em.

I'd have thought it was the other way around, Chang Yi making a cameo and Lung Fei having a big part. Should check again, a moustache sporting guy who attacked Carter Wong looked kinda familiar.

I agree the choreography is lacking, though I kinda like that flying around from Carter Wong. The fights aren't filmed that well either (people fly and jump around a lot), and the cropping to fullscreen doesn't help (an example I remember is a scene that has 3 character but you only see 2 so when the third speaks you have a voice coming out of nowhere...).

[DragonClaws]

Rebel Of Shaolin AKA Shaolin Traitor (Taiwan, 1977)

Shaolin Temple is in turmoil as monks are murdered and a precious artefact is stolen. A wrongly accused monk (Carter Wong) will have to uncover the actual traitor as the royal family seems eager to see Shaolin destroyed and counts on the events going on at the temple to make matters worse.

A pretty bad low budget flick. The locations, settings and costumes are nice (I must admit I'm a sucker for Fu flicks with monks and temples, I'm always pleased when these are involved), the soundtrack is really cool (a tune that sounds like something out of a Spaghetti Western), but that's about it.

The story is really confused (though I wanted to see how all this would end), the action is okay, but not that abundant nor great (kudos to the variety of weapons used though - staffs and swords are used a lot and Carter Wong even uses a pair of sai -, but you get some nice shapes as well), the characters are either uninteresting (I never felt too invested in what would happen to Carter Wong, though I had some sympathy for him and Polly Shang-Kwan) or annoying (especially Doris Lung as the princess, she's so obnoxious I ended rooting for whoever would kill her), you also get the usual character in drag that fools everybody but the audience (and here it's Polly Shang-Kwan as Carter Wong's unexpected ally) and the little there is of comedy is more obnoxious than funny (thinking of a scene involving supposed slapstick between Wong and Polly Shang-Kwan), except for a very badly dubbed crazy old master who gets unintentionally funny (because his voice is so bad I can't really describe it).

Actually, the only thing that made me raise an eyebrow was the strangest set-up for an ambush. Carter Wong passes by two guys who are whipping the crap out of a poor lady and it turns out the three were a bunch of fighters out to get him - even the chick is fighting him. Yeah, cause at a point in the movie Wong keeps being attacked by fighters after Shaolin issued a warrant (as everyone believes him to be the murderous thief since he kept being found next to the victims) ... And I believe one of them was Chang Yi (who actually only makes a cameo here - and I failed to spot the recurring Lung Fei, who is also in this one according to hkcinemagic).

Basically, I'd put it on par with Duel Of The Tough another Shaolin-related movie I saw recently. The ambush and Polly Shang-Kwan are what I liked the most (I find Polly Shang-Kwan really cute, even when she's dressed as a man - actually, am I the only one who thinks chicks in these films look really cute when they are pretending to be dudes ? Happened to me with several films, and I sometimes even find them cuter as dudes actually...). This film is really worth a watch for the completely unfitting dub of the crazy old master, and/or if you're a Carter Wong or a Polly Shang-Kwan fan (or a fan of both, or if you'd like to see them team up, though they have little time together really).

I'm beginning to lose faith in that Kickin' It Shaolin Style set,as I've seen about half of the movies and I put this as the third best - interestingly, the two titles I enjoyed the most in this collection are the Asso Asia film The Magnificent that also stars Carter Wong teaming up with a lady (a way less obnoxious Doris Lung) and that whacky Taiwanese (again) film called Super Dragon that has Polly Shang-Kwan as a tomboy-ish chick (looking strangely cute in her manlyness), only this time she's not posing as a guy (she was apparently raised as a boy since her father had no son) and she's out to avenge her father and she ends (again) teaming up with the lead guy (after wanting to kill him though).

Good review, Ive have this title to watch and it sounds at least average. The last Asian Carter Wong film I watched was Kung Fu Arts. I'd never seen an ape marry a woman raise a child and be referred to as Uncle Monkey befor watching that flick.

[Secret Executioner]

Good review, Ive have this title to watch and it sounds at least average. The last Asian Carter Wong film I watched was Kung Fu Arts. I'd never seen an ape marry a woman raise a child and be referred to as Uncle Monkey befor watching that flick.

Honestly, it's a very average film indeed. Kung Fu Arts however is something I'd love to see. The idea of the princess (not any woman, a f**kin' PRINCESS) marrying an ape puts it in the "so bad it's great" category.