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

[DrNgor]

I guess I should watch AFOT as well, now that I have a solid Billy Chong foundation. Great review, especially as you analyzed the non martial aspects quite adeptly.

[ShawAngela]

Lady,

 

Did you ask Jamal regarding The handcuff ? Maybe he has what you want and maybe it's him who posted the sequence, since sometimes he posts trailers of his movies...

 

http://jamalkungfuprojects.blogspot.fr/search?q=handcuff

 

 

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Lady,

 

Did you ask Jamal regarding The handcuff ? Maybe he has what you want and maybe it's him who posted the sequence, since sometimes he posts trailers of his movies...

 

http://jamalkungfuprojects.blogspot.fr/search?q=handcuff

 

 

Thank you for this and the private message regarding David Chiang tv appearances. Always greatly appreciated, ShawAngela. 

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Duel to the Death (1983) - everything Brother Bob said it was. Great movie with a fantastic (should have been award winning performance) by Norman Chu  (I'd post more, but already did so in the November mutual reviews.)  

[ukrevrend]

Pedicab Driver (1989)

Source: Triplehelix's HD Stream 1280 x 720 mp4

 

Revisited this Sammo Hung classic, for the first time in about 10 years (big thanks to Triplehelix for the rip!!). Finally a copy worthy of this high kicking, bone crushing  classic form Sammo.  A stunning cast including a great cameo from Liu Chia Liang (Pops) fighting Sammo in a gambling house, first hand to hand and then with poles, this is worth the watch alone.

The story centre's around a tragic love story between Max Monk & Fennie Yuen, him a pedicab driver & her a 'lady of the night', the drama is a very average affair (seen it all before!), but the action is what this movie is all about.  Sammo's stunt team, Corey Yuen & Mang Hoi keep the action brutal, fast, exciting & comedic (remember this is Sammo Hung!), even the opening fight scene between the rival cab firms, is extra violent, but sandwiched in between the violence is some classic comedy kung fu featuring a homage to 'Star Wars'.

The editing is typical 80's new wave, with very fast cuts to keep the action on high octane and Sammo's classic slow mo's are evident throughout.

There are so many stars in this you'll be trying to identify who they are: Billy Chow, Chung Fat, Dick Wei, Lam Ching Ying, Peter Chang Lung, Coery Yuen,  Mang Hoi, Yuen Tak, Eddie Maher & Hsiao Ho all with enough screen time to make an impact on the action!

Watch this, trust me you won't be disappointed.

5/5

bless

Edited November 1, 2015 by ukrevrend
corrected a word

[KenHashibe]

As in most Sun Chung movies, the atmosphere is very dark due to the sets and music used. Most of the soundtrack was just atmospheric background music, but there was one track that played a couple times that I loved. Does anyone know what this one was? It was during a scene where Billy Chong was riding a horse through a field and another when he was training. It sounded familiar to me.

I've been searching for that theme song too, but I've had no luck finding it so far. It's so freakin' catchy!

I guess I should watch AFOT as well, now that I have a solid Billy Chong foundation. Great review, especially as you analyzed the non martial aspects quite adeptly.

Definitely. It's a terrific movie. While your at it, Crystal Fist (a.k.a. Jade Claw) and Super Power are also well worth your time.

[DragonClaws]

I watched The Guy With Secret Kung Fu late Saterday night and wrote a small review which can be found here.

 

Link- http://www.shaolinchamber36.com/kungfufandom/index.php?/topic/21492-the-guy-with-secret-kung-fu-1981/#comment-258737

 

 

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Stoner (1974)  The most pure strain exploitation film I've seen with martial arts (okay, maybe, tied with City Ninja), revolving around a narcotics cop in Hong Kong (George Lazenby) who discovers a new local psychedelic, the "Happy Pill" is making the rounds. Women become aroused and it blinds the senses along with being instantly addictive. But what happens to the men? And why does the Happy Pill look like pastel M&Ms. And why do I care? 

 

Angela Mao comes in as a Taiwanese cop assigned to watch an old tanker from Thailand (which of course is tied to the distribution of the Happy Pill.) 

 

Everyone is acting like they have broomsticks up their rumps, even the zonked 'hippie' kids in the free love pad where the Happy Pill is first distributed. Angela isn't bad here, but there's less of the spark from Broken Oath or When Tae Kwon Do Strikes in her non martial moments. She is fun to watch once she gets in her fu groove, but it wasn't enough for me to like the film. 

 

I was looking forward to this one, but it didn't quite work for me. Ah well. 

Edited November 3, 2015 by Lady Jin Szu-Yi

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Stoner (1974)  ...

I was looking forward to this one, but it didn't quite work for me. Ah well. 

It did not work for me either.  I wrote about it here and rereading it and the rest of the thread there is a decent amount of info on the Angela Mao set.  

Edited November 3, 2015 by masterofoneinchpunch

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

It did not work for me either.  I wrote about it here and rereading it and the rest of the thread there is a decent amount of info on the Angela Mao set.  

Thanks,  Master. I have purposely held off reading more of the reviews in the Angela Mao Ying collection thread as I want to approach the remaining 3 films fresh. 

 

 

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Thanks,  Master. I have purposely held off reading more of the reviews in the Angela Mao Ying collection thread as I want to approach the remaining 3 films fresh. 

Makes sense.  I do the same thing as well.  I tend to avoid reviews unless I have seen the film or already know the ending etc...  The collection is hit and miss, but I was so happy that it came out.  Heck, I'm always happy when Golden Harvest films come out.

[paimeifist]

I recently got the collection as well (the week before last I believe?), and I have done the same in trying to avoid reading too much about the films. All I have watched so far is "When TKD Strikes".

 

Seeing just that one film and owning the Jimmy Wang Yu collection though, I have to say Shout! is doing a great job with these. I didn't think I'd ever see One-Armed Boxer in good quality, although I admit I miss the dub track on that one! With a movie like One-Armed Boxer, no matter how much of a purist you may be, its gotta be seen dubbed!

 

Edited November 4, 2015 by paimeifist

[bearpower]

Slice of death aka Shaolin Abbot with David Chiang

[Tex Killer]

snuff bottle connection is not quite my fav hwang jang lee&john liu flick but damn close. Storyline is good and action scenes great. Only drawback we do not see much HWL in action before end(and end fight in secret rivals 2 is better by small marginal).

 

Roy Horan is cool as general, better than priest in snake in the eagles shadow....

 

 

[One Armed Boxer]

Returned Single-Legged Man (aka The Korean Connection) (1974)

[Jadedragon61]

Hellz Windstaff (Hwang Jang Lee) - I love this old skool classic, non stop fights and Hwang is great as the (almost) invincible villain.

I've never seen this. Will give it a watch soon. Thanks for the recommend !

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

The Heroes (1980) -  paimeifist, thanks for the recommendation. Interesting destroy / save Shaolin plot. The film felt like a mix of Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest (Shaws for the costumes, sets and fight choreography, GH for the occasional grit of the action / plot.) Some sweet, sweet Wing Chun moves by Ti Lung (some of the best martial moves I've seen him perform in any film.) And he had some rocking wuxia clothes. 

 

Of course, now I want that interchangeable pole - spear - halberd Chan Wai Man is wielding (box-carrying servant optional.) Yes, I was quite happy to see more CWM  halberd use, and found myself yelling during Ti and Chan's final fight - "Get away from the gate / bars, damn it!"  it was fun to see some bare hand moves CWM deployed in other period films (Broken Oath and Judgement of An Assassin)  mixed into this film too. Another great period villain role here. 

 

A native language dub, widescreen print and different music would propel this into greatness for me.  It's quite good and will certainly be on the rewatch list. Glad I picked up a copy. 

Edited November 10, 2015 by Lady Jin Szu-Yi

[paimeifist]

I agree with it being some of the best screen fighting I have seen from Ti Lung. I really enjoyed the few bouts between him and Tan Tao Liang, the wing chun vs kicks was cool. I mostly agree with the rest of what you said about it as well. Glad you liked it. I too wish this one had a better release.

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

I was very happy to see Ti deploy his Wing Chun training. I am sure he's done so before, but I can't quite remember anything as vivid as this. Also felt he delivered an excellent performance here and the assassination attempt at the dinner was really good too.  

 

Thanks again for the recommendation. 

Edited November 10, 2015 by Lady Jin Szu-Yi

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

V.I.P. (1978) 

 

Not entirely sure you can this call this one martial arts, but triads Yasuaki Kurata and Chan Wai Man are part of a jewelry theft ring and have their eyes set on stealing a diamond hidden in the top of a Jakarta monument. 

 

Constantly dogged by local cop Jack, the film is interesting when the bad guys are on screen and an absolute snooze when they’re not. Of course, when you’ve got charisma to spare like Kurata and Chan, it’s easy not to pay attention to anyone else. Throw in a sloppy love triangle over Jack’s partner (who was once Chan’s lover) you get an equally sloppy brawl. It’s a great fight between Chan and Kurata which makes me want to look into more films featuring Yasuaki kicking ass. Ultimately, Kurata’s pride gets him demoted from stealing the diamond and then he vanishes from the film a few minutes later. Chan steps in and cue soap opera moments. I don’t know, but Chan and Kurata were really good sports here. Really good. Kurata’s fights and his brawl with Chan make this one worth seeing, but it’s pretty flimsy story / execution.  

 

Ah well. 

[DragonClaws]

Infernal Street (1973)

You can find my thoughts on this one here link- http://www.shaolinchamber36.com/kungfufandom/index.php?/forum/50-martial-arts-movie-reviews/

Chan Wai Man and Yusuaki Kurata in the same film sounds good, even if the story is not up to much.

 

Edited November 10, 2015 by DragonClaws

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Nice review of Infernal Street, DragonClaws. 

 

Re: V.I.P.:  YK and CWM make for a good fight and conflict overall.  Their fight is pretty down and dirty.  Kurata gets quite a bit of good fight time in (and once he gets kicking I was pleasantly surprised. I am used to him in dramas and haven't seen much of his fighting skill so that was good.) Chan plays up the cold hearted killer well (though not as good as other films, because he's not that cold hearted in this...)

 

 I could have watched quite a bit more with these two as they=held their own easily. Had the cops been left to a bare minimum and the writer thought of a different crime to attempt, it would make for a much better film. Those two deserved that. 

Edited November 11, 2015 by Lady Jin Szu-Yi

[DrNgor]

Swift Shaolin Boxer (1978)

 

 

Edited February 1, 2022 by DrNgor
grammar

[Lady Jin Szu-Yi]

Very nice review, Doc. I'll probably be watching more of Angela Mao later this week, but just finished

 

Blooded Treasury Fight (1979)  With David Chiang, Chan Wai Man and Wong Chung aboard this was going to be fun. Death row criminal  Yin Gan To (Chiang) is recruited by Marshall Chow  (Tan Tiao-Liang) to recover a treasure from the notorious Bloody Mill. In tow, are Yin's on / off lover Chai Lin (played with verve by Kim Jeong-Nan (she reminded me of the characters Lily Li often played) and others.  Wong Chung's tattoo artist Wa Lun is another character after the loot as he also heads to the Bloody Mill.  He isn't given much to do here which is too bad because I liked his character. 

 

At the Mill, everyone gets a taste of the Mill Masters' (Chan Wai Man) sadism.   No surprise, the Mill Master wants that treasure too. Ultimately, the Mill lives up to it's name, the treasure is found and all the mentioned characters, save for the Mill Master are not what they seem.  

 

Tan Tiao-Liang, Kim Jeong-Nan and Chan Wai Man have some terrific choreography as far as their fight styles, Tan does a terrific move with his left leg involving a sword, Chan delivers some terrific claw action (can't tell if it's Tiger or Eagle Claw, it was pretty vicious) and Kim handles her red whip with ruthless efficiency. Some of the deaths at the Mill made me think of Italian horror (these were some of the most painful looking I've seen in a kung fu production.) Chiang seemed to be the odd man out fighting-wise here (he was doubled so much for all the flips and such, it was distracting.)  

 

Speaking of distracting, the Battlestar Galactica theme kept popping up, and that meh English dub. 

 

And I kept thinking Chiang's character was the Wolverine. I'll explain, the tough guy English dub,  the  (not mutton chops) but heavy sideburns and his feisty, small guy kicks some serious ass and doesn't care if he lives or dies; felt a lot like the Logan I read back in the 80s and 90s.  This was a fun "What the..." that added to the character and made Chiang's English dub a little easier to take.  I liked what happened with the loot too. That felt a lot like a spaghetti western, and too, what happened to just about everyone who wanted that treasure. Greed kills, folks. 

 

I enjoyed it despite the dub, full screen and Chiang being doubled a lot more than I would have liked. Will it replace Five Elements Ninjas on my viewing list, nope. But I'll definitely revisit this film. 

Edited November 12, 2015 by Lady Jin Szu-Yi

[DrNgor]

Good review, Lady. I also watched this year and thought it was really good. This had one of the few deaths in a kung fu movie that actually made me wince. I think Michael Chan used the eagle claw, since he has said in interviews that he studied Northern kung fu and ying jao pai is a Northern Style.