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

[DragonClaws]

Re-posted this Brutal Boxer inspired write-up, that got deleted late last year.

Just click on the link below, for my rambings on this one, thank you.

[weier78]

 

 

Though I never know why it is called Crystal Fist, I really enjoy this Billy Chong outing.

 

 

Edited November 27, 2017 by weier78

[DrNgor]

Sunset in the Forbidden City (Taiwan, 1976: Lin Pai) - This is the last of the obscure, early Tan Tao-Liang movies that I'll be reviewing for the time being. Tan Tao-Liang plays a young martial artist who goes to the manor of a nobleman (Ma Kei), presumably in Beijing/The Forbidden City--could it be Pu Yi and could this be set in the early days of the Republic following the fall of the Qing Dynasty? I'm not sure, since I watched the film in Mandarin without any subtitles. Anyway, Tan works alongside an elderly kung fu master (frequent collaborator Mang Chiu-Fan) and his badass tai chi master wife. Tan ends up falling in love with a Peking Opera performer (Chia Ling, aka Judy Lee), whose troupe is actually a group of rebels. He eventually discovers that his employer is a bad guy and sides with the good guys.

There's a lot of intrigue and political/historical goings-on in this movie, but because of the lack of subtitles, it was all lost on me. There isn't a whole lot of fighting in this movie, and what we get isn't bad, but not up to the standards of Tan's previous two movies, or his Sammo Hung-choreographed films from that same  year. He does do one new move here, which predates Donnie Yen's No-Shadow Kick sequence from Iron Monkey, where Tan roundhouse kicks an opponent (played by Lung Fei) about twenty times in the head and chest without ever lowering his leg. Judy Lee shows off her actual Peking Opera training early on, but doesn't really fight until the finale, when she briefly tussles with Cliff Ching, who was in Conspiracy of Thieves. I liked the old tai chi woman, who successfully strangles one of the main bad guys to death, even after getting stabbed in the back and shot in the stomach. *That* is the definition of badass.

[DragonClaws]

I tried to find a thread for this movie, but the only result the search engine brought up, was my review lol.

Re-visited this independent Kung Fu actioner, with the talents Chi Kuan-Chun taking centre stage. You can acces my Ways Of Kung Fu inpsired ramblings, by clicking on the useal link below.

Ta Kung(Chi Kuan-Chun) avoids Chang King's(Leung Kar Yan) pole-work, thanks to the use of a bench.

[DragonClaws]

Re-posted an old Chi Kuan Chun review, for any fans of the actor who missed it first time round.

Please click on the link below, thank you.

[kevenzz]

I tried watching a movie called Sandman / The Marvelous Kung Fu today but it was so bad I had to fastfoward most of the film.

Some decent fights in it but it's filled with weird comedy about ugly people.... must have been a very low budget movie.

[kevenzz]

I just watched 8 Strikes of the Wildcat and while it lacks in storyline... it has quite interesting fights. Dan Dan Chi is the main star and she probably didn't know kung fu in real life but she's acrobatic as fuck in this movie.... that's the main reason why it was entertaining

Decent widescreen transfer from what appears to be a 35mm print but unfortunately compressed and squished to 4:3 aspect ratio. Well all Vengeance Video are made for 4:3 crt tvs anyway.

I checked the extras and found info about an upcoming dvd for The Fearless Duo staring Hwang Jang Lee.... but I guess this release was cancelled ? as far as I know this movie never got any dvd releases (except for bootlegs).

also what's up with the cover.... this guy never appears in the movie:

[Omni Dragon]

16 minutes ago, kevenzz said:

Decent widescreen transfer from what appears to be a 35mm print but unfortunately compressed and squished to 4:3 aspect ratio. Well all Vengeance Video are made for 4:3 crt tvs anyway.

Have you tried changing the aspect ratio of what you watched it on i.e. TV, DVD player, computer etc? You can most likely set it to something like 16:9, which would probably stretch the picture with out too much distortion.

[DrNgor]

28 minutes ago, kevenzz said:

I just watched 8 Strikes of the Wildcat and while it lacks in storyline... it has quite interesting fights. Dan Dan Chi is the main star and she probably didn't know kung fu in real life but she's acrobatic as fuck in this movie.... that's the main reason why it was entertaining

 

Huh...Lam Maang-Cheung (of The Death Games) choreographed it. That immediately makes it appealing.

[sirtylee]

If you consider Once Upon a Time in China. My dad owns a copy of CD and I've seen it last August. 

[DragonClaws]

15 hours ago, kevenzz said:

Decent widescreen transfer from what appears to be a 35mm print but unfortunately compressed and squished to 4:3 aspect ratio. Well all Vengeance Video are made for 4:3 crt tvs anyway.

I don't think all of the Vengeance Video titles were full screen?, having never purchased this release I cant comment on it.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

They had some WS releases in there, but the majority was FS for whatever reason. I know Toby Russell was and possibly still is the owner of a large number of cinema prints from specially the Taiwanese KF scene of the 70's and 80's. So why those weren't telecined and put out (some were for the Rarescope label) on the VV label I don't know. I guess cost was a factor.

 

[Killer Meteor]

The transfer on Vengeance's 8 Strikes is scope, but very heavily cropped on the top for some reason.

[saltysam]

Devil & Angel - Lo Lieh is set up by his criminal associates and ends up in jail- obviously when he gets out a few years down the line he wants revenge.Short (less than 80 minutes) actioner moves along at a fair lick with a cast of genre stalwarts.

18 Jade Arhats- Kung fu whodunnit . Someone has murdered prominent fighter Chang Yi ,so it's time to find out who. Standard genre fare, Lo Lieh, Polly Shan, Chang Yi and Lung Fei are here,fights are plentiful but average. New german dvd is english dubbed and widescreen but looks like it's come from a VHS source.

Supermen Against The Orient- oddball mashup of the eurospy& Kung Fu genre. Secret Agent Wallace is sent to HK to rescue 6 kidnapped FBI  agents ,along the way he teams up with two annoying comedy reliefs and Lo Lieh. They band together and take on the bad guys wearing cheap looking superhero suits that make them invincible. (clearly Bruce Lee vs Supermen nicked from this) not as much fun as it sounds, the comedy is lame and the action uninspired.

[lilmanjs]

The Blazing Temple

What starts out with Chia Ling vowing to kill the emperor, turns into an almost completely different movie maybe 5 minutes in. The Shaolin Temple gets shelled by cannon fire and not very many escape. They vow to kill the emperor and hide out to do so a couple of times. Decent action, but the plot is paper thin. Does Joseph Kuo do better? I don't know as the only other one I have seen is King of Kings which is far better than this one.

[Killer Meteor]

18 Bronzemen, 7 Grandmasters, Mystery of Chess Boxing and Mighty One are all better. Blazing Temple is basically a moving picture - no depth, no characterisation, no emotion, just people fighting.

[GOLDEN DRAGON YIN-YANG]

 

ALL THREE WERE AWESOME!

GD Y-Y

Edited December 27, 2017 by GOLDEN DRAGON YIN-YANG

[Killer Meteor]

Drunken Master, Slippery Snake (1979)

The first 10 minutes of this film, with Yuen Siu Tien pretending to a blushing bride (no, really!) suggest that he will be the main star, but then the focus shifts more to Cliff Lok, who isn't nearly as good an actor. But it's just as well, as Yuen is so extensively doubled in the finale by Brandy Yuen that he might as well have stayed home. Good villiany from Lee Hoi-sang and Chiang Tao, not much else to really hold the attention. Cliff Lok is less alluring in drag than Jackie Chan was in Fearless Hyena!

 

5/10

[lilmanjs]

16 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

18 Bronzemen, 7 Grandmasters, Mystery of Chess Boxing and Mighty One are all better. Blazing Temple is basically a moving picture - no depth, no characterisation, no emotion, just people fighting.

Will check those out for sure. Thanks for the recommendations. Glad to own this one still, even if all you watch it for is the action.

[kevenzz]

yeah The Blazing Temple is pretty boring imo... lots of these early Carter Wong movies just aren't my taste.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Crazy Horse Intelligent Monkey

[sifu iron perm]

On 05/09/2017 at 2:19 PM, AlbertV said:

I finally needed a classic kick over the holiday weekend and I saw these:

Kid from Kwangtung - I finally caught this for the first time ever! It was playing on El Rey Network as the opening film for their "Wax On Wax Off Labor Day Marathon" and I was blown away. Some funny stuff including the Chinese vampire scene but the highlight...Hwang Jang-Lee, especially when he eyes turn green and he starts going off like a ravenous cat! I loved it!

The Tattoo Connection - Catchy theme song with Anders Nelsson's "Diamond". Jim Kelly, Tan Tao-Liang, and Chen Sing, plus the beautiful Misaki Name. Nuff said.

Kung Fu: Punch of Death (The Prodigal Boxer) - Meng Fei as Fong Sai-Yuk as he takes on the duo of Wong Ching and Yasuaki Kurata.

Masked Avengers - One of my favorite Venom films with Philip Kwok as a former member of a masked gang who helps the heroes take on his old gang in a booby-trapped underground temple. Awesome fights and excellent performance by Chin Siu-Ho as well!

hey,  do you know which version /source is this taken from?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvyMv885lTY

[kevenzz]

I wish Crazy Horse and Intelligent Monkey would get a proper release..... the FLK isn't that bad but it could be better for sure.

[DragonClaws]

 

Chinese Hercules, is the subject of my first review of the year. For those Kung Fu Fandom members/readers who are interested, you can check out my rambling's, by clicking on the link below, thank you.

 

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

You'll need the subs.It's a classic.It's also a little piece of history.It was the last mainstream release of Kung Fu movie.After it came out, first run theaters only showed Game of Death and that was about it.The Genre moved to the grindhouses and drive ins from there.