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

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

On 3/15/2018 at 3:06 AM, DrNgor said:

Just reviewed Queen Boxer:

 

You probably want to watch this as well (insert plug here)-

 

[kevenzz]

yesterday I watched Funny Kung Fu and today Horse Boxing Killer.

Funny Kung Fu feature a great looking 35mm print... from a vengeance video dvd, that's surprising. I like Jason Pai Piao but he's barely in the movie and actually get killed after 30 mins in (sorry for the spoiler). I'm not a big fan of Carter Wong but I liked him as a villain.

Horse Boxing Killer feature a cameo from Simon Yuen but he's not the main star of this movie. It's Hilda Liu who's actually not only beautifull but she does some crazy choregraphy.

overall I enjoyed both.

[DragonClaws]

3 hours ago, PaiLum said:

I watched yesterday Return to the 36th Chamber.  I like how Gordon Liu plays like he doesn't know kung fu and acts as a swindler.  I was hoping someone here could direct me to some of Beardie's best movies.  I've watched Sleeping Fist and Thundering Mantis and decided that he's my favorite kung fu actor.  Thanks!

The Victim is a must see, if your a big fan of Leung Kar Yan, and Ways Of Kung Fu is worth watching for his supporting role. Legend of a Fighter and Warriors Two are two other classics worth checking out too.

[PaiLum]

23 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

The Victim is a must see, if your a big fan of Leung Kar Yan, and Ways Of Kung Fu is worth watching for his supporting role. Legend of a Fighter and Warriors Two are two other classics worth checking out too.

Thanks @DragonClaws!

[DragonClaws]

 

My old Little Godfather From Hong Kong themed ramblings have now been re-posted. Anyone interested in my thoughts, please click on the link below, thank-you.

 

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Infernal Street. Watched half at home, then at the gym fast forwarded to the end. Decent flick, though Insanity Being seems better (you have to remember it was remastered). Yu Tien Lung seems to be the Taiwanese attempt at Bruce Lee a la Fist of Fury. He just didn't have the form or skill, intensity!? He had that in spades. Not a bad flick, happy ending, etc. On youtube as well, several prints.

[saltysam]

I recently got the German DVD of Infernal Street, not a bad movie, i've seen better, i've seen a lot worse

[kevenzz]

I didn't have time to watch kung fu movies this week..... I'm far too adicted to final fantasy 15 on pc...

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Eight Strikes of a Wildcat. 

The dubbing throws me off on these kinds of movies, one of the reasons I didn't always worry about the exact translation of subs initially. I mean, some of this stuff may be exact, but the delivery is atrocious, so who cares? Anyway, the star only made two movies. Hopefully she found a rich husband or wound up in TV or both. It might sound sexist, but women didn't have a lot of options back then. She definitely was a babe, but even then, who knows how old she was? I feel a little like a creeper if it turns out she was 17 or something....ugh.

Anyway, the fights are well done, and she was very acrobatic. From what I can tell this was a one shot attempt by the actors to choreograph a martial arts production, as their bios show plenty of bit parts but only one shot at the action directing. I would say check it out if you like complex shapes. Also, if you want to see the deadly rat style, LOL! Kind of reminds me of the human centipede a little.

[Killer Meteor]

8 Strikes is a rarity in which the heroes are so much better than the villians.

[One Armed Boxer]

I got through watching the Polly Shang-Kuan movie 'The Ghostly Face' recently, the rare instance of a co-production between Indonesia and Taiwan from 1973.  Taking place on the island of Bali, the plot has Shang-Kuan team up with local superhero the Ghostly Face, who bizarrely wears a mask that resembles a decomposing corpse, to take on a pair of villainous bandits.  I gave it the full review treatment over at cityonfire -

http://cityonfire.com/the-ghostly-face-1973-review-panji-the-skull-face-polly-shang-kuan/

[ukrevrend]

Wu Tang Magic Kick (A.K.A. Mars Villa)

John Liu, Philip Ko, Tung Wei

Revisited this for the first time in about 10 years and was surprised that it wasn't as good as I remember! I always knew that this wasn't on par with 'Invincible Armour', but, still decent though.  The problem I have with this (and many more kung fu movies), way too much fighting and basically the same people fighting each other throughout the movie, just kill 'em! LoL

3/5

 

[DragonClaws]

Another re-post of an old ramble, this time it's the Jimmy Wang Yu, Hsu Feng, Chang Yi movie The Great Hunter.

Just click on the link below, for the complete write-up, thank you.

 

Chang Yi and Jimmy Wang Yu battle it out, in the finale of the movie.

[ShawAngela]

I watched Shaolin kung fu mystagogue (original vcd with English subtitles, that's so rare !) and enjoyed it a lot.

Chang Yi is perfect in his role as a renegade monk who only wants to get a precious scroll and uses the Qing agains Ming conflict in order to succeed.

And his weapon furiously reminds of Lo Lieh's dragon missiles or Chen Kuan Tai/Ti Lung's flying guillotines.

I also rewatched The righteous fist (I finally found an original vcd of it, but no subtitles...) and I still enjoy it after this second viewing. i should say this third viewing, since I had seen it in French language in a cinema at around 15 years old.

I already posted a review on it (maybe under its aka Furious ultimatum), so, I won't write any other comments.

[sym8]

saw this the other day on YouTube.Great cast and good movie and this print is pretty decent as well.

[DragonClaws]

Another re-post from 2016, for those who missed this rambling review the first time round.

Please click on the link below, for the complete review, thank you.

 

Edited April 9, 2018 by DragonClaws

[saltysam]

Chinese Godfather - Mid 70's action with Chan Wai Man & Betty Ting Pei.  A nice restored custom uncut version has surfaced from @Fansfilms (see thread in wanted section) .Like i've mentioned,pity the mandarin audio has no subs but i can live with the english sub.

 

Two Great Cavaliers- Until i watched this i would never have believed a movie starring the might of Beardy,John Liu, Angela Mao & Chen Sing could be so flat and average. A daft plot about manchus and a list they want, it's repetitive and dull until the ok climax. The crash print though widescreen was pretty ropey,is this the best version about.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

23 hours ago, saltysam said:

Chinese Godfather - Mid 70's action with Chan Wai Man & Betty Ting Pei.  A nice restored custom uncut version has surfaced from @Fansfilms (see thread in wanted section) .Like i've mentioned,pity the mandarin audio has no subs but i can live with the english sub.

 

Two Great Cavaliers- Until i watched this i would never have believed a movie starring the might of Beardy,John Liu, Angela Mao & Chen Sing could be so flat and average. A daft plot about manchus and a list they want, it's repetitive and dull until the ok climax. The crash print though widescreen was pretty ropey,is this the best version about.

Yes, no real interest in 2 Great Cavaliers. I think I started watching it and dosed off. Conked out during the Magnificent as well.

[DragonClaws]

22 hours ago, saltysam said:

Two Great Cavaliers- Until i watched this i would never have believed a movie starring the might of Beardy,John Liu, Angela Mao & Chen Sing could be so flat and average. A daft plot about manchus and a list they want, it's repetitive and dull until the ok climax. The crash print though widescreen was pretty ropey,is this the best version about.

I was realy dispointed by this one too, especially with the cast they managed to assemble.

 

18 hours ago, NoKUNGFUforYU said:

Conked out during the Magnificent as well.

Enjoyed The Magnificent a lot more, though its no classic, need to dig out my old review of this one.

[DrNgor]

Instant Kung Fu Man (1977) - Starring Yip Fei Yang, John Liu and Hwang Jang-Lee, with choreography by Yuen Cheung-Yan and Yuen Woo-Ping. This pre-Drunken Master kung fu comedy focuses on twin brothers (Yip Fei Yang in a dual role), one of whom is a kung fu master and notorious bandit. The other is a troublemaker at the Shaolin Temple, and uses his wits and a bag of tricks to con people into believing he knows kung fu. My favorite example is him using termites to get past the infamous Shaolin Wooden Men and get out of the temple. The con artist brother is ultimate mistaken for his brother and targeted by his brother's former partner (Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee). Can he find his brother before Hwang kicks him back into the Tang Dynasty? The movie is largely plotless, with the non-kung fu brother wandering from one comic fight to another. The penultimate fight, where John Liu takes on Hwang, is probably the best in the film. The finale between the kung fu Yip isn't bad, although Hwang goes for more economical kicks than his usual showy aerial boots. But the film on the whole spends too much time going nowhere before those last 20 minutes to give it more than a light recommendation.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Does half count, LOL!? I watched the first half of Flying Over Grass (1971) as I had translated the Italian with a special app I found online. Gotta go line by line, but it's pretty atmospheric flick for a Taiwanese cheapie. I mean Cheung Ching Ching was a knock out, and she's at her bitchiest here, so well recommended. Kong Ban steals the show as well. The Italian helps for some reason and there are nices pauses between lines of dialogue that build the tension. Kim Lung directed a bunch of good flicks, and this is one of them. I should be done within a few more days. Busy at work.

[DragonClaws]

 

Phantom Kung Fu was part of my weekend viewing, just got round to writing down this little ramble, about the movie.

Those interested in my thoughts, can simply click on the usual link below, thank you.

 

Shou Yu-Piao(Wong Tao) confronts the dastardly Ta Te Lu(Chang Yi), in a scene from the film.

Edited May 3, 2018 by DragonClaws

[ShawAngela]

I watched The fast sword yesterday. I had already watched it around 10 years ago when I bought the Joysales dvd, but I'm ashamed to say that I had totally forgot what the plot was about ! This time, I got the eycatcher uncut version (I'm totally unable to say what has been added to the movie I had watched years ago...) and I enjoyed it a lot.

Chang Yi, Han Hsian Chin and Shih Jun are excellent in this story of revenge, loyalty to the law and finally loyalty to friends, and a special mention to Wang Lai, who perfectly plays her role of hte blind mother who still is able to kill a lot of villains with her stick before being killed by treachery. And I almost didn't recognize Miao Tian as the bandit !

[DrNgor]

Secret Rivals 3 (1981) - aka New South Hand and North Kick Blows - Okay, I was skeptical going in this, as I usually am when it comes to anything brought to you by Robert Tai. I was surprised at how much I liked the action here. Alexander Lo Rei, a tae kwon do expert, plays the handwork specialist, which should be inappropriate. Although considering that Don Wong Tao was in the same position for the first Secret Rivals, he acquits himself fairly well. John Liu is frequently accused by people here of being a one-trick pony and showing off his flexibility too much in his fights. Thankfully, Robert Tai's more mannered choreography actually complements the man's skills, allowing him to do more dynamic things than simply do vertical splits. Moreover, Robert Tai's choreography gave Liu more interesting hand techniques to use than his usual bootfests. Chin Lung (the comic relief in The Leg Fighters) also does well his fights, even though his comic relief character ends up being practically more important than the Lo Rei and John Liu. Topping off the film is Robert Tai as the main villain, who's extremely flexible and a good kicker to boot (heh!), and makes a more-than-acceptable substitute for Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee in the finale. In the end, I was satisfied with this kung fu movie.

[DragonClaws]

On 5/28/2018 at 4:48 PM, DrNgor said:

Secret Rivals 3 (1981) - aka New South Hand and North Kick Blows - 

One title thats still managing to evade me, though it sounds like a must see for John Liu fans at least.

This is a sequel in name only right?.

 

Attempted to watch two old school flicks today, but neither grabbed me. Super Dragon(1976) Polly Shang Kwan, and The Fist That Kills(1972) a.k.a Ninja Fists Of Fire. I hoped for the later to be a down and dirty basher flick, but it was more swordplay and royal intriuge. The original title implys it would have been more bare handed combat. Will give them both a 2nd chance at some point.

Edited May 29, 2018 by DragonClaws