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

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Someone already did a cover, but not of the uncut...

[Robotic]

Finally got got around to watching Two on the Road.  Nice fun comedy.  Not a ton of fights but what it had was very good (although clearly sped up in parts).  Really wish I had a subtitled version of this one instead of the dub because it seems like the dubbing crew was really taking some liberties with the script. I really can't imagine that the script referenced Batman, Midnight Express, and James Bond, but then again it was pretty silly movie so maybe it did.

 

[sym8]

28 minutes ago, Robotic said:

Finally got got around to watching Two on the Road.  Nice fun comedy.  Not a ton of fights but what it had was very good (although clearly sped up in parts).  Really wish I had a subtitled version of this one instead of the dub because it seems like the dubbing crew was really taking some liberties with the script. I really can't imagine that the script referenced Batman, Midnight Express, and James Bond, but then again it was pretty silly movie so maybe it did.

 

The finale of this was up there with the best interms of slick and crisp movements and to think Leung Kar yan and Wang lung wei started out as non martial artists 

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

53 minutes ago, sym8 said:

The finale of this was up there with the best interms of slick and crisp movements and to think Leung Kar yan and Wang lung wei started out as non martial artists 

Wang Lung Wei was a serious karate practitioner before he got into the movies, he really wanted to fight Bruce Lee. Toby Russell saw him in a street brawl. I asked him how he looked "Rough." Not be confused with Leung, who was a soccer player before he entered the movie business. I assume you thought they were both non martial artists because of Shaolin Martial Arts, I would guess.

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

Filled another educational gap by finally watching SHAOLIN VS LAMA. Also enjoyed UNBEATEN 28 although it's flawed by animal cruelty. What kind of hero would throw a stone at an innocent frog And what kind of script demands to hold the cam on the poor creature for what felt like 5 minutes??

[sym8]

On 11/13/2018 at 10:54 PM, NoKUNGFUforYU said:

Wang Lung Wei was a serious karate practitioner before he got into the movies, he really wanted to fight Bruce Lee. Toby Russell saw him in a street brawl. I asked him how he looked "Rough." Not be confused with Leung, who was a soccer player before he entered the movie business. I assume you thought they were both non martial artists because of Shaolin Martial Arts, I would guess.

No,I genuinely thought Wang lung wei was a non martial artist,didn’t know he practiced karate.I had read in numerous places over the years that he was a non martial artist when he started out in the movies.I also thought he begain to study kickboxing as he got into his later years but I don’t know who or what to believe now,god damn these movies and movie stars.Thanks for the info😋😋😋

[DrNgor]

Young Hero (1980)

 

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by DrNgor

[saltysam]

Invasion AKA The Bold Brothers (1972)

Evil japanese & cossacks rampage through chinese Villagers , killing the inhabitants and taking them over for their evil ends. The Tang village is made of sterner stuff though...not a bad basher, pretty violent with some good action. The german dvd uses different sources to make up a widescreen uncut version but it looks ok. Mandarin audio is fine.Some dialogue appears unsubbed and i'm not sure of some of the sub accuracy... can't see a young chinese lad of the era coming out with "fuck that shit!" 😁

Edited November 17, 2018 by saltysam

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

LOL! 

1 hour ago, saltysam said:

Invasion AKA The Bold Brothers (1972)

Evil japanese & cossacks rampage through chinese Villagers , killing the inhabitants and taking them over for their evil ends. The Tang village is made of sterner stuff though...not a bad basher, pretty violent with some good action. The german dvd uses different sources to make up a widescreen uncut version but it looks ok. Mandarin audio is fine.Some dialogue appears unsubbed and i'm not sure of some of the sub accuracy... can't see a young chinese lad of the era coming out with "fuck that shit!" 😁

LOL! I copied all the subs from the terrible Mandarin hard sub, and the line was open, so........

[DrNgor]

My Life's on the Line (1978) 

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by DrNgor

[Robotic]

Until yesterday I thought that War of the Shaolin Temple and Shaolin Temple Strikes Back were the same movie.  Shaolin Temple Strikes Back has been one of my favorites from back when my collection was just a dozen or so Xenon VHS tapes, so I figured I should check out War of the Shaolin Temple.  It's really crazy how similar those two movies are.  They use many of the same actors, have very similar plots, and seem to even use a lot of the same sets!  And according to HKMDB  the lead actor only ever appeared in THESE TWO MOVIES! 

Overall War of the Shaolin Temple was fine.  Good fights (and some really cool camera work during them), decent enough plot.  There's a long drawn out comedy scene near the end just as the plot is ramping up that really took the wind out of the film's sails.  And the character of the "Crazy Monk" was built up through other character's dialog to seem like he would be the big hero who would come swooping in to turn the battle for the good guys, but he ends up not having much of an influence at all.  It's almost like his story was meant to be in some other movie and just got tacked onto this one (which is totally something that Joseph Kuo would do in one of his movies, but he didn't direct this one, he directed Shaolin Temple Strikes Back!). 

[teako170]

First time viewing of this. Solid flick.

[saltysam]

Black Dragon VS Yellow Tiger- A pseudo sequel to Way Of The Dragon starts with associates of the captured boss from WOTD heading to Hong Kong to seek out Tang Lung, who's supposedly returned home after the events of Way. He's not there however but his schoolmate played by Tong Lung from Challenge The Dragon is there to spend the film's running time kicking the gangsters asses. It's not a very good movie but an entertaining one, i'd like to see it in a decent quality version,i suspect it would play much better. And for a sequel to Way,it actually steals copiously from the Enter soundtrack throughout.

Edited November 24, 2018 by saltysam

[saltysam]

Way Of The Black Dragon - The first half of this Ron Van Clief/Carter Wong team-up is pretty dull..a plot about young HK girls smuggled into Thailand for prostitution purposes is quite repetitive, the girls constantly being bullied by the evil traffickers. It livens up considerably when big Ron appears though and the second half culminates in a cracking end fight on the bosses house (reminicent of Bruce's film, heck a couple of the same heavies appear here) where Ron,Carter kick ass and even Charles Bonet makes an appearance as the evil boss. Unusually for this type of film it doesn't end as soon as the final battle finishes,it actually has a neat coda. I found a widescreen print on Youtube, it's not bad but clearly from a VHS, there's unfortunately about 20 seconds of tape damage at the climax. Someone remaster this please!

[DragonClaws]

 

Kung Fu Fandom followers/contributor's, are invited to read, my latest long winded ramble, about the Hand of Death(1976)

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

 

 

 

 

One of Commander Shihs bodyguards, played by Chiu Chun, grabs Tan Tao Liang(Yung Fei) as he fights for his life.

 

 

Edited December 13, 2018 by DragonClaws

[ShaOW!linDude]

The Shadow Boxing aka Spiritual Boxer 2 (1979)

Stars: Wong Yu, Gordon Liu, Cecilia Wong, Lau Kar-Wing, Lee Hoi San, Wilson Tong
Diretor & Action Choreographer: Lau Kar-Leung (Pops)

Yuan (WY) and his sifu Chen Wu (LK-W) are what's known as corpse herders. They reanimate corpses as vampires using Taoist magic after they have been prepped for their funerals so that they can be controlled and led back to their homes for burial. Fei (CW) is a young girl with a crush on Yuan and is also interested in the corpse herding trade. While preparing 8 corpses, a 9th is brought in, an unknown bald man (GL). It turns out that he is Zhang Zie, an escaped convict. In actuality he has been framed and sent to prison by his boss and another named Zhou (LHS), whose top henchman is Xiang (WT). Zhang has actually been faking his death as a reanimated corpse so as to sneak across province lines in his escape from prison. Everything culminates in a big showdown.

I nabbed this when @paimeifist was selling off some of his collection a couple of years ago. I got it mainly for Cecilia Wong. Unfortunately, she doesn't do anything in the way of fighting. Actually, the fighting is this is rather sparse until the end. There are moments throughout but no really big pieces except for one set in a brothel/gambling house. The character Yuan has been trained in a style of fighting based on vampire movements, which apparently he can only perform is someone is calling out the maneuvers for him. That was different. The character Zhang uses an Eagle Claw style. However, it's not the best depiction of that style I've ever seen before. Another note of interest is that Lee Hoi San sports hair in this, and it looks natural, though it may not be. Certainly makes him look younger. Sadly Wilson Tong is wasted. When I saw the Foot Doctor was in this, I got excited. Unfortunately, we don't get any of his fancy footwork in this. In the finale, Tong and Liu pair off, and this should have been a fantastic fight, but it ends up being very one-sided with Liu's character dominating it for the most part. You could say it's a fairly solid Shaw Bros. flick on a number of levels: talent casting on display, sets & locales, wardrobe, light unannoying comedy bits, fairly sensible plot. For me though, it just failed to deliver on the action. Was expecting a lot more out of this.

[DrNgor]

Last Battle of Yang Chao (1976) - In the final days of the Ming Dynasty--and we're talking final, not just decadent--the city of Yang Chao is taken by the Manchurian army, with the help of a traitorous Ming military officer (who, in a twist so novel that it borders on genius, is played by Wei Ping-Ao). The general is executed and his adopted son is set to be executed. It's up to a rag-tag group of heroes, including a once-disgraced war hero (Carter Wong), his bad-ass mother (Tai Yee-Ha) a mysterious swordswoman (Polly Shang Kuan Ling Feng), the daughter of another betrayed officer (Han Hsiang-Chin), and the mom's household, to raid Yang Chao, rescue the son, get him to safety, and keep up the good fight against the Qings.

The film strives for an epic scope, and it comes close. It's an ensemble piece, so time is spent with numerous characters, from each of the heroes to the villains. This gives it scope, but unfortunately, the film tends to shine mainly whenever Polly Kwan is doing something. She sells her fights the best and her no-nonsense persona is very charismatic. The action is provided by Han Ying-Chieh, best known for his work on New Fist of Fury and Come Drink with Me. In fact, this may be an epilogue to Han Ying-Chieh's "Ming Dynasty Trilogy"--consisting of Dragon Gate Inn (1967); A Touch of Zen (1971); and Dynasty (1977). The action is predominately swordplay, none of which really stands out. There is some hand-to-hand from Carter Wong and Cliff Ching, who plays a Qing military officer, but nothing special. I liked watching Tai Yee-Ha as an aged lady jabbing Qing soldiers in their throats with her superior pole skills. But in the end, it's a decent time waster. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Killer Meteor]

Just the dub. Isn't the Taiwanese cut more of an intentional comedy?

[ShaOW!linDude]

Finally watched Shaolin vs Lama (1983) for the first time last night. (I know, I know. I'm slackin'.)

That was a phenomenally good movie. Good plot, good acting, and insanely great MA action.

Chen Shan is a beast as the villain. I was absolutely dazzled by his dexterity and strength. Honestly, back in the day, I think he could have given Hwang Jang Lee a run for his money in the bootwork department. I've always liked Alexander Lo Rei, but no movie he's been in has ever really clicked with me. He always performed well enough, but I felt he was always capable of more in his onscreen fights. This movie is exactly what I'm talking about. And Sun Jung Chi, as the monk who trains Lo's character, was fantastic in this. He really gets to showcase his talent in many scenes. 

Yep, this is one I'll be revisiting quite often.

[saltysam]

Shaolin Kung Fu Master

Needlessly convoluted plot about 5 invincibles who stashed a fortune in gold years ago, now two assassins are bumping them off one by one. Lots of traitorous doublecrossing on show here. Some good stars are criiminally underused here, Lung Fei, Don Wong Tao, although Chang Yi gets his moment in the sun towards the end after skulking around throughout. The new german blu ray offers a nice print with an english dub option.                                      

                                      

[DragonClaws]

2 hours ago, saltysam said:

Shaolin Kung Fu Master

Needlessly convoluted plot about 5 invincibles who stashed a fortune in gold years ago, now two assassins are bumping them off one by one. Lots of traitorous doublecrossing on show here. Some good stars are criiminally underused here, Lung Fei, Don Wong Tao, although Chang Yi gets his moment in the sun towards the end after skulking around throughout. The new german blu ray offers a nice print with an english dub option.      

 

I was disapointed by this one too, and I didnt holdout for a stone cold classic, average at best. Picked up a copy on the old Vengenace Video label.

 

 

21 hours ago, ShaOW!linDude said:

Finally watched Shaolin vs Lama (1983) for the first time last night. (I know, I know. I'm slackin'.)

That was a phenomenally good movie. Good plot, good acting, and insanely great MA action.

 

Classic in so many respects, indiependent Taiwanese cineam at its finest.

 

I missed this during the first phase of my Kung Fu interest, picked up a second hand copy on VHS, in my early twenties. It pretty much got me back track with into the genre, and I've not left it since. Rushed to see so many Asian films as a teenager, I pretty much burnt myself out.

[ShaOW!linDude]

Stranger from Shaolin (1977)

This film was a starring vehicle for Cecilia Wong (Shaolin Mantis), in which she plays the character Yim Wing Chun. Her father murdered by Imperial men, she seeks refuge in a Shaolin monastery. Passing herself off as a young man, she works and begins training in secret. After a couple of years, she seeks her revenge but is under-prepared. Then she is taken into a convent where she is instructed in the style that would become known as Wing Chun.

Cecilia Wong didn't appear in many films, and not all of those were MA based. I've always been somewhat partial to her, and it's nice to see her take a lead role such as this. Of course, there is the classic plot contrivance of a young woman trying to pass herself off as a young man. (You ain't foolin' nobody.) One of the great things about this film are no corny comedic bits. It's meant to play as an action drama. I was digging that. The action is solid, though there's not much in the way of kicks to be found. The choreography seems more hand-based. There's some weapon work, fairly standard, nothing dazzling. Probably the only thing that I thought hampered the film was the fact that more time was devoted to her stay at the monastery than the convent. She isn't taken under the wing of the head nun until right before the finale. The nice thing about that is a lot of montages of Cecilia practicing Wing Chun in different settings. The finale is quite good, though Cecilia is relegated to taking part in a 2 vs 1 against the villain. Still, she gets to kill him off, though it's a bit of cheesy finishing move.

I was fortunate to get this on an impulse buy at a Dollar General while perusing their DVDs. I scored the Mill Creek collection "Kickin' It Shaolin Style" for a whopping $5, and it just happened to be one of the 12 movies contained in it. I didn't even realize it until yesterday that I had scored a movie I'd been wanting to see for a long time. Cool beans!!!

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

On 12/27/2018 at 8:28 AM, Killer Meteor said:

Just the dub. Isn't the Taiwanese cut more of an intentional comedy?

It makes more sense as a comedy. I mean guys running around with tights and masks are pretty silly without a CGI budget, or Christopher Reeves, good rest his soul. Also, the Taiwanese print from VOD is much better in terms of clarity. But entirely different characters, a fight missing and a fight added.

[DragonClaws]

4 hours ago, ShaOW!linDude said:

Stranger from Shaolin (1977)

This film was a starring vehicle for Cecilia Wong (Shaolin Mantis), in which she plays the character Yim Wing Chun. Her father murdered by Imperial men, she seeks refuge in a Shaolin monastery. Passing herself off as a young man, she works and begins training in secret. After a couple of years, she seeks her revenge but is under-prepared. Then she is taken into a convent where she is instructed in the style that would become known as Wing Chun.

 

One of my favourtire films from the MillCreek Box-Set, loved the Wing Chun close quarters training, in the bottom of the Temple well.