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

[saltysam]

Ming Patriots

Change of pace period vehicle for Ho Chung Tao, here he plays an escort hired to help an old man and a princess escape the Chings and get their treasure safely home. Chang Yi & Lung Fei are among the baddies trying to stop them. Carter Wong appears briefly.Not the best film and Chung Tao looks uncomfortable in his role, some ok fights and it does pick up towards the climax,the AMRS project disc is supposedly the best but it's still pretty rough looking.

Four Real Friends

Sort of a Dirty Dozen/Magnificent Seven type Tawainese effort bringing together Wang Yu, Chen Sing, Chang Yi & Kam Kong as four acquaintances who eventually band together to defeat the evil villains, the ubiquitous Lung Fei among them. Not as good as it sounds, Chen Sing spends most of the film avoiding fighting but it does have a very good climax set in a chicken coop. The AMRS disc is pretty decent.

Edited January 8, 2019 by saltysam

[DragonClaws]

1 hour ago, saltysam said:

Four Real Friends

Sort of a Dirty Dozen/Magnificent Seven type Tawainese effort bringing together Wang Yu, Chen Sing, Chang Yi & Kam Kong as four acquaintances who eventually band together to defeat the evil villains, the ubiquitous Lung Fei among them. Not as good as it sounds, Chen Sing spends most of the film avoiding fighting but it does have a very good climax set in a chicken coop. The AMRS disc is pretty decent.

 

AMR'S did do a superb job with this one, and I really enjoyed the movie, it was cool to see Chan Sing in a slightly different kind of role. He's aways just been a furious killing machine from the start, in the other film's of his I've viewed.

 

Like the expendables movies, a film wth a multi-star cast like this, is never really going to live up to fans expectations?.

Edited January 8, 2019 by DragonClaws

[saltysam]

i'm a big Chen Sing fan, i like his batshit crazy bad tempered fighting movies. They should have done a prequel to this one, showing the events that led up to Chen Sing's character killing a man.

[DragonClaws]

6 minutes ago, saltysam said:

i'm a big Chen Sing fan, i like his batshit crazy bad tempered fighting movies.

 

Ditto, as for the prequel, I expected there to be a flashback, showing what happened, before he was sent to jail for involuntry manslaughter.

 

Edited January 8, 2019 by DragonClaws

[DragonClaws]

 

All the Kung Fu Fandom contributors and reader's are invited to read my first long winded, write-up of 2019, regarding the Four Real Friends.

Please click on the link below, for my complete ramble, Thank-You.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2019 by DragonClaws

[Tex Killer]

On 12/13/2018 at 12:59 AM, DragonClaws said:

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the best non-Shaws kung fus for sure. Basic but still good storyline, interesting characters and great fights.

But the music is played far too much. It`s not dull score but when hear it multiple times during movie it starts to annoy.

[saltysam]

Hapkido

70's Golden Harvest classic has a great cast, great action and a so so story, you can't have everything. Angelo Mao, Sammo Hung & Carter Wong are brother and sister who leave Korea for China to open a Hapkido school and medical clinic. of course the japanese from the Black Bear Dojo aren't going to stand for that. Very FOF like,with Paul Wei playing a very similar role, a lot of time is spent between the two schools visiting each other to kick arse. A young Jackie Chan can be seen here but the cast on the whole is great, Wang-In-Sik, Bruce Liang, Han Ji Jae. One of GH's best.

Lady Whirlwind

Angela Mao is the title character out to find and kill Chang Yi, who for reasons never really made clear abandoned her pregnant sister years before causing her to commit suicide. When she catches up with him they call a truce until the righteous Chang Yi can kill off the evil Japanese running the town's gambling school. Not a bad film, a bit melodramatic and Chang Yi spends too much of the movie getting 7 bells knocked out of him. That is until after yet another thrashing he stumbles upon an old bloke in the woods who's popped over from Korea to collect herbs,as you do. It also helps the old guy knows Tai Chi and can make Chang a match for the evil japs.But will he be a match for Angela....These Shout Factory! double Features are ace.

Edited January 13, 2019 by saltysam

[Killer Meteor]

26 minutes ago, saltysam said:

Hapkido

70's Golden Harvest classic has a great cast, great action and a so so story, you can't have everything. Angelo Mao, Sammo Hung & Carter Wong are brother and sister who leave Korea for China to open a Hapkido school and medical clinic. of course the japanese from the Black Bear Dojo aren't going to stand for that. Very FOF like,with Paul Wei playing a very similar role, a lot of time is spent between the two schools visiting each other to kick arse. A young Jackie Chan can be seen here but the cast on the whole is great, Wang-In-Sik, Bruce Liang, Han Ji Jae. One of GH's best.

Lady Whirlwind

Angela Mao is the title character out to find and kill Chang Yi, who for reasons never really made clear abandoned her pregnant sister years before causing her to commit suicide. When she catches up with him they call a truce until the righteous Chang Yi can kill off the evil Japanese running the town's gambling school. Not a bad film, a bit melodramatic and Chang Yi spends too much of the movie getting 7 bells knocked out of him. That is until after yet another thrashing he stumbles upon an old bloke in the woods who's popped over from Korea to collect herbs,as you do. It also helps the old guy knows Tai Chi and can make Chang a match for the evil japs.But will he be a match for Angela....These Shout Factory! double Features are ace.

Both are firm favourites of mine. Would love to see them get included in the HD masters. Call me controversial, but I find myself enjoying Hapkido more then Fist of Fury these days!

 

Here's Joe Dante's take on Lady Whirlwind for its original US release...https://trailersfromhell.com/deep-thrust/

[saltysam]

Slaughter In San Francisco

Rookie cop Don Wong Tao loses his job and is thrown in the slammer for a year for accidentally killing a man who was part of a gang beating up his partner. On release he ends up as a waiter in a chinese restaurant but still keeps in touch with his cop friend. One night his friend is murdered after stumbling onto a bank robbery. Cue Don going all guns blazing to find the murderer. Not a good movie but it's so relentlessly stupid it's a compelling one, the hilarious dubs are great. Of course it's claim to fame is Chuck Norris as the Mr Big of the crime syndicate, who owns the police force and is busy framing some local chinese for the cops murder and the bank robbery.That is when he isn't chomping  a big cigar. He loosens up and has a big battle with Don at the film's climax. At 77 minutes very short and it's hard to believe this is the same director as Big Boss & Fist Of Fury. The  print on the UK dvd is scratchy and worn, but serviceable and anamorphic. Until Criterion remaster this complete with Chuck commentary this is probably the best we are going to get.

Edited January 13, 2019 by saltysam

[DragonClaws]

 

More Chan Sing related action, in my latest brand new review, Kung Fu Fandom forum followers/contributors, are invited to check out my thoughts. By clicking on the usual link below, thank you.

 

 

Edited January 16, 2019 by DragonClaws

[saltysam]

The Desperate Chase

Jimmy Wang You is the white dragon, an expert fighter,spear master and a reformed criminal who decides to help a young boy deliver a list of rebels names hidden in a bamboo stick, only problem is it's to be delivered to a prince who hates Jimmy's guts for killing his father years before. Much shenagians ensue before a wounded Jimmy, the boy and inn owner Chiao Chiao (from One Armed Swordsman) end up holed up in the inn, surrounded by the bad guys. Cue epic near 25 minute finale where Jimmy leaves the Inn to take on the 1,675 bad guys armed with just his spear. Entertaining and pretty non stop action with a Beach Of The War Gods type finale, plus it has Lung Fei in his signature evil bastard role which is always a plus. German DVD is rough but widescreen anamorphic so ok, two english dub options (hk & us) also Mandarin but german subs only.

[Killer Meteor]

I wonder if there are three English dubs. From memory, we have on the German disc the US dub (with music by Flood) and a HK dub from the 80s by Ocean Shores, so I presume there is a HK produced English from the early 70s lying about somewhere.

[saltysam]

Kung Fu Girl

Cheng Pei Pei is a revolutionary who along with her aunt & brother turn up in Beiijing where Pei Pei passes herself off as ambitous and ruthless Army Captain the late Ou Wei. Directed by Lo Wei it's incredibly long for this type of movie (119 minutes!) Wei himself plays a large role as the Captain's superior who is in cahoots with the japanese. Some ok action but boy it takes time to get going, some of it looks like it may have been filmed on the same set as FOF (the Japanese garden looked familiar) Jackie Chan is here in a speaking role as a japanese bully who gets wiped out by Pei Pei early on, James Tien ,Han Ying Chieh are also here, there's also another early role for Steve Martin, following up his earlier FOF appearance 😉

 

Whiplash

What a strange film. Cheng Pei Pei's father knows where valuable treasure is hidden, unfortunately it's at the top of a volcanic mountain.While on an expedition to retrieve it he disappears, soon after a gang of thieves turn up at Pei Pei's home where after a skirmish she spots some of her fathers belongings on one of them. After getting them drunk on Tiger Bone Wine ( the musical sequence during this has to be seen to be believed) she ties them up and forces them back to the mountain to search for her dad. There's some rough action in spurts throughout until the usual finale, 360 degree character turns occur often, Worth seeing but very odd. This and Kung Fu Girl are on a Shout! double feature and while the prints are rough they are anamorphic, well subtitled and in original mandarin audio. No english dub here.

[DragonClaws]

 

Here's my latst ramble, for Kung Fu Fandom follower/contributor's, click on the link below, for my complete, full length, write-up on Triangular Duel.

THANK YOU.

 

 

 

Image source, the HKMDB, Link- http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/images.mhtml?id=9820&display_set=eng

Edited January 24, 2019 by DragonClaws

[ShawAngela]

On 1/24/2019 at 3:23 PM, Killer Meteor said:

The HK cut is avaliable from Celestial on DVD,

So, it's the same movie as Shaws' New game of death ?

[saltysam]

Invincible Sword

Heroic General Yueh is imprisoned by the corrupt Premier Ch'in Kuei  and kept in a fortress guarded by 100's of armed soldiers. A loyal follower of Yueh played by Jimmy Wang Yu  gathers together a like minded group of fighters in an effort to rescue the General. Early 70's GH vehicle for Wang Yu and atypical of a lot of his output.It's not a spoiler to say the climax involves Jimmy against 800 armed soldiers. The goregeous Feng Hsu is here but is underused in the action stakes. I did like the surprise twist towards the end and the film isn't bad if you are a Wang Yu fan (i am) joysales dvd is rough but anamorphic at least.

[saltysam]

Stoner

My sunday afternoon George Lazenby/Angela Mao double bill kicked off with this 1974 effort, featuring Lazenby as an aussie cop on the trail of the peddlers of a "happy pill" that makes women horny. Angela Mao is also a cop investigating ,going undercover as a soft drinks peddlar 😀 the story makes little sense, Lazenby puts some effort in but his brawling style of unrefined fighting isn't great. Mao on the other hand can really fight, unfortunately apart from a very brief skirmish early on it's a full 75 minutes into this overlong movie (110 minutes) before she leaps into action. She has a great fight with Wang-In-Sik at the climax.Sammo makes a appearance here as a minor baddie, and Steve Martin notches up another early role in a bar sequence 😉

Edited January 27, 2019 by saltysam

[saltysam]

A Queen's Ransom

Lazenby, Wang Yu & Bolo are part of a group who plan to assassinate the Queen during her visit to Hong Kong, Angela Mao is an exiled princess with lots of gold being looked after by Dean Shek ! Lots of double crossing but very little action until it's Expendables type climax. Lazenby is quite a swine here, forcefully taking a female team member for a bout of rough sex and killing anyone who gets in his way. The Big Boss himself Han Ying Chieh makes an appearance. It's all rather boring tbh and Angela is woefully underused.

Edited January 27, 2019 by saltysam

[saltysam]

One Armed Boxer

Classic Wang Yu film is over the top and wildly entertaining. Simple story of Jimmy's school getting destroyed by a group of foreign fighters , Jimmy losing his arm in the process to the vicious Lung Fei, bearing a mass of long hair and fangs. He's taken in by a kindly doctor & his daughter where he is nursed back to health and goes after revenge on the group of baddies. The forerunner to the classic MOTFG ,this is great in it's own right. Very strange that on the Shout! DVD this movie, widely seen in the West doesn't have an english dub option. Even the upscaled japanese blu ray has that.

 

Tatooed Dragon

Lesser Wang Yu film features him as the title character,who gets badly injured early on in a fight with local gangsters, he is found by Samuel Hui and his faithful dog Lannie and with the help of Sam's girlfriend he's nursed slowly back to health. Meanwhile Sam's mate Lee Quin blows his money and his house at the local gambling den owned by James Tien which leads to a quite harrowing suicide scene. Of course Jimmy soon leaps back into action, fighting dozens of the thugs, neatly forgetting his gammy leg. As soon as he's battered 50 guys he's back to limping around. Lesser Wang Yu film doesn't really have enough action for the first hour or so,but the story is quite involving for this type of movie. Shout! DVD has mandarin or english dub option.

[Killer Meteor]

I noticed on the Shout DVD of OAB that the Shaft music had been replaced with the music used for the English dub - that crazy organ tune!

[saltysam]

The Challenger

Kung fu with comedy elements (there's an excruciatingly unfunny slapstick sped up sequence part way through) stars David Chiang & Norman Chu. Chu is a fighter going around challenging various schools ,turns out he's looking for Phillip Ko who was involved in his wife's death. Chiang and Chu end up teaming up and there's a really good two on one fight at the climax. Chiangs skills seem to have improved here from a lot of his Shaw stuff.Joysales DVD is ok with a few sub errors laced in.

 

Kung Fu: The Invisible Fist

King basher himself Chen Sing is a Chinese Sgt who goes undercover to infiltrate a group of gangsters but he uncovers something far serious- Yusaki Kurata is there and the japanese plan to conquer the world. Forget the daft story and kick back and watch this great basher with it's famous epic Sing/Kuarata fight sequence. Chan Wai-Man appears here, as does Kwok Choi in his signature goofy role. The Crash cinema print is wide but badly damaged, swathes of green splices run through the picture and it cuts off suddenly a couple of times so there's some footage missing. It's really sad to think this is the best we'll ever likely see this classic.

[saltysam]

Black Belt Jones

Post ETD this was Jim Kelly's bid for solo stardom, unfortunately it didn't quite work out. Kelly is the title character, who goes after Papa Byrd after he kills his master Scatman Crothers. I have a soft spot for this despite the fact it's not very good, some of it is just plain stupid (the trampoline girls) and Jim lays on the BL war Cries too much . Bob Wall is woefully underused (only appearing at the climax set in the car wash. Directed by Robert Clouse in a very functional way.

 

Hot Potato

Strange sequel to BBJ has Jones and some comedy allies trying to rescue a senators daughter (Judith Brown from A Queen's Ransom) from an evil dictator in deepest Thailand. Very silly and it's clear while Kelly was a standout in ETD ,carrying off a movie solo was far more difficult. Still i was and am a fan.

[Killer Meteor]

I'd rather Kelly had appeared in more serious martial arts flicks.

[saltysam]

Three The Hard Way

Jim Kelly hooks up with brothers Fred Williamson & Jim Brown to foil a plot by white supremists to kill off black people by poisoning the water supply with a substance harmful only to blacks. Crazy, far fetched storyline but it's fun to see the three brothers team up and Kelly, as Mr Keyes complete with tach gets some nice action sequences,including an early one where thrashes a group of dodgy cops, ala ETD.

 

Black Samson

Bit of a cheat as not really a martial arts film but as it's the 4th movie in the 4 movie set i've been reviewing what the hell. Rockne Tarkington (who was original first choice for Williams in ETD) is a bar owner complete with a pet lion he keeps on the bar ,as you do. Corrupt gangster William Smith puts him under pressure to sell as the area is ripe for redevelopment, cue lots of fighting as Rockne, who is a badass who strolls around complete with a cane resists by battering everyone who comes for him.Very entertaining with a great climax where the neighbourhood join forces to finish off the gangsters in a very unique way.

[DragonClaws]

5 minutes ago, saltysam said:

Black Samson

Bit of a cheat as not really a martial arts film but as it's the 4th movie in the 4 movie set i've been reviewing what the hell. Rockne Tarkington (who was original first choice for Williams in ETD) is a bar owner complete with a pet lion he keeps on the bar ,as you do. Corrupt gangster William Smith puts him under pressure to sell as the area is ripe for redevelopment, cue lots of fighting as Rockne, who is a badass who strolls around complete with a cane resists by battering everyone who comes for him.Very entertaining with a great climax where the neighbourhood join forces to finish off the gangsters in a very unique way.

 

Was this on one of the many MillCreek sets?.

 

Sounds like a title, thats suited to the following thread.

 

 

 

6 minutes ago, saltysam said:

Three The Hard Way

Jim Kelly hooks up with brothers Fred Williamson & Jim Brown to foil a plot by white supremists to kill off black people by poisoning the water supply with a substance harmful only to blacks. Crazy, far fetched storyline but it's fun to see the three brothers team up and Kelly, as Mr Keyes complete with tach gets some nice action sequences,including an early one where thrashes a group of dodgy cops, ala ETD.

 

Recall so little about this one, rapart from being disapointed, and I didnt have any real high expectations for it.