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

[saltysam]

41 minutes ago, Killer Meteor said:

 

 

Did you spot Jackie Chan in this?

can't say i did tbh. Is the BCI disc the double feature with Black Dragon?

[DragonClaws]

1 hour ago, Killer Meteor said:

Did you spot Jackie Chan in this?

 

39 minutes ago, saltysam said:

can't say i did tbh. Is the BCI disc the double feature with Black Dragon?

 

I reviewd the RareScope release of this early last year, my ramblings can be found in the Review forum.

 

Jackie Chan can be spotted sporting a very long haired wig, during one of the early fights at the docks.

Edited March 25, 2019 by DragonClaws

[saltysam]

Dance Of Death

If you ever wanted to see Dean Shek fart at Angela Mao then here's your chance. Slight story of Angela befriending two old kung fu experts while seeking revenge has too much unfunny comedy.watchable, not great.

 

Prodigal Boxer

Meng Fei is a young and brash Fong Sai Yuk, who accidentally kills a rival early on. He then spends a lot of the movie beaten thrashed by Yusaki Kurata and co before the you know what's coming ending. Pretty good, nicely filmed fights, Kurata is a badass here. The WB DVD is english dubbed wide but not anamorphic.

Edited March 26, 2019 by saltysam

[Killer Meteor]

I like Prodigal Boxer. Interesting to see Kurata playing a non-Japanese villian considering when it was made.

[kevenzz]

I watched Sister Street Fighter 1 and 2 the other day and I'm about to watch part 3 right now.

Honestly I didn't expect much from these but I actually enjoyed the two films quite a lot ! it's pretty crazy and over the top and I like that.

Etsuko Shihomi is awesome and she's basically a female Bruce Lee in this.

[ShaOW!linDude]

22 hours ago, saltysam said:

Dance Of Death

If you ever wanted to see Dean Shek fart at Angela Mao then here's your chance. Slight story of Angela befriending two old kung fu experts while seeking revenge has too much unfunny comedy.watchable, not great.

To me, this is one of Mao's best films. I believe Jackie Chan was in charge of the choreography on this one, and the result is an excellent fight performance from her.

[Drunken Monk]

11 minutes ago, ShaOW!linDude said:

I believe Jackie Chan was in charge of the choreography on this one, and the result is an excellent fight performance from her.

 

[saltysam]

I much preferred Angela's GH classics to Dance Of Death.

Militant Eagle

Watching this earlier has worried me. I was viewing it i assumed for the first time until the climax with the giant, i recognised this sequence and realised i had the german DVD and had only watched it less than a year ago. I think my memory is failing a little.

[saltysam]

Showdown At The Cotton Mill

Unusual take on the usual quest for revenge plot in that the film starts off with the hero Chi-Kuan-Chun taking his revenge, the rest of the movie is the bad guys wanting their revenge on him. Eventually Tan Tao Liang shows up in a rare villainous role. So so Tawian flick, not helped by the horrible quality on the Rarescope DVD (Devoid of colour,it's almost sepia like) burnt in hard to read subs. it is at least widescreen.

[DragonClaws]

 

Got back in the reviewing groove recently, here's some Drunken Tai-Chi inspired ramblings. Kung Fu Fandom reader's/contribtuors, click on the link below, for my Full Length review, thank you.

 

 

Edited April 3, 2019 by DragonClaws

[Killer Meteor]

On 3/28/2019 at 9:32 PM, saltysam said:

Showdown At The Cotton Mill

Unusual take on the usual quest for revenge plot in that the film starts off with the hero Chi-Kuan-Chun taking his revenge, the rest of the movie is the bad guys wanting their revenge on him. Eventually Tan Tao Liang shows up in a rare villainous role. So so Tawian flick, not helped by the horrible quality on the Rarescope DVD (Devoid of colour,it's almost sepia like) burnt in hard to read subs. it is at least widescreen.

I remember liking this first time, going off it for a while, then re-watching it recently and rather liking it. The Rarescope DVD looks like a very poor telecine of a poor print, and I hope it was preserved properly at least elsewhere.

 

Here is my review

 

"

OK, I've spent several years being rather dismissive of this film, though I did enjoy my first viewing way back in 2005. I think I got a bit fed up with the hype, and must have had a repeat viewing when I was in a bad mood...so I'm glad I re-watched this last night for the first time in years.


Originally planned as a Chang Cheh production, part of his Chang's Film. Co productions for Shaws, this ended up becoming orphaned when the company collapsed. It's the third version of the story of Shaolin hero Hu Huei-Chien to be produced by Chang and to star Chi Kuan-Chun, but at least here he is the star, rather than being ignored in favour of Fu Sheng. And since he's directed by Wu Ma rather than Chang Cheh, Chi is rather better at acting here, as Chang would often direct him by saying "Expression 5!" (that's Chi's excuse anyway!)

The film gets off to a dynamic start, with Hu avenging his father's murder, and beating the life out of Shan Mao (an actor who sadly was dead from a real life fight by the time of the film's release). The choreography is very effective, retaining the styles but also being fast and ferocious. Call me a heretic, but I find this more powerful than Lau Kar-Leung's Shaolin choreography...

On the other hand, the film now has a bit of a problem. It's opened with a very dramatic fight, and will build towards a grand finale, but it's got to fill up the middle. So we have a few too many scenes of Hu making short work of various Manchu ner-do-wells. Had the film begun with the events leading up to Hu's father being killed, the film could have given us some Shaolin training scenes (noticeably missing from this version of the story) and built towards a mid-way climax. But then we'd likely have lost the impact of the kick-ass opening so it's not as straight forward as that.

Another distinctive improvement of this film over the previous versions is that we get to see Hu's wife and child. They're not especially involving, but it makes a nice change from the tired topless male-bonding that made the dialogue scenes of Chang Cheh's Shaolin films rather dull.

As with Chang Cheh's later Two Champions of Shaolin, the film introduces its villain, Kao, part way through. In both films, Kao (played by Lu Feng in the Chang film, and here by Tan Tao-Liang) infiltrates the Shaolin patriots with overt gestures of friendship. Tan, like Chi, can be rather wooden at times but here is quite effective, selling his menace subtly by ordering a memorial plaque for his "friend", whom he will kill.

Tan is, of course, an amazing kicker, so the final clashes between him and Chi are brilliant, two distinctive styles of martial arts fighting to the death, and with a brilliantly morbid atmosphere, as we know Hu is dying from his injuries and therefore there is real tension as we hope he gets to really destroy his opponent. And to make things even grimmer, the music uses a stock cue from Dawn of the Dead, so we can think of our hero dying horribly, and the zombie apocalypse nightmare!

So I FINALLY get it. Proof I'm not as tired of this genre as I thought!"

Top

[saltysam]

The Lost Swordship

Is this considered a good movie? I found it rather boring and the bishop character baddie was like something out of Dr Who. Some ok action , the Rarescope DVD was pretty poor, crap burnt in subs and cropped widescreen.

Choi Lee Fat Kung Fu

Though he lacks on screen charisma i quite like Cliff Lok ,he's got good skills. Here he plays a man who learns kung fu from a couple of masters before climaxing with a doozy of a battle with the great Philip Ko. Rarescope DVD is anamorphic and in the right aspect ratio, crappy burnt in subs though.

Face Behind The Mask

Hsu Feng,Yueh Hua & Lo Lieh are three disciples who help their master become king of the martial world. Plenty aren't happy though and various fighters tip up to try and put a spanner in the works. Throw in some betrayal and limb chopping and a decent if not great movie emerges. Again the Rarescope DVD is in the correct aspect ratio but suffers with crappy burnt in subs.

[Killer Meteor]

The theatrical subs on that print of Choi Lee Fat Kung Fu aren't even finished!

[DragonClaws]

 

Please click on the link below, for my latest  full length review, inspired by the Odd Couple(1979), thank you.

 

 

Edited April 3, 2019 by DragonClaws

[saltysam]

Tiger Of Northland

Obscure GH movie from 1976, starring the wooden but talented korean Jong-Guk-Park .Standard chinese/koreans vs japs tale isn't bad. Tony Liu and Sammo appear here as does Maria Yi, in a similar role to her Big Boss one.

Edited April 7, 2019 by saltysam

[DrNgor]

Blood of the Dragon (1971) - Taiwanese vehicle for Jimmy Wang Yu in which he plays a famous spear fighter who helps a young boy deliver a message to a Chinese prince, the leader of a rebel movement against the Mongols--this is set during the Yuan Dynasty. It climaxes with a big slaughter in which Wang Yu kills about 50 people with his spear. Notable for the main villain using a whip-sword, just like Ivy in Soul Caliber. As far as early 70s films go, I enjoyed it well enough.

Green Dragon Inn (1977) - A Taiwanese wuxia take on Rio Bravo, in which the son of the local rich man kills a family after they reject his request to marry the daughter. He is arrested by the righteous Marshall Lau (Yueh Hua), who has to escort him to the capital to be judged for his crimes. The guy's powerful father brings in The Four Assassins and a Master of the Iron Fist (Sze Ma-Lung) to free his son. Lau and the royal guard must pass through Green Dragon Town, which is practically owned by the nobleman. They end up holing themselves up at the inn to defend themselves against the killers sent to bring back the son. Helping the officers are two mysterious swordsmen, a woman (Polly Shang Kuan Ling Feng) and a Lo Lieh.

The fight choreography is pretty adequate. Sometimes the swordplay is on the level of an old swashbuckler more than a Chinese kung fu film. There is some decent hand-to-hand at the end. The story is quite interesting and held my attention during the non-action scenes. I'm not sure I'd call this a minor classic, but it's decent little romp that fans should check out at least once.

[Killer Meteor]

On 4/7/2019 at 7:43 PM, saltysam said:

Tiger Of Northland

Obscure GH movie from 1976, starring the wooden but talented korean Jong-Guk-Park .Standard chinese/koreans vs japs tale isn't bad. Tony Liu and Sammo appear here as does Maria Yi, in a similar role to her Big Boss one.

 

I wonder if there was a delay between the shoot and release as my understanding was Maria Yi quit the buisiness after refusing to do a nude scene for The Tournament.

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

SNAKE IN THE MONKEY'S SHADOW. Snake, Monkey, and Drunken Style - what else is there to wish for. Saw this for the first time and really enjoyed it. Is it known why Hau Chiu Sing only made 7 movies (according to hkmdb)? hkmdb also says, he was in the mainland national soccer team before he emigrated to HK. Did some google but was not yet able to find any info on him.

[DrNgor]

14 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

Maria Yi quit the buisiness after refusing to do a nude scene for The Tournament.

So was she replaced by the Thai actress who randomly gets her top ripped off?

[Killer Meteor]

2 hours ago, DrNgor said:

So was she replaced by the Thai actress who randomly gets her top ripped off?

Yes. Maria gets kidnapped in the opening scene and we never see her again!

[DragonClaws]

 

Here's a link to my lastest ramblethon, with Eunuch of the Western Palace being the subject of this week's review.

Please click on the link below, for my full legnth write-up, thank you.

 

 

Image source- http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=13470&complete_credits=1&display_set=eng

 

Edited April 11, 2019 by DragonClaws

[chazgower01]

The Prodigal Son (Hong Kong, 1981) youtube Eastern Heroes dub 4.5/5

Yuen Biao stars as a spoiled rich kid who thinks he’s the greatest Kung Fu Master in all the land. Unbeknownst to him, all his fights are paid off by his father. When a visiting Peking Opera star exposes it (the great Lam Ching-ying who is a fighting dynamo in this), Biao decides he wants to train with him.

He’s not keen on that idea at all, even when Biao’s rich father buys his troupe to try and force the issue. A visiting lord who also thinks he’s a Kung Fu master (Frankie Chan in peak form) along with his henchmen (including an always bad ass Dick Wei) end up complicating things and Biao and Lam go on the run.

That’s where they meet up with Lam’s brother (Sammo Hung) and his daughter and Biao finally starts to learn the skills he needs, leading to the fantastic finale - plain and simply one of the cool fights in Hong Kong movie history.

Slapstick comedy, great fights and action, well paced - this is one of the greats of the genre and a must see for anyone who loves martial arts movies!

[Tex Killer]

shoguns shadow. Decided to revisit(and swords of vengeance still unseen) adness Shogun Collection before start to enjoy arrows Sister Streetfighter box.

Ill shogun prefers his 2nd son but heir must be oldest son and crazy f*ck want to get his 1st born killed. On journey to guide eldest son to Edo 7 warriors are helping him on dangerous journey. Needless to say not all make there alive. Lots of action and while I prefer(like probably most of us here) chinese style there is one great sword duel. Besides that so many samurais are hacked down so flick is far from boring, quite exciting adventure.

There is little bit to offer for kung fu addicts too, one of 7 warriors uses monkey pole, rope dart and 3 section staff.

But next no Sonny Chiba movie but 1st view ever of Shaws shaolin prince.

[Coliseum1972]

Bloody fists 3/6 , only thing that was decent was the end fight , otherwise I found it boring

[Tex Killer]

dragon fist. What first appears to be as straighforward story student avenges defeat of his sifu becomes lot more complicated with indirect blackmailing and traitor around...

In my jackie chan top5 certainly, comedy-free zone here and lots of good kung-fu.

Good cast, james tien is worth special mention and veteran yen shi kwan who appeared in several chang cheh films.