Member Cold Bishop Posted May 24, 2014 Member Share Posted May 24, 2014 I'm glad that some people like Naval Commandos, but its the sort of film I'd recommend to a completist, not someone dipping their toes into Shaw or Chang Cheh. In fact, until you're a legit fan, you probably can avoid all of Chang's 1977 films. Yes, including Chinatown Kid. Either version. I find The Duel to be pretty overrated, a inferior attempt to make lightning strike twice after Vengeance!. The movie just rubs me the wrong way: it's not exactly a comedy, but there's something way too flippant and frivolous about all the constant throat-slashing and the way Chiang and Ti just handle them with a grin. The last 15 minutes are pretty good, but almost feel like something from a different movie. I haven't seen that film, but I've never seen a Chor Yuen wuxia I wouldn't call at least "solid". In general, people think his '70s films are better than his '80s (including Chor himself, who's pretty dismissive of his later Shaw work), but they have their defenders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted May 24, 2014 Member Share Posted May 24, 2014 I'm glad that some people like Naval Commandos, but its the sort of film I'd recommend to a completist, not someone dipping their toes into Shaw or Chang Cheh That is true. While I have not seen 7 man army yet, closest film in tone of CC films to naval commandos I think is Daredevils. While locations are different, both have similarities, not lots of action but instead of setting up enemy. Both extremely recommended for those who are looking more depth in shaw cinema. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cold Bishop Posted May 24, 2014 Member Share Posted May 24, 2014 I don't care for 7 Man Army either - I wished it would have been more of a war film than a kung-fu picture - but I think it has a greater appeal to the general viewer than Naval Commandos. If were recommending underrated Chang Cheh's, albeit from a different era, I personally prefer both The Invincible Fist and Have Sword, Will Travel to most of the more famous Wang Yu films. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted May 24, 2014 Member Share Posted May 24, 2014 If were recommending underrated Chang Cheh's, albeit from a different era, I personally prefer both The Invincible Fist and Have Sword, Will Travel to most of the more famous Wang Yu films. Those are solid films, tho I totally love CC directed Wang Yus except "one armed swordsman". While it has classic status it did not quite appear to me. Sequel is fine and so are golden swallow(one of best movies ever made), sword of swords, trail of broken blade.. Have you seen "flying dagger"? I own the ivl disc but have not watched it yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted May 24, 2014 Member Share Posted May 24, 2014 Have sword will travel is superb. Flying dagger is superb too, and it's a change to see Lo Lieh in an other role than a bad guy. You should enjoy it when you'll watch it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Drunken Arts Posted May 24, 2014 Author Member Share Posted May 24, 2014 Morning guys, Right 14 Amazons came through my door today from DDDhouse, it was posted on the 20th, these guys are quite speedy. Tex Killer; Reading what you posted from KyFi about Naval Commandos, i got through the first paragraph and was instantly thinking 7 Man Army, which in turn was mentioned in the second paragraph. am i right in thinking 7 Man Army, Naval Commandos and Boxer Rebellion all fit into a certain bracket, like Changs Historical Battle films, did he do any others like these? I have only seen 7 Man Army, I thought it was good but not amazing. Edit: Anonymous Heroes has been mentioned in this same bracket. I havnt seen Flying Dagger I also loved Golden Swallow, film is a beast. Treacherous Mastermind; Ah i see, becasue i have not heard of it, then reading its Changs Masterpiece, i was in two minds to ask if it were a Hidden Gem, as masterpieces as usually well known, but on the other hand it was just someone elses opinion lol, so i asked anyways Cult Classic, Good to know. I wish i could be helpful on Derek Yee or Lo Lieh... Oh one thing, How popular is Rendezvous With Death? I picked this up at a stupidly low price not having heard about it. NoKUNGFUforYU; I have not heard of these either, i shall have a read up. Thanks Cold Bishop; Thanks for your input regarding The Duel & Naval Commandos I have to agree with the "At least Solid" part, while alot of Chors movies have blown me away, Killer Clans was my first, it was like watching a chinese "Godfather", or a giant game of chess as i once told my friend. Jade Tiger, Magic Blade, Death Duel and Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan too. But Clans Of Intrigue, Webs of Death, Bat Without Wings, Convict Killer were not to the level of the others IMO but were still very good. Tbh i have yet to see a bad one. I shall look into The Invincible Fist. Shawangela Yup Have Sword Will Travel is great, Its dreamy, artsy vision had me hooked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted May 24, 2014 Member Share Posted May 24, 2014 I shall look into The Invincible Fist. Pm me, I have extra dvd of IVL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cold Bishop Posted May 24, 2014 Member Share Posted May 24, 2014 I think Boxer Rebellion is too dark a film to bear any comparison. Those two films are pretty straight forward Taiwanese rah-rah flag-waving. Boxer Rebellion, however, generated quite a bit of controversy for just how downbeat it was, some people accusing Chang of basically saying that China had it coming to them. Anonymous Heroes is probably the closest predecessor to those two films, even as it plays the "men-on-a-mission" aspect up, the kung-fu/Nationalism angle less. I've never seen Marco Polo, but the two films were shot concurrently, and have a similar "East meets West" historical vibe, so that might be a better parallel. There's Four Riders, which I love, but the "war" aspect of that film always seemed like a bait-and-switch for what mostly strikes me as a pretty grim (if also pretty kitschy) neo-noir. Clans of Intrigue really grows on me. I half suspect that if someone gave it a better subtitling job, I may fall in love with it. It's a martial-arts film where monologues are as important as sword-fights. And then the whole last act just pushes the film into bizarre psychosexual territory that I'm not sure I'm capable of unpacking. I wonder what a Zizek would make of that film. I recall you saying you liked Killer Constable... Well, The Invincible Fist is the basis for that film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member massa_yoda Posted May 24, 2014 Member Share Posted May 24, 2014 There's Four Riders, which I love, but the "war" aspect of that film always seemed like a bait-and-switch for what mostly strikes me as a pretty grim (if also pretty kitschy) neo-noir. I was just going to mention Four Riders, which I found to be quite good. Touches on the treatment and attitude toward war veterans, though it didn't expand on it much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member KyFi Posted May 24, 2014 Member Share Posted May 24, 2014 Tex Killer; Reading what you posted from KyFi about Naval Commandos, i got through the first paragraph and was instantly thinking 7 Man Army, which in turn was mentioned in the second paragraph. am i right in thinking 7 Man Army, Naval Commandos and Boxer Rebellion all fit into a certain bracket, like Changs Historical Battle films, did he do any others like these? I have only seen 7 Man Army, I thought it was good but not amazing. Edit: Anonymous Heroes has been mentioned in this same bracket. Yeah, I think you could say those are kind of a subgenre, but I would probably agree that Boxer Rebellion is a bit more politically complex than the others. As I kind of mentioned earlier, I think it was a case that Shaws didn't really have the resources to do full-on Hollywood type war movies---or maybe CC just didn't have the inclination to do those--so he stuck with what he was pretty comfortable with: the smaller scale kung fu action scene, with some guns, bayonettes and modern war framing scenes to give them a more historical/military feel. I enjoy this subgenre a lot, just because it's another manifestation of Chang Cheh's pretty unique artistic vision. In the real world, of course, you're not going to have extended kung fu fights when rifles, pistols and machine guns are all around---but we don't go to Chang Cheh to see ultra-realistic action scenes in the first place. One other Shaw movie that may be more of a full-on war movie is Sons of the Good Earth. This was King Hu's first movie, and it was done at Shaws (and released by Celestial). I have it, but haven't watched it yet: oCgo2zlppyw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted May 24, 2014 Member Share Posted May 24, 2014 Sons of the Good Earth is a superb one : Loh Ti and Chen Ho are excellent in it, it's worth watching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted May 24, 2014 Member Share Posted May 24, 2014 IIRC, the movie All Men Are Brothers is similar to 7 Man Army - someone on here mentionned similarities between these two titles in a review and AMAB is also a Chang Cheh film (if my memory serves me right). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Treacherous Mastermind Posted May 25, 2014 Member Share Posted May 25, 2014 What do you fellow SB fans think about the Brave Archer movies?(negating Little Dragon Maiden). Good or bad? In my opinion Brave Archer 1 and 2 were solid. The 3rd was a bit boring, but tolerable. The 4th was average. As for Little Dragon Maiden...all that comes to mind is wtf for the plot and the characters(the friendly human sized bird who gives the hero a super sword!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted May 25, 2014 Member Share Posted May 25, 2014 What do you fellow SB fans think about the Brave Archer movies? In my opinion Brave Archer 1 and 2 were solid. The 3rd was a bit boring, but tolerable. was it 2 or 3 with lo mang in the end fight?that was great but i don't care much of rest. they are not bad, just there is many better shaws.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Treacherous Mastermind Posted May 25, 2014 Member Share Posted May 25, 2014 was it 2 or 3 with lo mang in the end fight?that was great but i don't care much of rest. they are not bad, just there is many better shaws.. Lol, Lo Mang was in both end fights. And of course there are better shaws out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member KyFi Posted May 25, 2014 Member Share Posted May 25, 2014 I like Brave Archer 1 and 2 quite a bit. I haven't seen it in ages, but I remember really disliking Brave Archer 3 because of the crazy undercranked fight scenes. I haven't seen the others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member teako170 Posted May 26, 2014 Member Share Posted May 26, 2014 I've been revisiting the BA series of late (still have to watch pt4) but I have to agree about that final battle in BA3. What was the point of such excess undercranking? So many great fighters there and I felt it was tarnished do to this camera trickery. What I did enjoy about BA3 was the whole backstory between Ti & Ching. Funny how Fu is hurt for most of BA2 and does nothing and here, in this film, his girl is in the same boat. I like Brave Archer 1 and 2 quite a bit. I haven't seen it in ages, but I remember really disliking Brave Archer 3 because of the crazy undercranked fight scenes. I haven't seen the others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Eastern Evil Posted May 26, 2014 Member Share Posted May 26, 2014 I love the story and think the acting is the usual Shaw excellence, so I love all 4 Brave Archer movies Greatly. The 1st was one of my first Shaws & made me an instant Fu Sheng fan. and Little Dragon Maiden isn't so bad - after all, it had Lo Lieh! (Add 76% likeability to any movie he is in ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Treacherous Mastermind Posted May 26, 2014 Member Share Posted May 26, 2014 I love the story and think the acting is the usual Shaw excellence, so I love all 4 Brave Archer movies Greatly. The 1st was one of my first Shaws & made me an instant Fu Sheng fan. and Little Dragon Maiden isn't so bad - after all, it had Lo Lieh! (Add 76% likeability to any movie he is in ) Of course you would like it, your Eastern Evil, lol. Little Dragon Maiden was beyond silly (remember the magic bird), and it couldn't stand like a proper sequel like Brave Archer 4 had done. I had the same experience as you, the BA series made me a Fu Sheng fan as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Treacherous Mastermind Posted May 26, 2014 Member Share Posted May 26, 2014 I like Brave Archer 1 and 2 quite a bit. I haven't seen it in ages, but I remember really disliking Brave Archer 3 because of the crazy undercranked fight scenes. I haven't seen the others. Lol, I just looked at a thread you started on BA 3. I could tolerate the end fight, but the middle part of the movie with the whole story, was the worst part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Eastern Evil Posted May 26, 2014 Member Share Posted May 26, 2014 Of course you would like it, your Eastern Evil, lol. Little Dragon Maiden was beyond silly (remember the magic bird), and it couldn't stand like a proper sequel like Brave Archer 4 had done. I had the same experience as you, the BA series made me a Fu Sheng fan as well. haha, I forgot about my name for a minute. (KU Kuan Chung was so good as Eastern Evil, never forgot him for that.) The 1983 series of this story is pretty good & fleshes the whole thing out in a great way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted May 26, 2014 Member Share Posted May 26, 2014 For the record, the ourth Brave Archer movie can be found in that set: Brothers Five (1970) - Widescreen, dubbed/subbed, remastered The Brave Archer and His Mate (1982) - Widescreen, dubbed/subbed, remastered Holy Flame of the Martial World (1983) - Widescreen, dubbed/subbed, remastered Journey of the Doom (1985) - Widescreen, dubbed/subbed, remastered Guess the others can be found rather easily. The Brave Archer films look like a nice series of movies - despite the (apparently) very silly Little Dragon Maiden, though I think I'd enjoy this one anyway. Since Lo Lieh was mentionned, any recommandations for movies starring this guy ? I know I could just check out his hkcinemagic entry and see the filmography, but some opinions could be interesting (assuming not everyone acts like Eastern Evil and makes his presence in a film enough of a reason to love it haha). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Treacherous Mastermind Posted May 26, 2014 Member Share Posted May 26, 2014 For the record, the ourth Brave Archer movie can be found in that set: Guess the others can be found rather easily. The Brave Archer films look like a nice series of movies - despite the (apparently) very silly Little Dragon Maiden, though I think I'd enjoy this one anyway. Since Lo Lieh was mentionned, any recommandations for movies starring this guy ? I know I could just check out his hkcinemagic entry and see the filmography, but some opinions could be interesting (assuming not everyone acts like Eastern Evil and makes his presence in a film enough of a reason to love it haha). Re LDM: Probably if you like plenty of silliness in a Shaw Brothers movie. Re Lo Lieh: I haven't watched any movie starring Lo Lieh, as the main character. His King Boxer movie is a very famous shaws, and I think this specific movie was the one who finally brought shaw brothers flicks into the U.S. The movies where Lo Lieh plays as the bad guy are simply spectacular. Few examples: 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Chinese Boxer, and all the movies he plays as Pai Mei(Executioners from Shaolin, Clan of White Lotus, and Abbot from Shaolin). Here are a few other Lo Lieh movies...Invincible Fist, Web of Death, Valley of the Fangs, Golden Swallow, The Swift Knight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Eastern Evil Posted May 26, 2014 Member Share Posted May 26, 2014 I love Lo Lieh and I like him in the movies where he is a little crazy - Buddha's Palm, Rendezvous with Death & Pursuit of Vengeance. He is great as Yen Nan-fei in 'The Magic Blade' He was very vicious in a relatively small part in Jade Tiger. I like him in any Chor Yuen movie! or anything else! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted May 26, 2014 Member Share Posted May 26, 2014 Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Had no clue he was in 36th Chamber Of Shaolin. Guess I'll need to rewatch that one, just to see Lo Lieh more closely - though I bet if you watch some Shaw Brothers movies focusing on one specific actor, you may end watching it countless times - films where you have a big cast like a Venoms movie or the likes of 7 Man Army Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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