What movie draws the line between old school and new?

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

Well, according to Ric Meyers, who is not always reliable, but make sense here, Project A was the beginning of the change from Kung Fu to Action or "fighting movie". Too many of us Westerners, to Asians using martial arts was a kung fu movie, but to my Chinese friends Jackie hadn't made a kung fu movie since Young Master or Dragon Lord. There were martial arts in them, but mostly eclectic kickboxing and tae kwon do. Also the Wu Shu players were so fast that it hardly fit into the style of hup, hup, hup of the Hung Gar/Venoms movies, so even IN the modern kung fu movies there was a difference. One of the deciding points was a sense of optimism, and HK viewers had enough of the 100 years of shame stories. They also seemed to want to make movies that were geared towards themselves and not overseas markets.

[Killer Meteor]

Yes, by the 80s, Shaws was still making Chinese movies, GH and Cinema City were making Hong Kong movies.

 

Compare Project A to House of Traps and the difference is light years apart.

[NoKUNGFUforYU]

9 hours ago, Killer Meteor said:

Yes, by the 80s, Shaws was still making Chinese movies, GH and Cinema City were making Hong Kong movies.

 

Compare Project A to House of Traps and the difference is light years apart.

I remember watching A Venoms movie and they were doing some really stupid, effeminate tumbling routines disguised as fighting. I left and said, "that's it for the Shaw Brothers!" A few years later a Chinese guy I worked with told me Fu Sheng had died. I found out later that Shaw's did some decent stuff here and there after 1980, but never really warmed up to the Venoms with the exception of Crippled Avengers and a few other films. Too me they are what killed Shaw Brothers martial arts films.

[DragonClaws]

18 hours ago, NoKUNGFUforYU said:

Well, according to Ric Meyers, who is not always reliable, but make sense here, Project A was the beginning of the change from Kung Fu to Action or "fighting movie".

 

I'd go with Drunekn Tai-Chi(1984) starring Donnie Yen, but I guess it could be given to any othe titles too. A trend or style very rarely just end's abrutly, it usually spawns into something else. If Jackie Chan/Sammo Hung/Yuen Biao and co had worked at Shaw Brothers, would the studio's direction have changed?. Or was the trios success down to having more creative freedom at Golden Harvest. There were a lot of Shaw Brothers movies that came out in the 80's, which would not looked out of place in the mid to late 70's. That's not to say they hadnt changed some of their filmaking approaches. However,  by th 1980's Jackie and co had made a distinct change in there filmaking and choreography. The fight direction in Project A, being very different from that seen in Snake In The Eagles Shadow. With Dragon Lord bridging the gap between the two?. I'm not hating on the 1980's Shaw Brothers movies, Five Element Ninja and Eight Diagram Pole Fighter are among my most favoured Martial Arts movies.

[DrNgor]

While Carry On, Pickpocket and Dragon Lord might be considered transitional films, I think Project A and Winners and Sinners, both from 1983, mark the dividing line. Old school films were still produced, but they were already an anachronism by that point.

[DrNgor]

2 hours ago, NoKUNGFUforYU said:

I remember watching A Venoms movie and they were doing some really stupid, effeminate tumbling routines disguised as fighting. I left and said, "that's it for the Shaw Brothers!" A few years later a Chinese guy I worked with told me Fu Sheng had died. I found out later that Shaw's did some decent stuff here and there after 1980, but never really warmed up to the Venoms with the exception of Crippled Avengers and a few other films. Too me they are what killed Shaw Brothers martial arts films.

Wow, that's pretty harsh. Ironically, "tumbling routines disguised as fighting" is basically what sums up the finale of Crippled Avengers.

[Omni Dragon]

On 8/8/2014 at 10:37 PM, paimeifist said:

Just curious what peoples opinions on this would be. I am not really well versed enough in this era of movies(mid to late 80s?) to be able to say, although I can say this thought popped up in my head while watched Martial Arts of Shaolin.

What movie(s) would you consider? Why would you consider these particular movies?

I had a similar thought around the time I watched SPL, about turn of the 21st Century martial arts movies. Personally I feel like there's a post-1980s new wave. It's difficult for me to think of a dividing line but I feel like the editing and fight choreography are different. A lot less 'basher' like. I guess I feel like there's a newer new school lol.

I did make this rudimentary thread at the time:

But I've never felt satisfied in describing/defining it.