The Invincible Fist (1969)

[SMK]

[thumbnail=center]http://www.shaolinchamber36.com/wp-content/gallery/covers/I/InvincibleFist_IVL_SC36.jpg[/thumbnail]

Starring: Lo Lieh, Li Ching, David Chiang, Ku Feng, Chan Sing, Wu Ma, Cliff Lok

I am creating this thread now, just to make sure that I follow through with my intent to watch this film NEXT!! I have been meaning to watch this SB movie, ever since I had read nothing but great things about it over on the FLK forum a while back. I "tracked" down the film, and have had it for a month or so now, but have still yet to watch it. To be honest, it is very hard for me to do things like "watch movies", when I am pretty much taking care of my 3 year old son while my wife is at work. There is no way I can sit through probably even 15 minutes straight without some sort of request or demand from my son. This is why I usually watch movies while on the treadmill, which I plan on doing the next time I am on it, which should be later this day.

I will report back on what I thought of this movie, once I seen it, but I also wanted to ask, if any of you have already seen it, please feel free to post here on what you thought of it, just PLEASE, no spoilers. Thanks!

[dadadove]

Yes, Abbot. Please make sure you watch it! It is fantastic.

[shaolin swords]

abbot how was the movie if you watched it yet let us know thanks

[Iron_Leopard]

This one deserves its praise. Great overall mood and production values. Even better performances. 

I actually really love the last half hour of this film. With the Lo Lieh, Li Ching, and her Father scenes.

I'd take a sequel if there was one. I'd like to see how the two leads relationship held up over the years and if Lo Lieh ever revealed the truth to her about what happened. 

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

A lot people sleep on this gem.

[paimeifist]

13 hours ago, Iron_Leopard said:

This one deserves its praise. Great overall mood and production values. Even better performances. 

I actually really love the last half hour of this film. With the Lo Lieh, Li Ching, and her Father scenes.

I'd take a sequel if there was one. I'd like to see how the two leads relationship held up over the years and if Lo Lieh ever revealed the truth to her about what happened. 

Killer Constable is a remake that’s a very good movie in its own right. It has a more depressing feel and less of the “wandering swordsman” adventurous tone that Invincible Fist has.

[morpheus]

I actually have Invincible Fist on my main HD -reserved for films that I watch more often.  At first I was hesitant because it was made in 1969 -a bit before the martial arts craze in the 70s.  However, I was captured by the story line and the characters. Lo Lieh -like his role in King Boxer- was the admirable hero, future star David Chiang, Ku Feng as the sneaky Cripple Peng, as well as the untrustworthy character of Fang Mian.   And not to forget the beautiful Li Ching. 

As I re-watch this film, it gains in the rankings of my favorites.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

That's a great and underrated movie. Now this is not directed at you, Morpheus, but I really don't understand the whole decade cut-off that many people, some on this very forum, seems to impose on themselves.

There seems to be this idea that if choreo is from before 1972 or 1978 or whatever, that it is then not worth watching. Fine, people are gonna like what they like, and obviously HK fight choreo progressed over time. But not from bad to good in my book, it just went through different stages of style, refinement, influence and other factors. If you only like bashers, or shapes, or 80's kickboxing variety or whatever, that's fine. But at least sample from other eras and maybe not look at it as inferior or bad. It's all about advancement of a craft that goes through different phases.

Also, maybe look at the films as a whole, and not just the action. When it comes to story, characters, production value etc. and Shaws especially, those components are for the most part way stronger in the latter half of the 60's and early 70's. Take Kung Fu comedy for an example.... usually superb shapes action, but everything else makes you wanna blow your brains out from the sheer, infantile stupidity. But most fans are willing to make that trade-off. Perhaps try and make those same concessions and compromises when it comes films made before whatever cut-off you have set for yourself.... you might discover some really great movies you never thought you'd like.

Not calling anyone out here, just had to get this off my chest, because I use to put those restrictions on my own cinematic diet, and I was a lot of great film experiences poorer for it.

[Iron_Leopard]

28 minutes ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said:

That's a great and underrated movie. Now this is not directed at you, Morpheus, but I really don't understand the whole decade cut-off that many people, some on this very forum, seems to impose on themselves.

There seems to be this idea that if choreo is from before 1972 or 1978 or whatever, that it is then not worth watching. Fine, people are gonna like what they like, and obviously HK fight choreo progressed over time. But not from bad to good in my book, it just went through different stages of style, refinement, influence and other factors. If you only like bashers, or shapes, or 80's kickboxing variety or whatever, that's fine. But at least sample from other eras and maybe not look at it as inferior or bad. It's all about advancement of a craft that goes through different phases.

Also, maybe look at the films as a whole, and not just the action. When it comes to story, characters, production value etc. and Shaws especially, those components are for the most part way stronger in the latter half of the 60's and early 70's. Take Kung Fu comedy for an example.... usually superb shapes action, but everything else makes you wanna blow your brains out from the sheer, infantile stupidity. But most fans are willing to make that trade-off. Perhaps try and make those same concessions and compromises when it comes films made before whatever cut-off you have set for yourself.... you might discover some really great movies you never thought you'd like.

Not calling anyone out here, just had to get this off my chest, because I use to put those restrictions on my own cinematic diet, and I was a lot of great film experiences poorer for it.

I've been so spoiled by the films from 65 - 71 that I'm actually having a hard time going back to enjoying late 70s and early 80s. 

I know this is an extremely unpopular opinion but I actually prefer Wang Yu, Lo Lieh, and Yueh Hua as my leading men from this era over Ti Lung, David Chiang, and Fu Sheng in the following years. Love all three of those guys too though.

The acting, sets, atmosphere, and stories are just better to me. I'm sure a lot of what I feel was lost from these earlier films can be attributed to the explosion of popularity of these movies around 72 and onward which forced Directors to trade quality for quantity. They had to spit out so many of these that they didn't have the time to put as much time and care into each picture as much as they probably wanted to.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

4 minutes ago, Iron_Leopard said:

I know this is an extremely unpopular opinion but I actually prefer Wang Yu, Lo Lieh, and Yueh Hua as my leading men from this era over Ti Lung, David Chiang, and Fu Sheng in the following years. Love all three of those guys too though.

 

I sorta swung that way when I really got into the 60's early 70's wuxia stuff, but it has balanced out since. I enjoy it all, just depends on mood. And let's be grateful that within a niche genre there is so much variation to choose from.

[morpheus]

1 hour ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said:

That's a great and underrated movie. Now this is not directed at you, Morpheus, but I really don't understand the whole decade cut-off that many people, some on this very forum, seems to impose on themselves.

There seems to be this idea that if choreo is from before 1972 or 1978 or whatever, that it is then not worth watching. Fine, people are gonna like what they like, and obviously HK fight choreo progressed over time. But not from bad to good in my book, it just went through different stages of style, refinement, influence and other factors. If you only like bashers, or shapes, or 80's kickboxing variety or whatever, that's fine. But at least sample from other eras and maybe not look at it as inferior or bad. It's all about advancement of a craft that goes through different phases.

Also, maybe look at the films as a whole, and not just the action. When it comes to story, characters, production value etc. and Shaws especially, those components are for the most part way stronger in the latter half of the 60's and early 70's. Take Kung Fu comedy for an example.... usually superb shapes action, but everything else makes you wanna blow your brains out from the sheer, infantile stupidity. But most fans are willing to make that trade-off. Perhaps try and make those same concessions and compromises when it comes films made before whatever cut-off you have set for yourself.... you might discover some really great movies you never thought you'd like.

Not calling anyone out here, just had to get this off my chest, because I use to put those restrictions on my own cinematic diet, and I was a lot of great film experiences poorer for it.

I don't take it as a calling out in any way, shape or form.  For me, I can honestly say that the Shaw films I first saw were the ones shown on Black Belt Theatre.  They were usually the badly dubbed ones released by World Northal -a company that started in 1976.  Hence, the popularity of the films at that time centered on the Venom Mob, David Chiang, Ti Lung, Fu Sheng etc.  I grew up on Shaw films of that time period.  Betamax and VHS formats came along during this time as well so again, the more popular films in this era were put on tape first.

It was not until a bit later when companies like Celestial started to remaster and re-release these early gems that I was able to view them, and thanks to the internet for the film reviews, summaries and synopses to get an idea of the story line before making a foolhardy purchase.  On top of that familiarity with titles really starts in the 1970s.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Shaw_Brothers_films

Deep down, I knew there were great films in the decade (or decades) prior.  However with limited information back then, taking a wild stab in the dark could mean disappointment on a high level.  With films and information about them made more readily available now, I can use better discernment and perhaps make more wiser purchases or trades. As you previously stated: "I use to put those restrictions on my own cinematic diet, and I was a lot of great film experiences poorer for it."  Perhaps many of us that thought along that path have been enlightened as well.

[YnEoS]

I ended up watching this today, as I've been looking to hit more Chang Cheh films I've maybe missed out on.  I appreciated the setting and the build up between the action scenes, but the characters didn't really grab me on this one.  There was that interesting dramatic turn towards the end, but a bit too late for me.  Still a pretty solid and interesting film though.