Won Jin

[J.J. Hayden]

On 3/30/2021 at 11:31 AM, One Armed Boxer said:

Here's a making of clip, don't think I spotted Won Jin though -

Cheers. I didn't see him there either. Apparently this was made part way through filming and that funding for the movie was coming from donations, so I wonder if it ever got finished?

Edited December 1, 2022 by J.J. Hayden

[J.J. Hayden]

Won Jin's fight against Ricky Jun and Lee In-seop in 1998's Vindictive Venom. Although not on the same level as HK, this fight is so much better than the rest of the film and obviously Won Jin had a great input on the choreography. Sorry about the quality but like my copy of The Expert the disc is dead.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by J.J. Hayden

[J.J. Hayden]

Hello. I need someone who can access a Naver blog site, as I have tried to sign up many different ways with no success. There is a page I can view but it's a link to another page I'm interested in but cannot access without logging in. It could have some important info on Won Jin. Here is a link to the first page https://cafe.naver.com/zmfpdlstjdwl/33665 and near the bottom is a link that says 원진 vs 이인섭(독종). This could just be a clip from the first film but there's a possibilty it's from the ellusive Part 2.

I'd be very grateful if anyone can help.

Cheers

[J.J. Hayden]

Won Jin's debut in 1979's The 18 Amazones. Although he doesn't have a credited role as an Amazon, you can see him from time to time in women's clothes showing off some skills. I couldn't get any decent screenshots, but I was lucky enough to spot this, in this photo you can see Kim Myung-ah on the right of the frame, then next to her (but furthest from the camera) is my man Won Jin.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by J.J. Hayden

[J.J. Hayden]

Won Jin in the Korean war movie Inchon. Although it was filmed in 1979 there were lots of problems with the production and it was released in 1981. Won Jin was a stuntman so he's probably playing a few soldiers here and there but this was the best shot I could get I'm afraid. He's the evacuee on the far right of the frame, with a black belt and carrying a bundle above his head. He obviously wasn't the only martial artist doing stunts for the film though, I also spotted Baek Hwang-gi who is shot for not joining the commies.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by J.J. Hayden

[J.J. Hayden]

Won Jin in 1981's Enter The Invincible Hero. Yet again sharing the screen with a fellow super-kicker (Casanova Wong here) but never going toe to toe. Even though still just a stunt man here, they recognised his talentents as they had him technicaly playing two henchman in the same fight scene. At first in a white top with black trousers and later in all black, he gets a few moments to show some acrobatics. This is one of the better all-Korean action movies and is worth a look.

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by Dredderick_Tatum

[J.J. Hayden]

Won Jin as a young monk in 1984's Shaolin - The Blood Mission wielding the deadliest of weapons...a slipper. He does actually get to have a small 1on1 fight scene with one of the lead characters here (unfortunately not Hwang Jeong-ri). Although Won Jin was still under-used the film has some really good martial arts in it and is well worth checking out.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by J.J. Hayden

[northern b]

Superb stuff

I purchased the HKL release of Scorpion King its a pity he never did more in a similar vein.

Would love to see him in a sifu role training up a student

[J.J. Hayden]

1 hour ago, northern b said:

I purchased the HKL release of Scorpion King its a pity he never did more in a similar vein.

Good choice, I got that when I was a kid and it blew my mind, especially the demo reel, I was like "Wow, he really can move like that!".

I think The Expert was the closest he ever came again to Scorpio, but Women On The Run and No Problem 2 give him some good screentime and more recently, Martial Cop gives him a good go of it.

Edited April 6, 2021 by Dredderick_Tatum

[northern b]

cheers for the info

I purchased that a long time ago so not sure there was a lot of information about his other films at the time tbh

Edited April 6, 2021 by northern b

[J.J. Hayden]

5 hours ago, northern b said:

I purchased that a long time ago so not sure there was a lot of information about his other films at the time tbh

Even now it's hard to find info on him, even some of the films I've posted you can't see credited to him anywhere, it took a lot of work to find what I did and there could even be more. But I don't have anything else to go on apart from the one clip I posted of what claims to be Vindictive Venom Part 2 and the pic @rdenn posted, hopefully he can provide some more detail for us.

Edited April 6, 2021 by Dredderick_Tatum

[J.J. Hayden]

For those who haven't seen The Expert, here's the best fight scene imo. Sorry about the quality but it's the best I can do, many of you are probably aware of how hard it is to get this outside of Korea and since I don't live on UK mainland it makes it practically impossible.

Anyway enjoy

 

Edited April 6, 2021 by Dredderick_Tatum

[J.J. Hayden]

Won Jin in a 1987 live performance troupe, doing a comedy routine but the only real interesting part is a little showcase of Won Jin's skills, including a rare chance to see him wield a steel-whip.

As far I see, his film career went on hiatus from 84-87, maybe martial arts films just went out of fashion and then transitioned to the kids movies and perhaps the departure of Richard Park Woo-sang to the US helped end the era of classic Korean martial arts movies.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by J.J. Hayden

[J.J. Hayden]

Won Jin also returned to films in 1987, firstly with Hello Im Kook-Jeong. I didn't recognise him as anybody though, he certainly didn't get used to his full ability for us to notice. I reckon he's playing this assassin, but it's too dark for me to confirm.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by J.J. Hayden

[J.J. Hayden]

Then he had a more noticable appearence in 1987's Fool 3 as one of the waiters in the final scene. It's still basically a cameo, but at least this time he gets to through a kick or two.

 

Edited April 10, 2021 by Dredderick_Tatum

[J.J. Hayden]

Won Jin's first starring role in 1988's Brave Trio. Korean martial movies had all but disappeared at this point, the only opportunity to work was on kids movies, which is a shame, but Brave Trio is probably this genre at it's best.

This is my favourite of Won Jin's Korean movies, although not as polished as the HK action, there is still some great stuff and plenty of opportunity for him to show off his signature style, though the action is credited to Choe Jeong-il, it's pretty obvious Won Jin was an uncredited action director. Even his co-stars get to show their stuff: Jin Seong-goo, although a bit choppy with the choreography has some great skills; Ham Cheol-hoon gets to show off a bit too and even chubby little Lee Kyu-man impresses, not so much in the film but in some of the promo photos he shows some great flexibility.

Maybe the best thing about this movie is that it's not too hard to find under the name Thunder Ninja Kids In The Golden Adventure, which is chopped up by Godfrey Ho and cut and pasted with ninjas, but fortunately most of the original fights are there and the English dud is quite amusing. I was lucky to find this years ago and got it for about a quid It's great stuff so if you haven't seen it, do so now.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by J.J. Hayden

[Super Ninja]

On 4/12/2021 at 2:41 PM, Dredderick_Tatum said:

Won Jin's first starring role in 1988's Brave Trio. Korean martial movies had all but disappeared at this point, the only opportunity to work was on kids movies, which is a shame, but Brave Trio is probably this genre at it's best.

You mean like kiddie action comedies, like Kung Fu Kids series? Didn't know that kids fu took over in Korea as well, same as in Taiwan.

[J.J. Hayden]

9 hours ago, Super Ninja said:

You mean like kiddie action comedies, like Kung Fu Kids series? Didn't know that kids fu took over in Korea as well, same as in Taiwan.

Yes, in fact a few of the Godfrey Ho kids movies credited as Taiwan are just Korean kids movies that they slap a load of false name on, or throw in a buch of ninjas, or both. I think all the Thunder Ninja Kids films are originally Korean, but it's been a while so can't be sure.

It was a hard time for Korean stunt guys, I guess Taiwan had similar lull.

[J.J. Hayden]

Not sure what the quality is going to be like, but I found this clip of Won Jin doing a nunchaku demo. He does love them so.

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by Dredderick_Tatum

[J.J. Hayden]

Won Jin in 1989's Super Hong Kil-Dong 3. Although he's not one of the leads and the movie is very childish, Won Jin gets a good bit of time to show some of his stuff. Playing two characters: 1st as a Geung-Si, where most of the action is stiff (as expected) but he does get a few good acrobatic moments; 2nd he plays one of the kidnappers and gets a short but decent fight scene where he shows off a few of his signature moves.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by J.J. Hayden

[J.J. Hayden]

For research purposes I watched Hello Im Kook-jeong again and thanks to a few factors (especially a slow-mo function) I believe that this is actually Won Jin. Firstly it didn't make sense to have him in a non-action role, he wasn't a big name back then. It's daylight so it's easier to make out: facial features; body size; and body movement, which is particularly relevant here as he does a move he often uses, where after being hit (with a green bag here) he starts a backflip but turns mid-air so his back (rather than his front) crashes on the ground. Although not great, you get a look at his face and his: nose; eyebrows; teeth; and cheeks seem a match. Finally there's the placement of his name in the credits, it's further down than I'd expect for the other role and he's among other stunt players, which makes more sense. I feel a lot more confident here, I'd say I'm 95% sure. But it's still possible that he plays the assassin in the dark too.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by J.J. Hayden

[J.J. Hayden]

Here's a quick fight from Super Hong Kil-Dong 3. Technically, it's actually the main actress' character but Won Jin was doubling for her, and here the only time it's her is on the few close ups.

 

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by J.J. Hayden

[J.J. Hayden]

Won Jin and co-star Yoo Chang-guk in 1990's The Doofus Detective And The Twin Light Brothers. It's a bit of a shame that they had these two awesome martial artists as main characters (couldn't work out their names) yet they do hardly any action until the finale. That being said the second fights in the finale are a bit lacklustre, but the gang fight is pretty awesome. Won Jin is on top form as usual and I was very impressed with Yoo, who gives him a run for his money, both were such wasted talents.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by J.J. Hayden

[J.J. Hayden]

Though I'd share this cool promo pic from Brave Trio,Won Jin showing off his awesome flexibility. He made look so easy!!!

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by Dredderick_Tatum

[J.J. Hayden]

Won Jin as Sigma in 1991's The Trio Stars. Only as a guest star here, basically it's power-rangers-esque kids movie, where the 3 main kids join together and turn into Won Jin. He's only in the movie for about 5 mins in total, but he's really the only reason to watch. Although he's not in it much he does get to show some fancy moves.

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Dredderick_Tatum