Member laagi Posted April 19, 2020 Member Share Posted April 19, 2020 Just realized I've probably only watched a handful of Shaw Brothers productions. And to my own disappointment the only one I can remember right off the bat is The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. So what would you guys consider essential viewing? Maybe a top 5 or top 10 list to get me started Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member sym8 Posted April 19, 2020 Member Share Posted April 19, 2020 Five Superfighters,Eight Diagram,My young Auntie,The Master and Clan of the White Lotus.🤜🤜🤜🤜🤜 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted April 19, 2020 Member Share Posted April 19, 2020 The duel, Vengeance, The heroic ones, The twelve gold medallions, The deadly knives, Dragon swamp, Duel for gold, Killer constable, Invincible shaolin, The deadly duo, Eagle king, Death duel, Two champions of shaolin... There are so many excellent movie in their catalogue... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted April 20, 2020 Member Share Posted April 20, 2020 Avenging Eagle, 5 shaolin masters, golden swallow, heroes of the east and if prefer bit on a comedic side already mentioned 5 superfighters. Not all would be in my top5 but those would call 5 essential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Shaolivevil Posted April 21, 2020 Member Share Posted April 21, 2020 The Duel Vengeance! Five Element Ninjas Five Shaolin Masters Shaolin Temple Flag Of Iron Kid With The Golden Arm Flying Guillotine Executioners Of Shaolin Boxer From Shantung Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShaolinMapache Posted April 21, 2020 Member Share Posted April 21, 2020 The Five Deadly Venoms The Black Tavern Marco Polo (The Four Assassins) Bastard Swordsman Legendary Weapons of China Dirty Ho Crippled Avengers Bat Without Wings Ten Tigers from Kwangtung Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member paimeifist Posted April 21, 2020 Member Share Posted April 21, 2020 Heroes of the East Five Fingers of Death Avenging Eagle Flag of Iron The Golden Swallow Killer Clans The Duel The Bastard Swordsman Human Lanterns Eight Diagram Pole Fighter That would be a few great movies that would represent a variety of the prominent styles of Shaw Brothers. These are not necessarily my ten favorite movies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted April 21, 2020 Member Share Posted April 21, 2020 I don't wanna be the party pooper here, but this happens every time someone asks for "essential viewing" recommendations. Most people rattle off a bunch of THEIR favorites instead of actually thinking about what the OP asked for. I know it's all subjective, but I'm sorry..... Black Tavern, Dragon Swamp, Flag of Iron and whatnot is not essential Shaw viewing. At least not as entry-way films for someone looking to get into Shaws or even particularly representative of their respective sub-genres or performers. Being objective is key when someone new ask for rec's in a certain avenue of cinema. Like I'm not a big Bruce Lee fan. But if someone asked me to show them some examples of say early 70's Kung Fu films, I would definitely throw something like Fist of Fury in the mix even if my own personal taste would rather have me choosing something else. You can go berate me now if you want, but those are my two cents on the matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member paimeifist Posted April 21, 2020 Member Share Posted April 21, 2020 1 hour ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said: I don't wanna be the party pooper here, but this happens every time someone asks for "essential viewing" recommendations. Most people rattle off a bunch of THEIR favorites instead of actually thinking about what the OP asked for. I know it's all subjective, but I'm sorry..... Black Tavern, Dragon Swamp, Flag of Iron and whatnot is not essential Shaw viewing. At least not as entry-way films for someone looking to get into Shaws or even particularly representative of their respective sub-genres or performers. Being objective is key when someone new ask for rec's in a certain avenue of cinema. Like I'm not a big Bruce Lee fan. But if someone asked me to show them some examples of say early 70's Kung Fu films, I would definitely throw something like Fist of Fury in the mix even if my own personal taste would rather have me choosing something else. You can go berate me now if you want, but those are my two cents on the matter. I actually tried to do that, but knowing OP is someone who loves the genre, I tried to choose movies that represent different styles, rather than something I may recommend someone completely new to it. I actually think Flag of Iron is solid man. Most would say Five Deadly Venoms is essential, and I was greatly underwhelmed when I first saw that. I agree with your point though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member paimeifist Posted April 21, 2020 Member Share Posted April 21, 2020 Ya know what, I appreciate that @TibetanWhiteCrane, and will offer a revised list. I’ll omit the 36th Chamber because he has seen it. In no particular order: 1. Heroes of the East, Honestly, this is probably the best overall movie to come out of Shaw studios. Everything about it is good, without venturing into “campy” territory at all. 2. The Five Fingers of Death, the most famous early “over the top” basher, highly entertaining, and I believe this was the first international hit. Features a young Bolo in a cameo, and Lo Liehs most prominent protagonist role. 3. The Duel, good representation of CCs more modern setting flicks from the early 70s. 4. Avenging Eagle, A great film all around, possibly Alexander Fu Shengs best performance. In my opinion, the best late 70s Shaw Wuxia film. 5. Death Duel, I guess this is likely Chor Yuen’s most popular wuxia flick, I don’t care for any of his work all that much. 6. Kid with the Golden Arm, more representative of The Venoms style than Flag of Iron, and includes all the Venoms. I love this one too. This WILL make you love Kwok Choi. 7. 5 Shaolin Masters, a Shaolin Chang Cheh movie is probably necessary, this one has lots of action, and this seems to be the most well received of the bunch. 8. Come Drink With Me, can’t believe I missed this one the first time. A great earlier movie (66 I believe), although not action packed and fairly straight forward action (good action, but not particularly elaborate or impressive). More of a movie than a “martial arts movie”. 9. Bastard Swordsman, the best representation of the zanier Shaw swordplay movies from the 80s. 10. The One Armed Swordsman, to represent the early 70s Wuxia films, in place of Golden Swallow. This is an inferior movie in my opinion, but it had greater impact. Extra: Fist of the White Lotus, because ya gotta have some Pai Mei. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted April 22, 2020 Member Share Posted April 22, 2020 9 hours ago, paimeifist said: Ya know what, I appreciate that @TibetanWhiteCrane, and will offer a revised list. I’ll omit the 36th Chamber because he has seen it. In no particular order: 1. Heroes of the East 2. The Five Fingers of Death 3. The Duel, good representation of CCs more modern setting flicks from the early 70s. 4. Avenging Eagle 5. Death Duel, I guess this is likely Chor Yuen’s most popular wuxia flick, I don’t care for any of his work all that much. 6. Kid with the Golden Arm, more representative of The Venoms style than Flag of Iron, and includes all the Venoms. I love this one too. This WILL make you love Kwok Choi. 7. 5 Shaolin Masters, a Shaolin Chang Cheh movie is probably necessary. 8. Come Drink With Me, can’t believe I missed this one the first time. 9. Bastard Swordsman, the best representation of the zanier Shaw swordplay movies from the 80s. 10. The One Armed Swordsman, in place of Golden Swallow. An inferior movie in my opinion, but if we’re going for impact. Extra: Fist of the White Lotus, because ya gotta have some Pai Mei. A careful and thoughtful selection with sound reasoning behind the choices.... this is exactly what I meant. You can't go wrong with any of these as pure entertainment and introductory vehicles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member laagi Posted April 22, 2020 Author Member Share Posted April 22, 2020 Hey guys sorry for the late reply. Highly appreciate all your input! Clearly I have a lot of viewing ahead of me I'll try to watch as many as possible since I'm still stuck at home for what looks to be another month. Thank you for making this time more bearable, cheers! P.S. Just realized I may have already watched Heroes of the East as well as Five Fingers of Death. Watched (will be updated infrequently) Fists of the White Lotus - I was a bit worried at the beginning since there's lots of messy and uncoordinated group fights at first. Later it does pick up pace with some great training scenes and one on one fights. Also Kara Hui's character has some really unintended humor to it (child birth)... Five Superfighters - Immediatley had me reminiscent of early JC vehicles. More of a Kung Fu comedy, although not too heavy on the latter. Lots of training scenes (variety of styles), pretty solid shapes. The villain (Kwan Fung) was the standout to me! He's busting some really bad ass moves. Bastard Swordsman - Judging this by the mere craziness of "special effects" one would have to wonder what herbs they were smoking... Silkworm Skill!? But on a more serious note I loved every minute of it. Great fights! And if I'm not mistaken they've used the same temple exterior shot as in Fists of the White Lotus. The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter - The fights are plentiful but the spark didn't catch fire. It's maybe a general (personal) problem I encounter with Shaw Productions. It's the heavy use of sets rather than "forest and meadow". Nevertheless the last 15 minutes have some incredible fights in store which basically saved this one for me. Mad Monkey Kung Fu - Very entertaining and at times damn funny (admittedly the humour is pretty flat). Great Master-Student set up with a particular training scene with the famous "drunken master" tune which is a pure joy to watch. Hsiao Ho is incredible! his skill, speed, acrobatics and overall likeable appearance knock it out of the park. Dirty Ho - If you're not sold right there... Oh and don't forget Gordon Liu is sporting a moustache! Very entertaining Kung Fu comedy. Liu as wise ass and Wong Yu as a hot-tempered goof form a great team. 5 Master of Shaolin - A bit of a slow burner in my opinion. But the second half of the movie features a great (shaolin) training montage including different styles. The grande finale has some outstanding one on one fights, making this alone a worthy addition to any collection! Needless to mention the all-star Kung Fu ensemble... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted April 28, 2020 Member Share Posted April 28, 2020 On 4/22/2020 at 10:11 PM, laagi said: Bastard Swordsman - Judging this by the mere craziness of "special effects" one would have to wonder what herbs they were smoking... Silkworm Skill!? I need to revisit this one, I don't remember a single image !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMK Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 42 minutes ago, ShawAngela said: I need to revisit this one, I don't remember a single image !! This and the sequel are some of the more fun ones in the Shaw library. I really enjoyed both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tex Killer Posted April 29, 2020 Member Share Posted April 29, 2020 4 hours ago, SMK said: This and the sequel are some of the more fun ones in the Shaw library. I really enjoyed both. Most expensive doubledippings ever, had(and still have) IVL boxset but was not happy with quality so bought funimation discs from ebay years ago. With customs and global shipping sth like 130$ total for 2 dvds. But worth it.. Part2 is bit weaker because too much humor, action is still top notch in that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Sheng Posted May 4, 2020 Member Share Posted May 4, 2020 With a few exceptions mainly the obvious MA titles in everybody's run-down here... I'd like to point out two films that ought to be absolutely essential viewing for anyone who's in love not just with the Shaw Brothers universe, but with this most unique and incomparable HK cinema genre, the heibang pian (black gang film or Triad film, as its mainly refered to in the West). These are Kuei Chi Hung's THE TEA HOUSE and its sequel BIG BROTHER CHENG, both box office busters in their respective release years (1974/75), and films that are seen as the progenitors of an entire film genre. Films, that are also among the career-defining performances of lead actor Chen Kuan Tai, as the man himself has emphasized in his interviews. Its a crying shame that these films, that had an incalculable influence on HK crime cinema for decades, are still only available as ancient, i.e. 17 and 18 years old non-anamorphic IVL DVD's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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