Is it just me?

[WangYu]

Whenever I watch a fight scene from “one armed boxer” on youtube I start reading the comments below. Most of these comments are making fun of the scenes and I kind of hate that people doing that lol.

I mean I get that some random none MA loving guys post these things and I perfectly see how ridiculous and unrealistic the fight scenes are but it is so freaking entertaining in my eyes! I see how none kung fu fans find the scenes funny but to me it is pure gold haha

I know technically later kung fu films are more impressive but to me the early stuff is the real deal. They have better camera work, better editing and they’re so deliciously brutal. The later movies are just skills showcases and summersaults with endlessly long fight scenes.

Anyway I really don’t like people making fun of one of the all time classic MA films. Not that I lose my sleep over it, I’m a grown ass man but still it kind of hurts to see one of my faves being trashed! This happens especially with Wang Yu films but I take almost all of his films over any Jacky Chan film lol

Edited August 31, 2021 by WangYu

[Bruce]

For my taste (and the fact that Bruce Lee was my introduction to martial arts & martial arts movies probably would say a lot about my taste), Jimmy Wang Yu would  make a fascinating subject for a tell-all biography, he was both a witness to & a direct participant in the good, the bad, & the ugly of the Hong Kong (& Taiwanese) film industry, & I do think he was, in his prime, more athletic than he looked, he's an interesting character, but his films have never been ones I'd go to any great effort to see. I kind of see his stuff similarly to the way I see the 1950s & 60s Godzilla movies from Japan, they're fun in a goofy, so bad they're good, B movie kind of way, but later movies with similar subject matter were better in almost every way. I appreciate the more impressive athletic abilities, martial arts skills, stuntwork , wider variety of stories & tones, etc., in the work of Bruce, Jackie, Sammo, even Sonny Chiba, the Zatoichi & Lone Wolf & Cub movies, hell, even Norris, Seagal, & Van Damme way more than I do the films of Wang Yu that I've seen.   

All those other guys made strong enough initial impressions on me (you only get one chance to make a first impression) that I wanted to see more of their work, I couldn't say the same for Jimmy. Just my opinion, admittedly based on the few films I saw of Wang Yu's, but I think of him a little the way I think of Jim Kelly, they didn't seem to really try to make good movies, they were always more interested in doing whatever they had to to make a quick buck while putting as little time & money as necessary into their films. 

Oh, well, to each his own, I guess one man's trash is indeed another man's treasure.

[Majin Android]

Old school just doesn’t vibe with a lot of people these days. It’s canon in our minds cause we are purists. Others are consumers.

[Chu Liu Hsiang]

2 hours ago, WangYu said:

Whenever I watch a fight scene from “one armed boxer” on youtube I start reading the comments below. Most of these comments are making fun of the scenes and I kind of hate that people doing that lol.

I mean I get that some random none MA loving guys post these things and I perfectly see how ridiculous and unrealistic the fight scenes are but it is so freaking entertaining in my eyes! I see how none kung fu fans find the scenes funny but to me it is pure gold haha

I know technically later kung fu films are more impressive but to me the early stuff is the real deal. They have better camera work, better editing and they’re so deliciously brutal. The later movies are just skills showcases and summersaults with endlessly long fight scenes.

Anyway I really don’t like people making fun of one of the all time classic MA films. Not that I lose my sleep over it, I’m a grown ass man but still it kind of hurts to see one of my faves being trashed! This happens especially with Wang Yu films but I take almost all of his films over any Jacky Chan film lol

Confucius says, To Live A Happy Life, Don't Read The Comments.

Seriously, I hear you. There are funny, interesting, reasonable comments. But most are not. It takes a lot of digging rubbish to find some nuggets. When I realize it starts getting to me, I force myself to close the site. For me, that is the only healthy way to use the interwebs. 

 

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

I don't give a single, solitary fuck what random people on the internet thinks of the stuff I like.... or really anything else for that matter. Also, if you don't read the comments, they don't exist.

[One Armed Boxer]

5 hours ago, WangYu said:

Whenever I watch a fight scene from “one armed boxer” on youtube I start reading the comments below.

There’s your problem right there.  I’ve found reading YouTube comments on pretty much anything to be a depressingly futile endeavour.

[Cognoscente]

7 minutes ago, One Armed Boxer said:

I’ve found reading YouTube comments on pretty much anything to be a depressingly futile endeavour.

I agree. I used to like reading them in the early days but then it became a bit too cliché with comments on songs like "This movie brought me here", "I'm this young age and I like this old band", or "The people who disliked this video are..."

[WangYu]

You see I don’t even understand people liking the film in a goofy way or as unintentional comedy. For me those films are serious business, I really love them! I not once laughed at the film despite the ridiculous scenes, I genuinely take these films seriously lol

It is weird as I only got to know Wang Yu in my early twenties and I still loved it, those are not childhood memories here!

There is so much creativity and love in these films, I think he really gave his all to make fun good films, he wasn’t pretending.
He made pure popcorn entertainment that filled the seats back in the day and he clearly loved doing it.

For most it is acquired taste, for me it is vintage wine lol

 

Edited August 31, 2021 by WangYu

[Cognoscente]

I often wonder how seriously that the average person would have taken his films had The New Spartans not been scrapped.

[ShawAngela]

11 hours ago, Bruce said:

For my taste (and the fact that Bruce Lee was my introduction to martial arts & martial arts movies probably would say a lot about my taste), Jimmy Wang Yu would  make a fascinating subject for a tell-all biography, he was both a witness to & a direct participant in the good, the bad, & the ugly of the Hong Kong (& Taiwanese) film industry, & I do think he was, in his prime, more athletic than he looked, he's an interesting character, but his films have never been ones I'd go to any great effort to see. I kind of see his stuff similarly to the way I see the 1950s & 60s Godzilla movies from Japan, they're fun in a goofy, so bad they're good, B movie kind of way, but later movies with similar subject matter were better in almost every way. I appreciate the more impressive athletic abilities, martial arts skills, stuntwork , wider variety of stories & tones, etc., in the work of Bruce, Jackie, Sammo, even Sonny Chiba, the Zatoichi & Lone Wolf & Cub movies, hell, even Norris, Seagal, & Van Damme way more than I do the films of Wang Yu that I've seen.   

All those other guys made strong enough initial impressions on me (you only get one chance to make a first impression) that I wanted to see more of their work, I couldn't say the same for Jimmy. Just my opinion, admittedly based on the few films I saw of Wang Yu's, but I think of him a little the way I think of Jim Kelly, they didn't seem to really try to make good movies, they were always more interested in doing whatever they had to to make a quick buck while putting as little time & money as necessary into their films. 

Oh, well, to each his own, I guess one man's trash is indeed another man's treasure.

I love every Wang Yu's movie I have seen so far, and I can't count how many times I watched some of them. As you say, to each his own, but for me, he is as a great actor as some of our other favorite stars such as Jackie, Sammo, David Chiang, Ti Lung and many other ones, and his movies can't be called trash in my opinion...

And as @WangYu said :

4 hours ago, WangYu said:

There is so much creativity and love in these films, I think he really gave his all to make fun good films, he wasn’t pretending.
He made pure popcorn entertainment that filled the seats back in the day and he clearly loved doing it.

 

[Yihetuan]

9 hours ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said:

I don't give a single, solitary fuck what random people on the internet thinks of the stuff I like.... or really anything else for that matter. Also, if you don't read the comments, they don't exist.

Yeah, I mean what does one expect? It's the internet and anonymity allows people to spew all sorts of venom they wouldn't dare say in public. YT's comment section in particular is full of trolls and edgy teens, so I don't go in expecting to read anything profound or informative.

[WangYu]

6 hours ago, Cognoscente said:

I often wonder how seriously that the average person would have taken his films had The New Spartans not been scrapped.

What was this project? 

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

Oh i have fun with it and I troll back. I also click on their profile and see their comment history. Pure gold for me

[Majin Android]

9 hours ago, WangYu said:

You see I don’t even understand people liking the film in a goofy way or as unintentional comedy. For me those films are serious business, I really love them! I not once laughed at the film despite the ridiculous scenes, I genuinely take these films seriously lol

It is weird as I only got to know Wang Yu in my early twenties and I still loved it, those are not childhood memories here!

There is so much creativity and love in these films, I think he really gave his all to make fun good films, he wasn’t pretending.
He made pure popcorn entertainment that filled the seats back in the day and he clearly loved doing it.

For most it is acquired taste, for me it is vintage wine lol

 

It’s great that we the fans find these films totally acceptable in the general non conforming ways they choose to present and tell a story. The filmmakers were working with what was normal back then and the fans whose imagination has been stoked believes it cause we want to go on that ride. I imagine casual audience members lack that ingrained imagination and to me I couldn’t be in that type of world. It would be kinda sad.

Edited August 31, 2021 by Majin Android
spelling

[Cognoscente]

12 hours ago, WangYu said:

What was this project? 

An adventure parody with Oliver Reed, Susan George, Fred Williamson and Toshiro Mifune. I've been scouring eBay to find issues of '70s magazines that may contain more info on it.

https://www.facebook.com/chino.jiro/posts/1780071332090966?__tn__=%2CO*F

[DragonClaws]

18 hours ago, Cognoscente said:

An adventure parody with Oliver Reed, Susan George, Fred Williamson and Toshiro Mifune. I've been scouring eBay to find issues of '70s magazines that may contain more info on it.

 

I've got an in depth Oliver Reed biography, I'll check to see if its mentioned in there. I've been meaning to re-read this for information on some other movies he made.

[DrNgor]

Whenever I watch old school kung fu movies online, the comments I see--I don't read all of them--tend to be positive, even about old school movies that *I* didn't care for.

[Kwok Choi]

On 8/31/2021 at 8:01 AM, TibetanWhiteCrane said:

I don't give a single, solitary fuck what random people on the internet thinks of the stuff I like.... or really anything else for that matter. Also, if you don't read the comments, they don't exist.

Spot on! 

[Cognoscente]

15 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

I've got an in depth Oliver Reed biography, I'll check to see if its mentioned in there. I've been meaning to re-read this for information on some other movies he made.

I recently visited a site called Worthpoint (which is like a Wayback Machine version of eBay) and I found a page containing a call sheet...but it's so tiny.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/patrick-wayne-2nd-son-john-signed-805287239

[Cognoscente]

A long time ago, somebody was selling Toshiro Mifune's copy of the script that was dated October 13, 1975.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/spartans-japanese-language-script-245987796

[Cognoscente]

Here are a couple of publicity shots for The New Spartans. The first one is from eBay whereas the second one is from Google Newspapers. The newspaper issue was dated December 14, 1975.

[Drunken Monk]

On 9/1/2021 at 3:20 PM, DrNgor said:

Whenever I watch old school kung fu movies online, the comments I see--I don't read all of them--tend to be positive, even about old school movies that *I* didn't care for.

I tend to see a lot of laughing emojis on Instagram when it comes to kung fu clips. It seems a lot of people think some elements of old school martial arts cinema are a bit silly.

But I also see a lot of snobbery from fans. You know, dudes trying to show just how much they know about the genre.

I try to ignore both though.