Valley of The Double Dragon (aka Fist Fighter aka Kung Fu of Taekwondo) (1974)

[kurtz]

Any of you knowledgeable types be able to enlighten me about this title please?

Kung Fu of Tai Kwon Do

Saw it in a used shop , ummed and arrghhed , came home, but can't really find anything about it on the web...

[bigrogie]

Any of you knowledgeable types be able to enlighten me about this title please?

Kung Fu of Tai Kwon Do

Saw it in a used shop , ummed and arrghhed , came home, but can't really find anything about it on the web...

http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/movie.asp?id=7698

[The Dragon]

http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/movie.asp?id=7698

I understand this was Bob Baker's 2nd and last, onscreen appearence. Would like to see it just for that.

The main star was that gentleman who challenged Bruce Lee in the press, and was given this role, and a co-starring role in THE BLOODY FISTS, starring Chen Sing, only to also never make another film.

His name was Lau Cheun or something like that.

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[Shaolivevil]

This was another movie I fondly remember watching as a kid back in the 80's on TV. For years I couldn't remember the title of this movie and when I finally thought of it as Kung Fu of Tai Kwon Do, I thought I remembered it wrong and therefore dismissed it because that title is just ridiculous but it turns out I was right. Another nonsensical title created by US distributors in the 70's. I believe it was on VHS at one time from Master Arts Video if I my memory serves right.

http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=10911&display_set=eng

It takes place during WW2 in Japanese-occupied China. I rememeber it was very gritty, brutal, and tragic. A basher film, more or less. Korean star Jin Pal Kim was a decent kicker, too bad he didn't do more movies. Robert Baker as a Nazi officer was odd with that mini-fro and handlebar moustache he sports but he was ruthless and sadistic. This movie was also the only screen appearance of William Sheila, the black man who played the downed US pilot the Chinese resistance group helped and in turn helps them. It was rare to see a black man in Chinese cinema, especially in 1974 but he got a lot of onscreen time in this movie. Couldn't find any other information about him but he was obviously a martial artist as he fought a few times here.

Here's a clip I found on YouTube from the ending:

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[66 Mantis]

Just bought the Master Arts dvd used on ebay for only $1.99. The seller (gohastings) had several more copies in stock at that price if anyone's interested.

[Shaolivevil]

Just bought the Master Arts dvd used on ebay for only $1.99. The seller (gohastings) had several more copies in stock at that price if anyone's interested.

Thanks, 66 Mantis. At that price what do you got to lose? Off to eBay...

[66 Mantis]

Just got my copy the other day. Haven't watched it yet.

BTW, anyone know what the original title actually is? HKMDB lists it's original title as "Valley of the Double Dragons", but the youtube clip calls it "Fist Fighter" (an alternate not even listed in HKMDB).

[One Armed Boxer]

Has anyone seen the 1974 curiosity, Valley of the Double Dragon?  It features Bob Baker, Bruce Lee's memorable opponent from 'Fist of Fury', in only his second and final movie as a Nazi officer, who gets to face off against Korean Kam Chun-pak, who himself only ever starred in 7 movies, all made in either '73 or '74.

 

Director Ulysses Au-Yeung Jun has some interesting titles to his name, including The Prodigal Boxer, Island Warriors, and Last Hero in China, so I'm interested to check this out.  Sadly it doesn't seem to be widely available.

 

@ShawAngela gave it a brief review here - http://www.shaolinchamber36.com/kungfufandom/index.php?/topic/21435-shawangelas-reviews/&do=findComment&comment=257849

 

[DragonClaws]

This was released under an alternative title in the U.K on the independent DVD label Pegasus. I just cant for the life of me recall the alternative title. The trailer for the film appeared on a few of their releases. Picked up a some of their releases but not this particular title.

 

A few scenes from the film in this video (ending included).

[One Armed Boxer]

This was released under an alternative title in the U.K on the independent DVD label Pegasus. I just cant for the life of me recall the alternative title. The trailer for the film appeared on a few of their releases. Picked up a some of their releases but not this particular title.

Thanks DragonClaws, let me know if you remember it.  But damn dude, that video you posted featured the ending of the movie!  There goes any inclination I had to check it out.  I've made it a spoiler section of your post, but for any future stuff like that, if you're going to post anything which shows the ending of a movie, please provide a warning beforehand!

[AlbertV]

I believe they are playing this on the streaming app TubiTV or VIKI, which is like Crackle. I started to watch it, but it was so late when I had it on that I fell asleep. I'll have to check again.

Edited December 7, 2015 by AlbertV

[DragonClaws]

 

Thanks DragonClaws, let me know if you remember it.  But damn dude, that video you posted featured the ending of the movie!  There goes any inclination I had to check it out.  I've made it a spoiler section of your post, but for any future stuff like that, if you're going to post anything which shows the ending of a movie, please provide a warning beforehand!

 

I should have put a warning on because Ive mentioned this to other people who have revealed endings in reviews. To be honest I didn't have the time to preview the entire video before posting it. Having watched the trailer I didn't feel the need to watch it all myself. The trailer is not on YouTube so I posted the next best thing I could find with limited time. I would never intentionally reveal the ending of a film on purpose. It was only posted to help out with your question regarding the film.

Edited December 7, 2015 by DragonClaws

[One Armed Boxer]

I should have put a warning on because Ive mentioned this to other people who have revealed endings in reviews. To be honest I didn't have the time to preview the entire video before posting it. Having watched the trailer I didn't feel the need to watch it all myself. The trailer is not on YouTube so I posted the next best thing I could find with limited time. I would never intentionally reveal the ending of a film on purpose. It was only posted to help out with your question regarding the film.

 

No worries buddy, these things happen, not a big deal.

 

Apparently this was released on VHS as 'King of Kung Fu' - 

 

[thekfc]

I believe they are playing this on the streaming app TubiTV or VIKI, which is like Crackle. I started to watch it, but it was so late when I had it on that I fell asleep. I'll have to check again.

I did a check and it's on VIKI.

 

Hey Albert, it looks like we have some of the same streaming apps.

 

 

 

No worries buddy, these things happen, not a big deal.

 

Apparently this was released on VHS as 'King of Kung Fu' - 

 

I think I have a VHS somewhere with that cover.

[DragonClaws]

 

No worries buddy, these things happen, not a big deal.

 

Apparently this was released on VHS as 'King of Kung Fu' - 

 

I just cant recall the alternative title they used for the U.K DVD release. Some titles on that label had really bad picture quality and it put me off purchasing more of them. Otherwise I would have picked this one up for the presence of Bob Baker and the fact its not easy to find in stores.

[ThunderScore]

Released on Australian DVD as FIST FIGHTER.

[ShawAngela]

It seems to me that I have a French version of King of kung fu, but I don't remember at all that it's the same as Valley of the double dragon...

 

I have this latter...

[Jesse Smooth]

Courtesy of our friend Georgie Porgie Tan.

[lungfei]

kim jin pal is badass

what i would give for a english copy of godfather of hong kong

[DragonClaws]

Can anyone I-D this?

 

The image is from the folloiwng article, about the history of Gung Fu. They used it as an illustration for the Korean section of the article, and it looks like a pre-1980? Korean production.

Link- https://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/The_World_of_Kung-Fu_1.9:_The_History_of_Kung_Fu

[ThunderScore]

IIRC, it's from "King of Kung Fu" aka Fist Fighter with Robert Baker...

[DragonClaws]

10 minutes ago, ThunderScore said:

IIRC, it's from "King of Kung Fu" aka Fist Fighter with Robert Baker...

Thanks @ThunderScore, recall @One Armed Boxer writing a decent review of this one.

It was released in the U.K as Valley Of The Double Dragon.

[One Armed Boxer]

3 hours ago, DragonClaws said:

Thanks @ThunderScore, recall @One Armed Boxer writing a decent review of this one.

It was released in the U.K as Valley Of The Double Dragon.

Good memory DC!  I've merged the thread with the existing one for the movie, and since the post linking to my review was a victim to the blackout of '16, I'll re-post it below - 

http://cityonfire.com/valley-of-the-double-dragon-1974-review-kung-fu-of-taekwondo-king-of-kung-fu-golden-leopards-brutal-revenge/

[saltysam]

is this available letterboxed anywhere?

[DragonClaws]

1 hour ago, saltysam said:

is this available letterboxed anywhere?

Not unless there's a fan custom out there?, it's not a movie that gets discussed all that much.