Member venomsreviews Posted April 28, 2022 Member Share Posted April 28, 2022 I was looking through the threads on here and noticed that there did not appear to be one for Sun Chien! Feel free to let me know if there was a thread for him that I missed. I thought I would start one though, since he is one of my favorite martial artists. I have always been mesmerized by his kicks and particularly liked how unpredictable his characters were since he has had a variety of villainous and heroic roles. I thought I would talk about him since I feel like he is not mentioned very much. He has always intrigued me from what I have learned about him over the past few years. Like Lu Feng, Kuo Chui, and Chiang Sheng, Sun Chien is from Taiwan, where he was born in 1955! One thing that stuck out to me when I was first getting into the Venom Mob was the fact that he had learned taekwondo, which I always thought he was very skilled at. Some of the magazines I own where people have interviewed him or talked to him have described him as shy, and I found that very interesting! He has mentioned going through a lot of hardships in one of them, but he seemed to be happier and enjoying his work. I always thought he added a lot of intensity to the films he appeared in. I cannot think of a fight scene or film that I have seen him in where I was disappointed. He seemed to have such powerful kicks, and I felt that his form was always incredible. He appeared in numerous Venom films, including Chinatown Kid (1977), Five Deadly Venoms (1978), Crippled Avengers (1978), Two Champions of Shaolin (1980), and countless others. I adored his dual roles in Kid with a Golden Arm (1979), Aside from Venoms films, some other movies he appeared in include What Price Honesty? (1981), Clan Feuds (1982), The Lady Is The Boss (1983), and Bastard Swordsman (1983). He appeared in some other movies from Taiwan and tv series, but I won't go into details about those at the moment since this is just a starting post to hopefully stir up a discussion about him! What is your favorite character that he has portrayed? Mine would have to be Yan Chun Min from House of Traps (1982) or the Scholar from The Brave Archer III (1981) ! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted May 1, 2022 Author Member Share Posted May 1, 2022 I thought I’d update this thread with another movie in Sun Chien’s filmography by the name of Robo Vampire! I have watched it a few times now. Here he is in the movie: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted May 5, 2022 Author Member Share Posted May 5, 2022 I was thinking about this photo today and I’m wondering if this is actually Sun Chien’s puppy! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted May 5, 2022 Member Share Posted May 5, 2022 Thank you so much for having started this thread ! I love Sun Chien too, and I think that he was underused at Shaws. Unless I'm mistaken, he never had a real leading role in a movie, which is such a pity ! I would be interested in getting a list of the TV series he appeared in. Do you own some of them ? I loved him in What Price Honesty. And I agree about his dual role in Kid with the golden arm. I already said it several times on this forum, but I'm convinced that the movie House of traps must have cut scenes. On all the cover arts of this movie I saw, he is shown in a fighting pose, but he never fights during the movie, and from what I read in a Judge Bao's book I own, his character was a fighting character in the book, so, he should have had some fights in the movie. It was so frustrating to see him in a non fighting role in this great movie ! 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted May 6, 2022 Author Member Share Posted May 6, 2022 4 hours ago, ShawAngela said: Thank you so much for having started this thread ! I love Sun Chien too, and I think that he was underused at Shaws. Unless I'm mistaken, he never had a real leading role in a movie, which is such a pity ! I would be interested in getting a list of the TV series he appeared in. Do you own some of them ? I already said it several times on this forum, but I'm convinced that the movie House of traps must have cut scenes. On all the cover arts of this movie I saw, he is shown in a fighting pose, but he never fights during the movie, and from what I read in a Judge Bao's book I own, his character was a fighting character in the book, so, he should have had some fights in the movie. It was so frustrating to see him in a non fighting role in this great movie ! I was quite surprised that he didn’t have one yet! I always felt he had a lot of talent so I’m still not sure why he didn’t have more prominent roles at Shaws. I can’t think of any either since he usually shared the screen a lot. I haven’t watched all the movies he made in Taiwan yet but the ones I have seen have had him in the same situation. It seems like his fighting skills got thrown at the window at times because in Robo Vampire, he tried to fight but they really just let him get beat up before he even started. If you’d like, I can make a list of the series that I know of! Unfortunately I don’t own them but I have watched them online or seen a lot of clips at least. There are some that even feature Wei Pai! I find them quite entertaining and the bond that they shared sometimes was really nice to see. I was lucky to find them since I research and look into the Venom Mob a lot so I try to keep track of the names. I don’t believe I have seen you mention that before but I certainly do see your point. It is strange to me that they did choose to use pictures of him that gives everyone the idea that he would get in on the action. That is great information to know as I have never read the book before! I have heard that there are a VCD and VHS version that is 20 minutes longer than the Celestial remastered version. It makes me wonder if there were scenes that got cut out of the movie. I felt the same way you did as I was a bit disappointed since I thought he would be fighting when I first saw the movie. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member FightingFool Posted May 6, 2022 Member Share Posted May 6, 2022 (edited) VCDs (both United and Ivl) are listed 91 mins which is same as 88 films running time for House of Traps. So unless there is one more VCD(extremely unlikely) that is false rumour. I don`t believe that VHS thing either, sure it would have surfaced somewhere. It`s still possible more footage was shot but obviously that did not end to final release of film and reels are in celestial vaults or destroyed. Or those are just stills and never filmed to movie. I guess we never find out Edited May 6, 2022 by FightingFool 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chu Liu Hsiang Posted May 6, 2022 Member Share Posted May 6, 2022 21 hours ago, venomsreviews said: I was thinking about this photo today and I’m wondering if this is actually Sun Chien’s puppy! Well, he got his key 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted May 6, 2022 Member Share Posted May 6, 2022 1 hour ago, Chu Liu Hsiang said: Well, he got his key I hadn't even noticed the keys !! You have sharp eyes !! You must have been trained in a secret chamber of shaolin that we aren't aware of ! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted May 6, 2022 Author Member Share Posted May 6, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, Chu Liu Hsiang said: Well, he got his key I thought that was so cute! I always loved how the pup was just hanging around with the key when I first saw the picture. The way it’s sitting with him is adorable too! Here’s another picture I love of Sun Chien with two different dogs: Edited May 6, 2022 by venomsreviews 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted May 9, 2022 Author Member Share Posted May 9, 2022 (edited) I noticed a movie Sun Chien was in that I had never heard of until a little while ago! I just realized I never mentioned it in my posts before. It’s called Satanic Crystals. I haven’t watched it yet, but I did go through the movie to confirm Sun Chien is in it. I did find him! I’m actually quite thrilled because he gets to fight in this one, by the looks of it https://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=10154&complete_credits=1&display_set=eng Edited May 9, 2022 by venomsreviews 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member teako170 Posted May 10, 2022 Member Share Posted May 10, 2022 On 5/5/2022 at 1:34 PM, venomsreviews said: I was thinking about this photo today and I’m wondering if this is actually Sun Chien’s puppy! Yes, it is. Her name was Julie and this photo was in Southern Screen in late '77. They shared a dorm at Shaw in the beginning of his career. He was very fond of Julie, raising her since a pup, and taught her various tricks which included rolling over, saluting, giving a kiss, and standing on her hind legs. Sun Chien is supposedly coming to NYC in the Fall with two other Venoms. Hopefully it will happen. I plan to make the trip to Manhattan for this event. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted May 10, 2022 Author Member Share Posted May 10, 2022 1 hour ago, teako170 said: Yes, it is. Her name was Julie and this photo was in Southern Screen in late '77. They shared a dorm at Shaw in the beginning of his career. He was very fond of Julie, raising her since a pup, and taught her various tricks which included rolling over, saluting, giving a kiss, and standing on her hind legs. Sun Chien is supposedly coming to NYC in the Fall with two other Venoms. Hopefully it will happen. I plan to make the trip to Manhattan for this event. Thank you for sharing! It was lovely to hear about Julie! I thought they looked like they had a good bond. I sadly don’t own the Southern Screen with that photo so I wasn’t sure where it came from exactly. I found it when I was researching about the Venom Mob a few years ago, but that was one piece of information that I couldn’t track down! It is incredible that he was able to teach her so many things, I bet it it would have been precious to see in person. That will be very exciting if Sun Chien did come to NYC with some of the other Venoms. I do hope it will happen too! Hopefully you will have a safe trip if you get to go. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted June 1, 2022 Author Member Share Posted June 1, 2022 (edited) I am unsure of the English title, but the Chinese title is 劍客與刀客 ! Sometimes I tend to find them better under their Chinese names, so I (personally) don’t see some of them referred to in English as often. I tried to look on Chinese sites before I posted this, but I still didn’t find an English name for it. I spend a lot of my time looking for information and series/movies that the Venom Mob were in so if I find an English title then I’ll add it later! Unless someone knows what it is and lists it before I do Here he is with Wei Pai: Edited June 1, 2022 by venomsreviews 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted June 6, 2022 Author Member Share Posted June 6, 2022 (edited) I wanted to talk about Sun Chien's acting. Sometimes I think I forget that Chinatown Kid was his first movie (by all accounts of the various sources I have). So, a few nights ago I sat down to really take a look at his performance. I think it's really worth keeping in mind when you watch the film because it genuinely makes his performance so much more impressive to me. He was able to display such a wide array of emotions throughout the whole movie. Sometimes he changed his emotions multiple times in one scene. You can really see how raw and accurate it is, especially when he gets angry. Sun Chien doesn't really sugarcoat it or downplay it because, to me, he does display what anger can really look like at times. Even when he's upset, the pain reflects on his face and in his eyes. The character really is like an actual person with struggles and complex emotions. That was something I feel he always had a talent for doing when he got the chance. What Price Honesty? springs to mind since that was a rather emotional film. I always enjoyed the evolution of his character in Chinatown Kid because of how he played the character, but the thoughts mentioned above hit me this time. I took some screenshots to show examples even though there are many more than what I captured! Edited June 6, 2022 by venomsreviews 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted June 29, 2022 Author Member Share Posted June 29, 2022 I was watching Ninja, Demon’s Massacre and I grabbed some screenshots of Sun Chien! I think I preferred Robo Vampire to this film. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member FightingFool Posted June 29, 2022 Member Share Posted June 29, 2022 5 minutes ago, venomsreviews said: I was watching Ninja, Demon’s Massacre and I grabbed some screenshots of Sun Chien! I think I preferred Robo Vampire to this film. I would not have id`d him at least immediately. Lack of usual hair model makes so big difference to him. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member TibetanWhiteCrane Posted June 29, 2022 Member Share Posted June 29, 2022 Heard a vague rumor that he will be one of three venoms at the next Urban Action thingy in New York, though I highly doubt the validity of that. Didn't he more or less drop off the face of the earth in the mid 90's or did he continue on TV or something? Haven't been keeping up. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted June 29, 2022 Author Member Share Posted June 29, 2022 1 hour ago, FightingFool said: I would not have id`d him at least immediately. Lack of usual hair model makes so big difference to him. Seeing him without much hair is definitely a big change! Although I actually like it on him. I try to focus on their faces and distinguishing features since sometimes I never know if they will have a different hairstyle or if they may have some sort of facial hair, which usually helps me with IDs! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted June 29, 2022 Author Member Share Posted June 29, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said: Didn't he more or less drop off the face of the earth in the mid 90's or did he continue on TV or something? Haven't been keeping up. I don't have all his TV work, I'm sure, but everything I have seen spans from the 80s! As far as movies go, the last one that I found him in was Angry Rangers, which is usually dated as being from 1991. There have been more recent mentions of him, though. I have one photo of him when he's older, and Lu Feng has been asked about him when he was visiting for an event. He said that he still talks to Sun Chien, so at the very least, Lu Feng knows where he is and what he's up to! If I remember correctly, it was around 2018 when the video was taken, so that was a more recent update. Edited June 29, 2022 by venomsreviews 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted July 5, 2022 Author Member Share Posted July 5, 2022 I recently checked out Operation Foxhunt (1988). Sun Chien had some good fights in this movie, even though they weren’t as long as some of his other ones! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted July 6, 2022 Author Member Share Posted July 6, 2022 I finally got around to checking out Angry Ranger (1991). I'm currently watching it as I'm posting this! I noticed Sun Chien was credited as an assistant director for this movie a few days ago. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venomsreviews Posted July 12, 2022 Author Member Share Posted July 12, 2022 (edited) I haven’t finished this movie yet, but here he is in The Vampire is Alive, aka Counter Destroyer. I’ve also seen it called a few other things but those two were how I found it. He appeared pretty early on in the movie, so it didn’t take long to find him! Edited July 12, 2022 by venomsreviews 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted July 12, 2022 Member Share Posted July 12, 2022 On 6/6/2022 at 8:05 AM, venomsreviews said: Even when he's upset, the pain reflects on his face and in his eyes. Many years ago, I had read that he had lost one of his eyes in a fishing accident. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member HeavenSword Posted January 16, 2023 Member Share Posted January 16, 2023 Sun Chien being a beast ! There’s a cameo from Jason Pai Piao also . 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Skunk101 Posted October 10, 2023 Member Share Posted October 10, 2023 Hey everyone, recently got back into watching Shaw Brothers films with all the recent Blu-ray releases. Always been a big fan on Sun Chien but he seemed to always be underused in films. What would you all say were his best performances for me to watch? Thanks 😊 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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