Why is Legend of a Fighter rarely mentioned as the best kung fu movie ever made?

[dionbrother]

That's it.  I noticed Far East Flix doesn't sell it anymore.  They just dupe the HKL version.

[Jizzmaster Jerry]

Is it just me or is Legend of Fighter perfectly watchable even in full screen 4:3?  I have it full screen in the martial arts essentials volume 7.  Don’t know if it was planned that way.  I guess it’s just framed so well that you really don’t need it widescreen.  I may change my mind if I ever watch the whole movie in original aspect ratio.  

Edited December 6, 2022 by Jizzmaster Jerry

[ironfistedmonk]

Probably my favourite Kurata movie, and yes I'd agree this film doesn't get spoken of in the same breath as the likes of SITES or Drunken Master but it's just as good

[MobFu1972]

I had this on VHS years ago titled The Secret Master, Then I got the HKL DVD in Widescreen and have been hooked ever since. One of my all time favorites. Probably my top 3 favorite from Beardy and Kurata!!!! Would love an HD upgrade🥋🥋🐲🐲❗❗

Edited December 16, 2022 by MobFu1972

[Ninja Sinai]

It’s a shame that many Blu-ray companies keep on re-releasing the awful Lo Wei Jackie Chan movies for the bazillionth time while Legend of a Fighter & The Buddhist Fist are both crying out to be properly remastered and released on Blu-ray!!

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

32 minutes ago, Ninja Sinai said:

It’s a shame that many Blu-ray companies keep on re-releasing the awful Lo Wei Jackie Chan movies for the bazillionth time while Legend of a Fighter & The Buddhist Fist are both crying out to be properly remastered and released on Blu-ray!!

True. The rational part of my brain gets why that is. But my fanboy heart weeps right along with all the "forgotten" films that will maybe never see another release.

[Django]

Only two films from the Seasonal / Ng See Nyuen has been released properly on Blu Ray so far, of course it is SITES and DM with Jackie... We now need Secret Rivals 1&2, Invincible Armor, Buddhist Fist, Legend of a Fighter etc. 

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

1 hour ago, Django said:

Only two films from the Seasonal / Ng See Nyuen has been released properly on Blu Ray so far, of course it is SITES and DM with Jackie... We now need Secret Rivals 1&2, Invincible Armor, Buddhist Fist, Legend of a Fighter etc. 

Buddhist Fist was the Yuen clan's own Peace Films, but yes... we need all of those and more. Just don't see it happening.

Edited December 16, 2022 by TibetanWhiteCrane

[Django]

2 hours ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said:

Buddhist Fist was the Yuen clan's own Peace Films, but yes... we need all of those and more. Just don't see it happening.

What concerns me is that even if there would be a company with enough enthusiasm to take the chances, I'm afraid that there wouldn't be resources to make it possible due to the lack of prints.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

1 hour ago, Django said:

What concerns me is that even if there would be a company with enough enthusiasm to take the chances, I'm afraid that there wouldn't be resources to make it possible due to the lack of prints.

Yes, very few prints in existense for some kung fu indies. And some are beyond repair. It's really disheartening.

[Ninja Sinai]

What I find really confusing is that a small label like HKL with a limited budget were able to acquire the seasonal films back in the day, remaster them and release them on dvd, but these big Blu-ray labels today with bigger budgets can’t manage it???

[Yggdrasil]

13 hours ago, TibetanWhiteCrane said:

Buddhist Fist was the Yuen clan's own Peace Films, but yes... we need all of those and more. Just don't see it happening.

The only dvd I had of thst was dubbed. It's a real pity HKL didn't release that onto their label. Probably due to low quality. 

Only watched Legend of a Fighter once and it's now buried upstairs.

[TibetanWhiteCrane]

2 hours ago, Ninja Sinai said:

What I find really confusing is that a small label like HKL with a limited budget were able to acquire the seasonal films back in the day, remaster them and release them on dvd, but these big Blu-ray labels today with bigger budgets can’t manage it???

Well, as you may remember... very early on, I think on the SITES and DM DVDs, HKL announced Invincible Armour, and I think maybe Secret Rivals as upcoming releases, but it never happened. Would be interesting to know why.

[Django]

3 hours ago, Ninja Sinai said:

What I find really confusing is that a small label like HKL with a limited budget were able to acquire the seasonal films back in the day, remaster them and release them on dvd, but these big Blu-ray labels today with bigger budgets can’t manage it???

Even if they would get the rights it would still be a problem to find a print. For example the LoaF dvd is pretty much VHS quality, because that's what they had to work with. 

[CipherPol]

Legend of a Fighter is one of those rarely seen movies that effortlessly displays the abilities of two martial artists in their prime. There is not a lot of camera cuts that are done to hide the actors movements when they aren't athletic. They both do clean moves that show of their ability. Hell I've seen some horrible wirework  because the actor could barely hold himself up on the wire. Also luckily for me the comedy wasn't too often or too corny. It had just the right amount. Does anyone consider this movie like many others that are overly nationalist?

[masterofoneinchpunch]

Mini-review and guess who got me to see this:

Legend of a Fighter (1982: Yuen Woo-ping: Hong Kong): This is a reminder to myself why I love Hong Kong films.  Don’t you love when you get surprised by a film, even though you like everyone involved.

Surprising myself I had the HKL R2 DVD of this.  It had been recommended to me recently and I had not thought of seeing this in years.  It is directed by a great action choreographer (Kill Bill, Once Upon a Time in China) and director (Drunken Master, Iron Monkey) Yuen Woo-ping and in action he rarely disappoints. He did not this time.

Master Fok (Phillip Ko; Have you seen Drunken Dragon?) is a typical master of kung fu.  He trains, he is wary of strangers and his weak son is an embarrassment to him.  So much so he will not teach him kung fu.  So he hires a teacher to learn him in non-athletic endeavors.  Unbeknownst to him he hires a Japanese teacher (Yasuaki Kurata), who is spying on him to improve Japan’s martial arts and he also clandestinely teachers the son Fok Yun Gap (played by Yuen Chor-yat, brother of the director, well there are a few relatives on this film, and when older by Leung Kar-yan when older – while he has no beard here, he his known by beardy among martial art fanatics – it is like saying Primus Sucks among Primus fans).  Old Fok Yun Gap does not look like young Fok Yun Gap – even close.  Reminds me of Infernal Affairs 2.

The teacher leaves, but you know he will be back.  But will it be as a friend or foe?

Historical/movie note: Fok Yun Gap is the same real life character known as Huo Yuan-jia in such films as Fearless with Jet Li.

With the horse stance throughout, you can see the Wing Chun influence on this personal martial art.  Though there seems to be an Elvis influence as well.  Of course we have kung fu manuals which are always important and worth killing/dying for.  Nice use of Tiger Claw as well. I always love seeing trips and throws in these films as well. Overuse of zoom: of course!

This was fun.  This takes place during the Qing dynasty (though it feels like a Republic-era movie Kung Fu films of the early 80s). You can even see the influence of Drunken Master (and Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and a whole bunch of others) of the student/sifu relationship, but this is mixed with a Japan is evil (The Chinese Connection, Fist of Legend – hey Yasuaki Kurata is in that too).

I was moved by the ending.  I was not expecting that.

Bruce Lee is indirectly mentioned in several spots from a quote on water about form and the philosophy of no style is style (Jeet Kune Do) – through you can see an earlier reference of this in Half a Loaf of Kung Fu.

If you are a fan of martial arts in movies, then this is a must watch.  Very little has been written on this movie unfortunately.

Edited December 29, 2022 by masterofoneinchpunch

[masterofoneinchpunch]

John Charles in his book "Hong Kong Filmography" (a must own for HK fans) has a nice review of this (8/10) though no additional information that I have above (other than characters names in both Cantonese (Fok Yuen-gap) vs Mandarin (Huo Yuanjia).

Note on HKL.  It has been mentioned that it is cropped.  Is there a release where it is not cropped?  Does a wider format (2:35 exist)?  Also where did that information come from.  This is not mentioned on HKFA (though IMDB does have it as such).

Also the HKL DVD states R2, but I noticed it is actually R0 (which is good; still PAL though).

[saltysam]

The first few HKL releases they cropped because they believed folks wouldn't accept black bars. But they definitely had access to a scope print,who knows where that is though,was a long time ago.

[Cognoscente]

Where's Brian White when you need him?

[Killer Meteor]

On 12/30/2022 at 3:36 AM, Cognoscente said:

Where's Brian White when you need him?

We don't.

[goldenarm]

On 12/12/2022 at 12:56 PM, ironfistedmonk said:

Probably my favourite Kurata movie, and yes I'd agree this film doesn't get spoken of in the same breath as the likes of SITES or Drunken Master but it's just as good

I think it's better than those two. Leung Kar Yan should have been a much bigger star.

[Cognoscente]

It's weird that Sammo never did much with Leung in the '80s.

[ironfistedmonk]

13 hours ago, goldenarm said:

I think it's better than those two. Leung Kar Yan should have been a much bigger star.

 

Yeah Beardy is great, although I can't get used to seeing him without the beard like in this film and Dreadnaught.

[thundered mantis]

Seems fake widescreen to me

[goldenarm]

My favorite Beardy role to this day is still his role in "Demi Gods Semi Devils" 1982 TVB series. He was excellent in that.