Question about Korean Old School Movies

[DrNgor]

This is also a two-pronged question.

What is the earliest:

a) South Korean wuxia film? The earliest I've found is Hero's Blood (1969).

b) South Korean basher film?

@DragonClaws, @J.J. Hayden and @One Armed Boxer, I'm looking in your direction.

Edited January 12, 2023 by DrNgor

[J.J. Hayden]

From my notes, these seem to be the first two films that match that criteria:

Firstly for Wuxia we have: 1962's Revenge 원한의 일월도, sworn brothers, swordplay, dead father who must be avenged, yup I think it fits the bill  

As for "basher", I believe this would qualify: 1967's (Taekwondo) Final Blow (태권도) 최후의 일격, the classic plot of a feud between rival martial arts schools, the is apparently a semi-documentary.

I can't say for sure these are the earliest, but these are the one's I've come across and noted. Hope it helps.

[J.J. Hayden]

Just to be clear, are you looking for exclusively South Korean films (i.e. no Hong Kong crew)?

Also, I'm not familiar with everyone's terminology, could you please describe what you mean by "basher"?

Cheers

Edited January 12, 2023 by J.J. Hayden

[DrNgor]

8 minutes ago, J.J. Hayden said:

Just to be clear, are you looking for exclusively South Korean films (i.e. no Hong Kong crew)?

Also, I'm not familiar with everyone's terminology, could you please describe what you mean by "basher"?

Yeah, I'm thinking of more or less exclusive South Korean films. So something like Hap Ki Do would be excluded.

"Basher" refers to the early empty-handed fight films from the 1970s, where the moves were basic and crude, opposite the technique-based "Shapes" choreography that became popular in the second half of the decade.

[J.J. Hayden]

1 minute ago, DrNgor said:

Yeah, I'm thinking of more or less exclusive South Korean films. So something like Hap Ki Do would be excluded.

"Basher" refers to the early empty-handed fight films from the 1970s, where the moves were basic and crude, opposite the technique-based "Shapes" choreography that became popular in the second half of the decade.

Cheer for clearing that up. I think I have some noted down, just need to check if they're exclusively Korean.

[J.J. Hayden]

I should also note that although (Taekwondo) Final Blow was released in late 67, apparently work began on the film back in 1965.

[BornToDefense]

Did South Korea ever make movies with Basher choreography? I haven't seen Final Blow and I know a decade makes a big difference, but by the time Lee Doo-Yong was making TKD movies like He Who Returned With One Leg it seems the choreography was already to a fairly high, "modern" standard. Bashers always struck me as something specific to the early 70s Mandarin Kung Fu boom and it's stylistic link to contemporary Wuxia movies, as the previous wave of Cantonese Kung Fu films are a lot more fluid and shapes-esque. I don't know a lot about South Korean TKD movies before Lee Doo-Yong so this is a genuine question.

[J.J. Hayden]

On 1/12/2023 at 8:16 PM, BornToDefense said:

Did South Korea ever make movies with Basher choreography?

Maybe I'm not the best person to answer this as I'm not entirely sure what "basher" refers too, but I'll throw my hat in anyway. From what people have said, my idea in my head of a "basher" is like James Tin Chuen's fights in The Big Boss as opposed to the more stylised stuff from the Yuen or Liu clans, would this be correct?

If so I'd consider the films of Lee Doo-yong to be "basher" style, I'm not sure who his go to action director was, probably Richard Nam Choong-il or Kwon Il-soo, but it seems more like that James Tin Chuen stuff I described (with better kicks of course) rather than the more stylised work of say Baek Hwang-gi or Kim Yeong-il (aka Eagle Han) in the late 70's and 80's. I can't say I've seen anything earlier (not involving Hong Kong) with that more stylised choreography.

That's my thoughts on it at least.

Edited February 14, 2023 by J.J. Hayden

[Gaijin84]

14 hours ago, J.J. Hayden said:

Maybe I'm not the best person to answer this as I'm not entirely sure what "basher" refers too, but I'll throw my hat in anyway. From what people have said, my idea in my head of a "basher" is like James Tin Chuen's fights in The Big Boss as opposed to the more stylised stuff from the Yuen or Liu clans, would this be correct?

I’d definitely agree with that. Once I had it explained to me, “basher” has always been epitomized by Jimmy Wang Yu’s films in the early 70s. Not the swordplay ones but the Taiwanese kick and punch brawls. A lot of gut shots, spinning kicks and breaking furniture. Choreography and extended single shot takes were minimal. 

[J.J. Hayden]

Just a bit of research I did, not that affects the "brawler" question overall, but may be of interest to some: 

It seems that the main credited for Lee Doo-yong's films made during 1974 was none other the Best Kwon Yeong-moon, films such as Bridge Of Death, Manchurian Tiger and Betrayer. He was also co-action director with Richard Nam Choong-il on The Returned Single Legged Man.

As for 1975 onward the action director credit seems to disappear, however I believe KIS took over the action director role as he had been an assistant action director on earlier films such as The Returned Single Legged and Left Foot Of Wrath, and with Best Kwon seemingly switching over to work with Richard Park Woo-sang, someone would presumably take his place.

It's really a choice between Richard Nam and Kwon Il-soo, the former of which had the previously mentioned co-action director credit and worked with Lee Doo-yong about 3 times (all before 1975), whereas the latter had the previously mentioned assistant action director credits, was the main action director on The Returned Single Legged Man II in 1974 and Secret Agents II in 1976 and worked with director Lee about 9 times throughout the 70s.

So I think it's pretty safe to assume that from 75 onward, Kwon Il-soo was Lee Doo-yong's go to guy for action. At some point (I'm very busy with other research) I'll try to see if there's any action director credits hidden in the Hanja on the posters etc. but that won't be for some time.

Hope some found this useful.

Edited February 14, 2023 by J.J. Hayden

[Gaijin84]

1 hour ago, J.J. Hayden said:

Hope some found this useful.

Your info is always useful. As far as I can tell you're the most knowledgeable person on Korean kung fu cinema we have!

[danthemandmv]

3 hours ago, Gaijin84 said:

Your info is always useful. As far as I can tell you're the most knowledgeable person on Korean kung fu cinema we have!

I second this !

[J.J. Hayden]

3 hours ago, Gaijin84 said:

Your info is always useful. As far as I can tell you're the most knowledgeable person on Korean kung fu cinema we have!

 

8 minutes ago, danthemandmv said:

I second this !

 

Cheers for the support guys.  

[J.J. Hayden]

@DrNgor Did my answers satisfy the criteria of your original question?

[DrNgor]

I'm looking for movies that would have been directly influenced by Come Drink With Me and Magnificent Trio (in terms of wuxia) and Chinese Boxer (in terms of open-handed fighting). This one looks interesting:

Myeongdonge heureuneun sewol (1971)

Heukdojeok (1966)

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by DrNgor

[DrNgor]

We also have That Man in Chang-An (1967), which was filmed on location in South Korea and (according to the IMDB) was collaborative effort between the Shaw Brothers and Shin Brothers. Would this have been one of the earliest examples of a Hong Kong-South Korean co-production?

[DrNgor]

I think my main line of thinking is: At what point does the Hong Kong influence on Korean martial arts films (open-hand and wuxia/swordplay) become obvious?

For open-handed fighting/basher/what have you, did it occur at the height of Kwan Tak-Hing's popularity? Or following the release of The Chinese Boxer? Or after Hapkido was filmed in South Korea with a lot of local talent?

Same goes for wuxia. There are lots of period swordplay and martial arts films in the 1960s, a lot of which seem to involve the Robin Hood character Iljimae. But action-wise, did the Koreans do their own thing? Were they inspired by Occidental swashbucklers? Or Hong Kong wuxia films? So when did the Chinese influence on their period swordplay films become obvious?

In Japan, jidai-geki and chanbara films were obviously their own thing (and had been since at least the 1930s), but the mid-70s karate boom was undoubtedly inspired by the success of Enter the Dragon.

Edited February 1, 2023 by DrNgor