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Life Gamble / 生死門 (1979)


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Guest CLFNole

I thought this movie was okay. I couldn't get into the whole flying knife thing with Law Mong and Fu Sheng. I would have preferred more hand to hand or traditional weapons work.

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Guest will91XingYu

Is this film worth picking up? Also dosent Philip Kwok use numchuks in Kid with the Golden Arm? He is the best venom IMO hes just awsome at everything from kicking to acrobatics!

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Guest teako170
when she saw Lo Meng's horrid wig.
That was a wig!? :eek:

Ah but seriously... loved-loved-loved this film.

Now that the 5 V-Rares are no longer showing in BottlegScope but in their remastered glory, this one was tops for me. As I stated in another thread, it definitely provided an inkling of what the V-flix might have looked like if they hadn't been done on a soundstage.

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Is this film worth picking up?
Most folks here seem to love it, but personally I was pretty disappointed. I think part of the love comes from the fact that it's a rare Venoms film.
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Just a personal view.

I think it would make more sense if Chang Cheh would have Li Yi Min fight longer at the end instead of those four flag fighters.

Oh, one of comments. For all of the Venom guys, Kuo Chui, in my opinion, is the best of all.

Share your thoughts.

Topgun:)

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The movie didn't really make that much sense overall, but still good entertaining. I thought the final fight seemed fitting though, as Lee Yi Min's character obviously wasn't a guy who liked dirtying his hands. As for the venoms, Lo Meng will always be my main man, even if he didn't fight that much in Life Gamble. Loved his slow motion knife throwing though.

Also, I'd rate venoms sidekick Chu Ko way above the other opera guys in terms of martial arts abilities, acrobatics and weapons versatility. Should have given the guy a bigger break.

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I don't like Li Yi Min period... I especially hated him in Magnificent Wanderers. He was pretty good in Death Chamber but aside from that he's always been a marginal character to me. I'm not counting his non-shaw work because I've only seen Chessboxing.

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I've always liked LYM myself.

Buddha's Palm And Dragon Fist was a good one.

Anyone seen/ have Butterfly Eighteen?

I've been looking for this one.

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thedangerouskid

Great film, can't remember the quote exactly but hopefully get it right

"i'm a killer, i'm a bad man"

Mystery of Chessboxing was one of the first kung fu films I ever saw, so I always took Lee Yi Min to be a bit of a comedy star so when I started watching Shaw Brothers he seemed to be quite strange in it.

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Morgoth Bauglir

I really liked Lee I Min in this movie. It was a nice surprise to see him throw down in the final fight. And Endsang I also liked the knife throwing. It was my favorite thing abotu the movie other than the final fight. It's just too bad that so many stars got only a few brief moments to show off their stuff. Still an entertaining movie, I just didn't think it was great or anything.

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Morgoth Bauglir

Anyone seen/ have Butterfly Eighteen?

I've been looking for this one.

I have the Videoasia version under the title of Secret of Shaolin Kung Fu. Decent enough pic quality, but it's one of those double sided discs that don't work on all DVD players. It's a fun movie. There's a good fight with Ma Chin Ku, an awesome fight with Suen Shu Pau, and a great long final fight with Sun Jung Chi. And Lee I Min easily gives one of his best performances.

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gravedigger666
I have the Videoasia version under the title of Secret of Shaolin Kung Fu. Decent enough pic quality, but it's one of those double sided discs that don't work on all DVD players. It's a fun movie. There's a good fight with Ma Chin Ku, an awesome fight with Suen Shu Pau, and a great long final fight with Sun Jung Chi. And Lee I Min easily gives one of his best performances.
I have mentioned it in another thread but I will not recommend anyone buying that movie..if get from download or 2nd hand shop for 1$ maybe worth it.In the beginning crippled dude appears and people commit suicide after that it`s maybe 45 mins goofying around before plot takes on...There is 1 or 2 decent enough fights not to make it total failure but all of you have seen easily hundreds of better kung-fu movies.If really need to see lee yi mins goofiness,go instead of 7 commandments of kung-fu at least there is chang yi to save that flick.just my 100000000000000 dollars
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Just watched this film and thought it was terrible. The plot was long, confusing , the characters uninteresting and boring but most of all, the action was very poor!

With a great cast of most of the Venoms and Fu Sheng, i was expecting a lot but it just didnt happen.

Very little action in the first hour, Lo Meng just throwing knives around, Fu Sheng looking bored as hell as if he couldnt wait to get out of there!

Kwok Choy's double nunchukus at the end were ok , but too short a battle and it ended up as a gymnastic display with pretty coloured flags....as you can tell its a major dissapointment for me, what do others think...did i miss something??

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Just watched this film and thought it was terrible. The plot was long, confusing , the characters uninteresting and boring but most of all, the action was very poor!

With a great cast of most of the Venoms and Fu Sheng, i was expecting a lot but it just didnt happen.

Very little action in the first hour, Lo Meng just throwing knives around, Fu Sheng looking bored as hell as if he couldnt wait to get out of there!

Kwok Choy's double nunchukus at the end were ok , but too short a battle and it ended up as a gymnastic display with pretty coloured flags....as you can tell its a major dissapointment for me, what do others think...did i miss something??

Man, I hate to say it, but I agree. It took me a long time to get through, despite the great cast. I thought the battles were too short as well, it would have been cool to see Chiang Sheng with the whip more. It makes me sad to see so many great action stars with little action.

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Killer Meteor

I quite liked it and found the story a lot more engrossing then most of the same era Shaw pictures. I do agree Fu Sheng looks rather disinterested throughout.

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You know, I don't really disagree that much with the criticisms that have been mentioned, but I still enjoyed the movie. To me Shaw movies are kind of like that saying about sex, pizza and Chinese food-----even when they're bad, they're still pretty good. :bigsmile:

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Is entertainment. All the directors, choreographers and actors have their weakness. Chang Cheh had his star, Alexander Fu Sheng, and the "Godfather of Kung Fu Cinema" thought about the Venoms as partenaires of Fu Sheng. Whatever all the people can think or say here, Alexander was the protagonist altough he was restricted in his acting (throwing knives, few lines, looking different than in other movies) The Venoms were good of course but with weakness too. Is a Chang Cheh production for Alexander Fu Sheng with the Venoms on it and the director focused (by unknown reasons) the attention to them. All the actors and actress around the world have best and bad times. Nobody is perfect all the time. No-bo-dy.

A polemic movie, certainly.

Alexandra

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You know, I don't really disagree that much with the criticisms that have been mentioned, but I still enjoyed the movie. To me Shaw movies are kind of like that saying about sex, pizza and Chinese food-----even when they're bad, they're still pretty good. :bigsmile:

I can agree with that!:bigsmile:

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I really like it -- It's like a Chu Yuan wuxia made by Chang Cheh. If you were just watching to see fights, you would be understandably disappointed.

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I did not like "Life Gamble" very much the first time I saw it, but it gets better every time I watch it. I quit stressing out over figuring out the plot, it's quite intriguing really, and everyone is more than interesting to watch, Kuo Choi, Lo Meng, Chiang Sheng, Wang Lung Wei, Ku Feng, Lu Feng, Dick Wei, Tong Yim Chan and many others, it's hard to be disappointed.

post-1078-144191886363_thumb.jpgLo Meng and Kuo Choi.

I did write earlier in the AFS thread, that Fu Sheng seemed distracted, but I see him as more of a volcano, ready to explode at any moment, smoldering with inner monologues that I would pay just to watch him think about over and over again .

post-1078-144191886359_thumb.jpgFu Sheng

Gold is where you find it. Jade too!

:khi7g:

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Morgoth Bauglir

I went into this with low expectations when I first saw it because all I saw were bad reviews. But it ended up being pretty good. My favorite scene is when Lu Feng shoots himself even after Kwok tells him that the metal hand can only fire backwards now. I was laughing my ass off, though i don't know if it was supposed to be funny.

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