Member Shawoholic Posted February 8, 2011 Member Share Posted February 8, 2011 This is not in any order but 50 of my favorites, There is still many highly rated Shaw flix I need to catch up on. 01 - 8 Diagram Pole Fighter 02 - Come Drink With Me 03 - Fist Of The White Lotus 04 - Crippled Avengers 05 - My Young Auntie 06 - King Boxer 07 - Five Deadly Venoms 08 - One Armed Swordsman 09 - Avenging Eagle 10 - 36 Chambers Of Shaolin 11 - Heroes Of The East 12 - Deadly Mantis 13 - Golden Knight 14 - Masked Avengers 15 - Iron Chain Assassin 16 - Challenge Of The Masters 17 - Kid With The Golden Arm 18 - Shaolin Intruders 19 - 3 Evil Masters 20 - Mad Monkey Kung Fu 21 - Return To The 36 Chambers 22 - Opium & The Kung Fu Master 23 - House Of Traps 24 - Chinese Super Ninjas 25 - Shaolin Temple 26 - The Flying Guillotine 27 - Dirty Ho 28 - Flag Of Iron 29 - Shaolin Prince 30 - Ten Tigers From Kwangtung 31 - Chinatown Kid 32 - Executioners From Shaolin 33 - 5 Shaolin Masters 34 - 4 Assassins 35 - Disciples Of The 36 Chamber 36 - Instructors Of Death 37 - Legendary Weapons Of China 38 - The Kung Fu Instructor 39 - Golden Swallow 40 - Men From The Monastery 41 - Human Lanters 42 - Return Of The One Armed Swordsman 43 - 2 Champions Of Shaolin 44 - Deadly Duo 45 - Boxer From Shantung 46 - Heroes Two 47 - Magnificent Ruffians 48 - Killer Clans 49 - Killer Army 50 - Shaolin & Wu Tang (Does this count?) I take it you are not huge fan of wu xia:xd: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member QueMuchita Posted February 8, 2011 Member Share Posted February 8, 2011 lol Yeah, Maybe I should try out some non action shaw films Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted November 6, 2011 Member Share Posted November 6, 2011 great thread by the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member popsjnr Posted November 6, 2011 Member Share Posted November 6, 2011 My top 50 in no particular order-except number 1 are: 1- Eight Diagram Pole Fighter 2- My Young Auntie 3- Disciples of Shaolin 4- Chinatown Kid 5- 36th Chamber of Shaolin 6- Challenge of the Masters 7- Sword Stained with Royal Blood 8- Martial Club 9- Treasure Hunters 10- Opium and the Kung Fu Master 11- Crippled Avengers 12- Masked Avengers 13- Magic Blade 14- Bastard Swordsman 15- Rebel Intruders 16- Shaolin Intruders 17- Clan of the White Lotus 18- Cat Vs Rat 19- Heroes of the East 20- Shaolin Martial Arts 21- My Rebellious Son 22- Avenging Eagle 23- New One Armed Swordsman 24- Lady is the Boss 25- Lady Assasin 26- Legendary Weapons of Kung fu 27- Gang Masters 28- Kid From Kwangtung 29- Heroes Shed No Tears 30- Executioners from Shaolin 31- Golden Swallow 32- New Shaolin Boxers 33- Boxer Rebellion 34- Five Venoms 35- Mad Monkey Kung Fu 36- Five Superfighters 37- The Master 38- Human Lanterns 39- Deadly Breaking Sword 40- House of Traps 41- Two Champions of Shaolin 42- Shaolin Prince 43- Dirty Ho 44- Five Shaolin Masters 45- Shaolin Avengers 46- Shaolin Rescuers 47- Soul of the Sword 48- Vengeance 49- Blood Brothers 50- One Armed Swordsman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Xample Posted December 13, 2011 Member Share Posted December 13, 2011 Okay, here's my list in descending order: I don't have 50 favorites, only the twenty listed below. Ten Tigers of Kwangtung The brave archer Kid with the golden arm - Terrific suspense, vengence, and betrayal much like other Venom movies (with Sun Chien taking a villainous role again). Of note, Wai Pak's character was extremely annoying and pious! The woman was useless. But still a good movie nonetheless. Invincible Shaolin Two Champions of Shaolin features three of the 5 venoms in this shaolin vs wutang kung fu gem. Magnficient Ruffians Five Element Ninjas Clan of the White Lotus - Directed by Lo Lieh who also stars as Pei Mei and features Gordon Liu using "woman's fist" lol Kara Hui plays the pregnant widow of Gordon Liu's brother. If you want to see Lo Lieh dive out of a tub naked dressed as Pei Mei, then this is the movie for you. Lady is the Boss - stars Kara Hui and the rest of the Lau Ban. Lady is the Boss is set in modern times. It's basically My Young Auntie with less production value with Kara Hui as the daughter of a kung fu master and owner of a local kung fu school. She moves from America to China to help the teacher (played by Lau Kar Leung) attract new students. She's traditional, and she's a modern Chinese American girl brimming with new ideas. Features a bad ass fight at the end of the movie, with the stars in a parody of previous shaw brother roles. The attraction between the young woman is not with one of the guys, Lau Kar Leung plays her love interest. Fake Ghost Catchers - A lovesick suitor kills himself after the woman he is in love with marries another man, before his death he performs a ritual vowing to "snatch her back", makes good on his threat when he possesses her with his ghost. The woman, played by Lili Li enlists the help of a fake ghost catcher (played by Hsiao Hou) before the ghost can possess her twin sister and kill her too. Zhou Pang (chang peng) is on the run after threatening to expose a corrupt official with a mysterious "list". The pair team up and head to town, to turn the documents in to a judge, and also to catch the ghost before he can possess the twin sister. Alexander Fu Sheng also stars, fun movie. Crippled Avengers (aka Return of the Five Deadly Venoms) - A local official goes bad after his wife is murdered and his son is maimed by enemies. After killing the men responsible, over the years, the official systematically, takes his anger and vengeance out on the locals or anyone who dares ridicule his son's disability. Or for that matter, anyone who challenges them. Punishment is swift and brutal, all to prove that his son is not handicapped, but a dangerous force to be reckoned with. When a couple of outsiders visit town, unaware of the unwritten rules, they speak out, and are quickly disabled. One rendered blind, another deaf, another without legs, and finally a hero rendered mentally disabled. Another terrific venom movie. Martial Club - A story about martial art codes and ethnics. This is a "teaching" movie, as viewers learn which way to wear a belt (student, master, or warrior), the proper conduct as a martial art student, and the all too important rules of lion dancing. Things go horribly wrong with the evil teacher of a ambitious martial club/school instigates a fight with another. Gordon Liu plays a young Wong Fei Hung and Robert Mak plays a buddy from a competing martial club. They manage to keep things competitive and fun until the third school intervenes and causes trouble. A mysterious northerner comes to town (played by Jimmy Wang). This movie ends with one of the best martial arts demonstrations I've seen in a movie to date. 36th Chamber - Stars Gordon Liu in his most famous role. A defining kung fu movie, that changed the way Hong Kong martial arts films were made. Directed by Lau Kar Leung, 36th Chamber extols the lessons of virtue, sacrifice and hard work. This is another "teaching" movie, kind of a "how to" shaolin film. The production and quality is excellent. Even if at times, it moves a bit slow. The character SanDe also appears in other films (sequels) and even 2 Champions from Shaolin, and is one of the famous Chinese legends. Legendary Weapons of China - When the leader of a boxer clan becomes disillusioned and runs away from the secret society he once lead, assassins are dispatched to kill him. A pupil from the spirit clan (Hsiao Hou), the heaven and earth clan (Kara Hui and Gordon Liu), and the magic clan (Lau Kar Wing) must find Lu Gong (Lau Kar Leung) and not only kill him, but themselves after contact. One of the students also becomes disillusioned and joins the former leader (who disguises himself as a frail old man), after realizing their "skills" can't defeat western guns and that students are being needless killed. Tieh Ho is on to them, can they sway the student to their side? Or will there be needless bloodshed? The movie features the 18 weapons of China, and are properly demonstrated for audiences in an awesome fight between Lau Kar Wing and Lau Kar Leung. Fu Sheng also stars as a con man. My Young Auntie - The dying patriarch of a family decides to leave his assets to his favorite nephew (Lau Kar Leung), cutting his evil brother out of the will. He takes a young bride (one of his students) in a unconsumated marriage, so that she may directly inherit his deeds. She is sent on a mission to give the property to his nephew, who will protect the assets and take care of her just as the master had always done. Hilarity ensues when the nephew and his new aunt meets, as she is the same age as his son, who is away to hong kong for school. Family law dictates that he shows the young woman deference, as she ranks higher in the family heirarchy. When the son returns, he clashes almost immediately with the traditional young aunt. A slight romance disguised as a game of "anything you can do I can do better" ensues, until the devious brother of her late husband (played by Jimmy Wang) rears his head and steals the deeds. Now the young nephew and young aunt must join forces to get them back. This is probably one of the best produced Shaw Brother movies ever made. The quality of the movie, and the pacing is perfect. The acting is lively and entertaining, earning Kara Hui the first Best Actress award for her role. She dazzles as the oficious young aunt and Hsiao Hou is electric, giving the movie (which could be conscrued as "too long") much needed energy with his comedic antics and physicality. Lau Kar Leung's provides one of his best on screen performances in a fight with Jimmy Wang, who also lives up to his reputation as one of the best villains and martial artists on the Shaw Brothers' roster. Five Deadly Venoms - A dying teacher sends his final student on a mission to destroy 5 rogue pupils who are after a hidden treasure. The pupil must team up with one of the students and eliminate the rest before they use their skills to murder. Unfortunately, they do and an investigation ensues. Suspense, mood, and betrayal drives this plot. What an awesome awesome movie. Cat Vs. Rat -- Most people wouldn't rank Cat Vs. Rat as high as I do, but it stars Alexander Fu Sheng as the notorious bad boy "Rat" a pupil so full of hubris that he fires his kung fu master for being angry with him after cutting "the master's" (played by Lau Kar Wing) beard. Adam Cheng also stars as the Cat, this is a Odd Couple type of story, with the Cat being good and the Rat being... a rat. The Rat just can't let go of his rivalry with the cat, and misses the opportunity to serve the emperor (played by Gordon Liu), and show off his skill. In fact, in an act of arrogance he dismisses the emperor outright. So the emperor hires his nemesis to get back at the rat. A fun movie with awesome performances by the two leads. Kara Hui co-stars as the annoying sister, and Hsiao Hou as the annoying cousin, both offering bad advice causing the leads more trouble than they're already in. Mad Monkey Kung Fu - is perhaps my favorite kung fu movie. This is another "how to" teaching movie by Lau Kar Leung. Mad Monkey Kung Fu extols the virtues of living right, being healthy, not drinking or lusting after women, practice and dedication to achieve ones goals, and also respecting your sifu/master. When a peking opera actor (Lau Kar Leung) is invited to have a drink with the benefactor of one of his shows, he is cautioned by his younger sister (Kara Hui), to avoid wine because he always gets drunk. The benefactor is also a local mob boss, played by Lo Lieh, realizes this weakness and is using it to lure the Drunken Monkey master into a trap, in order to steal his sister whom he is in LUST with. The master falls for the plot, becoming drunk, teaching the mob boss his monkey moves, and is placed in bed with the wife of the crime boss. He is sentenced to death but is spared when his sister trades her freedom in exchange for her brother's life, becoming the mobster's concubine. They destroy Chan's hands, rendering them useless. Years later, Chan (Lau Kar Leung) is down on his luck as a street performer and bullied by the local gangs. He meets monkey (hsiao hou), an orphan and petty thief. They become friends, with monkey vowing to get rid of the gangs after they are robbed yet again of their money. Monkey is beaten up, learns Chan is a kung fu master, and begs to learn kung fu. After learning Chan was framed, they go after the mobster to take Chan's sister back. Awesome fights and acrobatics ensue with Monkey taking revenge for his teacher and the girl. This is definitely the A-B-Cs of Kung Fu movies. Disciples of the 36th Chamber - The third entry in the 36th Chamber movie is probably the best. The first is a fine well made movie, but it moves too slow. It excels because of the hard work of the hero. Disciples on the other hand, isn't having any of that. In fact, it's about that troublemaking arrogant Fong Sai Yuk (Fang Shiyu) hero played by Hsiao Hou. Disciples is a better movie than the first, and far exceeds the second installment which is probably the worst movie Lau Kar Leung ever made. The Manchurians are oppressing the Hans, stealing their basic rights. The Hans are barely getting by, but Fang Shiyu, a teenager who was taught kung fu by his mother is having none of that. He's not scared to die, and will challenge them to prove it - even at the peril of his family and friends. When the threat of a beheading is handed down by a manchurian official, Fang Shiyu is sent to the 36th Chamber - thanks to his mother who begs the monks to accept her problem child as a student. Problem is that, Fang Shiyu HATES San De (Gordon Liu). Despite this, San De agrees to take Fang Shiyu and his brothers in. Much as he has tried, Fang Shiyu quickly learns he can't win against San De, and sneaks out of the temple. He attracts a local governor (Jason Piao) who wants to destroy the 36th chamber. Now San De must figure out a way to not only protect the temple but save the students and fang shiyu, who naively believes the governor is his friend. The end of the movie features an epic fight sequence featuring the Manchurian army and the students. The chaos is organized and well choreographed and some of the best you'll ever see (Can see some of this in the video link via my signature) . 8 Diagram Pole Fighter - The best kung fu movie ever made. Nuff said. Stars Gordon Liu as the fifth brother of the Yu family. A family renowed for their honor and loyalty. A jealous official frames the family with treason, killing the father and four of the seven brothers in a battle. They kidnap fourth brother, sixth brother returns (Alexander Fu Sheng in his final role), and fifth brother goes on the run joining the shaolin temple. Gordon Liu yet again, plays a character who must learn the ways of Shaolin, this time discarding his warrior ways to embrace the tenets of Buddhism. This is difficult, for a man who is used to killing other men. But the family back home is still under siege, heavily guarded by the government official and their men. Sixth brother (who has lost his mind) is in hiding there. Eighth Sister (Kara Hui) is sent to find fifth brother, whom they learn is still alive. Together, they must expose the corrupt official and restore the family name. But will Fifth Brother return from Shaolin? Excellent movie, excellent emotion. You cant watch it with English dubs or you will not get the best out of the experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member massa_yoda Posted December 14, 2011 Member Share Posted December 14, 2011 Disciples is a better movie than the first, and far exceeds the second installment which is probably the worst movie Lau Kar Leung ever made. Xample, you have some great picks here, but my jaw dropped a little when you said this, lol. I love Return to the 36th Chamber. In fact, the reasons you love this movie are probably the reasons I love the second one. I think the humor works, and the end fight is absolutely killer. Disciples' end fight definitely has a lot going on, but not enough one-on-one, two-on-one type match-ups. I rank the 36th Chamber trilogy in the order they were released. Not that Disciples is bad to me, just third best/awesome. And the first one has just a great story, wonderfully told. Whenever I get around to making my list, Return will definitely be on it. But to each their own. I would like to know a little more about what you didn't like about Return though. Just cause I'm curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member QueMuchita Posted December 14, 2011 Member Share Posted December 14, 2011 I find it hard to rank the three 36 Chamber movies because they are all good for totally different reasons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Xample Posted December 14, 2011 Member Share Posted December 14, 2011 Xample, you have some great picks here, but my jaw dropped a little when you said this, lol. I love Return to the 36th Chamber. In fact, the reasons you love this movie are probably the reasons I love the second one. I think the humor works, and the end fight is absolutely killer. Disciples' end fight definitely has a lot going on, but not enough one-on-one, two-on-one type match-ups. I rank the 36th Chamber trilogy in the order they were released. Not that Disciples is bad to me, just third best/awesome. And the first one has just a great story, wonderfully told. Whenever I get around to making my list, Return will definitely be on it. But to each their own. I would like to know a little more about what you didn't like about Return though. Just cause I'm curious. I know it seems like a strange thing to say. I was so excited to watch it, and rented from netflix. But when I did, my mouth literally dropped, I could not believe how terrible it was. Here are my reasons: 1.) Hero of the story was a louse. A criminal, and a con artist who tried to get into shaolin for all the wrong reasons. His ploys were tiresome, especially the black grass with the hair dye bit. 2.) San De was not played by Gordon Liu! I love Ching Chu, the dude is awesome. But if you're going to use him in a prominent role, really use the guy! Why not have him help the people fight the bad guys? In fact, I would have preferred if Liu reprised his role as San De, and Ching Chu play the title character. I really hated the main character and didn't care about his journey. He only learned kung fu by sheer accident, so did he learn anything at all. Had I saw this before I saw Disciples I would not have bothered at all with the 3rd movie. 3.) Not enough kung fu. The first (from what I remember) fight in the movie was a staged with Liu pretending to be San De. Otherwise, EVERYONE in the movie gets beaten up. Not a single fair fight until Gordon Liu's character takes on the bad guys at the end. It was mostly people getting slapped around by the bad guys, who are also wasted. 4.) Kara Hui = completely wasted. 5.) Hsiao Hou = hot mess, completely worthless. Anyone could have played this character, how about the same guy who always plays this character archetype? Lam Fai Wong? 6.) Scaffold kung fu? Man did San De cheat this guy. The end fight was cute, and I love the comeback lines Liu is giving Jimmy Wang's character as he doles out a well deserved ass whooping, but the movie was disposable. I only watched it once, and could barely get through it. The first movie was so done so well, the third had epic fight scenes, I expected much more fighting out of the second. But like I said, mostly people getting slapped around. As for the 3rd not having enough one on one fights, there were a lot of one on one fights, from opening sequence to the several in the big fight at the end of the movie. I just found it much more enjoyable,especially since there was some humor and not as serious as the first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member massa_yoda Posted December 14, 2011 Member Share Posted December 14, 2011 1.) Hero of the story was a louse. A criminal, and a con artist who tried to get into shaolin for all the wrong reasons. His ploys were tiresome, especially the black grass with the hair dye bit. 2.) San De was not played by Gordon Liu! I love Ching Chu, the dude is awesome. But if you're going to use him in a prominent role, really use the guy! Why not have him help the people fight the bad guys? In fact, I would have preferred if Liu reprised his role as San De, and Ching Chu play the title character. I really hated the main character and didn't care about his journey. He only learned kung fu by sheer accident, so did he learn anything at all. Had I saw this before I saw Disciples I would not have bothered at all with the 3rd movie. 3.) Not enough kung fu. The first (from what I remember) fight in the movie was a staged with Liu pretending to be San De. Otherwise, EVERYONE in the movie gets beaten up. Not a single fair fight until Gordon Liu's character takes on the bad guys at the end. It was mostly people getting slapped around by the bad guys, who are also wasted. 4.) Kara Hui = completely wasted. 5.) Hsiao Hou = hot mess, completely worthless. Anyone could have played this character, how about the same guy who always plays this character archetype? Lam Fai Wong? 6.) Scaffold kung fu? Man did San De cheat this guy. The end fight was cute, and I love the comeback lines Liu is giving Jimmy Wang's character as he doles out a well deserved ass whooping, but the movie was disposable. I only watched it once, and could barely get through it. These are all good points, but let me offer some counter-points. 1) You could say the same about Fong Sai Yuk in Disciples. His character was pretty foolish. Even during the final fight, he still didn't understand he was being used by the governor. I screamed "come on, you idiot!" It's hard to root for a guy like this. 2) I actually thought it would have been cool to have Gordon Liu to play both roles, but they didn't have the time/tech to pull that off I suppose. To me, Gordon Liu playing a different character is brilliant. San De's arc was pretty much finished at the end of the first 36th chamber. I mean where else can you go with him? This way, you get to see Liu going through the same arc with a different character, but in the same universe. Positively brilliant. 3) Agree, not a lot of fu that I can remember. But wasn't that end fight off the hook? It was worth the wait. There was still good training and good humor throughout. 4) Agree 5) Agree 6) I see the Scaffolding Kung Fu kind of like the training from The Karate Kid. He didn't know he was learning skills and suddenly he had them. I had no problem with it. Maybe I need to re-watch both films. You are right in that Disciples has more action, for some reason though I didn't find it as memorable as the final fight in Return. Maybe I'll see it differently if I go back and watch them again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Xample Posted December 15, 2011 Member Share Posted December 15, 2011 These are all good points, but let me offer some counter-points. 1) You could say the same about Fong Sai Yuk in Disciples. His character was pretty foolish. Even during the final fight, he still didn't understand he was being used by the governor. I screamed "come on, you idiot!" It's hard to root for a guy like this. 2) I actually thought it would have been cool to have Gordon Liu to play both roles, but they didn't have the time/tech to pull that off I suppose. To me, Gordon Liu playing a different character is brilliant. San De's arc was pretty much finished at the end of the first 36th chamber. I mean where else can you go with him? This way, you get to see Liu going through the same arc with a different character, but in the same universe. Positively brilliant. 3) Agree, not a lot of fu that I can remember. But wasn't that end fight off the hook? It was worth the wait. There was still good training and good humor throughout. 4) Agree 5) Agree 6) I see the Scaffolding Kung Fu kind of like the training from The Karate Kid. He didn't know he was learning skills and suddenly he had them. I had no problem with it. Maybe I need to re-watch both films. You are right in that Disciples has more action, for some reason though I didn't find it as memorable as the final fight in Return. Maybe I'll see it differently if I go back and watch them again. Okay, I can agree with your perspective. I think you should watch Disciples again. I'll agree to rent Return of the 36th Chamber and give it asecond chance. I think it wasn't what I was expecting and I probably need to open my mind a bit. As for some of your other points... 1.) Fong Sai Yok had an excuse for being foolish. He was an idiot! Remember, how the movie opened with the kids teasing him for being stupid after he argued with them that snow, rain, and ice was not made of water? Then they later teased him for not being able to hand write, so he wrote on their faces? I think this was the director's way of foreshadowing why Fang Shiyu was so quick to anger and how he basically missed his own hypocrisy and later failed to see how he was being used by the governor. The only thing good about him was the fact that he could fight, and that he made good on all of his boasts, which made him admirable to the other boys. The movie made it clear that he was the dumb jock of the group. 2.) I actually thought, Liu was going to play both parts when I watched it. Then Ching Chu came out and I was like, whoa! Then I thought, okay San De is going to team up with him and then they are going to help the people. Nope. I can tolerate a bad plot as long as there are enough fights to compensate for it. Conversely I don't mind a movie with very few fights as long as the plot is good. This one had a weak plot and one fight. 3.) Yes, the end fight was off the hizzy but I had to suffer through a crap fest to get to it! ) 6.) True. But Karate Kid had a decent plot and characterization to make up for other short comings. Liu's character in Return was forgettable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member massa_yoda Posted December 15, 2011 Member Share Posted December 15, 2011 Okay, I can agree with your perspective. I think you should watch Disciples again. I'll agree to rent Return of the 36th Chamber and give it asecond chance. I think it wasn't what I was expecting and I probably need to open my mind a bit. Yeah, I'll give it a watch again. I think it's awesome you think so highly of it actually. Disciples doesn't usually get so much love, so it's cool that you appreciate it. I own all three, so I can pop em in anytime As for Return, some people think the humor and shenanigans is lame, and that's fine, but for some reason it worked for me. Maybe I was just in a really silly mood when I watched it, but I loved every minute. Thanks for sharing your perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Xample Posted December 15, 2011 Member Share Posted December 15, 2011 Yeah, I'll give it a watch again. I think it's awesome you think so highly of it actually. Disciples doesn't usually get so much love, so it's cool that you appreciate it. I own all three, so I can pop em in anytime As for Return, some people think the humor and shenanigans is lame, and that's fine, but for some reason it worked for me. Maybe I was just in a really silly mood when I watched it, but I loved every minute. Thanks for sharing your perspective. lol I only own the first and third. Yeah, I notice not too many people liked Disciples. Don't know why. I thought it was great. And the fight scenes were spectactular. AND it was Shaw Brothers' last movie (at least for the 80s Kung Fu). But then I am a huge lau kar leung fan so I pretty much love most of the movies he puts out anyway. Humor, hung gar, hsiao hou, the three HHHs. Works for me~! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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