Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted March 1, 2015 Member Share Posted March 1, 2015 Call Me Dragon is an extraordinary kung fu film: it's one of the best bashers (probably my personal favorite), features the sort of kick-heavy choreography that wouldn't really become the norm until The Secret Rivals two years later, and the choreography is simply way ahead of its time. The nunchaku/tonfa fight is just wonderful, partly because it doesn't feel like a guy beating on a bunch of unskilled stooges with a nunchaku, or two people trying to outdo each other with demonstration of said weapon. My experience with Leung Siu-Lung is still pretty limited. He was great in Angela Mao's Broken Oath. According to an interview, he said that the director didn't know what he wanted for the final fight, so Leung and Michael Chan Wai-Man improvised a lot of the choreography on the spot (despite Yuen Woo-Ping being the principal action director). I wasn't impressed with Fists, the Kicks & the Evils or Four Shaolin Challengers, but I still need to see more of his older films. Four Challengers is pretty much a nothing movie. Instantly forgettable. But Fist Kicks and Evils, while not a good movie, it does have a lot of good stuff in it. Bruce Leung's acting is so bad it is actually funny. And Bolo gives one of his better performances. I don't remember the other fights being all that great but I'd like to see a wide version to fully judge it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted March 1, 2015 Member Share Posted March 1, 2015 So basically most of his films are like Call Me Dragon? Haha! If that's the case, they're worth watching to me! Yeah I'm hearing great stuff about Little Superman lately. Morgoth, I really like Kuratas first fight scene In this too, and instantly began thinking "he's gonna steal the show." His kicks were razor sharp! I haven't seen all of his work, so I'm only going by what I have watched. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Fist of the Heavenly Sky Posted March 3, 2015 Member Share Posted March 3, 2015 Might as well give this a shot: Return of Bruce Lee. Can't really make much of a review out of this, to be honest, because every aspect of this movie is a disjointed mess, even by Bruceploitation standards. Hell, the title is extremely misleading (Yes, Bruce Le's in it, for what that's worth, but the dub uses a generic name for his character). To put it brief, movie has no plot. For whatever reason, Bruce Le goes to the Phillipines to find his uncle, but he's not even seen in a movie, so Le just goes around doing, uh, stuff. Midway through, the movie gives him a reason to do something by fighting against a crime boss who is forcing Filipina women into sexual slavery, and even then, the acting and fights are beyond shallow. It's easy to tell how bored the actors are of the whole premise (or lack thereof). Movie link: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted March 22, 2015 Member Share Posted March 22, 2015 Rewatched Call Me Dragon. The choreography is ahead of its time and both Leung Siu Lung and Yasuaki Kurata turn in landmark performances. People often cite Snaked in yhe Eagle's Shadow as the first kung fu comedy. But Ng See Yuen was already experimenting with it here. There's lots of humor here, including a comic relief motor scooter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member paimeifist Posted March 22, 2015 Member Share Posted March 22, 2015 Yeah the scooter was comedy gold to me, lol. That one long chase scene could have been annoying, but it was hilarious to me. I also liked Bruce Liangs chair an umbrella in the middle of nowhere at the beginning, and was hoping to see more of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted March 22, 2015 Member Share Posted March 22, 2015 You guys really need to see Little Superman. It's funnier, faster... it's just all around better than Call Me Dragon. Paimeifist it's been like a year since we disagreed:tongue: I love the music on Rebel of Shaolin. What did you think of the DVD menu music for the Kickin It Shaolin set? (Yes this is a trick question:xd:) KFZ is definitely my favorite from Billy Chong. Super Power is probably #2. Good flick. Dr. Ngor I'm gonna pick of Calamity of Snakes hopefully soon. Where do I get The Club? (I meant to ask you about this before but I accidentally asked about The Pier:squigglemouth: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member paimeifist Posted March 22, 2015 Member Share Posted March 22, 2015 I don't have that set, I've got the 100 pack (or 2 50 packs) from mill creek! Each disc has it's own menu pic (from one of the movies on each disc), so the music may differ as well. Is Little Superman in any sets? I may get Calamity of Snakes as well, lol. Also, you didn't answer my question about Super Dragon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Morgoth Bauglir Posted March 22, 2015 Member Share Posted March 22, 2015 I have Little Superman in the Ultimate Dragon Collection 10 Film set. I can't recommend it. Only buy it if you see it at a store. You have to get the version that is a single DVD case. If it comes multiple cases don't buy that version. The discs are bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted April 14, 2015 Member Share Posted April 14, 2015 Return Of Bruce (Philippines, 1977) Courtesy of the "Collection Ceinture Noire" fom FIP, here's yet another Bruceploitation movie. I have 8 of the 10 titles, and it seems like Bruceploitation flicks make up 2/3 of the collection - also, don't expect the Ninja on the cover to show up cause like pretty much all of their other releases, the artwork has NOTHING to do with the movie (hell, there's Gordon Liu on the artwork of Enter The Game Of Death). This one sees a Chinese guy (played by Bruce Le) who wanted to visit a cousin bust a woman trafficking ring. The plot wasn't very engaging, so I essentially browsed through the thing and while I must have seen about half of it (first 10 minutes and last half hour), here's what I got: - nice alternative version of the Enter The Dragon theme - but it seems like almost EVERY Bruce Le movie has that theme in it (got a couple others and - the most flaming character ever (that guy is soooo gay it's just ridiculous - I don't have anything against gay people, but this guy is a freaking stereotype) - a bad guy is seen wearing a Charlie Brown shirt (yeah, it's a detail, but I couldn't help catching it) - many people, especially the White baddies, seem to have stayed in the sun for too long - Bruce Le fighting two hairy-chested Gwailos in white pants has to be the most hilarious fight scene I've seen this year - courtesy of him trying to recreate the original Bruce Lee's fight with Chuck Norris in WOTD - Bruce Le ruining an emotional scene by overreacting to his girlfriend's death (but to be fair, he seems to be overracting for the whole 90 minutes this film runs) - actually, his reaction is so quick you don't have time to feel sorry for the poor girl - WTF are Lo Lieh and Kong Do doing here ?! Anyway, they have some nice action and are fun to watch - though you can't help but wonder how they went from playing in great Shaw Bros movies to making a Bruceploitation with Bruce Le Overall ? Not too bad of a film, it's great for laughs and the action is enjoyable. Maybe I'd put this one in my top 5 Bruceploitation films. Re-watched this one last nite. Pretty fun flick I must say, it's hilarious and the action is nice. Also, just realized the back cover has a shot of Fu Sheng fighting Lo Meng from the Shaw Bros classic Life Gamble !!! :ooh::ooh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted April 21, 2015 Member Share Posted April 21, 2015 Bruce, King of Kung Fu (1980: Daniel Lau Tan-ching, Bruce Le) This was bad. Really bad. I did notice though this helps you to sleep late at night. What surprised me most was that I had actually seen this years ago and I have it on another DVD with the name The Legend of Bruce Lee from Goodtimes. It also has another release from Tai Seng called The Young Bruce Lee. I actually remember more about me purchasing that film than watching it (I bought another film on Amazon with the same title but received that one instead; I was not a winner in that transaction.) I do wonder about the dub though. Seriously if you watch it (you really shouldn’t) try imagining someone else’s name used instead of Bruce. It actually works because you don’t really think of this as a Bruce Lee biography. What is funny is that it actually takes a backward approach to Bruce’s own realization with martial arts (though not as hilarious as stating that Bruce Lee was born in Seattle.) Here we have a character who brags about boxing, gets taught a lesson from Wing Chun, learns Wing Chun, gets taught a lesson from a blind man, later gets taught a lesson from a snake fist practitioner and well Bruce Le(e) gets beat up a lot in this film. Le’s one-note facial performance does not help either. Neither does the episodic direction where it literally feels like one scene after another is improvised and they joined together to have a film. There is certainly a lot of well-known character actors here like Sek Kin, Hon Gwok-choi, Fung Ging-man (I must be in every film), Bolo Yeung, Funk Hak-on etc… Most stick around for one scene and then disappear. Hon Gwok-choi (count how many films I die in since I’m a sidekick) pretty much disappears (most likely to work on something else) though it looks like he has a stunt double for his “dead” body. The highlight of the film is Bruce Le’s handling of cobras where he teaches himself drunken snake-fist. None of the fight scenes are that interesting though. It ranges from competent to “why am I watching this.” HKMDB has this as a 1980 release while IMDB has it as 1982. I could not find this on HKFA so I am thinking it did not have a HK release. This is in the Great Impersonators set. It is partially widescreen, but the picture quality is bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted April 22, 2015 Member Share Posted April 22, 2015 Bruce, King of Kung Fu (1980: Daniel Lau Tan-ching, Bruce Le) This was bad. Really bad. I did notice though this helps you to sleep late at night. What surprised me most was that I had actually seen this years ago and I have it on another DVD with the name The Legend of Bruce Lee from Goodtimes. It also has another release from Tai Seng called The Young Bruce Lee. I actually remember more about me purchasing that film than watching it (I bought another film on Amazon with the same title but received that one instead; I was not a winner in that transaction.) I do wonder about the dub though. Seriously if you watch it (you really shouldn’t) try imagining someone else’s name used instead of Bruce. It actually works because you don’t really think of this as a Bruce Lee biography. What is funny is that it actually takes a backward approach to Bruce’s own realization with martial arts (though not as hilarious as stating that Bruce Lee was born in Seattle.) Here we have a character who brags about boxing, gets taught a lesson from Wing Chun, learns Wing Chun, gets taught a lesson from a blind man, later gets taught a lesson from a snake fist practitioner and well Bruce Le(e) gets beat up a lot in this film. Le’s one-note facial performance does not help either. Neither does the episodic direction where it literally feels like one scene after another is improvised and they joined together to have a film. There is certainly a lot of well-known character actors here like Sek Kin, Hon Gwok-choi, Fung Ging-man (I must be in every film), Bolo Yeung, Funk Hak-on etc… Most stick around for one scene and then disappear. Hon Gwok-choi (count how many films I die in since I’m a sidekick) pretty much disappears (most likely to work on something else) though it looks like he has a stunt double for his “dead” body. The highlight of the film is Bruce Le’s handling of cobras where he teaches himself drunken snake-fist. None of the fight scenes are that interesting though. It ranges from competent to “why am I watching this.” HKMDB has this as a 1980 release while IMDB has it as 1982. I could not find this on HKFA so I am thinking it did not have a HK release. This is in the Great Impersonators set. It is partially widescreen, but the picture quality is bad. Doesn't look that great - and seems to have countless titles. Isn't there also a Bruce Li film called The Young Bruce Lee ? Which is (IIRC) an AKA of The Real Bruce Lee actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted April 22, 2015 Member Share Posted April 22, 2015 Bruce, King of Kung Fu (1980: Daniel Lau Tan-ching, Bruce Le) This was bad. Really bad. I did notice though this helps you to sleep late at night. What surprised me most was that I had actually seen this years ago and I have it on another DVD with the name The Legend of Bruce Lee from Goodtimes. It also has another release from Tai Seng called The Young Bruce Lee. I actually remember more about me purchasing that film than watching it (I bought another film on Amazon with the same title but received that one instead; I was not a winner in that transaction.) I do wonder about the dub though. Seriously if you watch it (you really shouldn’t) try imagining someone else’s name used instead of Bruce. It actually works because you don’t really think of this as a Bruce Lee biography. What is funny is that it actually takes a backward approach to Bruce’s own realization with martial arts (though not as hilarious as stating that Bruce Lee was born in Seattle.) Here we have a character who brags about boxing, gets taught a lesson from Wing Chun, learns Wing Chun, gets taught a lesson from a blind man, later gets taught a lesson from a snake fist practitioner and well Bruce Le(e) gets beat up a lot in this film. Le’s one-note facial performance does not help either. Neither does the episodic direction where it literally feels like one scene after another is improvised and they joined together to have a film. There is certainly a lot of well-known character actors here like Sek Kin, Hon Gwok-choi, Fung Ging-man (I must be in every film), Bolo Yeung, Funk Hak-on etc… Most stick around for one scene and then disappear. Hon Gwok-choi (count how many films I die in since I’m a sidekick) pretty much disappears (most likely to work on something else) though it looks like he has a stunt double for his “dead” body. The highlight of the film is Bruce Le’s handling of cobras where he teaches himself drunken snake-fist. None of the fight scenes are that interesting though. It ranges from competent to “why am I watching this.” HKMDB has this as a 1980 release while IMDB has it as 1982. I could not find this on HKFA so I am thinking it did not have a HK release. This is in the Great Impersonators set. It is partially widescreen, but the picture quality is bad. I had this on VHS:tinysmile_angry2_t:, MillCreek used the artwork that appears on my VHS copy from VPD for the Iron Fist Frenzy cover artwork. The version I had was cut though so hopefully the Mill Creek version might be intact at least?. Nice review MOTOIP:smile:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member masterofoneinchpunch Posted April 22, 2015 Member Share Posted April 22, 2015 Doesn't look that great - and seems to have countless titles. Isn't there also a Bruce Li film called The Young Bruce Lee ? Which is (IIRC) an AKA of The Real Bruce Lee actually. Yes (which is easy to see how when you order one film of a Bruce Li or Le and you get another completely different film with the same name, this has happened more than once to me.) What is funny is if you search via that title at IMDB you get one with Dragon Lee and Bruce Li in archival footage, not counting the 2010 release Bruce Lee, My Brother. Also, thanks Dragon Claws. I know there is a custom version of this film available (saltysam told me), but the movie is so bad that I really don't want to rewatch it (unless I forget again and watch this 10 years later when it comes out under a different name like Bruce Lee The Legend, yeah no one will use that title.) Paime -- I hope there is a better version of Invisible Terrorist as I'm curious on this now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted April 22, 2015 Member Share Posted April 22, 2015 Yes (which is easy to see how when you order one film of a Bruce Li or Le and you get another completely different film with the same name, this has happened more than once to me.) What is funny is if you search via that title at IMDB you get one with Dragon Lee and Bruce Li in archival footage, not counting the 2010 release Bruce Lee, My Brother. Also, thanks Dragon Claws. I know there is a custom version of this film available (saltysam told me), but the movie is so bad that I really don't want to rewatch it (unless I forget again and watch this 10 years later when it comes out under a different name like Bruce Lee The Legend, yeah no one will use that title.) Paime -- I hope there is a better version of Invisible Terrorist as I'm curious on this now. No problem, I ordered a clone film from Amazon once and ended up with Dragon The Bruce Lee Story. A clone film of sorts but not the title I was after. Sent it back and got it replaced with the right title. Love using Amazon but it does have its flaws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted April 23, 2015 Member Share Posted April 23, 2015 Bruce, King of Kung Fu (1980: Daniel Lau Tan-ching, Bruce Le) This was bad. Really bad. I did notice though this helps you to sleep late at night. What surprised me most was that I had actually seen this years ago and I have it on another DVD with the name The Legend of Bruce Lee from Goodtimes. It also has another release from Tai Seng called The Young Bruce Lee. I actually remember more about me purchasing that film than watching it (I bought another film on Amazon with the same title but received that one instead; I was not a winner in that transaction.) I do wonder about the dub though. Seriously if you watch it (you really shouldn’t) try imagining someone else’s name used instead of Bruce. It actually works because you don’t really think of this as a Bruce Lee biography. What is funny is that it actually takes a backward approach to Bruce’s own realization with martial arts (though not as hilarious as stating that Bruce Lee was born in Seattle.) Here we have a character who brags about boxing, gets taught a lesson from Wing Chun, learns Wing Chun, gets taught a lesson from a blind man, later gets taught a lesson from a snake fist practitioner and well Bruce Le(e) gets beat up a lot in this film. Le’s one-note facial performance does not help either. Neither does the episodic direction where it literally feels like one scene after another is improvised and they joined together to have a film. There is certainly a lot of well-known character actors here like Sek Kin, Hon Gwok-choi, Fung Ging-man (I must be in every film), Bolo Yeung, Funk Hak-on etc… Most stick around for one scene and then disappear. Hon Gwok-choi (count how many films I die in since I’m a sidekick) pretty much disappears (most likely to work on something else) though it looks like he has a stunt double for his “dead” body. The highlight of the film is Bruce Le’s handling of cobras where he teaches himself drunken snake-fist. None of the fight scenes are that interesting though. It ranges from competent to “why am I watching this.” HKMDB has this as a 1980 release while IMDB has it as 1982. I could not find this on HKFA so I am thinking it did not have a HK release. This is in the Great Impersonators set. It is partially widescreen, but the picture quality is bad. It's pretty hopeless. The Goodtimes DVD is called Legend of Bruce Lee and the Tai Seng is called Young Bruce Lee. The titles are swapped around for an early Bruce Li film released by both distibutors (think its proper title is Bruce Lee Superstar) And in the US, it seems Bruce - King Of Kung Fu is an alternate title for...Enter the Game of Death! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted April 23, 2015 Member Share Posted April 23, 2015 Blind Fist Of Bruce (HK, 1979) Courtesy of the 9-movie Bruce Lee Action Pack. A Bruce Li film where Bruce Li plays a bank owner who loses everything after a gang led by Kong Do beats him up badly. He then begins learning Fu from a blind old master played by Simon Yuen in order to get revenge. The movie has nice action (especially from Simon Yuen, but it gets ruined by the really bad ratio of the version which is a heavily cropped fullscreen), but it gets a bit boring rather fast. After a really nice first third or so with hilarious comedy (courtesy of the two sidekicks Bruce Li gets, the "bedside kung fu" line just floored me), the movie gets repetitive and the last two thirds or so can be summed up in a few words: Bruce Li learns a bit from Simon Yuen, gets beaten by Kong Do, learns more from Simon Yuen, gets beaten again... I know the revenge plot calls for it, but it gets old quickly. The comedy however (especially early on) is hilarious. Bruce Li has two sidekicks who are supposed to be his fu teachers and they are hilarious in how incompetent they are -they make up styles (ever heard of the Elephant Trunk Fist ? Or the Elephant Slip ?) and the English dub gives them great voices and lines. Speaking of the dub, Kong Do has a really cool voice here. And to finish on a BIG flaw, since we're in the sound department... The sound gets out of synch about halfway through the film. Not by much, but hearing a hit and seeing it a couple of seconds later is kinda annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted April 24, 2015 Member Share Posted April 24, 2015 I enjoyed Blind Fist Of Bruce GHW, nice to see Ho Chung Tao in a non Bruce Lee clone role. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted April 24, 2015 Member Share Posted April 24, 2015 I enjoyed Blind Fist Of Bruce GHW, nice to see Ho Chung Tao in a non Bruce Lee clone role. He delivers a nice performance, really cool action too. Forgot to mention, but I enjoyed the soundtrack too - I could swear there was some Ennio Morricone in there. I know a dubbed version is in the "Kickin' It Shaolin Style" set... Alrighty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member De Ming Li Posted May 10, 2015 Member Share Posted May 10, 2015 I actually like the notion of the Bruceploitation sub-genre and hope to watch all of them in the near future. Sadly at the moment I've only seen very few of them so I can't really comment too extensively, out of the ones that I have seen I'd say The New Game of Death with Bruce Li is a very weak film in terms of acting and storyline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ThunderScore Posted May 10, 2015 Member Share Posted May 10, 2015 I actually like the notion of the Bruceploitation sub-genre and hope to watch all of them in the near future. Here are a few recommendations: BRUCE VS SHAOLIN BRONZEMEN (Bruce Le) CLONES OF BRUCE LEE (Bruce Le, Dragon Lee) CHALLENGE OF THE TIGER aka GYMKATA KILLER (Bruce Le) DRAGON ON FIRE aka THE DRAGON, THE HERO (Dragon Lee) ENTER THREE DRAGONS aka THE DRAGON ON FIRE (Dragon Lee) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted May 10, 2015 Member Share Posted May 10, 2015 I actually like the notion of the Bruceploitation sub-genre and hope to watch all of them in the near future. Sadly at the moment I've only seen very few of them so I can't really comment too extensively, out of the ones that I have seen I'd say The New Game of Death with Bruce Li is a very weak film in terms of acting and storyline. Two remarks: - good luck trying to watch all of the Bruceploitation movies ever made, since there have been hazillions made (including movies with Bruce Lee references in the title but having NOTHING to do with him really such as the infamous Bruce Lee Fights Back From The Grave). - your comment on the weak acting and story in one you've seen makes me wonder whether you should watch them all (or as many as possible), unless you do realize these are exploitation films and have neither Oscar-worthy acting or Shakespearean writing - some of these flicks are REALLY bad in every department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member De Ming Li Posted May 10, 2015 Member Share Posted May 10, 2015 Thanks ThunderScore, I'll try to track those titles down. Godfrey Ho worshipper, I will definitely keep an open mind going in to watch these films, I'm a big Bruce Lee fan so I do enjoy watching a few talented people who can display the level of skill he had (or close enough!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DragonClaws Posted May 10, 2015 Member Share Posted May 10, 2015 Tower Of Death a.k.a Game Of Death 2 & The Dragon The Hero are two Id recommend. Like Godfrey Ho Worshipper said there's a lot of films and the quality varies a lot. Many of the titles haven't been given good quality releases either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted June 19, 2015 Member Share Posted June 19, 2015 Watched Image Of Bruce Lee (HK, 1978) last nite. Not sure if it's me getting burned out on Fu flicks or just that the film is actually nothing to write home about, but I wasn't too fond of this one. It has some nice stuff: - the opening scene with the guy who wants to jump off the roof is completely nuts. You have bad dubbing all around, Bruce Li in a yellow jumpsuit climbing a skycrapper using a grapelin (sp?) and a hilariously dark ending (seriously, I laughed like crazy at the last moments). - Bolo has a couple of actions scenes and he's really good here. He's fast and his fighting feels threatening - plus, he doesn't seem too underused like he is in so many movies of his. - there's a couple of scenes with Dana in the nude (including a pair of bush shots) for those who are interested. Her action as a fighter isn't that great but it's not really what she's here for. Kinda ironic considering its title and the lead star (a Bruce Lee clone) that this film should deal with a cop busting a counterfeiting ring... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DrNgor Posted June 19, 2015 Member Share Posted June 19, 2015 Well, you *have* watched more Brucesploitation in a short span of time than is healthy for any normal individual. You should rest your mind with local fare like I Stand Alone and Trouble Every Day and then come back to Fu with full purpose of heart... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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