He Has Nothing but Kung Fu (1977)

[rederror]

Don't know about anyone else but i read somewhere that this was supposed to be the best Kung Fu movie ever made. I saw it a while ago and to be quite honest i thought it was a load of old crap. Is it just me?

[WhiteTiger1]

I did not care for this one.. but different strokes for different folks..

[Iron_Jinon]

It`s better than average.Gordon Liu with hair gives nice display of his skills with bench against butterfly swords.Some good other fights too,final for me was bit letdown.worth buying if you see it.

[Bus]

it was alright but not close to the best of all time

[Elvis Mantis]

Who would have called this very average movie the greatest kung fu movie of all time? Hmm, let me think....could it be Ric Meyers?

NOTE: Occasionally, it is good to bash Ric Meyers. It feels good somehow, I don't know exactly why. But I think I resent this genre being represented by a slug. Bey Logan is a much better spokesperson to have--knowledgeable, intelligent and even has some kung fu skills

[rederror]

Haha! Yeah i think it was Rick Meyers. I'm not sure if i was expecting too much but it just didnt make for a good kung fu movie for me.

[ironfistedmonk]

Come on guys it wasn't that bad, go and watch Deadly Snail vs Kung Fu Killers and then come back and tell me He Has Nothing But Kung Fu is shite lol

[5 Element Boxer]

It's an okay flick. I liked the fight between Gordon Liu and Wilson Tong though. And there was some pretty good choreography here and there. Other than that, nothing special. Just a filler movie Gordon Liu's career.

[kungfusamurai]

It's not a bad flick, but it certainly isn't the best kung fu film ever made. It has a lot of recognizable kung fu guys of that day.

So when was this film made? Was it in the late 70s while he was still at Shaw's but before he broke big in Challenge of The Masters?

KFS

[dionbrother]

It was filmed in 1973, according to an issue of Milky Way that I read. But it sat on the shelf for a few years.

[Bravery]

I like this movie. But, the box it comes in is misleading, I believe it called it the greatest independent kung fu movie of all time. Very misleading. Every since the 3rd Childs Play movie when the little boy exclaimed 'Charles is a good guy, it says so on his shirt', I knew never to believe what was prented.

But I thought the final fight was great.

[Yakuza954]

Judging by the choreography and the actor's appearances, I'd say this movie is 1977. Possibly 1976, but no way it's 73. This is one of my favorite independent martial arts movies (one of the better portrayals of Republican China in a kung fu movie) and I loved the plot line with Gordon Liu losing all of his memory except for his kung fu ability. Add in Lau Kar Wing's choreography and some interesting villains, and you have an all around above-average martial arts movie.

[dionbrother]

It was shot in '73 or '74. Believe it. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the magazine years ago in my friend's collection (he has a near perfect run of Southern Screen, Milky Way, Golden Movie News and Cinemart, it was illuminating to look through the collection and it shattered alot of long held myths) . This is no wanchaitransit nonsense. Too often we think of the genre's innovations happenening only at Golden Harvest and the Shaw Brothers. But there was alot of experimentation in the indies. In fact, the Lau Brothers choreography in the Taiwanese indy movies of the time seemed ahead of what they were doing for directors like Chang Cheh. You'll notice the movie's choreography is a little stiff compared to what the Laus were doing for the Shaws in 1977. They were always ahead of their time. The cast consisted of their disciples, not the usual actors they had to train for the Shaws. So the fights have a slicker, faster look to them. I suspect it wasn't released until Gordon Liu was considered bankable. You'll notice it doesn't play to the attibutes that made him a star (i.e. rocking the monk look and a shaved head). It appears to be a cheap experiment of sorts for them to show how they think kung fu fights should look.

[Yakuza954]

I saw Wong Yu in the Shaw Brothers movie "The Tea House" (1974) the other day and that was the youngest I've ever seen him. I don't remember him looking that young in "He Has Nothing but Kung Fu". I would believe it if someone said Breakout from Oppression was made in 1973 (another Lau Kar Leung-Gordon Liu production) because the basher-type fights fit the time era and Gordon Liu also looks really young, but neither of the two hold true for He Has Nothing but Kung Fu.

[dionbrother]

Shaw Brothers crews were capable of more flattering cinematography than indy crews. As for Golden Harvest, Angela Mao Ying looks younger in BROKEN OATH than she does in the bashers she did four years prior. Clearly the Laus were doing alot of cheapies in the early 70s quite different from their work with Chang Cheh. I haven't seen BREAKOUT FROM OPPRESSION but compare HE HAS NOTHING BUT KUNG FU to SHAOLIN MANTIS or even EXECUTIONERS FROM SHAOLIN and it looks five years outdated.

For whatever reason, despite the photo blitz in the magazine, HE HAS NOTHING was considered unreleaseable in 1973.

Kung fu cinema is filled with choreographic anachronisms. Look at all the Wong Tao movies made after SECRET RIVALS that you'd swear were made 10years before. When I finally got to see a Huang Fei Hung movie from the 60s, I was stunned to see a primitive version of the "bench as a weapon" fight that was a standard of late 70s kungfu comedies. Not to mention the masked vagabond or ninja sneaking into the home to steal the scroll scene.

[kungfusamurai]

I haven't dug out my copy of the film for a while...is Meng Hoi in the film? If he is, then if he looks like a young adult, then it was made in the later 70s. If he looks like a little kid, like in Enter The Dragon or Call Me Dragon, then it was made 73/74.

KFS

[Yakuza954]

I wasn't going to prolong this argument anymore because I had said as much as I could say based on my memory, but today I was looking through my movies and came across He Has Nothing But Kung Fu, so I thought what the heck, let me refresh my memory. The verdict: there is no way this movie was made 1973-1974! Wong Yu does not just only older than he did in the Teahouse, he is older. He's chubbier and doesn't look 14 years old like he did in the Teahouse. Most importantly, all the genre conventions of an independent film of the latter 70's are there. Right down to the costumes, the sound effects, the animal styles, the intricate fights in the grassy fields, and even the humor. After seeing so many kung fu films I also trust in my ability to tell what kind of choreography goes with what kind of era, and the choreography here is definitely post 74'. There's too much motion in the group fights, and too much shapes. The use of "shapes" in the movie is reminiscent of Lau Kar-Leung post-Spiritual Boxer, not prior. Basically, this does not have the look or feel of a movie that was experimenting with new things in 1973-74; its a movie that was made when these new things were already introduced and going strong in the late 70's (1976-77).

btw, I noticed Meng Hoi in his small role at the end as one of the lackeys who gets punched in the face and yes, he looks like the Meng Hoi of the latter 70's (we're talking meng hoi years of course, even in the 80's he looks like a kid).

[dionbrother]

If I can get "General Kwan" to organize his magazine collection(he supplied Damon Foster with all the Jimmy Wang Yu material for the "Wang Yu" Oriental Cinema issue that shed a whole new light on that era ), we'll scan the pages. Got to get him down to his storage locker. As confused as I was when I saw the magazine, I theorized that it was unfinished, then portions of the movie were reshot or padded out in 1977 a la TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG or to a lesser extent, SNAKE FIST FIGHTER. Such practice wasn't unusual at the time. But there are pics of the main players, including Gordon Liu with hair and hat, in fighting poses and wearing those costumes(the same pics were used on the Ocean Shores packaging). And I don't consider those fights on the level with what the Laus were doing in '77. FIST AND GUTS had better fights. So did DIRTY KUNGFU. And don't get me wrong, I like the movie. But remember, those guys have always done solid Hung Gar in their fights along with some slapstick, and it isn't gonna look all that different five or ten years later. Just rewatched MARTIAL ARTS OF SHAOLIN, and the wushu guys are doing some of Lau's Hung Fist boxing, but to the untrained eye, it looks like a whole new style of fighting compared to say, MY YOUNG AUNTIE, despite being made only a couple of years later. It's not really the time, it's the circumstances that dictate the quality of fighting.

I'll revive this thread in a few months when I can post the material. Or if you're ever in Denver, Yakuza954, we can try to make arrangements to show you the mag. Can't guarantee the time (it ain't my stuff!) but I promise I'll get the material scanned before George Tan releases Tracking the Dragon.

[General Kuan]

Yakuza954 (and any other non-believers out there),

dionbrother is absolutely right. I have this 1973 issue of either "Cinemart" or "Milky Way Pictorial" (I can't remember exactly which one right now) that has photos of it. Yes, you read it right: 1973!!!!!

And yes, I really do have an extensive collection of old "Southern Screen"'s, "Golden Movie News"'s, "Cinemart"'s and "Milky Way Pictorial"'s to back up everything that dionbrother says. It's so big that I'm often approached by people to do whatever projects they're working on, like Damon Foster's Jimmy Wang Yu issue of "Oriental Cinema".

I couldn't believe it myself when I saw that it was 1973, because I thought that Gordon's first starring role was in "Challenge of the Masters" in 1976 and that the first movie that he appeared in was "Shaolin Martial Arts" in 1974. I was stunned. I had no idea that he actually appeared in an indie before he worked for the Shaw Brothers. It was probably shelved until he hit it big with "The 36th Chamber of Shaolin" in 1976/1977.

Off-topic a little but here are some examples:

1) "Half a Loaf of Kung Fu" was shelved until Jackie hit it big with "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and "Drunken Master". Lo Wei was supposedly so mad at Chen Yuan-lung (Jackie) for fooling around and wasting film.

2) To this day, I vividly remember the TV commercial for "Snake Fist Fighter": "My boyfriend dragged me to see "The Big Brawl", but I can't wait to see him tear off his shirt in the "Snake Fist Fighter"..."Snake fist: the most deadly method of kung fu". This movie is a big mess: footage of Jackie that was shot in 1971, footage of Jackie in "Drunken Master", and footage of some guy doubling for Jackie's character, having him blindfolded. You can see the longer trailer for this up on YouTube, and be prepared to laugh out loud. It's hilarious.

3) Don't even get me started with that stupid "Fist of Legend II: Iron Bodyguards". It has footage of some 1970's movie with Bolo Yeung, new footage shot with "The Five Venoms"'s Lu Feng, and new footage shot with some Jet Li wannabe named Jet Le and some Van Damme wannabe!. And it was produced by our old friend George Tan! Well, I guess that explains the ridiculousness of this movie. I sh*t you not!!!!!

Okay, so back to the subject: I will try to find and dig out this magazine out of my storage unit soon. And then I will scan it for you and the rest of the world to see that it is indeed 1973. Gee, I feel like I'm on an episode of "Ripley's Believe It or Not"...

General Kuan

[kungfusamurai]

It probably was started in the early 70s, but Meng Hoi's presence is really the only way to tell when the movie was completed. Since he looked like a skinny little kid in the early 70s (see the movies I've mentioned above), but he looked like his Buddha Assinator/Hellz Windstaff age in He Has Nothing But Kung Fu, it must have been completed in the late 70s.

Also, Gordon Liu was really skinny in the early films, like his cameos in the Shaw films and that Breakout From Oppression flick. But in He Has Nothing But Kung Fu, he's chunkier and more mature looking, like he looked around '77 or '78.

KFS

[Yakuza954]

That's the thing though, from watching the movie it doesn't look like it was started up and then finished several years later. All the actors look the same throughout (Gordon Liu, Wong Yue, etc) and there aren't any other inconsistencies in things like the action, storyline, sets, etc that you'd expect from something filmed over such a large period of time. In Ten Tigers of Kwangtung you could tell that the film was shot at two different times because of the differences in actors, choreography, sets, and storyline. Not the case here.

I know nothing about these magazines, but is there any chance the information in them could be wrong? Wong Yue and Gordon Liu look nothing like they did in the other films they did in the early 70's. It would be great if He Has Nothing but Kung Fu was really filmed in 1973-74 because it would make it one of the most important martial arts films of all time, but all the evidence points to it actually being filmed later.

[dionbrother]

Except we have solid evidence it was filmed in 1973. The problem is we often believe in the histories written by self-proclaimed "experts" who often haven't seen many of the films they write about. They are frequently quoting Golden Harvest or Shaw Brothers press releases and many fans will rephrase the "official" history and it gets passed off as the conventional wisdom. Those magazines are the best documentation of the times because it shows what was actually being hyped and how the studios would counterprogram against each other. Going through the General Kwan magazine collection was the most eye opening and informative reading I've done on the genre since discovering Martial Arts Movies Magazine in 1981. Many of the "experts" have no qualms about spreading inaccurate information. We've had endless threads about them. Their reign will come to an end.

As for HE HAS NOTHING lacking the "padded reshooting" look, the Laus are more competent filmmakers than others cited, and if anybody could pass the film off as linear shoot, they could. I'm gonna netflix the movie and see if I notice anything odd.

Because it was apparently shelved, HE HAS NOTHING never got the recognition it deserved. Yes, it may be a far more important film than anybody ever realized.

[ironfistedmonk]

Sorry mate but I am also having trouble believing it was made in 73. It's got nothing to do with info from self proclaimed experts or whatever but I gotta believe in what my eyes are telling me and no way was that Meng Hoi in 1973, look at him in Call Me Dragon which was apparently shot in 1974 and he looks a lot younger than in He Has Nothing But KF. Wong Yue also doesn't look as young as his earlier Shaws films.

Maybe Franky Lau can clear this one up and use his Lau family connections to get some info?

[Le Péril Jaune]

I'd be very surprised if it started filming in '73, like most of you I'd say 76/77 judging by the actors' appearances. We need a scan of the article to be convinced!

I was hoping I could shed some light on the affair as I have a 2-page article on the film from the December 1977 issue of True Beauty (a Taiwanese movie magazine, it's on my trade list by the way:o), unfortunately it only shows stills from the film, no on-set pictures. I could scan the article if anybody here can translate it?

[FrankBolte]

Hi,

Im going to ask from what year the movie is..I ask my sifu Mark Houghton and he will call Lau Kar Leung or Kar Fei.

From my opinion its from 77/78.

No way from 73 !