Member dewolfeaddict Posted March 25, 2008 Member Share Posted March 25, 2008 Agreed. Great little gem of a movie. So many of these lesser known Shaw films fail to live up to the hype leading up to their release, but What Price Honesty does the trick. As mentioned above, it's not about the fights here, but the atmosphere and mood. And boy is there mood aplenty! Intruiging all the way til the end. And Sun Chien in his constable get up looks like he literally walked over from the Five Venoms set to film this!! Great stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chen Kuan Tai Posted March 25, 2008 Member Share Posted March 25, 2008 And boy is there mood aplenty! Intruiging all the way til the end. And Sun Chien in his constable get up looks like he literally walked over from the Five Venoms set to film this!! Great stuff. Boy, who? Yes, Sun Chien walked over as bad guy in 5 Venoms to good guy in this movie. I read he plays a good police man. I see Sun Chien rather as a good guy. Looks really interesting this flick goes the next weeks in my hand and I will enjoy it. Do you know some other unknown good sb flicks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member dewolfeaddict Posted March 25, 2008 Member Share Posted March 25, 2008 a few unsung joints I liked... (no particular order) SOUL OF THE SWORD (I knew next to nothing about this one until it's release on DVD. Since then, it's become one of my favorites and one that I return to quite often. Ti Lung really shines here playing against type as a stuck up, pompous, bastard of a swordsman who doesn't realize that he's got a good thing going with Lin Chen-chi before it's too late. Best thing Hua Shan ever did IMO. BIG Yuen-spotting flick too as you start to lose count as to how many members of the Yuen Clan show up in fight scenes throughout the flick only to die and pop back up later) THE MASTER STRIKES BACK (While ultimately the fighting might be far and few between, the drama is so deliciously thick in this one that when there is action, you really feel ever punch. Sun Chung and Ti Lung are to kung fu cinema what Scorcese and DeNiro are to gritty gangster flicks. Everytime they paired up at Shaws the result was something special. Here Ti Lung reprises his role from Kung Fu Instructor in one of the very last kung fu movies Shaws ever released. Definitely not for the faint of heart.) PROUD TWINS (Not the greatest Chu Yuan fan, but if I had to pick one film - and an underrated one at that - it'd be this one. Proud Twins stands alone in Chu Yuans repetoire as being a lot more fun than he usually allows himself to have. And with Fu Sheng at the controls, Yuan seems to let himself see where the actor will take him. The result is a crazy hodgepodge of a story, but never dull - which cannot be said of Yuans other wuxia flicks - and much, much easier to follow than most too. Great fun.) DEADLY BREAKING SWORD (wasn't really feeling this one until AFTER I watched the old school english dubbed version, which struck an entirely new and different chord with me. Really makes me want to see more of these films dubbed) TIGER KILLER (If it seems as though I'm over doing it with Ti Lung, trust me... it just happened this way. What can I say? The man made some great movies at Shaws. Not all of them are well known. This one was a retelling of the Lotus Pan story, which can be found in the Water Margin/Heroes of the Marsh book. Ti Lung plays the same character that he played in Water Margin/7 Blows of the Dragon and Delightful Forrest. Again, like Master Strikes Back, the action here is extremely sparse, but the drama that plays out is SO well constructed and SO beautifully performed that it more than makes up for it. I don't think I've ever been more "caught up" or involve in a Shaw film than when I saw Tiger Killer for the first time. If you've never seen it, run and pick this up now! You won't regret it) BRAVE ARCHER PART 3 (Again, SO much better with the dub. This and the fourth Brave Archer films tend to get sh#t upon around here, but even Chang Cheh himself mentions in his biography that Part 3 was his personal favorite of all his later Jin Yong adaptations - and I agree... 100%) LEGEND OF THE FOX and SWORD STAINED WITH ROYAL BLOOD (the other Jin Yong swordplay novel adapations that Chang Cheh made aside from the Brave Archer/Condor Heroes films. These were generally not considered successful, particularly as adaptatios of the source material, which, not unlike the Brave Archer series had to be extremely condensed; or even simply next to the other straight-ahead kung fu flicks his venoms team was doing at the time. However, I enjoy them on there own terms. And there's lot's to be enjoyed here. Lot's of great, bizarre fighting an weapons per usual and Legend of the Fox especially boasts some great set pieces featuring fighters skilled strcitly in the art of poisonous plants! Would've loved to see an entire film based on that.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member tarim69 Posted March 25, 2008 Member Share Posted March 25, 2008 What Price Honestly is a MUST HAVE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tosh Posted March 25, 2008 Member Share Posted March 25, 2008 I agree - great movie, a period take on corrupt officals and a group of enforcers that won't sell out, great performence by Pai Paio, excellent ending to this one to. "Oh boy" is an expression Chen Kuan Tai, kind of like "Oh wow!";) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chen Kuan Tai Posted March 25, 2008 Member Share Posted March 25, 2008 I agree - great movie, a period take on corrupt officals and a group of enforcers that won't sell out, great performence by Pai Paio, excellent ending to this one to. "Oh boy" is an expression Chen Kuan Tai, kind of like "Oh wow!";) But nowhere stand "oh boy", only "And boy ..", see above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member dewolfeaddict Posted March 25, 2008 Member Share Posted March 25, 2008 "But nowhere stand "oh boy", only "And boy ..", see above." "And boy," meaning the same exact thing, thanks Tosh. As in "Boy", "damn", "wow", "holy shit". Hope that helps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chen Kuan Tai Posted March 26, 2008 Member Share Posted March 26, 2008 It helps. Only wanted to know what it means, thx. My first language is German. All right, will get WPH the next weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Dragon Posted July 31, 2008 Member Share Posted July 31, 2008 I have my copy and will be watching it this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Dragon Posted August 4, 2008 Member Share Posted August 4, 2008 I have just finished watching this film and I only say, what took me so long, since I purchased it months ago. This is the type of film where you just don't know how far, or where at all is it gonna go? Pai Piao earns another level of respect from me for taking this part. I agree that the rating should be at least a 4out of 5 stars. If anyone can recommend anymore along this line, please do so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chinatown Kid Posted August 23, 2008 Member Share Posted August 23, 2008 This is one of the few films I haven't seen featuring Sun Chien and was hoping to get some opinions on it. Does Sun to get to show off his kicks in it or is it more of a non action role with him getting a chance to do more acting? Is this more a swordplay film than Kung Fu and is the overall movie good and worth getting? I looked in the movie index of this site but sadly this film is not reviewed. Any thoughts or info on this film would be appreciated, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Endsang Posted August 23, 2008 Member Share Posted August 23, 2008 You should see this movie ASAP, Chinatown Kid! I'm not gonna do a full plot synopsis and review, but I'll try and answer your questions as well as I can . Jason Pai Piao and Sun Chien are the main characters of this movie, with Lo Lieh as a maniacal bad guy. The setting is fairly original for a shaw, where Jason and Sun (and Danny Lee) are good and righteous policemen in a corrupt and greedy system. The plot is very well played out, and the ending is incredible. It's not THAT much kung fu in it overall, and it's mainly somewhat rigid swordplay. The action does however fit very well with the overall mood of the movie and is quite gritty and violent, rather than fancy and elegant moves. Sun Chien kicks a little bit, but pretty much only combined with swordplay, so there's nothing outstanding there. He does however get to test his acting skills, and it's probably the best part I've seen him in. All in all, you shouldn't watch this for the action alone, but it's still a must see in my opinion. It took me a while to get around to it, but I'm very glad I bought it. Thanks to venoms5 for recommendation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member oldeschool17 Posted August 23, 2008 Member Share Posted August 23, 2008 Good dark movie about government corruption. Sun Chien does not display his kicking prowess but as Endsang mentions, does more swordplay and acting. The action is more realistic and not about flying in the trees and crap. Good role by Pai Pao. Although not the same as a movie like Killer Constables(for sake of comparison), if you liked that movie, you will like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted August 23, 2008 Administrator Share Posted August 23, 2008 Yeah CTK, there is a thread for this around here somewhere, and it's a fairly recent one too. I had also always wondered about this one, and the thread had some great posts. I tried to find it for you, but couldn't seem to locate it. Anyway, they all seemed to really like it and that convinced me to order it. If you want I'll pass it along after I see it for you to check out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Dragon Posted August 23, 2008 Member Share Posted August 23, 2008 ...Check these comments from the thread "The best Shaw film you've seen recently is?" Originally Posted by Tosh What Price Honesty, Pai Piao was badass, and Sun Chien had a nice meaty roll for once. Just recently had the pleasure of viewing this film. IT ROCKS!!! Man, the prison scene where they go "all out" on Pai Piao, man... Haven't seen that before, maybe on HBO'S OZ, that's about as close as it gets! Man, check this film out! It surprised even me! I'm sooo glad I purchased it, without much critique beforehand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member peringaten Posted August 23, 2008 Member Share Posted August 23, 2008 Didn't write all this for nothing: http://kungfucinema.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3237 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member teako170 Posted August 23, 2008 Member Share Posted August 23, 2008 Thread merged. Thank you for shopping at KFF.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chinatown Kid Posted August 23, 2008 Member Share Posted August 23, 2008 Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated. Sorry Peri, I had forgot about that thread you made on this film but thanks for the link to it. I'm really hyped to see this film now, and although Sun doesn't get to do his great kicking I'm glad he gets a chance to act a little more with a gritty story. Bob I'll definately be picking this title from you whenever we trade again, thanks! And thanks Mr. Mod T for merging this thread, my apoligies for not finding the original thread first before making a new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member venoms5 Posted August 23, 2008 Member Share Posted August 23, 2008 There's actually three main participants. Danny Lee is the other. All three play constables straight out of the academy and the film deals with all the seedy activities and betrayals along the way. Very dark, brooding as well as extremely violent film. I was going to post the lobby set in the Image Gallery but one or two of the cards more or less give the ending away. Great film. A pleasant surprise. I haven't seen it, but apparently WHAT PRICE SURVIVAL is a remake of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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