Member Videodrome200X Posted July 16, 2008 Member Share Posted July 16, 2008 I've read several positive reviews about this early John Woo flick on www.cityonfire.com. Can anyone on this board offer their verdicts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Markgway Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 It's not so hot. Standard stuff made in Korea. The one thing I do remember is the music oddly enough. Countdown in Kung Fu was Woo's first good martial arts movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Dragon Posted August 3, 2008 Member Share Posted August 3, 2008 Dragon Tamers is a real low budget basher from Golden Harvest. It's a lot along the lines of another GH flick, The New Shaolin Boxers, starring James Tien, and not to be confused with Fu Sheng's New shaolin boxer, by the Shaws. Lots of Tae Kwan Do and Jie Han Jae is in it, along with Carter Wong. I guess GH was trying to feature James Tien during this era, and he just got kicked to the side by Bruce. I love early '70's bashers, and I've sat through many worse than this. Good only for the people who are in it but very forgetable. Filmed in Korea I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Takuma Posted December 31, 2016 Member Share Posted December 31, 2016 I finally got around to watching this. I had no idea Ryoko Ema was in it! The Dragon Tamers (Hong Kong, 1975) [DVD] – 2.5/5 John Woo’s second film as a director is a kung fu film with a couple of interesting elements. Carter Wong and James Tien train and fight in Korea. Groovy score, nice winter setting and plenty of female fighters who do topless scenes. However, a plot would’ve been nice. At 104 minutes the film feels long because the storyline doesn’t have a clear objective. The best thing about the film is Pinky Violence villain Ryoko Ema as evil Tae Kwon Do sister! Her martial arts skills may not compare to the male stars, but she does well for someone who I believe has no martial arts background (she never appeared in a karate film in Japan) and is frankly more fun to watch than film’s competent but unexceptional main villain. For those who don't know Ryoko Ema Left: Ema & Reiko Ike in Sukeban: Diamond Showdown (1974). Right: Yuko Kano and Ema in Sukeban: Crazy Ball Game (1974) Ike, Miki Sugimoto and Ema in Terrifying Girls' High School: Women's Violent Classroom (1972) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted June 5, 2021 Member Share Posted June 5, 2021 James Tien never did bother with going to the gym much, did he? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 7, 2021 Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 Maybe he was inspired by Sammo getting increasingly fat but still being athletic. It's ironic that James, with his girth, looked better in the shapes years than in the basher years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted June 7, 2021 Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 (edited) In Big Boss and Fist of Fury, he comes across as someone cast for his boyish good looks then any martial prowess (GH's David Chiang, you could say), but I understand he was the real deal with Peking Opera training. In Big Boss, he is expected to do too many silly trampoline enhanced leaps, and his main fight scene in FOF looks doubled for the key multi-attack scene. He is decent in Dragon Tamers, the fighting in that is generally top notch. Ji Han-jae certainly looks far better than his other appearences - though ironically here he is playing a Tae Kwon-do expert rather than a Hapkido one. And given the "no girls" Chang Cheh-ness of Woo's later HK movies, the topless female mud wrestling is quite an eye-opener! Edited June 7, 2021 by Killer Meteor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 7, 2021 Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 In a way, James and Bruce were the equivalent to David and Ti Lung...right down to Bruce and Ti Lung being Wing Chun experts. It would have been cool if GH and SB did a crossover movie where the four men interact with one another in a way that's reminiscent of that Batman crossover episode. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Killer Meteor Posted June 7, 2021 Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 10 minutes ago, Cognoscente said: In a way, James and Bruce were the equivalent to David and Ti Lung...right down to Bruce and Ti Lung being Wing Chun experts. It would have been cool if GH and SB did a crossover movie where the four men interact with one another in a way that's reminiscent of that Batman crossover episode. With Ku Feng as Colonel Gumm. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Cognoscente Posted June 7, 2021 Member Share Posted June 7, 2021 ...and Nora Miao as Pinky Pinkston. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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