Member Eastern Evil Posted August 7, 2012 Member Share Posted August 7, 2012 That was very nice. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DarthKato Posted August 8, 2012 Member Share Posted August 8, 2012 @teako170 Thanks for the article. Harrison seems like a cool guy.Always pictured him being arrogant for some reason, but I guess not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member David Rees Posted August 8, 2012 Member Share Posted August 8, 2012 Many thanks for uploading that. Here is a pic i put on another post of Mr Harrison on the set of Marco Polo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member KyFi Posted August 8, 2012 Member Share Posted August 8, 2012 Awesome! Thanks for posting that, teako. Sound like Harrison was a pretty honorable guy with a good attitude, and also a keen observer of his surroundings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tosh Posted August 8, 2012 Member Share Posted August 8, 2012 Nice interview T, I looked him up on imdb, I thought I remembered him in some other, more popular roles, but it looked like his career stayed in b movie territory, I think I'm getting him confused with someone else. Man, passing up on Fist Full of Dollars, that has to be a hard pill to swallow all these years later:sad: Still I can't see anyone else in that part but Eastwood, I think he did the world a favor:nerd: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member teako170 Posted August 8, 2012 Member Share Posted August 8, 2012 Thanks. Glad you guys enjoyed it. ...a quick glance at it - does he mean Chi Kuan Chun when He mentions Kuo Choi (tall & shy)??apologies if this has been asked! I'm guessing so. Seems more like CKC's build. I was suppose to do a follow up but never got to it and then eventually I lost contact with him. This was several years ago but the man was still hitting the gym; I believe. A friend of his who put me in touch with him owned the gym - again, this is all from memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member DarthKato Posted August 8, 2012 Member Share Posted August 8, 2012 Nice interview T, I looked him up on imdb, I thought I remembered him in some other, more popular roles, but it looked like his career stayed in b movie territory, I think I'm getting him confused with someone else. Man, passing up on Fist Full of Dollars, that has to be a hard pill to swallow all these years later:sad: Still I can't see anyone else in that part but Eastwood, I think he did the world a favor:nerd: Agreed. That part was made for Eastwood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Dragon Posted August 9, 2012 Member Share Posted August 9, 2012 That "gang on motorcycles, armed with chains"? Triads. Notice how Harrison mentioned the "actors" aboard the bus were "white with fear"? Anyone wonder why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member CKCgirl Posted August 12, 2012 Member Share Posted August 12, 2012 Thank you Mr. teako. That is really cool that you got to interview someone like him. Great job and I really appreciate it! ...a quick glance at it - does he mean Chi Kuan Chun when He mentions Kuo Choi (tall & shy)?? apologies if this has been asked! I think Harrison was talking about Chi Kuan Chun. He's usually the tallest on set and I can't se Kuo Choi being shy. Maybe Harrison was confused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Alexandra Posted October 6, 2012 Member Share Posted October 6, 2012 That "gang on motorcycles, armed with chains"? Triads. Notice how Harrison mentioned the "actors" aboard the bus were "white with fear"? Anyone wonder why? :::: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted August 7, 2014 Member Share Posted August 7, 2014 Great movie, one of my very fav' Shaw Bros films. Here's what I posted about it in the The Best Shaw Film You've Seen Recently thread: I went into this one with high expectations. I had seen various screenshots from this one in other people's pictures albums and I found it looked really good. [...] After seeing it, all I have to say is: the settings are very gorgeous (love the indoors), the choreography is very enjoyable and impressive to watch (very creative styles and some stuff may seem over-the-top, but the execution makes it look believable rather than ridiculous), it offers a nice mix of comedic and sad moments... In terms of cinematography, I found nothing to say (I love the soundtrack of this film, very beautiful material that always fits the atmosphere). Another great point in this film is the character development: even though they first appear as villains, you can't help but have sympathy for the 4 "sworn brothers" and their protector - which gives an odd feeling seeing the Mongols and Marco Polo originally appeared as the good guys (BTW, it was weird seeing Gordon Liu with hair and as a "baddie" - but he shows off some great sword skills and is never boring to see). Concerning Marco Polo himself, I find it sad that he turns out to be one of the least interesting characters from the picture. Granted he is the title character and is central to the plot (especially as we see the story more or less through his eyes), but still I didn't feel that much invested in Richard Harrison's performance I still stand by those words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member NoKUNGFUforYU Posted August 8, 2014 Member Share Posted August 8, 2014 It is interesting that he felt that most of the actors were not real martial artists. I think something that we overlook, especially when you hear about how blown away the were in HK by Bruce Lee, is the fact that most of these guys were opera guys, basically the equivalent of a musical theater major in the US. Yes, they were agile (basically gymnast or acrobats) but not fighters. Why would they be fighters? How would that have helped them being initially Chinese Opera stars? There are plenty of Shakespearian actors who have done sword fights in plays, but that wouldn't make them a fencer of any note. I read an interview with an a long time ago with Chris Mitchum, Robert's son. He made a martial arts flick in Hong Kong (I think it was never released) and he mentioned that none of the martial arts guys sparred, which he found unusual, compared to the US. Of course, when he met LKL, he was impressed. From what I have heard, he had a few throwdowns, including (it may be exaggerated) a "sword, fist and foot go!" I could only imagine him and Wang Lung Wei as rough enough to want to tangle with anyone. Of course, if it were Hell's Angels, no one would think about getting out of a bus in the USA, lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted August 8, 2014 Member Share Posted August 8, 2014 Good point you're bringing up here, NoKUNGFUforYU. We tend to forget choreography and the background of these guys - not every martial arts/action actor is a master or a black belt in several MA, some have opera or dance training (Jackie or Sammo for instance). They do what the choreographer tells them to, but the good execution of a choreography doesn't make the guys great MA artists. Plus, and it's been mentionned in another thread, there's a HUGE difference between on-screen fighting and a real-life brawl - heck, in spite of your MA/combat training you may still get badly hurt or even killed while trying to defend yourself or protecting someone (especially if you have triads or Hell's Angels in front of you - I can't blame these people for being scared). Back on topic, here's one illustration of what I meant when I mentionned great costumes and gorgeous settings: (screenshot borrowed from MarsHarmony's The Fu Sheng Album 3 (1975)) I love this screenshot for some reason - I like the setting and Tong Yim Chan, Fu Sheng and Kuo Choi look really cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member OpiumKungFuCracker Posted August 8, 2014 Member Share Posted August 8, 2014 I'll be watching this one tonight, thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member NoKUNGFUforYU Posted August 8, 2014 Member Share Posted August 8, 2014 I remember this as a pretty good movie. As Richard Harrison admitted, he just stands around. His scenes just sort of slow the whole thing down, and it really seems like the plot is just an excuse to recycle a ming vs ching set up but call it an "international epic" and set it up in the Yuan dynasty. On the flip side, I remember liking all the training, set up and fights. I think they just told poor Richard where to stand and that was about it. He probably had nothing to react to, etc, and they just told him to say his lines in English while they all spoke Cantonese. Hey, it sounds like he had a fun trip, though! I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member paimeifist Posted August 8, 2014 Member Share Posted August 8, 2014 My thoughts on it in best recent Shaw bros movie you watched thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Secret Executioner Posted August 8, 2014 Member Share Posted August 8, 2014 I second NoKUNGFUforYU's recommendation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member NoKUNGFUforYU Posted August 11, 2014 Member Share Posted August 11, 2014 SPOILER ALERT- One thing I liked about this movie is that when the Mongolian swordsman (I think Gordon Liu) disarmed, he's pretty much helpless. There is this belief that you have to get good at all levels of combat to do weapons training in Kung fu, but I am sure that back in the day people trained on a weapon almost exclusively. I am sure barehanded fighting was just not that big of a concern. I've said this before, but you would not expect an Olympic Level fencer to be a world class level boxer or wrestler, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member The Dragon Posted September 25, 2014 Member Share Posted September 25, 2014 I want this film on blu ray, in HD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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