Member jiujitsu77 Posted June 4, 2009 Member Share Posted June 4, 2009 who here has seen and/or owns these obscure films? the blind swordsman's revenge with kong do. i guess he fights the flying guillotine. also there is "blind hero fighting evil wolf"....hell if i know anything about that aside from shintaro katsu being in those two "sequels", there were also some "ichisploitation" films starring a taiwanese chap who donned the white contacts and swordcane. i have only read about them in a magazine some years back, in which the article was accompanied with a few promotional stills. the fellow looked somewhat like katsu, but couldn't tell anything else by just those two stills. "ichisploitation" didn't stop there. there were a few from malaysia and even india also, katsu was used in a movie called "inspector karate" aka "ironic hero/number one fighting man". i saw that they were on the rarekungfumovies.com site. from the looks of it....it's not all that good. however that won't stop me from seeking these titles out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator KUNG FU BOB Posted June 4, 2009 Administrator Share Posted June 4, 2009 I never heard of these. Are you saying Katsu starred in two Taiwanese Zatoichi films? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member tdb Posted June 4, 2009 Member Share Posted June 4, 2009 This site might be informative: The Zatoichi Series Index With Directors & Alternative Titles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member jiujitsu77 Posted June 4, 2009 Author Member Share Posted June 4, 2009 KFB that's exactly what im saying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member dionbrother Posted June 5, 2009 Member Share Posted June 5, 2009 Damon Foster has seen the two fake Ichi sequels and reviewed them in Oriental Cinema. He said the guy is a dead ringer for Katsu and does a great imitation. I think he enjoyed them more than the real Zatoichi series(which he isn't a big fan of). He had the impersonator's real name, but my OCs are in storage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Atherton Posted June 5, 2009 Member Share Posted June 5, 2009 I remember reading those OC issues. I believe the Katsu impersonator is also in a film called Number One Ironman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member daisho2004 Posted June 5, 2009 Member Share Posted June 5, 2009 I never hard of these films, but I'm interested in seeing them. I did a search on eBay but without any luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member jiujitsu77 Posted June 6, 2009 Author Member Share Posted June 6, 2009 katsu was in number one iron man for sure as to the "sequels" if that's an imposter, that dude is real good. i saw one with an imposter that did look alot like him, but not a dead ringer. however, in the blind swordsman's revenge (in which he fights kong do wielding a flying guillotine) it HAS to be katsu....from what i have seen and read there is no doubt. also, hkcinemagic lists them on katsu's page, but i am not sure about the reliability of the source. anyone else have their doubts about that page, aside from the katsu confusion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member HAZ Posted June 6, 2009 Member Share Posted June 6, 2009 At least one of these films is doing the rounds online, but they have no subs so I've been passing on them. The titles are The Hunchback, Blind Hero Fighting Evil Wolf, & The Blind Swordsman's Revenge http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=10386&display_set=eng http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=10893&display_set=eng http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=12957&display_set=eng Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member dionbrother Posted June 6, 2009 Member Share Posted June 6, 2009 It was not Katsu in those films. Katsu was doing the Zatoichi tv series at the time those were made, and was also very protective of the character. The real Zatoichi movies were so popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, that Bruce Lee loved them and was very intimidated by Katsu when they met, and filmmakers ripped the movies off constantly. Hence the Taiwanese knockoff series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member jiujitsu77 Posted June 7, 2009 Author Member Share Posted June 7, 2009 haz, how come i cannot access those links? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Atherton Posted June 7, 2009 Member Share Posted June 7, 2009 links to hkmdb never seem to work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Tosh Posted June 7, 2009 Member Share Posted June 7, 2009 It was not Katsu in those films. Katsu was doing the Zatoichi tv series at the time those were made, and was also very protective of the character. The real Zatoichi movies were so popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, that Bruce Lee loved them and was very intimidated by Katsu when they met, and filmmakers ripped the movies off constantly. Hence the Taiwanese knockoff series. Interesting, I'd love to see that pic of Lee and Katsu meeting, I figured the movies were popular in Japan to have made so many, but didn't know they were so popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Atherton Posted June 7, 2009 Member Share Posted June 7, 2009 I heard about Lee and Katsu meeting also. Was Katsu's half brother (Wakamatsu) there too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member SlothStyleKungFu Posted June 8, 2009 Member Share Posted June 8, 2009 I've only seen the claimed second Taiwanese knockoff and, yeah, the guy is a dead ringer for Katsu but he sure as hell ain't Katsu. I'm honestly surprised people to this day are fooled. It is damned interesting and as a Zatoichi fan I want to see all the knockoffs I can get my hands on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member dionbrother Posted June 11, 2009 Member Share Posted June 11, 2009 I don't know if pics exist of the Lee-Katsu meeting, but it was told to a friend of mine who is a big shot in the international film scene. Katsu's personal assistant/press agent told him the story. Bruce loved the Zatoichi movies and mimicked Katsu in his Shaw costume portfolio that makes the rounds in the Bruce Lee circles. Ichi movies were big business in Hong Kong and Taiwan, hence the team up with Wang Yu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member chanbara Posted June 25, 2009 Member Share Posted June 25, 2009 I have 2 of these, "Blind Swordsman vs White Wolf" (1972) and "The Blind Swordsman's Revenge" (1977), and they're a lot of fun. The Taiwanese look-a-like who's credited as "KATSU Shintaro (Sokuri Sho)" does a great immitation and is actually pretty good with the cane sword. By the way, "Sokuri Sho" is written in Japanese Katakana and Hiragana and breaks down as follows: Sokuri = "spitting image of" or "just like", and "Sho" = "show". I found a site that sells them along with the other 3: The Huntchback http://flkcinema.com/MorInfo.asp?FilmID=233&Search=Search Trust and Brotherhood http://flkcinema.com/MorInfo.asp?FilmID=1552&Search=Search Number One Iron Man (aka Ironic Hero, aka Inspector Karate) http://flkcinema.com/MorInfo.asp?FilmID=2373&Search=Search I'm hoping these show up on a file sharing site in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member silver hermit Posted June 26, 2009 Member Share Posted June 26, 2009 Thanks for those links. Now that is what I call useful information as I'm to lazy to google and depend on you good folks here for my fu-knowledge. I must have them!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WuxiaFan Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 I have 2 of these, "Blind Swordsman vs White Wolf" (1972) and "The Blind Swordsman's Revenge" (1977), and they're a lot of fun. The Taiwanese look-a-like who's credited as "KATSU Shintaro (Sokuri Sho)" does a great immitation and is actually pretty good with the cane sword. By the way, "Sokuri Sho" is written in Japanese Katakana and Hiragana and breaks down as follows: Sokuri = "spitting image of" or "just like", and "Sho" = "show". I found a site that sells them along with the other 3: The Huntchback http://flkcinema.com/MorInfo.asp?FilmID=233&Search=Search Trust and Brotherhood http://flkcinema.com/MorInfo.asp?FilmID=1552&Search=Search Number One Iron Man (aka Ironic Hero, aka Inspector Karate) http://flkcinema.com/MorInfo.asp?FilmID=2373&Search=Search I'm hoping these show up on a file sharing site in the future. flkcinema sells DVD-Rs and they're based in the UK. That means they're very pricey, so suggest buying with caution. This is from their FAQs: Why our DVDs consist of DVD-Rs Please note that all our DVDs are High Grade DVD-Rs. If you are wondering why we only supply DVD-Rs it's simply because we are a rare kung fu DVD outlet and all our movies are either obselete or unheard of. In order for us to press these DVDs we most definitely would need to have a coroporate customer base to warrant this, however rare kung fu movies happens to be a limited market with a few fans scattered around the world. What Does The Quality Ratio Mean? Picture Quality Re-Mastered: Remastered DVD quality version. Excellent: Original or from master SVHS/Reels. Good: Quality is at best. Fair: Reasonable. Watchable: Don't expect the best but ok. Not Good: Poor quality, usually collectors piece and maybe the only available in the world to-date. HAZ - shouldn't this thread be moved to Japanese Cult Cinema? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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