Classic Martial-Arts Cinema: Everybody really WAS kung fu fighting.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Classic Martial-Arts Cinema: Everybody really WAS kung fu fighting.

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Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Let's talk about a couple of Yuen Wo Ping movies...one early and one not.

The early one is Miracle Fighters which is loving insane.

The plot involves an evil royal advisor with bat style kung fu

A former kung fu instructor of the royal army who kidnaps a prince and his ward who may be said prince

The evil minister kills our hero's adopted father (the royal kung fu instructor) and he falls in with a brother and sister pair of Taoist sorcerers

The minister ends up catching him and there is a fight with a woman trapped in an urn

and then it gets really weird...

The DVD is cheap and the whole thing is a blast to watch.

The second film is Iron Monkey.

A fantastic Robin Hood movie with Yu Rongguang as Doctor Yang/The Iron Monkey and Jean Wang as Miss Orchid his assistant...It is so weird seeing Yu not playing a villain.

Donnie Yen as Wong Kei-ying in a very non-arrogant style. I love watching Donnie's movies from the early 90s.

and Angie Tsang as a very young Wong Fei-Hung. It was the only movie she ever made and she just crushes it.

Then there are evil monks...

a hapless constable named Fox...

and a fight on loving burning telephone poles!

How can it fail?

# ¿ Jun 1, 2014 19:22

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 21:05

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Boinks posted:

Miracle Fighters is one of my favorites. But I think I like Shaolin Drunkard a little more.

How can you not like the final competition in Miracle Fighters more? The different techniques for getting the key, crossing the bridge and the stop motion titan. Also quick change martial arts, creating chicken noodles, and summoning the rain storm...Drunkard is fantastic but Miracle Fighters is sublime.

edit: I got mine for $8.99 at a mall video store.

Decide yourself which is better...

Humbug Scoolbus fucked around with this message at 13:57 on Sep 5, 2017

# ¿ Jun 1, 2014 20:58

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Oh they are all wonderful. I just like Miracle Fighters the best.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2014 23:11

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Mechafunkzilla posted:

Iron Monkey is good, but I've never understood why it's held in such crazy high esteem. Is it just because it was given a US release?

I saw it in Hong Kong in 93 so the US release didn't sway me. It has Yen at his best, some fantastic direction and an absolutely willingness to go balls to the wall in the fight scenes. It also has some incredible wirework.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2014 00:32

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Starscream posted:

I'm a big fan of Jet Li's Twin Warriors aka Tai Chi Master (1983) when it comes to early wire-fu epics. Sometimes the best kind of martial arts movies are the ones that are completely bonkers!

Like Kung Fu Cult Master!!

just watch it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_23BWterUc

# ¿ Jun 2, 2014 23:38

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Snowman_McK posted:

That's the one that doesn't have an ending

Yeah it does. The Legend of the Condor Heroes TV series.

# ¿ Jun 3, 2014 01:17

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

The movie that Brigitte Lin tries to forget...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqJQK3ey_M4

Humbug Scoolbus fucked around with this message at 16:57 on Aug 14, 2014

# ¿ Jun 13, 2014 07:13

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Yeah it's the movie Jimmy Wang Yu managed to snag Jackie for, because he protected him from the Triads and Jackie owed him. (I'm still not sure if that story is true or not.)

Slowest someberest Camptown Races ever.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2014 18:24

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Or both.

How about some content?

Godfrey Ho...I see some readers are gasping already. For the uninformed Godfrey (a/k/a Godfrey Hall, Benny Ho, Ho Chi-Mou, Ed Woo, Stanley Chan, Ho Fong, Ho Jeung Keung and God-Ho Yeung) is a producer of some of the most amazing crap that has ever been released. I say released not filmed, because his tactic was to buy up unfinished/unreleased films and splice them together with occasionally some extra footage shot to fill in the seams...usually not though. Then he would have the poo poo pile redubbed and distribute it.

The results are ...transcendent.

Here's an SA review of his masterwork Catman in Lethal Track

And here's the whole thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RTFqZnxUFo

Cut and pasted the whole way.

Between 1980 and 1995 he 'Directed' 111 'films'. That's an average of about 7.5 per year. Between 1986-1988 he 'directed' 55! That's one and half movies per month! He has to hold some kind of record for shovelware filmmaking.

He started out at Shaw Brothers in the 70s his first film being a pretty decent one called Paris Killers. This was about the same time John Woo was working for Shaw actually. In the late 70s he met Joseph Lai and they formed ASSO Films which released the torrent of crap mentioned above.

He did do some good work though with a pair of decent Cynthia Rothrock films in the early 90s (Honor and Glory and Undefeatable).

Humbug Scoolbus fucked around with this message at 16:59 on Aug 14, 2014

# ¿ Jun 14, 2014 18:53

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

The Ho/Lai combo has broken many brains over the years.

# ¿ Jun 14, 2014 22:24

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

There is a Region 2 Special Edition of Drive out there. Has the original soundtrack and a bunch of extra backstory.

Drive is a Steve Wang film which is a US made HK action movie starring Mark Dacascos, Kadeem Hardison, John Pyper-Ferguson and Brittany Murphy. Even though it's a US film you really need to see it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipxCifEHS2M

# ¿ Jun 20, 2014 04:47

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

El Gallinero Gros posted:

IIRC, Drive was supposed to be a vehicle for Stallone and Chan.

Yes it was . Steve Wang also directed one of my favorite Us HK-Style parodies...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkgW62owQBU

Kung Fu Rascals...

Guest Starring Les Claypoole from Primus as the Sheriff of Ching Wa County!

# ¿ Jun 21, 2014 04:30

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Oh god yes. One of the best Chan's. Benny the Jet is awesome and Sammo plays sleazy so well.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2014 20:07

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Angry Lobster posted:

Just finished Wheels on Meals, it's amazing and also incredibly cheesy, I happen to know Barcelona pretty well and seeing it's locations on a Hong Kong Kung Fu movie was weird as hell. The final fight of Jackie Chan is pretty crazy, really entertaining movie

Told you

# ¿ Jun 23, 2014 03:01

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

And it has some of the most painful looking falls I've ever seen a stunt team do. I am constantly amazed nobody broke their back during filming.

# ¿ Jun 26, 2014 06:44

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

moller posted:

Edit: oh, there was this fall -

fuckin ow

That's the one!

# ¿ Jun 26, 2014 22:11

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2amnQoGbB0

# ¿ Aug 14, 2014 02:31

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Shaw Brothers was notorious for selling multiple 'exclusive' distribution deals to VHS production houses back in the 70s and 80s.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2014 16:43

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

It's posted eight or so posts up.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2014 04:54

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

I love Millionaire's Express.

Sammo Hung
Yuen Biao
Rosamund Kwan
Kenny Bee
Phillip Ko
Lam Ching Ying
Billy Lau
Lau Kar Wing
Richard Ng
Richard Norton
Yukari Oshima
Cynthia Rothrock
Shih Kien
James Tien
Eric Tsang
Jimmy Wang Yu
Dick Wei
Wu Ma
Bolo Yeung
Yuen Wah
Yuen Miu
Johnny Wang
Teddy Yip

One of the all-time dream casts, and the movie is great too.

The Trailer rocks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX9IiYgvcBU

# ¿ Aug 25, 2014 05:47

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Drunken Tai Chi is easily the best of the bunch. They all should be entertaining though.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2014 06:51

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

I love Moon Lee. She is in the Mr. Vampire series and the combat Feng Shui/Wisely movie, Bury Me High (with bonus Yuen Wah and Sibelle Hu!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TOOAlZ8nlc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3445NVjGR_0

# ¿ Dec 15, 2014 17:50

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Has anyone seen the Donny Yen Iceman remake? If so, what is Donny's ego level in this one?

# ¿ Feb 6, 2015 17:55

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

I have the Columbia/Tristar DVDs of OUaTiC 1 and 2 and they look great.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2015 20:32

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Watch New Dragon Inn too...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw0YEfb-m2w

# ¿ Mar 29, 2015 04:49

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Watching Chan practice the 'Concubine' move always cracks me up.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2015 17:15

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

I'm bummed so I'm going to watch Nine Demons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCdZtCRAe0w

# ¿ Apr 16, 2015 17:22

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Gina Carano and Ronda Rousey are some of the few actual martial artists in films these days.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2015 16:42

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

For old school female martial artists, you really need to check out the Heroic Trio. Anita Mui, Maggie Cheung, and Michelle Yeoh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSMUo7XjEIk

# ¿ Apr 19, 2015 00:37

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Quote not edit...

# ¿ Apr 19, 2015 00:38

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Abu Dave posted:

I am going to track down all three of those, but it looks like Fantasy Mission Force is impossible to find other than a english dub on YOUTUBE damnit >

Try to find Pink Force Commando if you really want your brain fried.

Also this is the best Miracle Fighters poster...

# ¿ Apr 20, 2015 16:59

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Starscream posted:

To go back to "crazy martial arts movies" I want to recommend anything that has Chinese martial arts combined with sorcery. For starters, Sammo Hung's Spooky Encounters might be the easiest to find. If you can find it though, The Seventh Curse is the best of the best in my mind!

As for Fantasy Mission Force, I have it on a cheap 3-pack with 36 Crazy Fists and Young Master. Haven't watched the DVD itself (seen all the films on their own long ago) but for $4 I couldn't go wrong. I don't see it on Amazon now, but I'm sure it can't be that hard to find.

While Fantasy Mission Force is completely bonkers, I've always been partial to Jackie's Spiritual Kung Fu. In said movie, Jackie learns kung fu from 5 miniature ghosts wearing red wigs and tutus, this is after he pees on them mind you. Aside from the craziness there are some wicked fight scenes here capped off with Jackie and a pair of tonfa taking on almost two dozen staff-wielding monks. So, yeah, check these both out.

To go with The Seventh Curse try to find the other two Wisely movies: Bury Me High and the Legend of Wisely. Amazing films.

# ¿ Apr 22, 2015 17:49

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Don't forget Green Dragon Inn if you're talking about King Hu.

I like Hark's New Dragon Inn better, but that's probably because of my Brigette Lin obsession.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2015 15:48

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

LORD OF BUTT posted:

The original title is Qing long ke zhan. Hu isn't credited for it, but it seems to be a common belief that he secretly directed the film.

e: Dragon Gate Inn may have been the one the poster was thinking of, though.

Dragon Gate Inn it is! I don't know how I got the name screwed up.

# ¿ Jun 3, 2015 15:45

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Let's talk about L�n Qīngxi� aka Brigitte Lin. One of my all time favorite actresses. Born in Taiwan she did a few dramatic roles before being picked up to act in the infamous Fantasy Mission Force. After that she was in the original Zu and then as the damsel in distress in the very first Police Story movie (the second time she worked with Chan).

Damsel in distress is not what she did best though. She became the badass of badasses in Swordsman II (as Asia the Invincible) and New Dragon Gate Inn. These two films gave her a rep for 'Pants' roles or a woman playing a masculine character. She reprised the role of Asia the gender-bending anti-hero in Swordsman III (also known as East is Red) then another pants role in Deadful Melody and then her finest role as The Bride with White Hair.

She basically retired in 2001 after a string of classic films including Wong Kar-Wei's Chungking Express and Ashes of Time (along with the parody of the latter; Eagle Shooting Heroes). Always cool and classy Brigitte Lin is an amazing screen presence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PziO8VcIkt4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_va9XLuUrgc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysk1O5BPMEk

# ¿ Jul 6, 2015 20:58

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Chas McGill posted:

Watched Kung Fu Jungle and thought it was OK. I don't think I've seen a good Donnie Yen film yet, either that or I just don't like his face/style...

Watch Iron Monkey or Once Upon a Time in China II

# ¿ Jul 8, 2015 13:42

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Boinks posted:

If you haven't seen Miracle Fighters, Shaolin Drunkard and Taoism Drunkard watch those next. They put Holy Flame of the Martial World to shame.

Miracle Fighters...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3Hn95iPofM

# ¿ Jul 17, 2015 16:22

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Dr.Caligari posted:

The Miracle Fighters was loving bonkers. Loved it.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2015 17:20

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

RoboChrist 9000 posted:

I've seen the Miracle Fighters. God, what a ride. I'm scouring about for a copy of Shaolin Drunkard, so in the meantime, anyone have any other similar insanely OTT kung-fu recommendations? I have Buddhist Palm on my list, and have already seen Holy Flame of the Martial World.

This is a repost but,

The movie that Brigitte Lin tries to forget...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqJQK3ey_M4

# ¿ Aug 3, 2015 01:17

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 21:05

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

moller posted:

Kung Fu Cult Master aka The Evil Cult
Mo: Boxer's Omen
The Story of Rikki
Holy Weapon
The Seventh Curse
Five Element Ninjas

Every one of those is loving insane. Seventh Curse I think wins though just for the entire opening section. All the Wisely movies (Seventh Curse, Legend of Wisely, Bury Me High, A Tale from the East, The Cat, Young Wisely, Young Wisely 2, and The Wesley's Mysterious File) are nuts though.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2015 05:40

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Cinema Discusso > Classic Martial-Arts Cinema: Everybody really WAS kung fu fighting.

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