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The Greats of 70s-80s Martial Arts Cinema

post #1 of 33
4/21/04 at 8:45pm
Thread Starter 
Watching the complete Kill Bill saga has got me thinking back to the days of old when I would watch kung-fu theater late at night on weekends. I know there is probably a large number of you out there that also watched all the older martial arts films and I am sure a great deal still have kept up on them to this day.

It seems from my faded memories that the martial arts genre really shaped itself in the 70's and 80's.

Perhaps we could start a discussion of favorites from the time period?
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post #2 of 33
4/21/04 at 9:04pm
Even though I'm still young, when I was a kid I was mostly exposed to nothing but martial art greats and Star Wars.

I remember when I watched Lady Snowblood and Master of the Flying Guillotine and those are the two that stayed out in my mind the most.

Enter the Dragon was another one that I remember being looped over and over again in my house. The quick quips of Jim "The Dragon" Kelly would not get out of my head for years....
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post #3 of 33
4/21/04 at 10:09pm
5 Deadly Venoms opened my eyes. I saw old-school kung-fu before it, but it was the first one that combined awesome fights scenes with drama and character. After this I got all the venoms films I could get my hands on and then other Shaw Brothers films. Another favorite is the origional Iron Monkey with Chen Kwan Tai. Awesome training scenes and a epic revenge plot.

One more I want to throw in is Dirty Ho with Gordon Liu and Wang Yu. Not for any real reason other than that it kicks ass to own a movie named Dirty Ho.
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post #4 of 33
4/21/04 at 10:09pm
Jim Kelly is the man. I was a huge Black Belt Jones fan as a kid.
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post #5 of 33
4/21/04 at 10:15pm
Thread Starter 
Black Belt Jones has some pretty hefty comedy value to it.
I have not seen it in a long long time, but I completely remember the theme music. Great kung-fu blaxsploitation mix.

I am almost sure I saw 5 Deadly Venoms when I was 7 or 8, but I will be checking that one out for sure.

The Venoms series seem to be favorites among many.
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post #6 of 33
4/21/04 at 10:17pm
Gordon Liu. 36th Chamber of Shaolin. 'Nuff said.
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post #7 of 33
4/21/04 at 10:39pm
the movies that got me into the whole martial arts film scene are Big Trouble in Little China (first movie I saw with any semblance of martial arts in it) and Enter The Dragon ( cause bruce blew me away with his skills)
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post #8 of 33
4/21/04 at 11:03pm
Shaolin Challenges Ninja / Shaolin vs. Ninja
Actually, any Gordon Liu flic where he was bald.

Half a Loaf of Kung Fu
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post #9 of 33
4/22/04 at 2:27am
Agree with "shaolin vs ninja", really good, Gordon Liu marries a japanese girl, and make fun of her martial arts... so she brings from japan a bunch of guys, each mastering a different weapon/art... Liu Chia-Liang is one of the best when it comes to show the educational side of kung fu and the way it takes part of the family life.

Also, see "the executionners of shaolin" (also by Liu Chia-Liang), a great revenge story, where the bad guy is... Pai Mei aka Master White Brows himself... Once again the family is important, and the scenes where husband and wife mix sex & kung fu are hilarious.
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post #10 of 33
4/22/04 at 6:02am
Gordon Liu's RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER is one of the funniest and coolest kung fu movies ever made. So cool THE KARATE KID ripped it off wholesale.

You will believe in "scaffold fu."
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post #11 of 33
4/22/04 at 6:32am
Shoalin Master Killer is the pinacle in my book of martial arts films.

If you were a kid in the late 70's/early 80's like I was then your saturday afternoons were filled with "Kung Fu Theater". For me it was channel 5 out of New York.

I would say Enter the Dragon is my number two film.
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post #12 of 33
4/22/04 at 7:24am

The Greats of 70's and 80's Martial Arts

Quote:
Originally posted by Kirk's Toupee
Shoalin Master Killer is the pinacle in my book of martial arts films.

If you were a kid in the late 70's/early 80's like I was then your saturday afternoons were filled with "Kung Fu Theater". For me it was channel 5 out of New York.

I would say Enter the Dragon is my number two film.
Kirk's Toupee, I know exactly where you're coming from.
I watched some of the greatest kung-fu films ever on channel five.
Once, channel 5 became Fox 5 they took off all of those cool movies and it just broke my heart. I couldn't believe it, no more Master of the Flying Guillotine (which is my favorite Kung Fu movie). I think they did a disservice for kids in the Metro NYC area by taking those movies off, how were we going to have fun if we couldn't imitate those kung fu moves every saturday afternoon. Now that I'm older, I can buy the movies myself but it's just not the same- seeing those movies on tv just had a special place in my heart.

Have to get a copy of Lady Snowblood, I saw a scene from it on the Kill Bill Vol.1 (DVD)documentary and it blew me away. Must buy now!
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post #13 of 33
4/22/04 at 8:05am
I guess I'm in the minority as I don't think ETD is really all that good.

Who can forget Sammo Hung's contribution, the man who delivered classics like 'The Victim', that film kicks ass, it has a badass villain in Chang Yi and the end fight is absolutely brutal, I could watch that end fight over and over.

My kung-fu collection is fairly small but it's growing.
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post #14 of 33
4/22/04 at 8:23am
Quote:
Originally posted by Dragon Ma
Who can forget Sammo Hung's contribution
Reminds me that in "enter the fat dragon", he is the best bruce lee impersonator I've ever seen... the way he moves and fights... he just completely nailed it. Impressive...
Plus, there's is the infamous chinese-guy-as-a-fake-black-man with afro in one of the fights...
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post #15 of 33
4/22/04 at 8:41am
The last three fights in 'Enter the fat dragon' were pretty good, Sammo's fight against the boxer wasn't bad, I just liked the music that played in the background.
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post #16 of 33
4/22/04 at 9:00am
I was never a huge fan of Gordon Liu movies. I was always more into the Peking Opera bunch... Sammo, Jackie, Yuen etc. Also I loved wicked fistandfeet merchants like Tan Tao Liang, master Hwang Jang Lee, and BEARDY.


70s/early 80s classics:

-Drunken Master

-Knockabout

-Dreadnaught

-Magnificent Butcher

-the Victim

-Warriors Two

-Odd Couple

-Spooky Encounters

-Enter the fat Dragon

-The Hot, the Cool and the Vicious

-the Invincible Armour


Obviously there's Bruce stuff too. And the best Japanese martial arts movies are the 70s Lone Wolf and Cubs.
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post #17 of 33
4/22/04 at 9:06am
I agree. The end fight between Chang Yi and Beardy in 'The Victim' is just pure fucking brilliance, their hands are moving at light speed.
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post #18 of 33
4/22/04 at 9:57am
Master os the Flying Guillotine will always be my favorite. The Indian rubber man is a gift from God.
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post #19 of 33
4/22/04 at 10:30am
I'll have to jot down some of these and runto Virgin records cause they're the only ones I know with a kung fu section around here.

I really wanna see Master of the Flying Guillotine.
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post #20 of 33
4/22/04 at 11:08am
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post #21 of 33
4/22/04 at 11:49am
5 deadly venom movies

and Gordon Liu movies

i realy dig Shaolin Master Killer
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post #22 of 33
4/22/04 at 3:30pm
When I was a kid back in Mexico y used to watch a lot of these films. I think Canal 5 still shows every saturday morning 3 or 4 martial arts movies back to back. The dubbing was as hilarious in Spanish as it is in English but it was pretty cool. I don't remember many of the titles specially since in Mexico most of the time they change the titles completely ("Kill Bill, la venganza", for Kill Bill and "Tiempos Violentos" for Pulp Fiction). Back then I really liked "El tesoro de Bruce Lee", I dont know the title in English, but it starred one of those Bruce Lee look alikes and at the end he fought the villain in a beach with some cool funky music that I still humm sometimes.

My favorites now by far are the original Lonewolf and Cub movies.
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post #23 of 33
4/22/04 at 3:56pm
This one is from the early 90's i think but it still deserves more attention. It's called Operation Scorpio, Operation Scorpion, or The Scorpion King, depending on which version you get. Won-jin, who did almost no other movies showcases some brilliant kicking. He practices scorpion style kung-fu in the film and it's fuckin awesome. The movie is average to above average overall but is definetly worth it too watch Won Jin. It's a damn shame that he didn't make more movies, he could have given jet li and Tony Ja a run for action star super power.
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post #24 of 33
4/24/04 at 6:15pm
Holy shit it's impossible to find any good stores ith kung fu around here in Vancouver. Lame-o
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post #25 of 33
4/24/04 at 6:32pm
Yeah,I don't know what the deal is with that dude from Operation Scorpio.To my(limited)knowledge,his discography isn't that large.I've heard rumors of jealousy or racism that kept him from doin more HK films.

He still has the goods though,I saw a demo reel of him awhile back,and he was in that Japanese film No Problem 2.
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post #26 of 33
4/24/04 at 6:48pm
Quote:
Originally posted by DickDastardly
This one is from the early 90's i think but it still deserves more attention. It's called Operation Scorpio, Operation Scorpion, or The Scorpion King, depending on which version you get. Won-jin, who did almost no other movies showcases some brilliant kicking. He practices scorpion style kung-fu in the film and it's fuckin awesome. The movie is average to above average overall but is definetly worth it too watch Won Jin. It's a damn shame that he didn't make more movies, he could have given jet li and Tony Ja a run for action star super power.
Make it a double feature night with Return of the King. Won Jin also had a bit part in No Problem 2 (as Fat Dragon mentioned just above me), and performed some nifty low-flying acrobatics. Nowadays he's primarily a fight choreographer in Korea (IIRC he was the one that did My Wife is a Gangster 1&2).

My favorite martial arts stars of the 70s~80s period: Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Ti Lung, Alexander Fu Sheng, Sammo, Yuen Biao, Kurata Yasuaki, Hiroyuki Sanada, the brothers Chin Siu Ho and Chin Kar Lok, Gordon Liu, Jet Li, Mang Hoi, Dick Wei, Billy Chow, Lau Kar Leung, Moon Lee, Yukari Oshima, Richard Norton, Chuck Norris, Sho Kosugi, Cynthia Rothrock, etc.
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post #27 of 33
4/24/04 at 7:00pm
Quote:
My favorite martial arts stars of the 70s~80s period: Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Ti Lung, Alexander Fu Sheng, Sammo, Yuen Biao, Kurata Yasuaki, Hiroyuki Sanada, the brothers Chin Siu Ho and Chin Kar Lok, Gordon Liu, Jet Li, Mang Hoi, Dick Wei, Billy Chow, Lau Kar Leung, Moon Lee, Yukari Oshima, Richard Norton, Chuck Norris, Sho Kosugi, Cynthia Rothrock, etc.
Dick Wei is the fuckin' man, if anyone should've gotten a Tarantino resurrection, it's him.
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post #28 of 33
4/24/04 at 11:22pm
I could've missed it, but did anyone mention Crippled Avengers?

Venoms Movies are always good, as well as Meiko Kaji flicks.

Love the Female Convict Scorpion series, as well as Lady Snowblood.

You can order the Lady Snowblood flicks from Animego.com, but wait until the middle of May when brick & mortar stores will get them.

Same thing with the Lone Wolf & Cub series Vol. 3-6
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post #29 of 33
4/25/04 at 12:47am
You know, I love kung fu cinema, but I have a low tolerance for the Shaw Brothers glut of movies that are out there. There are some classic movies, but 90% of them are too chop socky and too early in kung fu cinema for me to really enjoy them. And frankly if we are talking about 70s-80s kung fu cinema in my opinion and many others, the three brothers basically own that fucking 15 year span of time.

Jackie with young master, drunken master, etc

Sammo with Magnificent butcher, pedicab driver

Yuen Biao with many of the previous two movies and some quality stuff on his own i.e. Prodigal son.

Basically, everything done past 1990 is basically a direct offspring of these guys' work. No disrespect to the Shaw Bros, Gordon Liu, Lau Kar Leung, etc. They are great in their own right, but for my taste, Jackie/Sammo/Yuen working together is pure bliss and for the best example of it check out the last 15 minutes of "Wheels on Meals"...it is so beautiful it brings me to tears.
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post #30 of 33
4/25/04 at 1:39am
I think Wheels on Meals is one of their weaker efforts but I agree with your point. The only reason to watch WOM is the last fight which is just brilliant, I love the music that kicks in when Jackie starts to think of it as a sparring session.
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post #31 of 33
4/25/04 at 2:44am
Amongst my favorites is a guilty pleasure flic; Fantasy Mission Force / Dragon Attack. Jackie's in it but a supporting role only. There a hell lot of other famous actors back then who was in it , too.

The best description I can come up with is that it's sphaghetti western meets HK horror and action set in a Mad Max-ish world. Has a trainwreck of a plot but the fun factor is really high.
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post #32 of 33
4/25/04 at 6:57am
Quote:
Originally posted by Dragon Ma
I think Wheels on Meals is one of their weaker efforts but I agree with your point. The only reason to watch WOM is the last fight which is just brilliant, I love the music that kicks in when Jackie starts to think of it as a sparring session.
Yep. Jackie fights Benny "The Jet" Urquidez (and he does it again in Dragons Forever). Urquidez is John Cusack's kickboxing trainer, and played the ghoul that Cusack kills with a pen in Grosse Pointe Blank. Here's some more interesting info about Benny--

"The Jet decided to pursue full-contact karate as a career in 1974. He achieved a record of over 200 wins and no losses, with 63 title defenses and 57 KOs. He is the only fighter to have retained six world titles in five weight divisions for 24 consecutive years. Returning to the ring in 1993 at age 42, he beat defending champ Yoshihisa Tagami, 25, of Japan for the world light middle weight championship."
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post #33 of 33
4/26/04 at 6:51am
Thread Starter 
the thing about the older martial arts cinema (kung-fu and samurai films) is not about 'greatness' as compared to one's all-time favorite films. it's more of a greatness due to time and place...nostalgia.

sure, some of them are in fact great (lone wolf films, kurosawa samurai pics) but for most of the others, it's all about the context and the personal history with the genre.

for example... the sound effects, the acting, the music, the plots (or complete lack thereof), the english dubs in many cases...all add to the luster of those old films. it's not about polish and sheen, but about it's grit and quirkiness, fun.....raw power in some cases.

for me, a glossy marial arts film of modern day asian cinema is not as fun to watch as the oldies.

i got my hands on Master of the Flying Guillotine this weekend....fun stuff. the tournament goes on a bit long, but overall the film is a fun watch. great music.
some of the music in that film is from an old 70's tangerine dream album.
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