recent purchases

[jethro]

Yeah there's a lot of different types of kung fu movies, good to take a look at all of them. What are your favorite oldschool movies? Here's a bunch of mine-


SHAW BROTHERS-

#1- Killer Constable

the rest are not in any order-

Shaolin Intruders
Shaolin Prince
36th Chamber of Shaolin
Return to the 36th Chamber
Boxer's Omen
Have Sword Will Travel
Shaolin Mantis
Dirty Ho
Heroes of the East
3 Evil Masters
To Kill a Mastermind
Avenging Eagle
Blood Brothers
Shaolin Rescuers
Kid with the Golden Arm
Crippled Avengers
Chinese Super Ninjas
8 Diagram Pole Fighter
The Magic Blade
Secret Service of the Imperial Court
What Price Honesty
(I still have soooo many Shaws to see. Literally hundreds.)



NON-SHAW (1960-1984)-

#1- Legend of a Fighter

the rest are not in any order-

Shaolin Temple Strikes Back
Magnificent Butcher
Little Super Man
Rebellious Reign
One armed Boxer
Knockabout
Dance of the Drunken Mantis
Seven Grandmasters
Ninja in the Dragon's Den
The Young Master
Shaolin vs Lama
The Chinese COnnection aka Fist of Fury
Seven Steps of Kung Fu
Killer in White aka Shadow Ninja
Shanghai 13
Showdown at the Cottonmill
The Sword (Adam Cheng)

[Jimbo]

Ronin 22:
Shaolin Rescuers is actually a secondary title of Avenging Warriors of Shaolin. Unbeatable Dragon was the American-release title for Invincible Shaolin.

There are too many great kung fu films. As a recap, some of my own favorites:

Shaws:
Shaolin Martial Arts
Disciples of Shaolin (this and SMA are tied for #1).
Men From the Monastery
Heroes Two
Five Shaolin Masters
Shaolin Temple (Chang Cheh version).
Shaolin Avengers
The Magnificent Ruffians
Martial Club
Marco Polo
The Treasure Hunters
Fist of the White Lotus
Executioner From Shaolin
3 Evil Masters (aka., The Master).
The Magic Blade
Legendary Weapons of China
The Kid with the Golden Arm
36th Chamber of Shaolin
The Crippled Avengers
The One-Armed Swordsman
The Boxer Rebellion
Five Superfighters
The Kid From Kwangtung
Holy Flame of the Martial World
The Savage Five
The Five Venoms
Brave Archer Part 4
House of Traps
Two Champions of Shaolin
I Will Knock You Down, Dad
The B@stard Swordsman 1 & 2
The Buddhist Palm

Non-Shaws in no particular order:
The Prodigal Son
The Victim
Warriors Two
The Loot
Last Hurrah for Chivalry
The Miracle Fighters
Knockabout
The Odd Couple (Sammo Hung and Lau Kar-Wing).
The Pedicab Driver
Wheels on Meals
Magnificent Butcher
Dreadnaught
Legend of a Fighter
Rebellious Reign
Shaolin Vs. Lama
The Invincible Armour
Mr. Vampire
The Killer Wears White
The Hot, the Cool, and the Vicious
Showdown at the Cotton Mill
Death-Duel of Kung Fu
Secret Rivals III
Secret Rivals II
The Himalayan
The Woman Avenger
Encounter of the Spooky Kind
Super Power
Crystal Fist
The Crane Fighter
Revenge of the Patriots
Queen Boxer
Two Fists Against the Law
The Blooded Treasure Fight (sic)
Fearless Hyena
Drunken Master
The Young Master
Way (return) of the Dragon
The Tower of Death
Bandits, Prostitutes, and Silver
Instant Kung Fu Man
Incredible Kung Fu Mission

[Egg fu young]

Just ordered from Amazon.....-Avenging Warriors of Shaolin (1979)Li Wang, Jason PaiPiao and -Masked Avengers (1982)Philip Kwok, Siu-hou Chin.

[Ronin22]

Thanks for the info guys

I don't have a lot of old school favorites mainly because I haven't watched a ton of them. The ones I'm interested in picking up are the ones I saw as a teenager on black belt theater saturday afternoons. The only thing is I can only remember a few like:

36 chamber of shaolin
Invincible Shaolin
5 Venoms
Kid with the Golden Arm
10 Tigers from Kwangtung
Revenge of the Venoms

As you can see I like the Venom gang and looking at your lists I see there are a lot I need to check out. I'm starting to just rent them to see which I like then I'l buy them so i just rented ledgendary weapons of china but haven't watched it yet.

Any suggestions from your lists I should zero in on given the favorites I listed?

Watching these takes me back to a whole different place.....

[jethro]

The only movie I would leave off that list would be 10 Tigers. But even that's worth watching, if only for the end fights. And Revenge of the VEnoms is probably another title for Crippled Avengers. Great movie.

[Jimbo]

Well, I can recall the additional following being on BB Theater (and/or Kung Fu Theater in the '80s):
Two Champions of Shaolin (Venoms)
Magnificent Ruffians (Venoms)
Legendary Weapons of China (Kara Hui, Gordon Liu, Lau Kar-Leung, etc.)
Shaolin Rescuers (Avenging Warriors of Shaolin, starring the Venoms)
The Killer in White (The Killer Wears White; Tung Wai and Yen Shi-Kuan)*
The Kung Fu Instructor (Ti Lung)
Dirty Ho (Gordon Liu)
The Savage Five (Ti Lung, Chen Kuan-Tai, etc.)
Lion Vs. Lion (Roar of the Lion, starring Wang Yu and Lo Meng)
Masked Avengers (Venoms)
Chinatown Kid (Fu Sheng and the Venoms crew)
The Jade Claw (Crystal Fist, starring Billy Chong)*
A Hard Way to Die (Sun Dragon, starring Billy Chong)*
Tattoo Connection (Jim Kelly, Tan Tao-Liang)*
Spearman of Death (Flag of Iron; The Venoms)
Fist of the White Lotus (Gordon Liu)
3 Evil Masters (Chen Kuan-Tai, Yuen Tak)
Return of the Master Killer (Return to the 36th Chamber; Gordon Liu)
5 Superfighters (Austin Wai, Hau Chau-Sing, Tony Leung Siu-Hung)

They actually had mostly Shaw titles on BB Theater, but some independents too, and I distinguished those above with asterisks. Many of these are available, or will soon be available with excellent quality releases. Some of the Shaws on my personal list are not currently available, at least outside or Region 3 DVDs, though more of the Celestial Shaw remasters will be coming through Media Blasters, Image, and Dragon Dynasty. I would highly recommend 8 Diagram Pole Fighter with Gordon Liu and gang as well, when it comes out in legitimate release.

Magnificent Ruffians is my personal favorite from the Venoms. Lu Feng is the villain who uses a Kwan Do (or horse cutter) as his personal weapon; the final fight in itself is quite awesome.

[jethro]

Hey Jimbo, how would you rate Shaolin rescuers aka Avenging Warriors of Shaolin? Top 5 venom flick? It's my favorite. Crippled Avengers at #2 and Golden Arm at #3. I still have to see Magnificent Ruffians.

[Jimbo]

Jethro:
I don't know which number, but I'd rate Shaolin Rescuers very high on my Venoms list. Let's see...I think my Venoms list might be in this order:

The Magnificent Ruffians
The Crippled Avengers
Kid with the Golden Arm
Shaolin Rescuers
Invincible Shaolin
The Five Venoms (5 Deadly Venoms)
Flag of Iron (I know; but I like this one for some reason)
Two Champions of Shaolin
House of Traps
Brave Archer Part 4 (I did not care as much for the first 3).
Daredevils
5 Element Ninjas (is this even counted as a Venoms film??)
Legend of the Fox
Heaven and Hell

There are actually more Shaw Venoms films I like, but I can't think of the titles right now; suffice to say that at least the first 6 on my list are in correct order. I would rate some of the unmentioned/forgotten titles as higher on my list than Legend of the Fox. It's actually pretty amazing how many movies they made at Shaws alone. I wonder if even the individual Venom crew members could even remember the films, or which film was which, as they most certainly filmed several movies simultaneously each year.

[jethro]

Wow, putting it above Invincible Shaolin really says you like it. Very good chemistry with the Venoms in that one. I think that's what I enjoyed most about it.

I remember it being talked abotu on kungfufandom that the reason the VEnoms made so many movies was because Lau Kar Leung's movies were making 3 times as much money as the Venoms flicks, so the Venoms had to make 3 times as many movies. At least for a period of time that was true.

House of Traps (HK box office- $1,250,836 year- 1982)
8 Diagram Pole Fighter ($3,792,852 1983)

Ode to Gallantry ($1,013,819 1982)
Legenday Weapons of China ($9,913,242 1982)

Chinese Super Ninjas ($1,628,717 1982)
Cat vs rat ($4,472,000 1982)

Lady is the Boss ($5,077,592 1983)





As you can see, Cheng Cheh was forced to pump out a lot of movies to try and compete.

[Jimbo]

Thanks for the info, Jethro. That certainly makes sense; I do feel the Venoms probably became more popular in the West than in Asia, though that's a feeling on my part. I have Shaolin Rescuers and Invincible Shaolin very close, but for me, SR gets a slight bump ahead of IS.

kungpowmaster:
I love War of the Gargantuas, and I've been looking for that for a while. IMO, that might be the best-made of the old Japanese giant monster movies. As a side treat, I recall an American(?) woman tunelessly singing "The Words Get Stuck in my Throat". I doubt the director realized he was creating a truly classic, unintentionally cheesey moment. I esp. loved the electricity cannons and the miniature sets in this and the other old ('50s and '60s) Toho monster films.

[Egg fu young]

I just received "Masked Avengers" from mjentertainment an Amazon seller. Horrible bootleg. I'm very disappointed. That's what I get for going with a seller I'm not familiar with

[Ronin22]

I watched Legendary Weapons of China the other night and I have to say I was very disappointed. There are a lot of people who consider this a great movie so I guess my expectations were high but the whole magic, vodoo dolls, weird music and such was sooooo cheesy in my opinion. I actually fast forward it to the end fight scene and that was it.

[Jimbo]

Ronin22:
I don't care much for the overdone comedy in Legendary Weapons of China, either. I include it on my list because of the martial arts scenes. IMO, comedy is fine in a kf film, if it's well-done. When the clowning is so overboard that it's not even funny or it goes on way too long, then it, or those scenes in it, becomes just stupid, particularly when they detract from the story. I have some similar feelings about My Young Auntie, though to a slightly lesser degree, because at least there is some relationship to the comedy and the storyline. Drunken Monkey really suffers from the problem.

I liked the impish humor that Fu Sheng showed in his early Shaolin cycle films by Chang Cheh. The humor was natural, brief and subdued. He also showed fine humor in The Deadly Breaking Sword.

[Egg fu young]

-Along Comes the Tiger, 1977, Don Wong Tao (Wang Tao), Stephen Tung Wai,
-Fury of the Silver Fox (Meng Fei) 2003,
-Magic Crane, Tsui Hark, Japanese, (May 28, 2002),
-Rivals of the Dragon, Japanese, Godfrey Ho, May 28, 2002,
-Red Dragon of Shaolin, Jian-Guo Chiu, Xiao-zhen Zhong (February 18, 2003),
-Legend of the Tiger, Jian-Guo Chiu, Xiao-zhen Zhong (February 18, 2003),
-Dragon Fist (1980) Jackie Chan, Nora Miao Director: Wei Lo ,
-Dragon on fire, 1982, Dragon Lee, Alexander Grand,
-Flaming Swords (1982) David Chiang, Phillip Ko Director: Raymond Lui,
-Lady Iron Monkey, Director: Chen Chi-Hwa (Chan Jeung Wa)1979,
-Eagle fist, Chi Kuan Chun, Cheng Chi Ying, Pan Pin Chang, 1980,
-Face behind the mask, Directed by Chen Chi-hua, 1979,
-Lost Sword Ship (The), Director: Lee Ga (1977) Chan Wai Lau, Got Siu Bo,
-Iron Swallow, Director: Cha Chuen Yee, (1978) Chia Ling (Judy Lee), Ting Wa Chung,
-Goose Boxer, Gam Ming, 1978, Charles Heung Wah-Keung, Lee Hoi Sang,
-Tiger Over Wall, Tony Liu (Jun Guk), 1980, Hwang Jang Lee,
-Kung Fu Collectors Edition II (2004, DVD) Eastern Heroes,
-Kung Fu Zombie, Tao Chiang, 1982,
-One Foot Crane, 1979, Lily Li Li-Li , Lo Lieh,
-Scorpion Thunderbolt, 1985, Richard Harrison, Juliet Chan,
-Gravedigger, 1988, Elton Chong, Dewey Bosworth,
-Daggers 8, 1980, Meng Yuen Man, Wilson Tong (Wai Shing),
-Drunken Tai Chi, 1984, Donnie Yen Ji-Dan, Yuen Cheung Yan,
-Dynamo, 1978, Ho Chung Tao (Bruce Li), James Griffiths
-Buddha's Palm and Dragon Fist, 1980, Lee I Min (Yi Min), Chi Kuan Chun (Kwan Chun),
-Enter the Invincible Hero, 1977, Dragon Lee, Casanova Wong

[jethro]

Nice! Some really really good movies in there. Dragon on Fire, Buddha's Palm and Dragon Fist, Tiger Over Wall, Goose Boxer, Drunken Tai Chi, Daggers 8, One Foot Crane, Kung Fu Zombie, Iron Swallow, Flaming Swords, Face Behind the Mask, Lost Swordship and Dragon Fist. All top notch stuff!