Best Tae Kwon Do in a Movie?

What's the best tae kwon do you've seen in a movie?

"Best of the Best" comes to mind of course, especially the phenomenal Philip Rhee and Simon Rhee (unrelated?)

But the really kickbutt guys are in Hong Kong cinema, specifically Koreans Casanova Wong and especially Huang Jang Lee. I also think of the Taiwanese master-disciple guys in Tan Tao Liang and his disciple John Liu (Liu looks exactly like an unrelated aunt of mine).

The white guy fighting Jackie Chan at the end of "Who Am I" was also really terrific. Killer moves!

[Order]

Don't forget the bad guy from Operation Scorpion aka Scorpion King. I heard he died or something and that was his only film (correct me if I'm wrong). I also heard that the old master in that movie is a famous Southern master. There is also a guy who is obsessed with muscles, power, and strengh who is pretty good as well. I recommend the movie, you can get it cheap off Ebay.

[Chang Style Novice]

The old master in Operation Scorpio, who hides his skills as a noodle cook is none other than Lau Kar Leung/Liu Chia Liang, the HK film legend who is brother to Gordon Liu (who played San Te in Master Killer, etc.)

Other great flicks with Lau Kar Leung include Mad Monkey Kungfu, Eight Diagram Pole Fighters, and two particular favorites with Sammo Hung, Skinny Tiger Fat Dragon and Pedicab Driver.

LKL is probably my very favorite movie MA ever.

[Jimbo]

Oddly enough, John Liu was actually born in Hawaii and went with his mother to Japan at 14. His grandfather, who was a master of a family style called "Lau Gar" inspired him early on in Hawaii. Because his mother went with him to Japan for training ... among other reasons ... I suspect he may be half-Japanese. He trained under a Sensei Yano in Karate. He had competed in an all-Okinawa karate championship and won first place, becoming a junior karate champion. Later he moved to Taiwan. These were according to Liu himself in a 1975 issue of Real Kung-Fu.

I have the tape where Tan Tao-Liang claims to have taught Liu, but oddly Liu never mentioned Tan Tao-Liang or TKD, but called his art Zen Kwun Do and a combination of kung fu and karate, though in old photos of him training and teaching he is wearing a white karate gi and looks like a combination of TKD and Japanese/Okinawan karate. It's been said that he defeated Chuck Norris in a "Battle of Past Champions" in the mid-'70s in Paris, France, where he moved with his French wife. He had supposedly gotten a lot of media attention for beating Norris.

Back to the original topic ... I think the best TKD in movies was by the guys in the HK and Taiwan films, like Hwang Jang Lee, Tan Tao-Liang, John Liu, Ka Sa Fa, etc. Also the guy in Operation Scorpio. I hope he didn't die; he was the best kicker of the new generation, and I was surprised he never appeared in another movie. I saw the film when I was still living in Taipei, and the ads for the film described him as: "Ta bu shuai; dan shih ta hen li hai". (my spelling). "He isn't handsome but he's very tough."

Jim

[Kristoffer]

jet Li looks like he does Taekwando,, he's a disgrace to the name of Kung Fu