Cool guys - I like them all too. I love the realistic ones and I like fantasy driven sword play movies and watching the violent and dark samurai movies can be a real treat too.
TOUGH GUY (Kung Fu Head Crusher)
There seems to be some confusion of titles concerning films starring Thai born Chen Sing. I was misdirected a few times by Google. This one is not a revenge movie, but about two police officers infiltrating a crime ring. There are some similarities with Bruce Leeās The Big Boss, with the main villain clearly modeled after the main villain of that movie. However, as usual, story-telling and characterization play second fiddle to the action, which is ultra-violent and thunderous, with several skulls crushed and some fights seemingly going one forever (those guys take blows and kicks that would knock out a oversized buffalo!)
I saw the film as a teenager and remembered it as one of the best of its kind. It is, but both story and characters couldāve been fleshed out a bit more, even these kind of action movies need a minimum of gravitas to work properly. But, as said, the action is thunderous and I found Chen Sing an interesting martial arts hero. I did some judo (and an occasional karate class) when I was young, but Iām not an expert on these things, but his firm, no-nonsense style seemed a bit more natural than the occasionally all too acrobatic routines of some other actors of the genre. Great guy.
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Gonna check out 8 Diagram Pole Fighters nextā¦
I was going to watch last night but changed my mind for some reason ??? .
[quote=āscherpschutter, post:282, topic:368ā]TOUGH GUY (Kung Fu Head Crusher)
There seems to be some confusion of titles concerning films starring Thai born Chen Sing. I was misdirected a few times by Google. This one is not a revenge movie, but about two police officers infiltrating a crime ring. There are some similarities with Bruce Leeās The Big Boss, with the main villain clearly modeled after the main villain of that movie. However, as usual, story-telling and characterization play second fiddle to the action, which is ultra-violent and thunderous, with several skulls crushed and some fights seemingly going one forever (those guys take blows and kicks that would knock out a oversized buffalo!)
I saw the film as a teenager and remembered it as one of the best of its kind. It is, but both story and characters couldāve been fleshed out a bit more, even these kind of action movies need a minimum of gravitas to work properly. But, as said, the action is thunderous and I found Chen Sing an interesting martial arts hero. I did some judo (and an occasional karate class) when I was young, but Iām not an expert on these things, but his firm, no-nonsense style seemed a bit more natural than the occasionally all too acrobatic routines of some other actors of the genre. Great guy.[/quote]
Is there a scene in this one where Chen Sing is fighting a guy on a beach and one of them has a pair of Sai in his hands? If so I saw it under the title KUNG FU MASTER.
There is a fight scene on the beach, with this guy; I donāt know if these weapons are really sai:
http://img34.imageshack.us/i/toughguy1972dvdripxvidc.jpg/
The fight is the last one in the movie; Chen canāt use his skull crushing technique first, because the guy has a protective hat. But finally he kills him with the special technique: crrraaacckkk
[quote=āscherpschutter, post:286, topic:368ā]There is a fight scene on the beach, with this guy; I donāt know if these weapons are really sai:
The fight is the last one in the movie; Chen canāt use his skull crushing technique first, because the guy has a protective hat. But finally he kills him with the special technique: crrraaacckkk[/quote]
Yeah, thatās the movie. Thanks, Scherp. Those are butterfly swords there. Sai is the Japanese equivalent. They are around the same length, but are fork pronged. Unfortunately, that sequence is all I remember from the film.
Watched Shaolin Rescuers aka Avenging Warriors Of Shaolin. A Venom movie I never knew existed. Most of the movie was on the light/comedy side but the las 20 minutes kicks into gear big time. I suggest it to Venoms/Shaw fans, especially if, like me, youāve never heard of it.
I agree with you. Itās one of my favorites and on my top ten CC movie list. Lu Feng won a Best Supporting Actor award for his role as traitor, Kao Chin Chuen. I really liked him here as he was virtually unstoppable. Lu Feng played the same role in TWO CHAMPIONS OF SHAOLIN (1980).
AF, you must have an alarm that goes off anytime someone posts on this thread. 
I do respect your knowledge of the genre & love to get your inside scoops. Lu Feng is bass ass. Probably the dude I would least like to fuck with out of the whole lot. (Ok, maybe Wang Lung Wei as well)
Thanks for your kind words, Iā¦Iā¦Idiot. Have you noticed Lu Fengās shoes? Heās a very short actor and youāll notice in many of his movies his shoes have very thick soles to give him some added height. It seems most noticeable in films where he plays the villain. Films like FLAG OF IRON (1980), REBEL INTRUDERS (1980) and THE MAGNIFICENT RUFFIANS (1979).
Another aspect of SHAOLIN RESCUERS that I really enjoyed was that the venoms were given so much room to show off what they could do. The comedy I thought was really funny and Chang Cheh captured the right balance between a light hearted tone and heroic bravado. Chehās venom movies were, for the most part, reworkings of his past glories. SHAOLIN RESCUERS is a restructured version of his ANONYMOUS HEROES (1971) starring David Chiang, Ti Lung and Ching Li. Itās CCās āRevolution Spaghetti Easternā. Itās about three friends who want to do something to make a name for themselves. In an effort to halt the efforts of an ambitious warlord, they decide to steal a train load of arms to aid a group of revolutionaries trying to unify the country. The film starts off rather light hearted, but by the end, it gets incredibly violent and gory. Needless to say, THE ANONYMOUS HEROES do make a name for themselves. The venom movie DAREDEVILS also borrows elements from this earlier film.
I like how the Venoms are introduced slowly, not in the first 10 minutes like most of their films. It did remind me of Daredevils in the fact that their acrobatic skills are shown off.
This one is also a little different in that itās essentially a chase movie with the Wu Tang killers pursuing Hung Si Kwan and annihilating anyone that gets in their way. And pretty much the entire supporting crew have lots to do at least as far as the fighting goes. Virtually everyone gets a good amount of screen time. The cut US versions werenāt missing a whole lot, but it was still a great joy to finally see this one complete.
my version is 1:41:31, yours?
That sounds like the HK dvd. If it is, then itās complete. The US version was missing a bit from the second attack by the Wu Tang men when Fong Si Yu is killed and some spitting blood here and there and also Lu Fengās death scene. A lot of dialog and other scenes were excised for the tv prints. I had a bootleg copy of the tv print and it ran just under 90 minutes.
Ditto for Chang Chehās BOXER REBELLION aka THE BLOODY AVENGERS (1975). The film ran into serious censorship problems and was drastically cut before it was released in HK. The title was also changed to SPIRITUAL FISTS for its HK theatrical release. If the cutting was anything like the BLOODY AVENGERS cut, then the HK release was a big mess. The original film is close to 2 and a half hours long. The US cut is approximately 90 minutes. Itās amazing what was cut from this one. Whole characters and subplots were eliminated leaving mostly nothing but the action. The entire opening 13 minute sequence with the Dowager Empress was also excised. This was one of CCās āCast of 1,000āsā movies.
Itās also unusual in the fact that Pai Mei & Fong Si Yu are just side characters unlike all other movies where theyāre depicted.
Iām sure I shouldnāt even get you started on the job they did to Water Margin >:(
[quote=āIā¦Iā¦Idiot, post:297, topic:368ā]Itās also unusual in the fact that Pai Mei & Fong Si Yu are just side characters unlike all other movies where theyāre depicted.
Iām sure I shouldnāt even get you started on the job they did to Water Margin >:([/quote]
Well, I would say that Chang Cheh and the scriptwriters wanted to create different characters since those historical figures had already been done to death. Pai Mei also plays a minor role in TWO CHAMPIONS OF SHAOLIN. There, heās only talked about and not seen. In Chehās SHAOLIN AVENGERS (1976), Pai Mei is seen throughout as the battle takes place in between the flashbacks and doesnāt get involved in the action till the final moments.
The butchering of WATER MARGIN was something done by Roger Corman which I understand because Americans at the time only wanted to see the action and that version delivered on that. There was also an alternate sex scene shot for the US version. I always wondered about that because that sequence seemed totally out of place with the rest of the film. In the original version, itās very subtle and fits perfectly. The beautiful Ling Ling didnāt seem to mind stripping off as she gets down and dirty several times in the gruesome OATH OF DEATH, the first version of the story Chang Cheh would shoot as THE BLOOD BROTHERS.
If you enjoy Chang Chehās works, you should seriously give the films of Cheng Kang a try. Some truly classic and classy films from him areā¦
THE MAGNIFICENT SWORDSMAN (1968) A version of MAGNIFICENT SEVEN only with a āmagnificent oneā. The film also sports a somewhat Japanese feel about it.
GUN BROTHERS (1968) Not kung fu, but a great adventure film with a bombastic Indiana Jones style opening. Heart throb Ling Yung plays a dual role here. The ending doesnāt match the beginning, but itās still worth a look.
THE SWORD OF SWORDS (1968) seriously grim and heavily dramatic swordplay movie. Wang Yu is severely tortured here and Tien Feng plays one of the most sadistic bad guys of all time regardless of genre. David Chiang in a bit role as a thug. Thereās some elements of ZATOICHI as well. Some heavy gore and violence in this one. You would think Chang Cheh was a violence consultant on this one. Highly recommended.
THE 12 GOLD MEDALLIONS (1970) the number two biggest hit of that year
THE 14 AMAZONS (1972) one of the biggest and most extravagant shaw productions ever. A big, big movie. Highly recommended.
PURSUIT (1972) part of the WATER MARGIN series. Yueh Hua is put through some serious hell in this movie and it makes his vengeance all the more compelling. A really good movie.
KIDNAP (1974) not a kung fu movie, but a crime drama that was a huge hit beating out films like MAGNUM FORCE in Hong Kong. Highly recommended if you can handle the modern setting and the fact that it isnāt a kung fu or swordplay flick.
I havenāt watched a classic old kung fu film in close to thirty years but I just picked up 7 Grand Masters from my local library in one of their clear out Ā£1 sales so thought I might give it a whirl soon. My knowledge of this genre is non existant. I used to quite enjoy Bruce Lee as a teenager and saw a couple more but then nothing until Crouching Tiger and the like in recent years. I also remember seeing a 3-D kung fu film at the movies around 1979-1980 which I think was called Dynasty or somesuch. Apart from that Iām a novice so Iām interested to see how I enjoy it after all these years.