No, not yet. I got some other stuff like VIRUS but Chiba is just one of many stars in that one. I’ve got some other samurai movies with him in them but haven’t watched those either.
Same here - I need to invest some time in watching my Sonny Chiba movies - not sure when.
he’s in a new movie where he fights in it. He does all his own stunts and everything. I forget the name, but it’s a modern day movie I think. He’s the star, too, I believe.
While we’re at it, what about Jackie Chan. I know his popularity made his name a household name, but his ‘middle of his career’ stuff has some of the most amazing fight scenes I have ever seen. Before wires were the & flying were the norm, JC did all of his stunts & simple amazed me. While there is the use of wires in some of his scenes (usually to pull someone as they get hit) he revolutionized the modern day fight scene. First Strike (Police Story 4) has simply the most entertaining fight scene I have ever seen. Known fondly as the ‘ladder’ scene. Worth sitting through what are otherwise some goofy movies.
The Wuxia Pian has been around since at least the 1930’s, so they’ve never not been the norm. The use of wires wasn’t really perfected till the 80’s. What’s funny is that in the older films, you seldom if ever saw the wires, but in the later films, wires and cables were often in plain view.
I’ve never been much of a Chan fan. I do like his earlier work such as FEARLESS HYENA, DRUNKEN MASTER and YOUNG MASTER. Also, some of his modern day material such as PROJECT A 1 and 2 and DRAGONS FOREVER.
I too like Chan - Drunken Master, Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow, Police Story series are all fun ones to watch.
If we’re going to talk about Chan then we must also talk about Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. I am a big Biao fan: Dreadnaught, Wheels on Meals, Knockabout, Prodigal Son.
The choreography in Dragons Forever in the finale as well as Meals On Wheels are amazing.
I’ve only seen The Street Fighter and Return of The Street Fighter when it comes to Sonny Chiba’s martial arts movies but he was awesome in both of them
Ordered the Malaysian version of Ong Bak 2 tonight
I recently picked up a coupla’ Chiba box sets pretty cheap from Trash Palace including GOLGO 13, BULLET TRAIN, KARATE WARRIOR, DRAGON PRINCESS, SISTER STREET FIGHTER, THE BODYGUARD, KILLING MACHINE, THE EXECUTIONER and KARATE INFERNO in nice widescreen prints. I haven’t had a chance to watch any of them yet, but this does leave me with extra copies of THE EXECUTIONER, BULLET TRAIN and GOLGO 13. So if anyone in the states is interested, just drop me a message and they’re yours.
Chiba’s amazing. Few martial arts movies made more of an impression on me when I was a youngster than the Streetfighter series.
I also like his more ‘serious’ efforts with a historical basis, such as the films in which he plays karate master Masutatsu Oyama. Killing Machine and The Executioner are also cool.
I really need to see more of his films.
Have the first two Streetfighter films to view, and not viewed before.
I planned to watch them too in the near future
When everybody says the guy’s something special, he must be something
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:393, topic:368”]I planned to watch them too in the near future
When everybody says the guy’s something special, he must be something[/quote]
First Streetfighter is awesome Sherp. He is that good.
My thoughts exactly.
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:393, topic:368”]I planned to watch them too in the near future
When everybody says the guy’s something special, he must be something[/quote]
Just be aware that Japanese martial arts films are different from their HK counterparts. Japanese films showcase Karate as opposed to kung fu. And these films are choreographed differently than the HK films.
Sherp, here’s a link to a review for one of Chiba’s biggest movies I did at my site if you want to read a bit about Chiba. There’s plenty of pics, too. Chiba has the most intimidating visage of any actor I’ve seen. Even when he’s smiling, he looks like he could maul you…
There’s also an entire series review (all 26 episodes) for Chiba’s KAGE NO GUNDAN 2 with tons of pics. The first series was released here on DVD (SHADOW WARRIORS), but slow sales kept the other four series’ from coming out. I fansubbed 20 of the 26 episodes.
It was a Shaw Brothers morning here today. Masked Avengers was viewed and was a good ride. Much more blood thirsty than any I’ve seen so far and with more wire and trampoline work. I liked Philip Kwok as the former #2 and some of the choreography was spectacular. Particularly the final fight scene where the trident work was very good indeed. I’ve enjoyed all my Shaw experiences so far and this is one of the better ones to date.
Next up will be 8 Diagram Pole Fighters I think.
Watched my first Sonny Chiba, The Street Fighter
Like Angel Face remarked, it’s different from the HK martial arts movies
With bones crushed, people losing tons of blood, an Adam’s apple torn and one man literally emasculated, this surely earned its original X-rating
Thinking about the Hill/Bronson streetfighter movie, I had also expected a different type of movie. It’s not about street fights, but about a man taking on several crime rings
I didn’t like some of Chiba’s mimic expressions
Nice gesture to kill (or better: crush) the female villain behind a bench (Duck behind the bench!)
Next Chiba film will probably this time travel movie, reviewed by Angel Face (Cool Ass Cinema: Time Slip) which seems exactly the right film for me.
By the way, I think I saw some kind of remake of this movie a few years ago, it was Japanese and it was about a group of soldiers going back to medieval Japan.
And in Belgian shops I saw a Corean (?) movie about this subject, called (if I’m not mistaken) Heaven’s Soldiers. Haven’t watched it yet.
Saw Time Slip aeons ago (or was it in the future?). From memory there’s little or no martial arts action, but it was an interesting concept.
[quote=“Phil H, post:397, topic:368”]It was a Shaw Brothers morning here today. Masked Avengers was viewed and was a good ride. Much more blood thirsty than any I’ve seen so far and with more wire and trampoline work. I liked Philip Kwok as the former #2 and some of the choreography was spectacular. Particularly the final fight scene where the trident work was very good indeed. I’ve enjoyed all my Shaw experiences so far and this is one of the better ones to date.
Next up will be 8 Diagram Pole Fighters I think.[/quote]
You’re picking some great ones there Phil - 8 DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER aka INVINCIBLE POLE FIGHTER is one of the best Shaw movies - very little humor but loads of action and revenge taking place. A shame that Fu Sheng died during production.