Martial Arts Movies

[purplecityhello]

anybody else a kung fu movie fanatic like me? i have a collection of over 200 ranging from old 70s shaw brothers flicks to new joints str8 off the boat. Kung Fu movies have a strong influence on the NY hip hop scene i.e. Wu Tang clan -- holla at me

[se11]

i have seen some kung fu movies, i forgot which tho. they were pretty good. i am more interested in real martial arts fight styles and checking out the instructional tapes. i actually have learned alot of fighting techniques and all around skills from these things. check out muy thai fighting, that is a sick style from taiwan, and now they allow bare knuckle fights.

[purplecityhello]

i have seen some kung fu movies, i forgot which tho. they were pretty good. i am more interested in real martial arts fight styles and checking out the instructional tapes. i actually have learned alot of fighting techniques and all around skills from these things. check out muy thai fighting, that is a sick style from korea, and now they allow bare knuckle fights.

Ong Bak: the thai warrior is a sick flick, this movies has some of the nastiest fight seens ive ever seen. and ive seen most of em.

[Cold Bear]

Muy Thai is from Thailand I think. Tae Kwon Do is Korean.

I watch kung fu flicks. The only ones I can remember straight off the bat are
Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang
Shaolin Devil Shaolin Angel
Shogun Assassin (not kung-fu but martial arts)

Shaw brothers for real were just masters at what they do.

[purplecityhello]

Muy Thai is from Thailand I think. Tae Kwon Do is Korean.

I watch kung fu flicks. The only ones I can remember straight off the bat are
Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang
Shaolin Devil Shaolin Angel
Shogun Assassin (not kung-fu but martial arts)
Shaw brothers for real were just masters at what they do.

I got the shogun assasin flick, all the lone wolf and cub samurai movies, and that zatoichi collection.... true with the shaws


Gordon Liu is my fav shaw actor....check out 36 chambers and fist of the white lotus

[se11]

Muy Thai is from Thailand I think. Tae Kwon Do is Korean.

I watch kung fu flicks. The only ones I can remember straight off the bat are
Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang
Shaolin Devil Shaolin Angel
Shogun Assassin (not kung-fu but martial arts)

Shaw brothers for real were just masters at what they do.

yeah your right, i get all those nations mixed up.

[Cold Bear]

Racist.



Lol

[dopekid127]

i have seen some kung fu movies, i forgot which tho. they were pretty good. i am more interested in real martial arts fight styles and checking out the instructional tapes. i actually have learned alot of fighting techniques and all around skills from these things. check out muy thai fighting, that is a sick style from korea, and now they allow bare knuckle fights.

Ong Bak: the thai warrior is a sick flick, this movies has some of the nastiest fight seens ive ever seen. and ive seen most of em.

yup..Ong Bak one of the best martial arts movies i've seen...a lot of elbow blows...haha..very dope movie

[dopekid127]

oh yeah..cant forgert about five deadly venoms...

[hamo_uce]

MR BRUCE LEE ( LEE CHAN HO ) is my cuzzn from ,
hong kong , china....... i have a black belt in ,
WUKING CHOW LEE GUNG FU an the master of the 1inch PUNCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ,
OOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !

NEE HOW MA CHO LI

[kiCKer]

watch Fist of Legend (in my opinion, the best fighting movie of Jet Li)...it pays tribute to Bruce Lee's film, Fist of Fury

some of my other favorites are...Ong Bak (his speed is amazing), Hero, Once Upon a Time in China, Game of Death

[Invincible]

Warriors 2, The Thundering Mantis, Invincible Shaolin, Killer Army, Dirty Ho, The Young Master, Dragon Fist, Drunken Master, Invincible Armor, The Legend of Drunken Master (Drunken Master 2), Fist of Legend, Once upon a time in China, Once upon a time in China 2, shaolin and wutang, shaolin and wutang 2, Black Mask, Contract Killer, New Legend fo Shaolin, The Scorpion King, Iron Monkey. Basically all Gordon Liu, the Venoms, Jackie Chan old school, and some new stuff like Jet Li and donnie yen.

check out:

http://www.shawscope.com/

http://www.shaolinchamber.com/movie_reviews_index.html

http://www.kungfucinema.com

[purplecityhello]

Warriors 2, The Thundering Mantis, Invincible Shaolin, Killer Army, Dirty Ho, The Young Master, Dragon Fist, Drunken Master, Invincible Armor, The Legend of Drunken Master (Drunken Master 2), Fist of Legend, Once upon a time in China, Once upon a time in China 2, shaolin and wutang, shaolin and wutang 2, Black Mask, Contract Killer, New Legend fo Shaolin, The Scorpion King, Iron Monkey. Basically all Gordon Liu, the Venoms, Jackie Chan old school, and some new stuff like Jet Li and donnie yen.

check out:

http://www.shawscope.com/

http://www.shaolinchamber.com/movie_reviews_index.html

http://www.kungfucinema.com

Dirty Ho is a classic (has nothing to do with hos, the guys last name is Ho haha)

Killa Army is one of the many movies featuring the 5 venoms gang
5 Deadly Venoms changed my life

if you like Ong Bak you gotta see Donnie Yen in Legend of lone wolf aka Big Boss
and Chinese super ninjas

[looney]

enter he dragon and fists of fury are my all time favorite movies

[looney]

the^

[dopekid127]

watch Fist of Legend (in my opinion, the best fighting movie of Jet Li)...it pays tribute to Bruce Lee's film, Fist of Fury

some of my other favorites are...Ong Bak (his speed is amazing), Hero, Once Upon a Time in China, Game of Death

yeah, defienely one of his best movies..once upon time in china part 2 was pretty good too..last fight scene was good....iron monky was another good movie too...and legens of the wu-thang

[Mraka]

I got Shaolin Soccer -very amuzing
he purpecityhello do you know the film:Bruce lees son?
there is a young guy taking over an Island of armed force.Throwing coconuts hundret yards,plunged several minutes very deep ,close to naked leaving behind submarine mines?he?
-hope so ;I´ll find him again,no matter.

[blah]

kung fu hustle good, i liked it

i just downloaded the last dragon....bruce leroy, lol

[rummy]

One armed boxer part 2 was a heavy film

[Tuco]

My favourites from Hong-Kong.

Kung Fu flicks :

- Fist of Fury : The King at his best.
- Dirty Ho : Sifu Liu Jia-Liang's masterpiece.
- Pedicab Driver : Sammo's greatest piece.
- Dreadnaught : Sifu Yuen Wo-Ping's masterpiece.
- The Tournament : A true MMA film. Mao Ying and Carter Wong as
Wing Chun Kung-Fu teachers going to Thailand to learn Muay Thai.
Great piece from Huang Feng with great choregraphy from Sammo.
- Young Master : Jackie's best Kung-fu flick.
- Dragons Forever : The best of Sammo/Jackie/Yuen Biao with a
wonderful fight between Jackie and Benny "The Jet" Urquidez.
- Once Upon a Time in China III : Tsui Hark's best kung-fu epic. Powerful
action performances from Jet Li and Hung Yan-Yan.
- Five Fingers of Death : Lo Lieh's greatest film. Great choregraphy from
Tang Chia and Liu Jia-Liang.
- Drunken Master II : with Jackie and Sifu Liu Jia-Liang, you can't go
wrong.

Wu Xia-Pian flicks (swordplay) :

- Magnificient Swordsman : Easily the best Shaw Bros. film ever
produced. A great transposition of Sergio Corbucci's Django in
Wu Xia-Pian. Great direction from Yueh Fung and Pao Sueh-Li with a
powerful performance from Hwong Chung-Hsin.
- The One-Armed Swordsman : Chang Cheh's only masterpiece.
- 8 Diagram Pole Fighter : Sifu Liu Jia-Liang greatest weapons' flick with
one of the most amazing opening scene ever featuring the late great Fu
Sheng.
- 6 Assassins : A dark, and very heavily japanese-influenced, Wu
Xia-Pian from Chang Cheng-Ho, the director of Five Fingers of Death,
with a great performance from the very underrated Ling Yun.
- The Blade Spares None : Golden Harvest's only Wu Xia-Pian
masterpiece. Interesting "tournament movie" featuring swordsmen
but mostlt a strong swordswoman (Miao Ke-Hsiu).
- Magic Blade : A great western-swordplay-fantasy flick from the great
Chu Yuan. Powerful performance from the great Ti Lung in a very
"Man-with-no-name-esque" character.
- Zatoichi vs The One-Armed Swordsman : The greatest cross-over in the
history of motion picture. Great direction from Xu Xeng-Hong and
Kimiyoshi Yasuda with a great Shintaro Katsu/Wang Yu confrontation.
- Clans of Inrigue : Chu Yuan's response to Chambara-eiga conspiracy
dramas.
- Dragon Gate Inn : King Hu's masterpiece with great choregraphy from
Han Ying-Chieh and Sammo.
- The Assassin : Wang Yu's most sadistic performance as a suicidal
swordsman.

[MiChuhSuh]

Bruce Lee's stuff (though some of the stuff was "technniccally off", GAME OF DEATH had the best fights)

Ong Bak so far had the best balance of realism and technical soundness, and they have another Muay Thai movie of him fighting a Capoera guy!!! (Capoera is from Brazil, started by black slaves training to fight and rebel and using the gues of "dancing" so they have a very strong fighting rhythm in this art... "Eddie" in Tekken video games is based on Capoera)
That was a tight scene, two totally different fighting rhythms in a good fight

LOL but nothing beats


SHAOLIN SOCCER
KUNG FU HUSTLE

I laughed so hard I started crying lol

[rummy]

-The one armed boxer part 2
-Zatoichi
-Pedicab Driver
-Zatoichi vs One armed swordsman
-The Barefooted Kid
-Once upon a time in china 2
-Bodyguard from beijing (jet Li)
-Drunken Master
-Snake in the eagles shadow
-Iron Monkey (org)
-Iron Monkey (donnie Yen)
-Born Invincible
-Leg Fighters
-Ong Bak
-Dragons Forever
-Fist of legend
-Fearless
-One armed swordsman
-Shogun Assasin
-Azumi

Thats a good list tuco you seem to be a man that knows his films

[Tuco]

^ You seem to know your films as well ! I grew up watching these movies in small grindhouse theaters in Paris which, unfortunaletly, no longer exists.

About the japanese films. Here's my list.

Kempo-eiga :

- Sugata Shanshiro (Part 1 & 2) : Two great action-dramas, involving rivalries between Judo and Jiu-Jitsu, made by Sensei Akira Kurosawa. If only all martial arts movies would be like that ! Little trivia : These two films are the favourites of former Olympic Gold Medalist Judo master, and MMA legend, Hidehiko Yoshida.

- Ninja Jiraya : Great Ninjitsu piece made by Kato Tai, with a great action-performance by Tomisaboru Wakayama (Baby Cart) in his debut as a Judo/Kempo/Kobudo master.

- Kyokushin Karate Kun : A fun, but action-packed, biography of Sensei Masutatsu Aoyama, founder of Kyokushin Karate, played by his most famous disciple : Shinichi "Sonny" Chiba. Good direction from Yakazuhiko Yamaguchi and great choregraphy from Japan Action Club.

- The Streetfighter Series : Again, a fun, but action-packed, series about Chiba Sensei's most famous character : Takuma Tsurugi. Action and Bloodshed galore !

- Okinawa Yakuza War : Even though it's a Yakuza-eiga from the great Sadao Nakajima, it features one helluva opening scene : Chiba (as a sadistic yakuza racketeer) wrecking havoc in a crowded sushi-bar by tearing it bare-handed and beating patrons randomly !

- Izo : Even though it's not a Kempo-eiga, it's one of the most impressive films of the decades made by Takashi Miike, featuring an amazing showdown between Kazuya Nakayama as a ghost avenger and a shintoist priest fighter played by... BOB SAPP !! But it also features great swordplay scenes with Ken Ogata.

- Shorinji Kempo : An action-packed, biography of Sensei Doshin So, founder of Kempo, played by Sonny Chiba. Great Kempo techniques shown and great choregraphy from JAC.

Chambara (swordplay) :

- Seven Samurais : Sensei Kurosawa's greatest chambara epic.

- Zatoichi '89 : The last, but greatest, film of Shintaro Katsu's Zatoichi series. Featuring the most incredible "sword massacre" ever shown in Japanese cinema : Zatoichi tearing a pack of rogues shintoist priests limb by limb with his sword techniques in a tiny environment. Matchless !

- Baby Cart series : star Tomisaburo Wakayama and director Kenji Misumi at their best !

- Goyokin : Hideo Gosha's masterpiece. Great storytelling, great direction and great sword techniques. Tatsuya Nakadai's greatest role. Little trivia : it's one of Marty Scorsese's favourite Chambara.

- Hitokiri : Hideo Gosha's darkest chambara. Extremely violent, loaded with heavy drama and great performances from Shintaro Katsu, Tatsuya Nakadai and fallen poet Yukio Mishima.

- Yojimbo : Another masterpiece from Sensei Kurosawa featuring Toshiro Mifune in his most famous character -- rogue samurai Sanjuro.

- Shogun's Shadow : Sonny Chiba's greatest drama role in a Chambara. Great direction from Yasuo Furuhata, great performances from Ken Ogata, Tetsuro Tamba, Hiroki Matsukata and from Wu Shu legend, and Jet Li's former team mate, Hu Chien-Chiang. Amazing fights and swordplay.

- 47 Ronins : Kon Ichikawa's last film, and best version, of the 47 Ronins legend. One of Takakura Ken's greatest role.

- Kitano's Zatoichi : A real tour de force ! Kitano succeed in playing Zatoichi and make it nearly as good as Shintaro Katsu. Also great performance from Tadanobu Asano.

- Shogun Samourai : Sensei Kinji Fukusaku's greatest chambara epic with solid performances from Sonny Chiba (as Jubei Yagyu), Toshiro Mifune and Tetsuro Tamba.

[rummy]

Impressive list again tuco

It was Shogun Assasin that made me get the baby cart series.

1.Zatoichi vs The One armed swordsman was a classic for me.
and any thing from Mr Kurosawa is just heavy.

The more recent film japanese films i've been feelin Azumi 1and 2, Princess Blade, to name a few were very good. But for the last few years i've been watching nearly anything that comes out of South Korea and Thailand. Have you seen any of these films.

1.My wife is a gangster part 1-2 (Korean)
2.Ong Bak (Thai)
3.Tom Yum goong (Thai)
4.Buchinmoo (korean)
5.Fighter in the wind (Korean)
6.Bangkok Dangerous not a martial arts movie but heavy none the less (Thai)

[rummy]

Hey tuco try this can you come up with a top ten list of non- Asian martial arts films it was a challenge. No matrix or blade etc....

1.Drive
2.Blood Sport
3.Kickboxer
4.Sakura Killers
5.Gymkata
6.L.A Streetfighters
7.Only the strong
8.China O'brian
9.No retreat No surrender
10.Karate Kid (i Know im sorry shits coming of the top of my head)

What Happened to olivier gruner?

And is Gary daniel the worst martial artist and actor of all time?

[Tuco]

^ I've seen all the korean and thai films you mentionned and, to me, only Ong Bak delivers all the goods. Even though it got a poor acting, and a poor direction, it contains some of the most amazings fights I've seen since a long time ! Unfortunately, the other films made by the same team (Bodyguard, Born to Fight & Tom Yum Goong) aren't as great as Ong Bak. If they're not simply boring and tasteless, they're just stupid freakshows - like a hardcore version of MTV's Jackass. Somebody have to draw a line in making action movies in Thailand. I think you can make them exhilirating enough without putting stuntmen's lives in serious jeopardy in the making. Hong Kong cinema showed us that such thing can be pulled properly (ie : Sammo Hung, Yuen Woo-Ping, Lau Kar-Wing, Jackie Chan, Hung Yan-Yan...and so on)...

Among the other titles you mentionned, Fighter in the Wind is the worst of the pack. It failed to give a well deserved hommage to the genius of Sensei Masutatsu Oyama. The film could have been good if it wasn't made in such a superificial way (the tasteless manga touch and tone, the use of wires, the style-over-content approach...). But what really pissed me off was that the techniques shown in the film are everything BUT Kyokushin Karate. What a waste ! If you want great Kyokushin action, check instead Sonny Chiba's Kyokushin Karate Kun, DVDs of Daido Juku tournaments or any MMA fight of Glaube Feitosa - this is the real deal !

And about your challenge - trying to come up with a top ten of non asian martial arts films - I got my own list, but I considers them simply as fight films.

Not necessarly in that order :

- Raoul Walsh's Gentleman Jim : The greatest film about pitfighting ever !

- Walter Hill's Hard Times : Big Chuck Bronson thrown in a fight circle with his fists doing all the talking. A classic !

- Newt Arnold's Bloodsport : Jean-Claude Van Damme's finest hour. The film that made me start martial arts...

- Chris Leitch's The Hitter : a "blaxpoitation" remake of Hard Times, set in dirty South, with the late great Ron O'Neal playing a tough Pitfighter making a habit of beating to a pulp strong martial artists, shady boxers and mob knuckleheads. A true MMA film. Great choregraphy from former golden gloves champion Harry Madsen, wonderful street-wise dialogues, and great performances from O'Neal, Adof Ceasar, Sheila Frazier and Bill Cobbs.

- Black Fist : great action-packed 70's flick starring Richard Lawson as Bogart, a tough brawler from South Central L.A. involved in the shady world of alley fights in LA's underworld. Again, a true MMA film. Action and blood galore. Watch for a quick cameo of Edward James Olmos and Philip Michael Thomas as two lousy bums.

- Dick Richards' Heat : Burt Reynolds at his best as Nick Escalante, an ex-special forces operator earning a buck whenever he can as muscles for hire in Las Vegas. Impressive Aikido and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques from Burt. Gory fight scenes, great script from William Goldman (Marathon Man, Misery, Princess Bride...) and a great performance from Burt Reynolds.

- John Ford's The Quiet Man : great fight film from the greatest (John Ford) with a wonderful fight between Duke and Victor McLaglen. A classic.

- Frank Lloyd's Blood on the Sun : only for the scenes with Jimmy Cagney fighting with Jiu-Jitsu techniques (key-locks, armbars, chokes...)

- Buddy Van Horn's Any wich way you can : Great action, great comedy scenes and, mostly, a GREAT NHB FIGHT between Clint Eastwood and William Smith.

- Tom McLaughlin's Born Losers : Maybe the first american martial arts film ever made. Great drama and good action scenes with McLaughlin beating the crap out of a biker gang with Karate Tang Soo Doo techniques. If you're curious, see also McLaughlin's The Master Gunfighter, which is a remake of Goyokin set in the old west, featuring good sword duels.

Even though, they're not "fight films" I would like to mention these titles because each contains awesome fight scenes :

- Robert Clouse's Darker than Amber : The Rod Taylor/William Smith final fight is so impressive that Bruce Lee hired Robert Clouse on the spot for helming Enter The Dragon.

- Phil Karlson's Framed : The bloody fight between Joe Don Baker and Roy Jenson.

- Walter Hill's The Warriors : Need I say more ?

- William Friedkin's To Live & Die in LA : The fight scene between Willem Dafoe, Jack Hoar and martial arts legends Steve James, Donny Williams and Ernie Hart JR is one sick moment !

- Burt Reynolds' Sharky's Machine : For the fights, tortures and beatings done by Martial Arts legend Dan Inosanto.

- Richard Donner's Lethal Weapon : The fight between Mel Gibson and Gary Busey is a real Vale Tudo bout choregraphed by Royce and Rorion Gracie. Can't get enough of that shot where Mel chokes Gary Busey with a Triangle Submission choke.

- John Flynn's Out for Justice : The scene where Steven Seagal beats the crap of NY hoods in the Pool parlor.

- Paul Greengrass's Bourne Supremacy : The fight in Munich between Matt Damon and the CIA Rogue Operative. Great choregraphy from Jeff Imada.

[niro]

Ong-bak and Tom yun Goong are the best martial arts movies to come out in a long long time. That Tony Jaa is rawww

[rummy]

man you butchered fighter in the wind but i understand your point but i still cant help but love it though as well as the Sword in the Moon.

Your list was very intresting and you dig deep when selecting your movies a few surprises and there are only a handful of guys that i know that know there films as good as you. i just finished watching undisputed 2 you know what i was pleasently surprised was'nt expecting much the films okay.

Your attention to martial arts styles is impressive as well. Are you into martial arts? I practiced many styles first was judo,jiu jitsu,shotokan karate-thai and kick boxing,boxing but now i just freestyle fight. My favourite fighters are Chris Dolman from Holland Roy Gracey,Benny the jet, Rob Karmen,.

But on screen I love watching Donnie Yen,Tony Jaa,Gordon Liu,Ti Lung,
Sammo Hung, Jacky Chan has the probably the most perfect sweep kick i've ever seen.Jet Li's Grace and form of his stances,
Hwang jang lees legs.

The worst on screen fighters has got to be Gary Daniels i cant stand him the dragon wilson. Sho kosugi i liked some of his films but some times i thought even mr sulu could beat him up. One film i loved of he's was the one he did when he plays a japanese warrior that travels to spain i forgot what its called but it was a cold film.

I agree to extent about what you say about Tony Jaa aswell but to me he is in away a breath of fresh air i'd like to see him in a different setting and probably along side probabaly some of the chinese stars im sure it will happen. But some of he's stunts are truly incredible and although i agree with the remark you made regarding stuntmen. Im just glad there are still guys out there that are willing to do stuff with out relying on strings even jacky would have to tip his hat to him.

And talking of fight seens i Loved the fight scene in film They Live with Rowdy Roddy Piper and the black man heavy fight.

And i loved all the terence hill and bud spencer films as well.

But my favourite fight scene of alltime is Bruce Lee Vs Chuck Norris in way of the dragon.

[rummy]

worst fight scene ever Ken Lo Vs Steven Segal 'Into the Sun' looked like to girl slapping each other.