Category: Martial Arts

Kung-fu film with much trouble brewing in a sleepy Chinese village. A ruthless white haired general intends to take over a small town with the help of his “Five Hands Gang”. The Five Hand Gang are assembling, much to the chagrin of Master Li (Ga Hoi), who doesn’t care much for the gang and uses his plucky kung fu pupil Tiger (Ricky Cheng) for a spot of reconnaissance work. The baddies are in league with a governmental traitor played by Chen Shan in white hair and robes, so Li teaches Tiger the Seven Steps style.

Seven steps style is a sort of Snake Fist hybrid which requires Tiger to walk on his hands and crush eggs in a field) to methodically start picking off the gang one by one, before a blistering two-on-one encounter with the top dog. The acrobatics from debuting leading man Ricky Cheng are refreshing and Tommy Lee’s sterling choreography lifts a somewhat routine yarn.

There were a lot of Spaghetti Easterns churned out in the 70s and 80s, and this particular movie is good, but not great. This is product, nothing move, with the obvious intention to fill 90+ minutes of screen time and get the product into the theaters as part of a double or triple feature. Then go crank out some more, rinse, repeat….

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Plot:

Shaolin Super Dragon (1976) follows a wealthy merchant who hires the services of several top martial artists to escort a consignment of treasure out of the province. The escort is constantly attacked and finally the mission is brought to an abrupt halt when a masked fighter wants to expose a heinous plot.

Shaolin Super Dragon (1976) Review:

In SUPER DRAGON, Yueh Hua plays Kue, one of five warriors who work as “escorts” (bodyguards or payroll guards). He sleeps with his eyes open, as befits an escort. The five brothers agree to deliver a box of valuables to a local magistrate, despite their reservations: They’ve been robbed several times in the recent past (which, by all rights, should give one pause when it comes time to decide which Escort Company you’re going to employ to deliver your valuables…). When a pair of thieves, Dinny (?) and Ma, steal a flag whose shaft is filled with pearls, the five escorts catch up with them at the shop of a fence, Chang, and proceed to wreck the place. The 2 thieves are interrogated and Dinny(?) agrees to lead them to the bodies of the traitors who told them about the pearls. Kue and another escort are ambushed and Kue is buried in an avalanche. It’s at this point that the cute Miss Wang pops up, looking to avenge the death of her father. The bodies are finally found- and a masked man in black literally explodes from hiding in one of the coffins. Lo Lieh also pops up before all’s said and done. Overall, not a bad way to run down your Life Clock.

Plot:

Kung Fu Warrior follows a Buddhist monk portrays a Buddhist monk who abandons his post at a Buddhist temple when the temple is attacked by Japanese troops during World War II. After he leaves the temple, he takes on two misfit apprentices portrayed by Eric Tsang and Liu Chia-yung. Together, they battle the villains.

Kung Fu Warrior review:

This is an independently-produced kung fu film made in 1984 by the Lau Brothers: Liu Chia-liang, Liu Chia-hui, and Liu Chia-yung. Liu Chia-hui(a.k.a. Gordon Liu) portrays a Buddhist monk who abandons his post at a Buddhist temple when the temple is attacked by Japanese troops during World War II. After he leaves the temple, he takes on two misfit apprentices portrayed by Eric Tsang and Liu Chia-yung. Together, they battle two villians, one portrayed by the talented, but underappreciated Li Li-li. Some scenes are incoherent such as the scene with the hopping Chinese vampires who have nothing to with the film and do not reappear later on. Most of the violence is bloody and the mood of the film changes from Cantonese comedy to gritty bloodshed. Still, the excellent fight choreography is very much in the Lau brothers fashion. It’s enjoyable, but not really memorable.

Plot:

Stranger From Shaolin (1977) follows a pair of sisters who rescue a martial arts expert from drowning, and in turn he agrees to help train them and their village to fight local thugs.

Stranger From Shaolin (1977) Review:

The Secret of Chinese Kung: Strong enough for a…Just kidding. This film is like a cross between ‘The Big Boss’ and ‘Shane’. Two women from a fishing village rescue a stranger who happens to be good at kung fu. The stranger helps the two women fight against an oppressive “big boss” portrayed by Lo Lieh.

I rented the film from a local video store on a VHS copy released from the original distributor, Ocean Shores Video. Now, the film has been re-released by Tai Seng in their Martial Arts Theater series. The great Lo Lieh is given top billing on the DVD’s artwork. However, in this film, Lo Lieh isn’t given much of an opportunity to show of his prowess. There’s a Eurasian-looking Bruce Lee clone who portrays the heroic stranger. The fight scenes are pretty well choreographed, but this film lacks originality. Some scenes from “The Big Boss” are even filmed shot-for-shot in this film and are sometimes slightly altered so the scenes wouldn’t qualify as direct plagiarism.

Plot:

Bruce Lee in New Guinea follows international film star and kung fu hero Bruce Lee (Bruce Li) who is also a part-time anthropologist. Bet you never knew that, huh? He and his buddy Chang Sing (uh, Chan Sing) head for Snake Worship Island where Bruce plans to research the evil Devil Sect, who practice “snake venom kung fu”. Their trek through the jungle is hindered by two, dopey, comedy relief guides and a sneaky treasure hunter (Larry Lee) out to steal the natives’ sacred, magic pearl. His efforts are thwarted by skull-masked tyrant, Great Wizard, whose poison ring leaves Bruce mortally wounded.

Bruce Lee in New Guinea (1978) review:

A good mixture of traditional old skool kung fu films and a more up to date Bruce Lee style of fighting. Ho Chung Tao shows an impressive array of kicks and strikes and unlike most kung fu films even his friend who travels with him is a very skilled fighter. Opposed to having just one talented actor in the film taking out armies of the dodgiest bad guys ever. There are loads of laugh out loud moments including dialogue and plot but they just add to the film and make the time between fights go easier unlike sitting through a Jackie Chan film which will have half an hour of fantastic stunts and and an hour and a half of awful humour and dodgy plots about being sailors trying to catch pirates (project A). At least this doesn’t intend to be funny but ends up being hilarious in all of its low budget glory.

Following Bruce Lee’s death in 1973, a host of imitators sprang into action as producers tried to convince international audiences the late star made more than just five movies. There was Bruce Le, Bruce Leung, Bruce Liang, and the most popular, Bruce Li.

Directors: C.Y. Yang, Joseph Velasco
Stars: Bruce Li, Dana, Sing Chen

Plot:

Blood of the Dragon tells a story of a White Dragon. He must get a list with the names of rebel supporters to Prince Ma Tung, the leader of the rebellion. Trying to stop him in his mission is the evil Prime Minister, who naturally wants the list in order to crush his opposition. Adding another complication is the fact that Ma Tung wants to kill White Dragon in revenge for the humiliation Tung’s father suffered in a duel against White Dragon years earlier.

Blood of the Dragon (1971) review:

White Dragon is an anti-hero in the truest form. A former fighter who only lived to wreak havoc and fight another day finds that the lifestyle he had once embraced is now hollow and only seeks to live a quiet life of wandering. When a young beggar runs afoul of Mongol warriors he steps in to save the young man and becomes embroiled in a plot of royal intrigue. I love the interplay between White Dragon and his protégé’ as he strives to teach him in all too short a time the true meaning of heroism. The burgeoning feelings he has for the innkeeper who looks out for the boy is meaningful without getting in the way of the plot or the great martial arts action. While his enemies are somewhat uninspired the sheer amount of them will keep you at the edge of your seat to see what the ultimate outcome of this battle will be. – zenjiedo_68

Directed by Pao-Shu Kao
Starring Ted Henning, Yu Wang, Chiao Chiao

Plot:

Chinese Hercules follows a martial arts fighter, haunted by his past, who takes a job as a dock worker in a small village. The villagers are dependent on the traffic that comes to the pier, which gives its cruel owner too much power over his beleaguered workers. The situation worsens when an even crueler gangster takes control. His most powerful weapon is his henchman, a muscle-bound brute, who remorselessly and easily cracks the skulls and breaks the necks of anyone who gets in the way. The new dock worker had sworn never to fight again, but the deaths of his co-workers force him to act.

Chinese Hercules (1973) Review:

As mentioned earlier, the struggle of the village’s inhabitants against the big bosses is possibly the best feature of CHINESE HERCULES. Add into that an emotionally torn Lee and a huge-ass bad guy and you’ve got a solid script, and a great movie. Chinese Hercules wasn’t that bad of a fight flick at all, decent plot and everything. Also stars the chubby punk who “scolded” Bruce Lee for not wearing his uniform in Enter The Dragon.

Cast and Crew:

Directed by Ta Huang
Starring Bolo Yeung, Wai-Man Chan, Fan Chiang, Yeh Fang

Unleash the Shadow Warrior!

By day, Tiger is a Martial Arts expert…by night he is the bouncer of a brothel. Tiger is trained under the watchful eye of “Master” and in this process of training it occurs that the Grand Master and his merry men, AKA Ninjas, are trying to take over Tiger’s turf in Japan.

Watch Ninja Death 2 (1987) Movie Online – Free Martial Arts Kung-Fu Ninja Entertainment

The choreography and production values are decent for this type of movie, and it’s fast paced enough to have kept me entertained during the slower bits, the costuming and terrible special effects are highly entertaining (particularly the full body gold outfit with red cape) and there’s some very very low brow jokes in here, particularly dealing with sex. (the main character starts out as a bouncer in a whorehouse). The dubbing is amusingly bad, and as mentioned does switch accents halfway through the movie.

Cast and Crew:

Director: Joseph Kuo
Starring: Alexander Rei Lo, Fei Meng