The One And Only Martial Arts Thread!

[Guest notJames]

I will risk virtual life and limb and also throw Karate Kid and Karate Kid 2 into the mix.

 

Have at it, gentlepersons.

 

Enemy deserve no mercy...

[Guest razazteca]

in respect to Gary Daniels, I hated his Fist of the Northstar movie, what else has he done?

Wasn't Vader in the Fist of the North Star movie?

trying to be funny, eh

 

it was Chris Penn playing the role of Jaggy

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

in respect to Gary Daniels, I hated his Fist of the Northstar movie, what else has he done?

Wasn't Vader in the Fist of the North Star movie?

trying to be funny, eh

 

it was Chris Penn playing the role of Jaggy

No actually in the live action version of Fist of the North Star Vader made an appearance.

 

In the one I saw atleast. I don't know if there have been others.

[Guest Karnage]

Yes, Once Upon A Time In China is available on DVD, but FOR GOD ALMIGHTY'S SAKE don't buy the Region 1 version. Get a multi-region player and get ahold of Hong Kong Legends' Region 2 version (check out http://www.play.com for a decent price) which has a great transfer and shitloads of extra stuff.

Are you sure there aren't any cuts by the BBFC or something on the HKL versions?

[Guest HBK16]

I will risk virtual life and limb and also throw Karate Kid and Karate Kid 2 into the mix.

 

Have at it, gentlepersons.

 

Enemy deserve no mercy...

I only liked the first one. All the other ones sucked.

[Guest DVD Spree]

Hey Mrsasz.

No offense bro - just caught me in at a bad time. I've been getting shit from the GameFAQs moderators for posting a link to my Legends of Wrestling review here on the site. WHat's worse is I can't even go on a posting rampaging calling them cunts, because they've got a faggy word ban going on. Tossers. Although I should point out, I was quoting that Sonny Chiba thing from someone else on the board. Sonny Chiba rules all kinds of shit.

 

Grains of salt are always handy on the internet, but quite unnecessary here (as Sean Connery said in Untouchables, "Who would claim to be that, who was not?"). I originally trained in Wado-Ryu, but after a disagreement with my original sensei, I split for one of his former students' dojos and finished up my training in freestyle. Basically, the guy told me I didn't deserve a black belt because I couldn't fight, and two weeks later I was picked for the England team. The guy was just leeching students for money, which is why my new sensei had left before me, and he went on to become world champion in freestyle karate, and then world kickboxing champion three years running (Steve Thompson, if that should mean anything to anyone).

 

The coolest thing about my karate career is that I've got a couple of medals that you wear around your neck, so when a Kurt Angle impersonation is necessary, I bust out the medals and suplex fat guys all around the place.

 

Gary Daniels was the ponytail-swinging mofo in Jackie's blockbuster City Hunter, and he's done a few REALLY unknown martial arts flicks that even I can't remember off the top of my head. He was more of n example than anything else to the guy who asked why I wasn't giving props to the lesser-known guys. Speaking of which, if I could only remember his fucking name (Christ I hate being old) I'd also reference that little shortass guy with the MAD kicks who's one of Jackie's team - he was the main opponent in the awesome fight scenes at the end of Gogeous.

 

And as for the Region 2 release of Once Upon A Time..., I'm fairly sure it made it through the BBFC unscathed, but check out the reviews section of http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk for the lowdown.

 

Please forgive me being a little late to respond to stuff here - really sporadic net access lately.

[Guest razazteca]

Benny the Jet?

the guys from Who Am I?

[Guest Karnage]

Does that guy who faces off in the end with Jackie Chan in Drunken Master II (the one with the lighting fast kicks) appear in any other notable movies?

[Guest Crucifixio Jones]

Not that anyone asked but since people are busting out their "fighting" resumes, I'm a former Marine (ooh-rah!) who's dabbled in Sambo (in Japan, ishn't dat veird) and Muay Thai (in Australia, equally weird).

 

Oh yeah, and The best thread about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon EVAH~! It's CJ vs. Marney! Check it out!

[Guest Lethargic]

I took karate for one day cause it was free.

[Guest razazteca]

talk about a Battle of Wills, CJ vs Marney made a strong discussion about general misunderstandings about Martial Arts movies......I myself enjoy most Wuxia Pian movies while many haters just point to this genre to say its too fake.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Marney got her ass handed to her by CJ.

 

 

Let's discuss the impact of the Japanese on Kung-Fu cinema. The Japanese occupation of Northern China at the turn of the century, and their subsequent attempt to outlaw Kung-Fu was an event that has triggered some of the finest Cantonese Cinema of all time. Chinese Connection is just part of the equation. There are hundreds of films about the Boxer Rebellion, dozens where Wong Fei-Hung kicks the shit out of a Japanese karate master with his Kung-Fu skills. My question to you is:

 

1. What is your favorite "Japanese Occupation" kung-fu film?

 

2. Are disturbed by the openly anti-Japanese sentiments in Chinese Connection?

[Guest razazteca]

1) I like Fist of Legend with Jet Li in the remake of the Bruce Lee classic.

 

2) I tried to watch some of the Wong Fei-Hung movies but the political overtones just upset me alot. It basically comes down to my personal preference of wanting to see fights movies without the evil invader occupation theme. If it was not the Japanese its the British or some other Western Imperalist trying to destroy/oppress the Chinese.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

1) I like Fist of Legend with Jet Li in the remake of the Bruce Lee classic.

 

2) I tried to watch some of the Wong Fei-Hung movies but the political overtones just upset me alot. It basically comes down to my personal preference of wanting to see fights movies without the evil invader occupation theme. If it was not the Japanese its the British or some other Western Imperalist trying to destroy/oppress the Chinese.

1. Not a real Jet Li fan. Always seemed like another Bruce clone.

 

2. But almost all action mvies have *some* undertones. Some are just more subtle.

[Guest razazteca]

Once Upon A Time In China was sponsored by the government to promote pride in its history, but to me it seemed like a proganda film. This series was just over the top with the outsiders as the evil doers.

 

The movies about the Shaolin Temple have a great story with morality instead of politics as the main theme most of the time, I prefer this type of Martial Art movie. The Bruce Lee movies that promoted Jeet Kun Do were just as good, Game of Death with the deleted scenes is just breath taking.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Once Upon A Time In China was sponsored by the government to promote pride in its history, but to me it seemed like a proganda film. This series was just over the top with the outsiders as the evil doers.

 

The movies about the Shaolin Temple have a great story with morality instead of politics as the main theme most of the time, I prefer this type of Martial Art movie. The Bruce Lee movies that promoted Jeet Kun Do were just as good, Game of Death with the deleted scenes is just breath taking.

In my humble opinion, Bruce's best film is Return of the Dragon unlike his other films. There's no vengeance plot, there's lots of comedy, and Bruce directed it himself.

 

 

It's sad. Bruce wanted to make Game of Death the sequel to ROTD, but he died to early. After that, he was going to do a Shaw Brothers swordsman film. Then another Hollywood movie.

 

 

In 5 years, he could have done what Jackie Chan did today.

[Guest Lethargic]

In 5 years, he could have done what Jackie Chan did today.

Suck?

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

In 5 years, he could have done what Jackie Chan did today.

Suck?

Brought Martial Arts to mainstream america.

[Guest Lethargic]

In 5 years, he could have done what Jackie Chan did today.

Suck?

Brought Martial Arts to mainstream america.

Uh, what? So you're Bruce Lee DIDN'T bring martial arts to mainstream america? Jackie Chan did? Enter the Dragon didn't do that? Cause I was pretty sure it did.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

In 5 years, he could have done what Jackie Chan did today.

Suck?

Brought Martial Arts to mainstream america.

Uh, what? So you're Bruce Lee DIDN'T bring martial arts to mainstream america? Jackie Chan did? Enter the Dragon didn't do that? Cause I was pretty sure it did.

As usual, you're wrong.

 

 

No one was making mainstream movies that normally wouldn't have kung-fu with kung-fu before Jackie. Bruce is more remebered for his tragic death by MS America. Rumble in the Bronx sold the public that kung-fu was cool.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

In 5 years, he could have done what Jackie Chan did today.

Suck?

Brought Martial Arts to mainstream america.

Uh, what? So you're Bruce Lee DIDN'T bring martial arts to mainstream america? Jackie Chan did? Enter the Dragon didn't do that? Cause I was pretty sure it did.

As usual, you're wrong.

 

 

No one was making mainstream movies that normally wouldn't have kung-fu with kung-fu before Jackie. Bruce is more remebered for his tragic death by MS America. Rumble in the Bronx sold the public that kung-fu was cool.

Enter the Dragon was COOL long before Rumble in the Bronx.

 

Who in American didn't think kung-fu was cool after Enter the Dragon?

[Guest CED Ordonez]

For the record, I'm a purple belt in Taekwondo. That is all. Everything else I consider part of my "Bastardized Shootoresu" fighting style.

 

Anyway, I went to Big Lots of all places today and saw "Sonny Chiba in The Street Fighter" in the tape section for a mere dollar. I was tempted to pick it up, but I had no idea if it was any good. Anybody want to chime in with some information on "The Street Fighter"?

[Guest razazteca]

buy it now and the whole series, I think there was 4 of them and if you can get the Golgo 13 movie also.

 

Enter the Dragon was the begining of America's fasination with Martial Arts as Bruce Lee was the best at it and did kung fu movies in present day settings, but after his death and all of the clones, the Martial Arts fad moved to Ninja and Karate Kid movies to Van Dam to Steven Segal action movies. It was not until the success of Rumble in the Bronx that the second wave of Hong Kong movies started.

[Guest Karnage]

It's kindof hard to believe that of all HK movies, Rumble In The Bronx brought back HK movies to mainstream.

 

And as for Street Fighter, Pick up The Legends Of Kung Fu or 10 Faces Of Sonny Chiba 10 packs distributed by Brentwood. They might have horrible VQ, but that's still a good deal for 20.00 USD.

[Guest Lethargic]

In 5 years, he could have done what Jackie Chan did today.

Suck?

Brought Martial Arts to mainstream america.

Uh, what? So you're Bruce Lee DIDN'T bring martial arts to mainstream america? Jackie Chan did? Enter the Dragon didn't do that? Cause I was pretty sure it did.

As usual, you're wrong.

 

 

No one was making mainstream movies that normally wouldn't have kung-fu with kung-fu before Jackie. Bruce is more remebered for his tragic death by MS America. Rumble in the Bronx sold the public that kung-fu was cool.

Hahahahaha. Great post. Say somebody else is wrong and then pull some bogus BS out of your ass and post it. Brilliant!

[Guest Karnage]

And as for the Region 2 release of Once Upon A Time..., I'm fairly sure it made it through the BBFC unscathed, but check out the reviews section of http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk for the lowdown.

After a little research, here are some of the cut HKL discs.

 

Once Upon A Time In China III: A horse that got kicked and fell down is edited.

 

My Lucky Stars: Something about hotwiring a car.

 

Iron Fisted Monk: A rape scene.

 

Snake In The Eagle' Shadow: The animal fight. This version also has an incorrect aspect ratio of 1.85:1 instead of 2.35:1. Drunken Master also has an incorrect aspect ratio.

 

Eastern Condors: Snake cruelty.

 

Body Weapon: A rape scene.

[Guest razazteca]

I have a copy of Shaolin Temple that has Jet Li eating a dog, but it has bad video transfer which I found in the cheap clearence section at the video section in a Super Market.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Guys, you didn't see Kung-Fu in MAINSTREAM situations until Jackie Chan. Bruce Lee's movies were awesome but, he simply didn't live long enough to convert as many people to the Kung-Fu craze as Jackie did. If Jackie hadn't become a film star there wouldn't even be kung-fu films made in HK since the industry fell out after Bruce's death till SIES came out.

[Guest DVD Spree]

Alas, the rumour that Game of Death was supposed to be a sequel to Way of The Dragon is not true. Bruce never intended the recurring character to be Tang Lung, although before the notes and scenes were discovered it was the best way to tie up the loose story ends.

 

And about the swordsman film, I don't think that's quite right either. Bruce did a lot of publicity photos with a lot of swordsman weapons (slick hair, tied up in a bun with studded wrist shields), but these were strictly publicity. Bruce generally considered the swordsman genre abhorrent.

 

As for the anti-Japanese stuff in Fist of Fury (The Chinese Connection), well, even the Japanese accept that as a very unfortunate time in their past, and they look at it more as somethign they have moved on from than something they dwell on. The film was an enormous hit in Japan, but at the end of teh day it's still a CHinese movie reflecting a terrible time in their history.

 

And let's not forget that the question of who introduced Kung-Fu films to the US would be a moot point, because the industry was on its ass and almost dead until Bruce Lee reinvigorated it. You could even argue that Kung-fu/martial arts movies may not have permeated the US until recent years, had it not been for Lee's involvment with Dosier and co. that ultimately lead to the Kung Fu TV series.

[Guest PORNFAQ]

Yeah, saying that kung-fu and karate movies weren't popular with fans in the US until Rumble in the Bronx is like saying rap wasn't popular in the US until NELLY.

 

Bruce Lee opened the doors for EVERYONE. That includes Jackie Chan. Martial arts movies gained their biggest boost in popularity through Bruce, not friggin' Rumble in the Bronx. What was that? the 90's? Surely, people were "KUNG FU FIGHTING" long before that in the 70's...you're about 20 years late, Mr. Zsasz.