Another Attempt a Non-Shaw Brothers Old School Thread

[Ian F]

Same setup and concept as the Shaw Brothers one, but just dedicated to Old School Kung Fu films (Pre-1985) made by any studio other than the Shaws. Modern Day and Traditional Time periods are fine.

The Hot, The Cool, and The Vicious

I was watching the Jimmy Wang Yu and Jackie Chan in Lo Wei's The Killer Meteors last night. Now thats one of the earliest kung fu films I ever saw as I child and I still love it. However, the ending of that film made no sense as a kid and still doesn't it has four or five plot threads coming together into a massive mishmash of nonesense (although it does lead to some great fights). I just wish I could understand what the hell finally happens! Luckily The Hot, The Cool, And The Vicious this was not the case at all. The movie with expert direction by Lee Tso Nam, doesn't suffer this problem at all. The Hot, The Cool, And The Vicious is able to juggle a plot dealing with fake money, a women seeking revenge, a killer on the loose, and a crazed hunchback killing machine played by Tommy Lee. There are so many lesser films that would fail miserably at this task at mixing story and kung fu. Even better with this film is that the fighting is top notch with choreography by Tommy Lee who stars in the flick along with Don Wong Tao and Flashlegs Tan. This equals a film this is great fighting and great story. Something simple like this seems like a basic key for martial arts film making, but more often than not one or both are not done correctly. Luckily with The Hot, The Cool, And The Vicious you get the total package.

Shaolin Drunkard

A great trip through the insane mind of the Yuen Clan. This movie has a drunken monk forced to recover an escaped vampire. The plot is actually fairly cohesive. The film has a lot of very very funny scenes. Especially all the weird gadgets that Yuen Cheung Yan has at his disposal he would put Q to shame.

The best part is this flick has some great dubbing that keeps the laughs going fast. The dubbers fit all of the roles quite well. There is not a lot of fighting but what is there is great and creative especially the end battle which will never have you looking at ring battle again the same way.
I cant figure out why Yuen Yat Chor never hit it big. It is a great actor and martial artist is a blast to watch. Guess he just came to last at the end of the Kung Fu boom.

[Joe N.]

Originally Posted by Ian F

Shaolin Drunkard

A great trip through the insane mind of the Yuen Clan. This movie has a drunken monk forced to recover an escaped vampire. The plot is actually fairly cohesive. The film has a lot of very very funny scenes. Especially all the weird gadgets that Yuen Cheung Yan has at his disposal he would put Q to shame.

I myself am a big fan of the weird styled fu flicks like the Yuen Clans. Ever since I first saw "Godz of Wu Tang" (Duel of the Masters) on VHS. A couple of my favorites of that type are "Miracle Fighters" a Yuen Wo Ping movie starring Beardy & Eddy Ko, and "Exciting Dragon" (as Drunken Dragon on the Rarescope DVD release) starring Beardy, Chiang Sheng, and Philip Ko. These are definitely worth checking out if you were into Shaolin Drunkard. Taoism Drunkard (Drunken Wu Tang) is also a must see. I get a kick out of any kung fu with wacky taoism or evil priests!

I've been keeping a blog dealing with (mainly) old school fu movies. Check it out if you'd like. http://faces-of-fu.blogspot.com/

[James Lee]

Killer Meteors, like many of the Jackie Chan Lo Wei films, is a nostalgic treat. There's a very funny bit early on in the dub, where the dubbers trip over each other's line, results in Jimmy Wang Yu's line "Is Hua Hu-bin really that frightening?" being picked up instead by the guy dubbing the person he's talking to, then BOTH actors say the line "well, let's go"!!!

[Robert F]

I think a film that people don't talk enough about is The Chivalry, The Gunman and The Killer aka The Noble Ninja. The fights have a good rhythm to them with excellent sword clanging sound effects. Han Ying Chieh did the fights for this and it comes off as a greatest hits package with similar moves and ideas seen in other films he's worked on. There's a few WTF?! moments but all in all not as confusing as some people claim it to be. Basically one martial arts sect is going around slaughtering all the other martial arts sects for reasons unknown. A few survivors ask for the help of a retired master swordsman (Yueh Hua) to figure out why this is happening along the way he recruits a couple of his old buddies (Pai Ying the crafty gambler and a strong guy whose name I can't find) and through a series of mishaps falls in love with the lead female member (Hsu Feng) of the clan responsible for the killings. Loyality, love, betrayal, vengeance, plot twists here and there this film has it all with a cast of many familiar faces.

[Joe N.]

http://faces-of-fu.blogspot.com/2010...n-28-1980.html

[Robert F]

I just saw The Merciful Buddha and man was that disappointing. Not enough kung fu. The magic parts were kind of cool again not enough though. The animal parts were funny, watch a mountain that looks like a monkey turn into a giant man in a monkey suit then a small chimp then into two tigers and a bear that steals gold. Real animals!

[James Lee]

The new Code Red DVD of Needles of Death/Challenge The Tiger comes reccomended by yours truly.