Doc Mardan

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's had a new found interest in kung fu/martial arts/samaria/hk moves after seeing Kill Bill. God knows there are thousands of these movies, what are some essentials of the genre a newbie should watch?


Thanks in advance!

Jackskeleton

"essentials"... Makes it sound like you can enjoy them all by watching a select few.

Lara Means

The Matrix and Shanghai Noon

Rypro 525

Lara, be prepared to get riddiculled within the next couple of hours by stating the matrix.
go for some shaw brothers movies (if you want them subtitled, anamorphic and great prints, you have to go region free)
game of death (the tracksuit in vol 1 is the same one from this movie)
the street fighter (with sonny chiba, not jean claude van damme)

devilshalo

How about starting with the works of Sonny Chiba and Gordon Liu (aka Liu Chia Liang)?

Jackskeleton

Rypro 525, be prepared to look up Ssarcasm in the dictionary..

lxl

The name is
Liu Chia Hui / Liu Ka Fai (and HK pepole like to use "Lau" for "Liu")
or
Liu Jia Hui in Mandarin

devilshalo

My bad.. Liu Chia Liang is Lau Kar Leung. Gordon's "big brother."

Doc Mardan

obviously you can't, but aren't there some that you should see over others ?

cultshock

Some of the better martial arts and samurai films that were a direct or indirect influence of the Kill Bill films:

from the Shaw Brothers:

36th Chamber of Shaolin
Return of the 36th Chamber
Eight Diagram Pole Fighter

(all available as R3 discs from Celestial)

Lady Snowblood
Lone Wolf and Cub (Kozure Okamii) series

(available as R1 discs from AnimEigo)

Streetfighter (starring Sonny Chiba)

(only currently available here as cheap "grey market" discs. Most are not too bad direct ports from the New Line LDs)

Less direct influences, but just great HK martial arts films:

Jackie Chan- Drunken Master 1 and 2, Fearless Hyena
Jet Li - Fong Sai Yuk (get the HK disc), Fist of Legend (difficult to get on DVD right now other than the dubbed Dimension one)

These are just off the top of my head, but it gives you a bit of a start.

Rivero

The Matrix??

Try Ichi, the Motherf****n KILLER!!
(the soundtrack by the boredoms ain't too shabby either)

Abranut

As far as being referenced in "Kill Bill", you don't get much cooler than the American cut of "Lone Wolf and Cub" entitled "Shogun Assassin". Truly a badass movie!


Oh, and the original Lone Wolf and Cub series are amazing too.

LivingINClip

Zatoichi
The Five Deadly Venoms
36th Chamber of Shaolin
Enter the Dragon

Tyler_Durden

I second The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, and also recommend Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan. Both movies are out on R3 DVD in very classy remastered editions by Celestial.

Pants

Rivero and Rypo: You guys have been on this forum long enough to know better by now.

devilshalo

Pei Mei:
Executioners from Shaolin
Fists of the White Lotus

Training:
36th Chamber of Shaolin
Return to the 36th Chamber
Shaolin Temple/Death Chamber

Swordplay/Weaponry:
One Armed Swordsman
Water Margin/Seven Blows of the Dragon
Avenging Eagle

Tiger/Crane styles:
Heroes Two
Shaolin Temple/Death Chamber
Executioners from Shaolin
Disciples of Death/Men from the Monastary

Muted blood (film color change):
Water Margin/Seven Blows of the Dragon

These are off the top of my head... I may or may not be correct. YMMV. All are released or planned to be released by Celestial.

Rivero

I've been on this forum long enough to know that sometimes what may seem like obvious sarcasm from some members may in fact be sincere ignorance on their part.

xmiyux

While you guys are kicking the kung-fu recommendations.... I'm looking for something that shows a lot of the drunken styles (either monkey, fist, or something else) and another film that focuses on win chun. Granted there is a movie starring Michelle Yeoh called Win Chun (i believe) but i was told that it doesn't actually feature any win chun in it.....

So please offer me some recommendations or let me know if what i was told on Win Chun was incorrect.

devilshalo

Drunken Monkey, Mad Monkey Kung Fu & Shaolin Challenges Ninja/Challenge of the Ninja are the 3 Shaw Bros ones that come to mind. All feature Lau Kar Leung choreography.

QuiGonJosh

Street Fighter Films
Shogun Assassin
Fist of Legend
Lady Snowblood
mostly a lot a stuff with the names "Shaolin" or "Ninja" in the title and from HK!

xmiyux

I have Shaolin Challenges Ninja as part of the Gordon Liu bundle i got from HKFlix as part of their Kill Bill guide. Great film btw and it was one of the things that inspired me to want to see more drunken fighting.

elengineer

For "old-school" Kung Fu flicks, it might be helpful to look through this thread:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...ht=school+kung

in the International Forum. Definitely some good info in there...

Rivero

Tai-Chi Master!

aa-dvd

Ok, there have been some great recommendations here. Can anyone recommend the best places to purchase and what versions to look for? I am interested in Drunken Master series, Five Deadly Venoms, Shogun Assassin, Iron Monkey, 36th chamber of Shaolin, and Street Fighter.

Rypro 525

for five deadly venoms, if you are region free get the region 3 version from hkflix. shogun assassin is availible in europe region 2 and not availible anymore in region 0. iron monkey is availible in region 1 but the subs are "simplified" and is missing a scene, you can go anywhere and find the street fighter for about 10 bucks max.