ol' school saturday afternoon kung fu theater
07-25-01, 03:28 AM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Texas
Posts: 141
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
ol' school saturday afternoon kung fu theater
Two-part question (I'm a rookie, so be patient):
Growing up, I would watch the kung fu flicks with very little plot,
definitely no romance, and a whole lot of butt kickin'. Although
the genre has come a long way (CTHD), oh how I long to see the
movies I grew up with. Unfortunately, I was too young to pay
attention to the titles of the movies. Can anyone suggest titles
of these late 70's, early 80's movies?
Plus, it seems as though the climax of several of these movies
occurred when several fighters teamed up against a old man with
long, white hair. Can anyone tell me this actor's name?
I know this is very little info to go on, but I hope someone can help.
Thanks
Growing up, I would watch the kung fu flicks with very little plot,
definitely no romance, and a whole lot of butt kickin'. Although
the genre has come a long way (CTHD), oh how I long to see the
movies I grew up with. Unfortunately, I was too young to pay
attention to the titles of the movies. Can anyone suggest titles
of these late 70's, early 80's movies?
Plus, it seems as though the climax of several of these movies
occurred when several fighters teamed up against a old man with
long, white hair. Can anyone tell me this actor's name?
I know this is very little info to go on, but I hope someone can help.
Thanks
07-25-01, 04:56 AM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Region-Selectable
Posts: 361
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
old school
cseaw - as far as movie suggestions, first check the 'newbie' thread here:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=122919
Look at the very first post under the "Old-school kung fu" heading. Those are some solid flicks out now on DVD.
Also, even though it didn't necessarily intend to be, this thread:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=121945
has pretty much turned into the "old-school" discussion thread. There are TONS of suggestions and quick reviews of some awesome flicks in there.
I just started really getting heavy into old-school stuff myself, so I really can't answer your second question. The most recent "villian has white hair" flick I have seen was the DVD titled, "Fist of the White Lotus" put out by Ground Zero. There is a quick discussion of it in the thread above.
Good luck and welcome.
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=122919
Look at the very first post under the "Old-school kung fu" heading. Those are some solid flicks out now on DVD.
Also, even though it didn't necessarily intend to be, this thread:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=121945
has pretty much turned into the "old-school" discussion thread. There are TONS of suggestions and quick reviews of some awesome flicks in there.
I just started really getting heavy into old-school stuff myself, so I really can't answer your second question. The most recent "villian has white hair" flick I have seen was the DVD titled, "Fist of the White Lotus" put out by Ground Zero. There is a quick discussion of it in the thread above.
Good luck and welcome.
07-25-01, 06:05 AM
#3
DVD Talk Legend
Well - I'm with you - I also grew up watching the saturday afternoon kung-fu theater. I tried to recapture those times by asking around about what films were good old school films and I was told to pick up The Kid With a Golden Arm and Five Element Ninja (Chinese Super Ninja). Both of them sucked (in my humble opinion - please no backlash) compared to what I had in mind, yet everyone defended them as being the best old school films around. As I'm sure they will do after this post... but... this is just my 2 cents and I'm absolutely not with the concensis on these films. I just figure that if they were among the best, I would've seen them before with all the films I'd seen on Kung-Fu theater over the years.
You may indeed love those 2 films, but they weren't anywhere near what I remember seeing back then. The stuff I remember was closer to The Magnificent Butcher as far as production values and action are concerned... but even different still. I have yet to tap into a group of films that look like those did. TKWAGA and CSN certainly looked nothing like what I remember, and Magnificent Butcher was closer - but still not the same.
We probably watched the same movies. White beard guy jumping up into a tree and whatnot. TKWAGA and CSN looked really cheap to me - Chinese Super Ninja especially was filmed on sets that were supposed to look like outdoors, but it just looked really cheesey like a Star Trek set from the original series or a Gilligan's Island set. Anyway - I think alot of people like it because a guy's intestines fall out of his pants near the end and he steps on em - but it just looked like a strip of bacon falling out of his pants - it was lame (IMHO)... most people say though that the weapons they used were authentic and it's really cool - I just don't see it. I'm sure someone will give a ton of reasons why these are good films and I'm sure to them they are good films... I don't want to start a fight - people are entitled to have their own opinions. Some of my favorite films are disliked by most people and that's ok. I just would like to get an answer to your question as well, but maybe by saying this I can get different suggestions. I think you worded it alot better than I did when I first asked. There's tons of suggestions of movies like CSN and TKWAGA, but I'd just like to have suggestions for films like I remember from the Kung-Fu theater days. Some of them seemed fairly epic and they weren't cheaper productions than US films really at the time (they maybe looked a few years older)
I hope I didn't offend anyone by dissing on those two films - I just mean that they aren't for me. I can see how they could be somebody else's cup of tea.
Also - not trying to hyjack the thread, but I'd also like to know the name of a half-dozen films that Cinemax or Showtime (can't recall) were showing back a few years ago (2 to 4)... they looked pretty damn cool - they were period kung-fu flicks but they had a fantasy element. They were cooler than Storm Riders and were kinda like CTHD. I remember a few of them had some wicked wire work (I remember one scene in one movie had this epic battle happening next to this super-tall wall and everyone was flying back and forth killing each other) and some had some really cool effects with chicks shooting energy out of their hands at each other. Production values were pretty high it seemed. I wish I knew what these films were. Anybody follow those channels enough to know what Kung-fu films they've played over the past few years?
You may indeed love those 2 films, but they weren't anywhere near what I remember seeing back then. The stuff I remember was closer to The Magnificent Butcher as far as production values and action are concerned... but even different still. I have yet to tap into a group of films that look like those did. TKWAGA and CSN certainly looked nothing like what I remember, and Magnificent Butcher was closer - but still not the same.
We probably watched the same movies. White beard guy jumping up into a tree and whatnot. TKWAGA and CSN looked really cheap to me - Chinese Super Ninja especially was filmed on sets that were supposed to look like outdoors, but it just looked really cheesey like a Star Trek set from the original series or a Gilligan's Island set. Anyway - I think alot of people like it because a guy's intestines fall out of his pants near the end and he steps on em - but it just looked like a strip of bacon falling out of his pants - it was lame (IMHO)... most people say though that the weapons they used were authentic and it's really cool - I just don't see it. I'm sure someone will give a ton of reasons why these are good films and I'm sure to them they are good films... I don't want to start a fight - people are entitled to have their own opinions. Some of my favorite films are disliked by most people and that's ok. I just would like to get an answer to your question as well, but maybe by saying this I can get different suggestions. I think you worded it alot better than I did when I first asked. There's tons of suggestions of movies like CSN and TKWAGA, but I'd just like to have suggestions for films like I remember from the Kung-Fu theater days. Some of them seemed fairly epic and they weren't cheaper productions than US films really at the time (they maybe looked a few years older)
I hope I didn't offend anyone by dissing on those two films - I just mean that they aren't for me. I can see how they could be somebody else's cup of tea.
Also - not trying to hyjack the thread, but I'd also like to know the name of a half-dozen films that Cinemax or Showtime (can't recall) were showing back a few years ago (2 to 4)... they looked pretty damn cool - they were period kung-fu flicks but they had a fantasy element. They were cooler than Storm Riders and were kinda like CTHD. I remember a few of them had some wicked wire work (I remember one scene in one movie had this epic battle happening next to this super-tall wall and everyone was flying back and forth killing each other) and some had some really cool effects with chicks shooting energy out of their hands at each other. Production values were pretty high it seemed. I wish I knew what these films were. Anybody follow those channels enough to know what Kung-fu films they've played over the past few years?
07-25-01, 01:31 PM
#4
DVD Talk Reviewer
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 3,272
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Jeez Trigger give it a rest, another long tirade of how you hated those two films and you great memory of other old school films. "I didnt care for them" would be fine, an opinion is one thing a rant is another.
As far as those films you saw on cable, with good authority I can say that the " I remember one scene in one movie had this epic battle happening next to this super-tall wall and everyone was flying back and forth killing each other, and some had some really cool effects with chicks shooting energy out of their hands at each other. " Were most likely Once Upon a Time in China 4 and Dragon Chronicles (aka. Semi-Gods and Semi-Devils) since I watched/taped them off of cable (ActionMAx or Cinemax, I think) and your description fits them perfectly. They also showed The Blade and Blade of Fury as well Ninja in a Deadly Trap. Also one of the Starz action channels shows a lot of dubbed and sometimes cut versions of Fong Sai Yuk 1&2, Herioc Trio, Stormriders, Eastern Condors, and whatnot.
As far as those films you saw on cable, with good authority I can say that the " I remember one scene in one movie had this epic battle happening next to this super-tall wall and everyone was flying back and forth killing each other, and some had some really cool effects with chicks shooting energy out of their hands at each other. " Were most likely Once Upon a Time in China 4 and Dragon Chronicles (aka. Semi-Gods and Semi-Devils) since I watched/taped them off of cable (ActionMAx or Cinemax, I think) and your description fits them perfectly. They also showed The Blade and Blade of Fury as well Ninja in a Deadly Trap. Also one of the Starz action channels shows a lot of dubbed and sometimes cut versions of Fong Sai Yuk 1&2, Herioc Trio, Stormriders, Eastern Condors, and whatnot.
Last edited by Slumbering Fist; 07-25-01 at 01:34 PM.
07-25-01, 04:00 PM
#5
DVD Talk Legend
thanks - I'll see if those are them... I appreciate it. Any more you can think of? One had some young kids in a cave or something and there were magic battles in the air with things shooting out of hands or something.
And Sorry about that... I wasn't trying to rant - I guess I overdid it trying to make my point clear. I'm sorry. I did not care for them.
And Sorry about that... I wasn't trying to rant - I guess I overdid it trying to make my point clear. I'm sorry. I did not care for them.
07-25-01, 05:32 PM
#6
DVD Talk Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Cape Ann, Massachusetts
Posts: 10,928
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
Well, Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest were the two companies that put out the biggest budget, highest production value old-school KF movies. Trigger, I think it may be a case that your memories are fonder than the realities of the films you used to watch. Unless you'e talking about King Hu's work, or the odd independant film, there is no vein of high production value, old school films as you describe them, to my knowledge. Also keep in mind that the Shaw Brothers studios produced DOZENS (maybe a hundred?) of KF movies from the 60's to the early 80's----I also didn't like Super Ninjas, and I agree the production values were really hokey. But that was Shaw Brothers at it's end---don't judge all of their work from 2 movies you didn't care for.
Anyways--Saturday afternoon KF theatre-type recommendations--
Shaolin Master Killer--If you don't like this movie, you don't like Kung Fu movies (I hate to be judgemental and intolerant, but that's the way it is)
Fist of the White Lotus---THERE"S your old white eybrow super-villain! (played by Lo Lieh, who also directed)
"Hahaha--A bunch of amateurs.......I can defeat you ALL without using a weapon!"
Anyways--Saturday afternoon KF theatre-type recommendations--
Shaolin Master Killer--If you don't like this movie, you don't like Kung Fu movies (I hate to be judgemental and intolerant, but that's the way it is
)Fist of the White Lotus---THERE"S your old white eybrow super-villain! (played by Lo Lieh, who also directed)
"Hahaha--A bunch of amateurs.......I can defeat you ALL without using a weapon!"
07-26-01, 02:59 AM
#8
DVD Talk Legend
Originally posted by Ky-Fi
Well, Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest were the two companies that put out the biggest budget, highest production value old-school KF movies. Trigger, I think it may be a case that your memories are fonder than the realities of the films you used to watch. Unless you'e talking about King Hu's work, or the odd independant film, there is no vein of high production value, old school films as you describe them, to my knowledge. Also keep in mind that the Shaw Brothers studios produced DOZENS (maybe a hundred?) of KF movies from the 60's to the early 80's----I also didn't like Super Ninjas, and I agree the production values were really hokey. But that was Shaw Brothers at it's end---don't judge all of their work from 2 movies you didn't care for.
Anyways--Saturday afternoon KF theatre-type recommendations--
Shaolin Master Killer--If you don't like this movie, you don't like Kung Fu movies (I hate to be judgemental and intolerant, but that's the way it is)
Fist of the White Lotus---THERE"S your old white eybrow super-villain! (played by Lo Lieh, who also directed)
"Hahaha--A bunch of amateurs.......I can defeat you ALL without using a weapon!"
Well, Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest were the two companies that put out the biggest budget, highest production value old-school KF movies. Trigger, I think it may be a case that your memories are fonder than the realities of the films you used to watch. Unless you'e talking about King Hu's work, or the odd independant film, there is no vein of high production value, old school films as you describe them, to my knowledge. Also keep in mind that the Shaw Brothers studios produced DOZENS (maybe a hundred?) of KF movies from the 60's to the early 80's----I also didn't like Super Ninjas, and I agree the production values were really hokey. But that was Shaw Brothers at it's end---don't judge all of their work from 2 movies you didn't care for.
Anyways--Saturday afternoon KF theatre-type recommendations--
Shaolin Master Killer--If you don't like this movie, you don't like Kung Fu movies (I hate to be judgemental and intolerant, but that's the way it is
)Fist of the White Lotus---THERE"S your old white eybrow super-villain! (played by Lo Lieh, who also directed)
"Hahaha--A bunch of amateurs.......I can defeat you ALL without using a weapon!"
07-26-01, 03:58 AM
#9
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Region-Selectable
Posts: 361
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
elengineer
FWIW, there is now an "official" old-school thread here:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=128795
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=128795
07-26-01, 04:31 PM
#10
DVD Talk Reviewer
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 3,272
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
cseaw, well, it is a needle in a haystack, and its a big maybe if it is Fist of the White Lotus, but I thought I should point out that Fist... is essentially a remake of Executioners from Shaolin, so it could be either one. Unfortunately with the description only being 'someone fighting a long white haried guy' is the same as asking "It was a cop movie with a shootout and a car chase." No worries though, I've had the same problem tracking down tons of films from my youth. I'm currently trying to find a monkey kung fu film I saw as a kid, and I've narrowed the search down to Snake in the Monkeys Shadow and Stroke of Death. Hopefully we'll both find our film, its just a matter of patience and lots of searching.
