The Green Dragon Inn (1977)

When an evil land baron's son murders an innocent family, a Marshall is called in to escort him to be executed in the court of law far to the north. With the aid of an army of soldiers, the Marshall must fight off the Land Baron's assassins, who want to try and free his murderous son at every given chance.

About 99% of the martial arts movies with the words "Bruce", "Shaolin", and "Dragon" in the title have nothing to do with those things and this one is perhaps the most blatant example with the alternate title "Bruce is Loose".  There is no Bruce Lee in this movie.  However it is a kick ass Kung-Fu flick and it's a shame there is no widescreen DVD currently on the market. All you can find is a shitty Pan and Scan VHS copy of the film.

Produced by (Polly) Shaun Kuan, who also co-stars. ; Directed by legendary Shaw Bros. veteran King Hu.  It also has Lo Leih from "Five Fingers Of a Death" in a limited role but he kicks ass when he's on screen.   Yueh Hwa does a fine job as well as the determined hero.

There is an indirectly presented political message in the film - a stable society must be grounded in law, not the whim of the rich and powerful - which remains true today.  It's really tough to give a complete review since the print of the film I saw was so poor. However the film moves along at a nice pace, has a good story and what I think are some great fights from what I could see.

Not a bad film to kill some time if you were a fan of Kung Fu Theater back in the 80's. 

Wonderman From Shaolin (1979)

This 1979 kung fu classic tells the tale of a young master fighter (Casanova Wong) defending the honor of a Shaolin temple against merciless hordes of bloodthirsty Mongolian warriors. 

A group of mongrel warriors seek out a sacred statue in hopes of gaining legitimate force in the government in this martial arts-adventure featuring Korean fighter Casanova Wong. In the time of the Ching Dynasty, a group of fearsome mongrels descend upon the Shaolin temple in hopes of acquiring the sacred gold Buddha. Knowing that possession of the Buddha will give them leverage within the government, the fighters risk everything in a deadly battle against a legendary lone monk known only as The Wonder Man. The Wonder Man is the master of the Sun Fist Style, but in order to maintain possession of the golden Buddha, The Wonder Man will have to do battle with the White Haired Slayer -- master of the Wind Blade. Could it be that The Wonder Man has finally met his match?

Overall this is not the worst Kung Fu film you could check out....but it's far from the best. It stars Casanova Wong who can kick his ass off. He also does a good job in the first half of the film pretending to be deaf and dumb.  I thought the dumb guy was going to become a Kung Fu master and save the day.  But no, he was fooling everyone to get his revenge against the man that killed his father.  

Try and stop my Wind Blade style

The movie was actually filmed in Korea and stars mostly Koreans as extras.  

The majority of the film kinds of drags with a few fights here and there.  But the last 20-30 minutes is filled with major ass kicking.  I found our hero getting his power from the sun to be a little far fetched and the evil doer's Wind Blade isn't that much better.  I've seen much worse for sure.  Two side kicks our of five. 

World Of The Drunken Master (1979)

A winery owner and drunken boxing master trains two young boys in the art of drunken boxing after he catches them stealing from his winery.

After the success of Jackie Chan's film Drunken Master, more drunken Kung Fu films started cropping up to cash in.  This is an unofficial sequel/prequel to that film and focuses on the early life of Begger Su and his pal Fan Ta-Pei.  Begger Su is one of the most iconic characters in martial arts cinema.  Director Joseph Kuo resurrected the character for this film. Simon Yuen (the original Begger Su actor) is all over the box cover and appears in the opening credits demonstrating drunken kung fu but then is replaced by two other actors for the rest of the film.  A little bait and switch which is highly disappointing.

Vineyard owner Chang Chi catches Fan Ta-pei and Su Hua-tzu red-handed as they steal grapes from his supplies. To make good for what they've stolen, Chang Chi puts them to work in his winery, and soon discovers they both have a natural talents for the martial arts. Chang begins coaching them in the finer points of Kung Fu, and one day when Fan Ta-pei and Su Hua-tzu see a thug named Yeh Hu harassing the townspeople, they stand up to the bully, only to discover he outpaces them as a fighter. Chang Chi arrives in time to save the day, but this rekindles an old rivalry between him and Yeh Hu, and now Fan Ta-pei and Su Hua-tzu must get serious about their martial arts studies to protect Chang Chi and the villagers from Yeh Hu and his minions.

Fan Ta-pei and Su Hua-tzu reunited 30 years later.

Action director Yuen Cheung-Yan put in some solid work here with the fighting but it doesn't come close to matching the original Drunken Master film.  The fight scenes still supply enough excitement to raise World of the Drunken Master above the shallow level of your average chop socky movie. There are a few comedic elements in the film and despite their appearances, Li Yi-Min and Jack Lung make a competent comic team.  The film ended with sort of a cliffhanger ending which was surprising.  As far as I know there was no sequel.  Who the hell knows what happened next.  It's a rather confusing ending.

Fan Ta-pei ready to kick some ass.

One bad point about the film is the final fights are way too cut-up.  The film has great fight choreography, a well-acted and thought out main plot, and good cinematography. The subplot at the beginning and ending of the film...not so thought out.  Overall it is a worthy film to add to your collection if you're a fan of old school Hong Kong cinema.

72 Desperate Rebels (1978)

Directed by Lin Bin, Seventy-Two Desperate Rebels centers around the infamous pirate Pu Ho-nien's effort to topple the Ming Dynasty. When Pu employs 72 seasoned kung-fu fighters to help achieve his goal, the situation looks bleak for the reigning imperialists. However, among the intricately rated fighters -- younger members wore headbands indicative of how many men they had killed -- exists a spy, a blind swordsman, and the mysterious Ghost Killer, all of whom threaten Pu Ho-nien's plans.

Check out the DVD cover above..."an unstoppable army of ninja".  There's not one fucking Ninja in this movie.

This film is sort of a rip off of ideas from many other kung fu flicks. You have the "Ghost Killer"...obviously a copy of the "Ghost Face Killer".  You also have a blind swordsman and a one armed swordsman...themes from other flicks. One part that's original but not very cool, is the giant monk that runs around and obviously can't be killed.  They threw that mother fucker off a cliff and he just rumbled up later out of the ocean.  Let me take that back.  The bastard can bite through metal which is a rip off of "Jaws" from the James Bond movies.

I'm not scared of that big fucking Monk.

However if you watched Kung Fu theater on Saturday's and enjoyed it, this is a good movie for you.
It has all the intangibles for a good Kung Fu movie--unbelievable Kung Fu action, bad sound effects, bad editing, and bad overdubs. A large band of fighters terrorize China during the Ming dynasty. Through their terror, they end up killing some one's father, and as we all know in Kung Fu, that means sworn revenge.  There's tons of fighting and some of it is a little better choreographed than others.

I did enjoy the different rooms our heroes had to fight through to get to the evil bandit leader. They pass through some rooms of a sort of magic causing them visual disorientation, dizzying flag twirling, and a bizarre contraption of small, deafening bells attached to an overhead bamboo framework. Not terribly believable, but interesting to see.

The stars are not terribly charismatic. The female fighters are not memorable and not particularly skilled, although they are attractive. The only names in the cast are Tien Peng as one of the heroes; Pai Ying as villain Po Ho Nin; Lung Fei as the Blind Swordsman; Tsai Hung as one of the lead villains; and Chen Sing in one short fight scene as one of Po's warriors.  Ying is excellent as the villain and a stand out but he doesn't fight enough.

Overall fans of cheesy kung fu flicks will find this enjoyable.  I was entertained.

Our heroes are trapped....time for some vicious Kung Fu

A Girl Called Tigress (1973)

Right off the top let me say that Polly Shang Kuan may be the best female fighter in Kung Fu cinema. If not the best, she's certainly in the top 5. Major ass is kicked in this film. She did not get training from the Peking Opera like many of the other female martial arts stars but over the years she got a black belt in taekwando, karate and judo. Kuan could play both a silly female role or a serious role.  In this film she was a serious ass kicker.

Kuan plays a spunky girl looking for her sister. (Also played by Kuan)  She gets into numerous fights with the minions of the local crime boss and makes a friend with a guy (Kam Kong) and when he realizes she's a little short on cash, he puts her up in the local hotel. She eventually finds her sister who is shacking up with the crime boss and they pull a switch since they're twins. The boss discovers the switch and the fighting commences.

I'll whip your ass boy.

The fighting in this film is very good.  It seems to be more karate instead of Chinese Kung Fu.  Kuan has good kicks and an excellent presence whenever she's onscreen...with both her acting and fighting.  Kam is rather weak in the film and wasn't nearly as impressive fighting or kicking. His moves are sometimes clumsy and seem to be lacking in power.  But the best fighter is villain Yasuaki Kurata.  The only problem is he doesn't fight enough. But it's obvious in his fights that he has the better technique and is much more graceful than the rest of the cast.  The blame for some of the short comings could probably be blamed on the action director.  They can easily make or break a martial arts film.

These gentleman are about to get their ass kicked by a woman.

One surprise for me was Pink Floyd being ripped off and used in the soundtrack.  The chances that they were paid royalties are zero to none.  Sort of strange to see ass kicking and Pink Floyd popping up in the same vehicle.

Overall, this is an average martial arts film but it is an enjoyable experience if you're a fan of the genre. It's a treat to see Polly Kuan kicking so much ass and there are worse ways to spend 80 minutes.

Know your role woman.

A Fist Full Of Talons (1983)

Qing I-ming (Billy Chong) joins up with Ding Wei-zhong (Pai Yin) to ward off a final rebellion against the newly-established Chinese Republic. Ding is carrying highly important documents to the government when he is attacked by two men in league with the counterrevolutionaries. When Ding's stolen horse ends up on the block in the marketplace, Qing I-ming notices the animal and assumes that Ding is in trouble. Inspired by his new girlfriend Eagle Woman Ma (Liu Hao-i), Qing is ready for action.

Billy Chong....he was supposed to be the next big action star.  But alas, it never happened.  This however, was easily his best film. When he first appears on screen, he's washing a horse and comments on the horse's huge cock.  Needless to say, I wasn't sure what direction this film was going in at that point. Is this a martial arts film or gay horse porn?  Thankfully there were no more comments on horse genitalia throughout the rest of the movie.

Talons was directed by Sun Chung, who previously had worked with Shaw Brothers Studios.  He has several well known films in the kung fu genre, "Avenging Eagle" and "Human Lanterns".  It also has the legendary Robert Tai orchestrating wire-assisted fight sequences and the fighting mastery of "5 Deadly Venoms" action director Robert Tai.  Even though most releases of this film on DVD absolutely blow in picture quality, this is a pretty damn good kung fu flick.

When I get this coat off, I'm whipping your ass son.

Hwang In-shik’s performance as the lead villain (Ni Sin) is disappointing.  He had masterful performances in "Hapkido" and "When TaeKwondo Strikes", but doesn't really show up in this film until the final climatic fight.  This was also his last major film appearance.

The film has several unusual characters such as a crazy mother fucker called "Little Bandit". Mr. Bandit ends up getting his ass handed to him by the Manchus and somehow makes it back to warn Ding and Yi Min.  Ding then proclaims what a great hero Little Bandit was and gives a mind numbing speech about it. The film copies Sergio Leone's A Fist Full of Dollars in title but it is in fact also a reference to Eagle Woman Ma and her pet eagles.  Chong's character at one point is set up in an arranged marriage with her and when he jets out, she chases after him the whole movie. She even aids in his battle in the climactic fight by sending her eagles to peck out the eyes of the villain.  And in the final shot, which is unforgettable, her eagle is ripped in half by Ni Sin just as Yi Min gives him a kick to the skull.  It's one of those "Holy Shit" moments.

The Climax of the film....not the horse.

Overall this film has plenty of fights and cool stunt work. The actors are all good fighters and fans of old school kung fu movies will enjoy it. And once again...when he rips that eagle in half....Holy Shit.

The 36 Crazy Fists (1977)

A young man decides to learn Kung Fu to avenge the death of his father, a peaceful shopkeeper who was murdered by Manchurian gangsters for not paying protection money. At first he is rejected by his teachers because he is weak, but through persistence, and some help from other students and a mysterious drunk, he learns the skills he needs to avenge his father

First off let me tell you right up front....you may see Jackie Chan's name blasted all over the DVD covers for this film but he's not in it. According to Jackie, he was furious about them using his name, but there was little he could do at the time.  He was instead the stunt coordinator. The prints of this film are awful. I'm not sure if there's a remastered version out there somewhere...but most of the releases in the USA are poor quality and look there were recorded right off a TV.  It's also known as : "Bloodpact," & "The Master and the Boxer,"  It is not the fault of director Hua Chen that his movie was pirated and deviously marketed.  The film actually is not that bad.

Leung Siu Hung stars as a young man who is trying to learn kung fu for revenge.  He not only has one teacher...home boy has two.  He must be a super quick learner because he masters shit in a week's time. It has some of the typical marital arts themes....old drunk master, bumbling sidekicks and the girl who sticks her nose into everything. Although the girl does get topless which is not common in such films.

I came here to drink wine and kick ass....and I'm all out of wine

 The film has a few good fights such as Fung Hak-on using a chain rope and the climax fight against the white haired villain.  When a guy has white hair in a martial arts film he can kick major ass. It also has a lot of comedy.  Personally, I'm not a big fan of the comical martial arts films. I'm usually rolling my eyes and not laughing very much.  On the other hand, if you're a fan of these older martial arts films then you will probably enjoy it.  As a professional student of kung fu films, I say it's only average.  If I could see a remastered, uncut film I could be persuaded to change my mind.  But this version didn't have me kicking for joy.

Jackie coordinating with what appears to be a cigarette in his mouth...now that's bad ass.