Martial arts question

Dr Saxon · 29-05-2003, 03:04 PM

A few years back Channel 4 did a program on martial arts movies. Naturally they showed a load of clips but I don't remember them captioning them with the titles. There was one clip which had a bunch of guys riding flying giant water spiders. Just wondering if anybody here might know movie that came from?

bluedemon13 · 29-05-2003, 04:14 PM

i think thats from shaolin versus ninja- but i aint too sure

bluedemon13 · 29-05-2003, 04:23 PM

tell a lie it's

ninja the final duel

Dr Saxon · 29-05-2003, 04:25 PM

Thanks. Must keep an eye open for it. It looked decidely whacky.

bluedemon13 · 29-05-2003, 04:27 PM

you want wacky kung fu

any of the barry prima warrior films are nuts

master of the flying guillotine

ninja hunter- which is the nuttiest of the lot- an evil ninja in gold lamé and a hitler tash has an army on ninjas who can transform into rugs?????

Dr Saxon · 29-05-2003, 04:39 PM

I've actually seen Master Of The Flying Guillotine and it was certainly..... unusual.
In an intoxicated state, you kinda wonder if that bit with the arms is happening in the film or if your eyes are just going funny.

bluedemon13 · 29-05-2003, 04:45 PM

i've unfortunately devoted my life to findin different versions of it- i'm currently at about 9.

you seen any of the sonny chiba japanese oddidities like samuraie re-incarnation or ninja wars?

Dr Saxon · 30-05-2003, 10:30 AM

I haven't seen very many martial art movies (in fact the only ones I can think of are Flying Guillotine, Shogun Assassin, Enter The Dragon and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).
I find I really have to be in the right state of mind to watch them. They're very simple movies usually (along with stuff like Assault On Precinct 13 (a classic but not one I'd watch every day)), so I need to be seriously relaxed to watch them. Good when intoxicated.
Oh yeah, I've seena couple of Jackie Chan movies, too. I probably would have never heard of Sonny Chiba, if he wasn't mentioned in True Romance.

bluedemon13 · 30-05-2003, 10:37 AM

admittedly there is a ton of low rate trash- beyond even me enjoyin in- but stuff like -shaolin temple- 8 diagram pole fighters-chinese boxer etc are pure class. ive been collecting horror for about 15 years, but only got into kung fu in the last 3 or so. shaw brothers even forayed into some low brow horror- revenge of the zombies (black magic 2) is completely insane- not to mention gory-well worth a look

**the13thman** · 30-05-2003, 12:29 PM

The Street Fighter movies - referenced in True Romance - are among my favourites, though they aren't strictly martial arts films as Sonny Chiba just batters his opponents pretty quickly and brutally. The first film (Street Fighter) features some outrageous gore and is a definite must see, I really enjoyed the second (Return of…) despite the reduced levels of gore, while The Street Fighter’s Last Revenge is entertainingly dubbed and Sister Street Fighter is just entertaining.

There are cheap uncut R1 (mine are actually R0, but I can’t vouch for all the various versions) and R4 versions about that are full widescreen (don’t watch them in full frame), all dubbed of course, but still essential for fans of cult movies. I don’t usually go for dubbed films but for these I had to make an exception, especially as they are the only game in town.

If you want more Tarantino / Chiba connections you can also check out The Bodyguard (I think my abysmally pan-scanned US version is titled (Viva Chiba -The Bodyguard), the opening of which clearly ‘inspired’ Samuel L Jackson’s famous speech in Pulp Fiction. And of course Chiba will turn up in Kill Bill somewhere too.

And as far as the more‘out there’ movies go, Swordsman II (and to a lesser extent it’s sequel, The East is Red) probably rate as my favourites, I’m a sucker for almost anything Tsui Hark puts out but these two are head and shoulders above the competition.

If you can import them, do, as Di$ney have screwed with Swordsman II (Legend of the Swordsman they call it, their version is re-edited and dubbed) and I don’t think The East is Red is out anywhere outside of Asia. Both are R0, by the way.

The new wave of stuff just can’t compare (Hero for example looks spectacular but is deathly slow and boring). OK it’s storyline may not take in demons and ninjas and the like but not one fight has any tension in it. Even Tsui Hark’s own Legend of Zu, despite very impressive visual effects and a solid cast, doesn’t compare to his earlier Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain, also worth picking up from HKL.

bluedemon13 · 30-05-2003, 01:16 PM

theres a cheap sonny chiba box set floatin about- 10 films (includin some of the street fighter ones) you can pick up for a tenner

Dr Saxon · 30-05-2003, 01:22 PM

Looks like I might have to start expanding my horizon's a bit. Also looks like I might have to get a second TV so my wife can watch something else while I'm watching MA movies.

bluedemon13 · 30-05-2003, 06:27 PM

how did a link appear on my post?? mysterious that

martinp · 30-05-2003, 07:44 PM

I watched The Street Fighter for the first time a couple of weeks ago and loved every minute of it. The only other martial arts movies I have seen are Police Story and Enter the Dragon. I must confess I didn't like Enter The Dragon but enjoyed Police Story

After watching The Street Fighter I ordered another movie with Sonny Chiba in called The Executioner any opinions?