Favorite Kung fu movie?

[Aeneas]

I went and bought ong bak and ong bak 2 on blue ray and i must say that these were some of the worst movies ive ever seen.Tony jaa is amazing and the action scenes could be impressive but the actual plots,dialouge,and acting i found to be pretty horrible.Over all i own these movies and will never watch them again.Im also not a die hard kung fu fan but i do like crazy martial arts scenes but these movies lacked so much substance i just laughed most of the time.just my opinion of course.

What are plot and substance? I thought we were talking about martial arts movies

I can't argue that it isn't poorly written, but i will say i am a sucker for acrobatic and inventive combat that isn't done with wires and **** a la crouching tiger, hidden dragon.

[Graark]

The plot on most Kung Fu movies is this. Hero starts out well trained and kicking butt. He then is confronted by the bad guy who either is a little better or cheats to bring the hero close to death. The Hero then runs away to heal and train in a new style and then comes back to defeat the baddie.

Did I get that right?

[Tamerlane]

If you only have time to watch one, then it should be

Chinese SuperNinja

they manage to combine EVERY bad ninja movie cliche into a single film.

love it

[Bekki]

The drunken Master...

36th chamber of Shaolin (Aka The Master Killer)

5 Deadly venoms.

Legend of the flying Guillotine

Once upon a time in China

Man that brings back memories of
Sunday afternoons growing up....

Great thread OP!!!

[Doomcrew]

The Kid with the Golden Arms

Same cast as 5 Deadly Venoms

also 10 Tigers from Kwan Tung (sp?)

Cheers

[Uska]

I love the legend of the seven golden vampires not a real good movie I know but I like it anyways.

[phillymiket]

If you only have time to watch one, then it should be

Chinese SuperNinja

they manage to combine EVERY bad ninja movie cliche into a single film.

love it

Just watched Chinese Super Ninja. Best ever!

the horrible voice overs, the Gilligan's Island sets, the Star Trek costumes, 1000 different weapons - Wow!
It's the complete package.
Just the fact that the opening line of the movie is "Hmm!".
spoiler below
The hero gets killed in the final scene. As he's dieing he says...
"I lost my head!.....sorry."

The End

Best final line in movie history
New Favorite! Thanks +1 to you sir!

[kamimitsu]

Old School: Fearless Hyena (the scene where Jackie and the old man fight balancing on multi-sized ceramic pots all over the room is insanity).

New School: The Protector (the assault on the restaurant is one of the longest single cut scenes in modern action film).

[Tamerlane]

Just watched Chinese Super Ninja. Best ever!

the horrible voice overs, the Gilligan's Island sets, the Star Trek costumes, 1000 different weapons - Wow!
It's the complete package.
Just the fact that the opening line of the movie is "Hmm!".
New Favorite! Thanks +1 to you sir!

i told (warned) you this movie had it all...

[kanbeki]

2 pages and no one mentions mystery of chess boxing? :P

[Psyker]

No question about it...

Street Fighter (the one with Sonny Chiba, NOT the one based on the video game)

Drunken Master (1978 version) is a close 2nd

[Skirmish]

Five Deadly Venoms is awesome. I also love Drunken Master. Return of The Ninja with Sho Kosugi was one of my all time favorites as a kid. Totally made me want to be a ninja when I grew up.

Not really kung-fu, but the black/white film "7 Samurai" is fantastic too. If you've never seen a Kurosawa film- I suggest you check them out. Netflix has several of them on instant play.

OOOH!!! I forgot about Sho!!!!!!!! He was the man! Pray for Death was one of my favorites with him. His family killed, as he seeks revenge, he tells his enemy long before he starts taking out his people that "Before I am finished, you will pray for death." And did he ever.

Old Jackie Chan like the original Drunken Master, Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, and Police Story movies were fantastic. First thing I ever saw with him was 'The Big Brawl'. I think his first US film.

Kurosawa always made awesome movies. Especially whenever he had Toshiro Mifune to direct.

If you get to check out 5 Deadly Venoms, Lo Mang (Toad) was also in a great Kung Fu movie called The Kid with the Golden Arm.

I seriously miss the old late night, what are we gonna put on before we shut down for the night, movies. Back in the early/mid eighties, one of the local UHF stations used to play classic Kung Fu movies as their time filler at the end of the night back before infomercials took over.

[Timjc86]

I'll throw in my vote for Ong Bak and District B13 (and its sequel, District 13: Ultimatum.) They're not Kung Fu movies, but they have plenty of martial arts action.

Ong Bak, as another poster mentioned, is completely void of compelling story and dialogue. But the fights and the acrobatics are done completely without wires and very often without padding, and are simply jaw-dropping. Tony Jaa shows off some very amazing skills.

I will not comment on Ong Bak 2 as I have not seen it yet. But it's got Tony Jaa, so I would expect the action to be similar.

District B13 (and its sequel) have some great fight scenes with Cyril Raffaelli (the monkey man from the last Die Hard movie) as well as some great Parkour scenes with David Belle.

[druiddhohb]

I don't know how old school it is and it definately is painful to watch now but when it came out I liked American Ninja.

Thats a classic!

[DoctorWhofan]

THere was a special on TV about Bruce Lee. I learned several things:

1. Bruce created his own martial Arts.
2. He studied Philosophy in College.
3. WHile he has roots in Hong Kong, He actually is from Seattle.
4. He only did 4 films, one in English.
5. He had a daughter.
6. "Be like Water" philiosophy was from him.

THings I already known:

1. Kill Bill Jumpsuit was inspired by Bruce Lee.
2. Kareem Abdul Jabar was a student/ fellow actor in Bruce Lee's last unfinished film.
3. Jason Lee was his son.
4. Jackie Chan worked with him (and he looked sooooo young! His favourite moment, Bruce actually connecting his punch and hurting Jackie. Bruce wouldn't stop apologising!)


And the most important thing I learned from that special:

Chuck Norris got his behind Kicked by Bruce Lee. Which the next time the "Chuck Norris has godlike powers" over General chat, I will mention this fact.

[phillymiket]

Chuck Norris is SO TOUGH he got his behind kicked by Bruce Lee...and survived!

[blitzschlag]

ip man is best by quite a margin. donnie yen is quite amazing

[DoctorWhofan]

Chuck Norris is SO TOUGH he got his behind kicked by Bruce Lee...and survived!

Bah.

[phillymiket]

ip man is best by quite a margin. donnie yen is quite amazing

I think your on to something there.

Shot as well as the Matrix. Music as riveting as Pirates of the Caribbean. Funny, Awesome Fights.

I'll have to check put Mystery of Chess Boxing and Fearless Hyena and maybe the Golden Vampire Thing....(Ugh more vampires at least the wont be 'sexy' I imagine)

[phillymiket]

Bah.

Ah im kidding Except for "Good Guys Wear Black" I'm not a Norris fan