I Like Kung Fu Movies
I’ve always liked them. But I’ve never considered myself any sort of expert in them. To date, I’ve only seen a handful of the classics. But I have Netflix. And while I don’t have my summer off, I would still like knock off a few items on my list. So I’m watching Kung Fu movies. Dozens of them. And I need recommendations. I’ve looked at a bunch of Top 10 lists for the genre and gotten some ideas for flicks I’ve missed, but I’m curious to see what you guys think. And I say “kung fu movies” in the broadest of meanings, so go nuts. I am equal-opportunity asian-dudes-beating-each-other-up movie fan.
Some of my favorites that I’ve seen recently:
- Drunken Master 1 and 2 (I preferred 1, which seems to be an unpopular opinoin)
- Once Upon a Time in China
- Kid with the Golden Arm
- Ong Bok
And of course, the newer ones:
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
- Hero
- House of Flying Daggers
- etc
I have 36 Chambers of Shaolin coming to me from Netflix and the rest of the Once Upon a Time in China flicks available to me on watch it now… what else should I check out? What are your favorites? Do you even like these kinds of movies, or am I alone here?
Comments
I loved them as a kid and would watch them on Sundays when they always seemed to be on after Abbot and Costello movies in the morning. Going off of my only memories of them, I dont know if I just watched the same one movie over and over and over every week or if they all just involved a bunch of guys training by running on barrells floating in a pool.
I can’t say I’ve had any urges to revisit the genre, even though I did enjoy Crouching Tiger when that came out.
I also used to watch them Sundays. I wish I knew what channel played them so I could see if they still do it. I doubt it, but still.
For the longest time, I was wondering what the movie was I saw one sunday where the dude keeps vacillating between what his best friend is: women or wine. They each keep getting stabbed and saving his life. Turns out it was the aforementioned Kid with the Golden Arm. Very happy to watch that one again.
But yeah, Kev, you sorta hit the nail on the head. There are just so many that are all so alike, it’s hard to weed through. So that’s why I’m reaching out to hear thoughts one what’s worth checking out.
Brotherhood of the Wolf. see the Iron Chef Chairman beat the living shit out of people – in French!
I totally forgot about that movie. I remember seeing trailers, then nothing. It was good, then?
• Master of the Flying Guillotine because it is gory and weird and will suddenly give you a new understanding of a certain character in the videogame Street Fighter 2.
• The Five Deadly Venoms because it kicks off that “heroic bloodshed” trope where some dudes develop a bromance over the course of kicking things to death.
• The Street Fighter because Sonny Chiba is the sort of amoral bad-ass who deals with a missed paycheck by selling his former employer into sexual slavery.
• Riki-Oh: The Story of Riki because a guy chokes another dude with his own intestines. One of the villains stores delicious mints in his hollow glass eye. It also has an exploding head that will remind you of the earlier Daily Show.
One Armed Boxer and the sequel Master of the Flying Guillotine are 2 of my favorites.
I own a couple of the Wu-Tang movies on VHS. Haven’t watched them in ages, but I remember enjoying them a lot. Mystery of Chessboxing, featuring “Ghost Face Killer” was my favorite of those.
They’re not Kung-Fu movies, per say, but I’d also check out the Lone Wolf and Cub series (Shogun Assasin). Those are supposed to be really good.
haha did everyone watch them on sundays? I distinctly remember them being on when I got home from church, either before or after was the Three Stooges.
I have nothing to add to your list…sorry.
Yeah, I always watched the Sunday afternoon kung-fu marathons on whatever NJ/NYC-area channel it was that spooled them endlessly. AWESOME.
mandy said:Brotherhood of the Wolf. see the Iron Chef Chairman beat the living shit out of people – in French!
Was that a Kung Fu movie? I remember loving that movie but don’t actually remember anything about it.
In NJ/NYC it was WPIX channel 11 that played the Kung Fu movies on Sunday afternoon.
FIST OF LEGEND with Jet Li, it’s by far my favorite kung fu movie.
Hutch, I’m in the exact same position as your about kung fu. I really liked 36 Chambers and I plan to watch the Five Deadly Venoms next.
Bill, did I see a swastika in that first video at 0:46?
Asian culture uses the swastika symbol and its traditional meaning is something entirely different from the connotation we’ve got over here in the west. I’d look it up and verify that trivia I’ve got in my head, but I’m afraid to search that out at work.
I recall the reverse swastika to represent the sun in some African culture.
Isn’t it actually a symbol of peace and balance in nature or something?
John said:I totally forgot about that movie. I remember seeing trailers, then nothing. It was good, then?
from what i recall, yes it was pretty good.
Kevin said:mandy said:Brotherhood of the Wolf. see the Iron Chef Chairman beat the living shit out of people – in French!
Was that a Kung Fu movie? I remember loving that movie but don’t actually remember anything about it.
it is described as French Kung Fu and i have no idea what that means. we did however have rather large crowds of people come into the Ritz 5 to see it when it was released and then come back out complaining that they didn’t know they had to “read” the movie. they were not your typical art-house cinema patrons. it was frustrating and hilarious.