Posted on 01/22/2011 4:10:46 PM PST by West Texas Chuck
Absolutely, Kurosawa is the king. I'm a fan of Japanese movies anyway and there were a few comedies in the '80s and'90s made by Juzo Itami. A Taxing Woman and Tampopo. Two of my favorites. Nice, simple stories but very funny. Most of my martial arts movies are on VHS so I need to hunt down the DVD versions. Crouching Tiger was one of my favorites. There's an old one from 1990 called Zipang. It's a long movie but it has good action in it.
John Woo directed Bullet in the Head. A really good movie about some Hong Kong guys who run away to Saigon and find a lot of trouble.
While in Japan. I saw a movie on regular tv in the hotel.
No subtitles.
The story seemed kind of like Robin Hood, guy in the foreat, maid in the castle, trusty ninja like guy carrying messages back and forth. The scene which I hope will let you tell me he title is this. Ninja guy dislodges a stone exiting the castle, it hit the moat’s water, alerts the guards and they chase him down the stream. on the run he grabs a piece of bamboo, runs his sword through it, and hides under the water. the guards run past his hiding place, all but the big fat one in the rear. the big fat one stops to take a whiz, then bored wjhile whizzing, aims at the bamboo stem. finishes, and leaves. after the big fat guard disappears, ninja guy comes out of the water spitting. it was too funny. if you know the movie, let me know.
I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and I decided to punch the word into Youtube and I found this amazing fight scene between Jackie Chan and Mr. Tae Kwon Do. It`s from a movie called Who Am I. It`s a spectacular roof top fight scene and I`ve seen nothing come close to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQa7tlZZ_lM
While there are lots of martial arts films for martial arts film fans, one lesser known movie is “Kill the Golden Goose”, which is a martial arts film for martial artists. Available on Netflix.
It stars two men who were real life active martial arts masters: Master Ed Parker, Kenpo style, and Master Bong Soo Han (Han Bong-soo), Hapkido style. This meant that the film had to be a masterwork of diplomacy, because they both had scores of very aggressive students who would take any perceived slight very seriously.
Parker, playing the villain, wanted to depict his Kenpo style accurately, which was not easy to film as it emphasized very energy intensive infighting, with little flash or waste movement. Parker had to use his own students as stuntmen, as the slightest error in a stunt could have resulted in severe injury.
Ironically, one of his black belts had written a Master’s thesis on the physiological effects of karate blows, which they integrated into a later scene. Everything they described would have happened for real if Parker had been serious.
.
And it took them a long time to figure out how to end the movie.
Nope, not sure I’ve ever seen that one. Have to cogitate on it, but doesn’t sound familiar.
Too bad, sounds like fun!
The Shaw Brothers Studios released the better part of 1,000 movies.
Celestial Pictures acquired rights to the studio’s legacy and is releasing on DVD 760 of the films. Too slowly.
I’m gonna have to look that one up. Don’t think I know it.
But thanx.
I know a little about Kenpo and Hapkido. Both are Japanese terms. Billy Jack from the old movie did Hapkido as I recall, but I think the older version is called Aikido which relates back to Korea, like Tae Kwon Do. I’m no expert here, I just think I recall reading that somewhere.
Kenpo is Ed Parker fo sho, but I think it is a Japanese reference to Chinese arts on their island, lots of circular stuff like the mainlanders, not sure about that. I did Ni-Goju Ryu as a young man, mostly straight line strikes but with some circular kicks and I remember my instructor telling us about Kenpo. Seems like some dude showed up at one of our tournaments with Kenpo on his gi.
Whew, I think I broke a brain cell remembering all that ;)
I remember this scene from the film. I always loved Jackie Chan, man has a good sense of humor. And I love how all his films have out-takes, like him being hauled out in a chopper after failing to make some move and falling to his misfortune.
Did you ever see “The Yakuza” with Robert Mitchum and Takakura Ken? American film, but gets the honor issue right. Great mafia swordfight, too.
You just can’t do any better than Zatoichi. Blind masseur, sword hidden in his walking stick. I love how he chops the tops off of candles and catches them with the end of his sword in the gambling parlors to sorta even it up with his adversaries. And the way he wiggles his ears when listening to attackers, or how he always recognizes somebody’s voice or scent. What a great bunch of work.
Darkness is his ally.
The last two Zatoichi TV episodes are really weird. Sorta like Zatoichi on acid or something. Some noblewoman seduces him and then the bad guys show up and he slays them. Then he has a dream where he is sighted and goes all freaky, and gets his arms and legs chopped off by another gang of bad guys. Then he wakes up and jumps rope to celebrate still having limbs. Crazy stuff, even for Zatoichi.
I scored an 8 DVD set of old Shaw Bros I never saw off Amazon. Haven’t watched any of ‘em yet, but they are in the queue.
Hard to remember, but something sounds familiar about that. Mitchum? Thass gotta be oldish.
I liked Karate Kid...
Wax on wax off, baby.
1975. Mitchum was pushing 60. Here's a link to the Japanese lead:
And yet beyond the Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris films, I don't know *anything* about this genre.
I feel like a complete tool.
Where should I start?
Keep practicing your martial arts, you sound like the real deal. BTW all we seem to have in common is being too d@mn busy to keep up with silly chop-socky movies.
In other words a lot of people on this thread seriously need to get a life.
Just watched “Ip Man”. Great stuff!
See Jet Li in “Hero.” Pure eye-candy.
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