Favorite movie fight scenes

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James Y
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#201

Post by James Y »

Snuff Bottle Connection (1977, Taiwan). Directors: Liu Li-Li and Richard Tung. Action choreographer: Yuen Woo-Ping.

Note: The action choreographer for this movie, Yuen Woo-Ping, was the director who gave Jackie Chan his breakthrough role in 1978’s Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow. He also went on to direct Donnie Yen’s first film in 1984, direct Jet Li’s “comeback” film, Once Upon a Time in China in 1991, and choreograph the fight scenes in The Matrix trilogy, Charlie’s Angels, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, etc. He and his action team are still active in directing and choreographing in a acting and directing career that began in the 1960s.

In the ambush fight scene, the fighter in blue who fights John Liu with the spear is Corey Yuen (Yuen Kwai), who later became a big director himself, including internationally. He directed Jean-Claude Van Damme’s first American movie appearance, in the first No Retreat, No Surrender; action directing the first X-Men movie; and assistant-directing/action directing The Transporter films, to name only a few.

Various fight scenes (IMO, the best of the movie) featuring John Liu, including John Liu vs Chin Yuet-Sang, Yuen Biao, Phil Cohen, Robert Kerver, Corey Yuen, and Hsu Hsia:

https://youtu.be/zkrsgUQZoHg

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#202

Post by James Y »

Disciples of Shaolin (1975, Taiwan). Director: Chang Cheh.

Unfortunately, the actual fight scenes from this movie aren’t currently on YouTube due to copyright issues. But this is my favorite martial arts movie intro (or maybe my favorite movie intro, period). I love how meticulously it was filmed, without being rushed. The form demonstrated by Alexander Fu Sheng is called Tiet Sin Kuen (Iron Wire/Iron Thread Fist), from the Hung Gar kung fu system. This type of intro could never be made again; audience attention spans now would not allow it.

Alexander Fu Sheng (1954-1983) was one of Hong Kong’s brightest and most popular stars, and his popularity began to peak during the post-Bruce Lee era. Ironically, Fu Sheng ended up moving into Bruce Lee’s former house in Hong Kong, thought by many to have negative Feng Shui. In July 1983 (10 years to the month after Bruce Lee’s death), Alexander Fu Sheng was a passenger in a car driven by one of his brothers, when the car took a turn too fast and crashed. Fu Sheng died 5 hours later in the hospital. His funeral was at least as highly attended as Bruce Lee’s, with 2,000 actors and 30,000 attendees. Actors and others who had worked with Fu Sheng seemed to have had only positive things to say about him, as a person and as a performer. He was a prodigy, with loads of natural charisma.

Opening credits: Featuring Alexander Fu Sheng:

https://youtu.be/VfP2vzpxf14

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#203

Post by James Y »

Five Element Ninjas (alternate title: Super Ninjas; 1982, Hong Kong). Director: Chang Cheh.

Chan Wai-Man, who plays the arch-villain, acted in many kung fu and gangster movies, sometimes as a hero, but more often as a villain. In real life, it is no secret that he was (and still is) a high-ranking Triad gangster in Hong Kong. He also had been a friend of Bruce Lee.

Ricky Cheng Tien-Chi, Wang Li, Chu Ko, and Yu Tai-Ping were all trained in Peking Opera in Taiwan.

Final fight: Ricky Cheng Tien-Chi, Wang Li, Chu Ko, & Yu Tai-Ping vs Chan Wai-Man:

https://youtu.be/iLvyCKz53mY

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#204

Post by James Y »

Masked Avengers (1981, Hong Kong). Director: Chang Cheh.

The first couple minutes or so of this final fight we’re not included in this clip, but it’s the clearest available on YouTube. Although there is some suspension of gravity in the scene, the speed, complexity and extreme precision of the choreography and the performers is due to their long years of Peking Opera training in Taiwan. It is not the kind of choreography that could be replicated by practitioners in your typical martial arts school.

These former Peking Opera troupe members (and two non-opera members) were dubbed “The Venoms” or “The Venom Mob” by fans, due to the movie Five Deadly Venoms (AKA The Five Venoms). The same core group (Kuo Chui, Lu Feng & Chiang Sheng) made numerous films together, cast in different roles, along with others who came and went. Some were considered secondary venoms, even though some were never even in the original Five Deadly Venoms film.

Final fight: Kuo Chui & Chiang Sheng vs Lu Feng, Chu Ko & Wang Li:

https://youtu.be/cnPkYSJ1azg

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#205

Post by James Y »

Two Champions of Shaolin (1978, Hong Kong). Director: Chang Cheh.

*Slight spoiler: The most memorable moment in this scene is at the end of the second fight. A great way to deal with an opponent who constantly throws high kicks...cinematically, of course. :D

Lei Tai fighting stage scene scene: Lo Meng vs Wang Li; Chiang Sheng vs Chui Shing-Chan:

https://youtu.be/vkqNq4U7dOE

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#206

Post by The Mastiff »

The movie "Five Deadly Venoms" is one of my favorites. I've seen it probably 15 times. "One armed boxer" ( ? or something similar) would be another favorite. I believe you listed it earlier in this thread.

Thanks Jim. Keep them coming! :)

Joe
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#207

Post by James Y »

The Mastiff wrote:
Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:02 pm
The movie "Five Deadly Venoms" is one of my favorites. I've seen it probably 15 times. "One armed boxer" ( ? or something similar) would be another favorite. I believe you listed it earlier in this thread.

Thanks Jim. Keep them coming! :)

Joe
Thank you, Joe!

Five Deadly Venoms (AKA, The Five Venoms; 1978, Hong Kong). Director: Chang Cheh.

Five pupils intro. To anyone familiar with the actors, it was no secret who was who. 1) Centipede: Lu Feng. 2) Snake: Wei Pai. 3) Scorpion: Sun Chien. 4) Lizard: Kuo Chui. 5) Toad: Lo Meng. The final disciple who is given the duty to find the others is Chiang Sheng.

Three of the main venoms actors did NOT come from Peking Opera backgrounds. Wei Pai was a Hung Gar kung fu stylist from Hong Kong; Sun Chien was a Tae Kwon Do expert from Taiwan; and Lo Meng was a Southern Praying Mantis kung fu practitioner from Hong Kong.

https://youtu.be/kX6EHqcvqyo

Final fight; Kuo Chui and Chiang Sheng vs Lu Feng, Wei Pai & Sun Chien:

https://youtu.be/hndRXPcVbNk

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#208

Post by James Y »

Born Invincible (1978, Taiwan). Director: Joseph Kuo. Action director: Yuen Woo-Ping.

Another movie featuring a villain with Iron Shirt/Iron Cloth “invulnerability” kung fu, which is a concept in kung fu films I clearly enjoy. :). It makes the villains that much more of a challenge for the protagonists to overcome. In this case, the arch-villain is played by Carter Wong. He is best known in the West for his role as Thunder in the 1986 John Carpenter film Big Trouble in Little China. But he was already a familiar face to fans of old-school kung fu films. IMO, Born Invincible is the best screen fighting performance of Carter Wong’s career.

Training intro, featuring Carter Wong. Note: The reason for Carter Wong’s character’s funny, high-pitched voice is explained in the intro:

https://youtu.be/Y-fexXdzKwY

Fight scene: Carter Wong vs Jack Long (AKA Lung Shih-Chia):

https://youtu.be/u2EfmYCYPSU

Final fight: Mark Long (AKA Lung Kuan-Wu) & Nancy Yen vs Carter Wong:

https://youtu.be/-tfwB4RsydM

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#209

Post by James Y »

Shaolin Chastity Kung Fu (1981, Taiwan). Director: Robert Tai.

TBH, this movie is NOT one of my favorites. IMO, the fight choreography is uneven, and the storyline and pacing are so-so. But I feel there are a few things that were unique in a movie. This movie features Tongzi (child) Gong (or ‘kung’, same as in ‘kung fu’, meaning skill developed through hard work). The kids in the movie were clearly young Peking Opera students in real life.

This movie also features two of the kung fu movie actors whom I personally knew in Taiwan. The female co-star, Liu Hao-Yi, and Jian Xun, who played the young adult Shaolin monk.

Some trivia: A poster for Shaolin Chastity Kung Fu is briefly visible in a scene in the Madonna movie ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’.

Tongzi Gong training scenes, featuring Chang Chi-Ming (the Shaolin Abbott), Alexander Lo Rei, Liu Hao-Yi, Jian Xun, William Yen, etc.:

https://youtu.be/vz_6TxDMPl8

Fight: Jian Xun (the Shaolin Monk) vs Yang Hsiung:

https://youtu.be/PRFZXr2YSZc

The man playing the arch-villain wearing the fedora, Tang Lung, and leading star Alexander Lo Rei, are actually brothers in real life. Their initial one-on-one fight isn’t bad, but IMO, the part where the children start singing is cringe-worthy.

Final fight: Alexander Lo Rei, Jian Xun, William Yen, etc., vs Tang Lung:

https://youtu.be/pYNZSOMSEq0

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#210

Post by James Y »

American Shaolin (1991, USA). Director: Lucas Lo. Action directors: Corey Yuen & Yuen Tak.

This movie, starring Reese Madigan and featuring Trent Bushey as the villain, was another US production from Hong Kong’s Seasonal Film Corp, just like No Retreat No Surrender (parts 1, 2 & 3), King of the Kickboxers, etc. Like those films, the storyline and script were mediocre to poor. But unlike No Retreat No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers, the acting in American Shaolin is clearly better, because the principal actors actually had some acting experience, and were NOT just non-actor martial artists. Trent Bushey’s character, the conceited bully who has everything, is named “Trevor Gotitall” (get it?). :rolleyes:

My reason for posting this is because it was the first onscreen appearance of Daniel Dae Kim, in a supporting role as a young Shaolin monk. Daniel Dae Kim was a Tae Kwon Do black belt.

Final fights: Trent Bushey vs Daniel Dae Kim (from 3:26); Reese Madigan vs Trent Bushey (from 7:50):

https://youtu.be/YdDidpTqvTU

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#211

Post by James Y »

Once Upon a Time in China (1991, Hong Kong). Director: Tsui Hark. Action directors: Yuen Cheung-Yan, Yuen Shun-Yee & Lau Kar-Wing.

This movie was Jet Li’s comeback vehicle after his popularity from the early-‘80s Mainland China-filmed Shaolin Temple series had run out of steam. Jet Li’s popularity had been in the doldrums for a few years until the ‘Once Upon a Time’ series reinvigorated his film career, even better than before. Here he portrays the kung fu master and real-life historical figure Wong Fei-Hung, who has been portrayed by several different actors over the decades, most notably by Kwan Tak-Hing, who portrayed Wong Fei-Hung nearly 100 times, starting in 1949 and well into the 1980s. In Once Upon a Time in China, Wong Fei-Hung and the arch-villain display gravity-defying superhuman abilities, which was very unusual for a Wong Fei-Hung movie.

The main fighting villain, Master Yim, portrayed by veteran actor/performer Yen Shi-Kwan, is yet another cinematic master of “Iron Shirt/Iron Cloth” kung fu. However, it seems as if the Wong Fei-Hung character has little trouble overcoming the protective qualities of Master Yim’s Iron Cloth.

Master Yim intro fight: Yen Shi-Kwan vs Yuen Cheung-Yan:

https://youtu.be/ZOCC-LTI_PA

Final fight; Jet Li vs Yen Shi-Kwan:

https://youtu.be/1JmQalZxuuw

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#212

Post by James Y »

Drunken Tai Chi (1984, Hong Kong; filmed in Taiwan). Director: Yuen Woo-Ping. Action directors: The Yuen Clan.

This was Donnie Yen’s first movie. Considering he had no previous acting experience, he gave a remarkable performance. Donnie Yen’s mother was and still is a famous Boston-based martial arts teacher, Bow-Sim Mark.

Yuen Shun-Yee, who played the villain, and Yuen Cheung-Yan (Donnie Yen’s buck-toothed master), along with director Yuen Woo-Ping, are all brothers who, along with other brothers, make up “The Yuen Clan,” and are still active in directing/action directing to this day. They have appeared in movies since the mid-to-late 1960s. Their father was the late Yuen Siu-Tin, a veteran actor and action director whose movie career had begun in the late 1940s.

Final fight: Donnie Yen vs Yuen Shun-Yee:

https://youtu.be/BmrNIU26O4w

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#213

Post by James Y »

Once Upon a Time in China 2 (1992; Hong Kong). Director: Tsui Hark. Action Director: Yuen Woo-Ping.

Jet Li vs Donnie Yen; their first fight:

https://youtu.be/70BFF5Nf_XM

The final fight scene actually begins earlier, but the other clips on YouTube that show this scene in its entirety either have really bad sound or poor picture quality.

Final fight; Jet Li vs Donnie Yen:

https://youtu.be/h9rTP6Bz80k

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#214

Post by James Y »

Killer Wears White (AKA The Killer in White; 1980, Hong Kong). Director: Joe Cheung.

Anybody who has seen Enter the Dragon has seen Stephen Tung Wai; he played Bruce Lee’s young student whom Bruce Lee lightly rapped on the head for looking at his pointing finger instead of the moon. Stephen Tung Wai started out as a child actor in the mid-1960s. He went on to act and perform in numerous kung fu and action movies. In more recent years, he has remained behind the scenes as an action director. Tung Wai was an alumni of a Hong Kong Peking Opera school.

Unfortunately, for some reason, the vicious final fight between Stephen Tung Wai and the arch-villain, played by Yen Shi-Kwan, is not available on YouTube, AFAIK.

Various fight scenes. 1) Tung Wai forest fight. 2) first revenge fight (from 2:40); 3) Tung Wai vs Benz Kong (from 5:45):

https://youtu.be/u08kyhjTcCI

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#215

Post by James Y »

The Kid With The Golden Arm (1979, Hong Kong). Director: Chang Cheh. Action directors: Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng, Robert Tai.

Intro. Featuring in order: Lo Meng, Lu Feng, Wang Lung-Wei, Yang Hsiung:

https://youtu.be/0XErBmSpN_Q

Duel; Lo Meng vs Wei Pai:

https://youtu.be/VcaZyfTPEek

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#216

Post by James Y »

The Thundering Mantis (1979, Taiwan). Director: Teddy Yip.

This was not the only kung fu movie in which the lead hero goes completely insane, but possibly the first, and this is the best and most dramatic example. It also pretty much influenced a few later films where something similar happened, but the context in which it happens in Thundering Mantis remains the most convincing, IMO. He also becomes cannibalistic, which makes this movie highly unusual. And I couldn’t imagine any actor/performer doing it better than Leung Kar-Yan.

The long-haired arch-villain is played by Eddy Ko Hung, who appeared in many old-school kung fu movies, mostly as villains. He has also appeared in some American movies; in Lethal Weapon 4, he played Grandpa Hong, one of the smuggled illegal Chinese immigrants; and in The Martian, starring Matt Damon, Eddy Ko Hung played the director of the CNSA (China National Space Administration).

Final fight: Leung Kar-Yan vs Eddy Ko Hung and his gang:

https://youtu.be/WdA9lhko6-k

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#217

Post by bearrowland »

I'm sure this made the cut already, but I love the line from the movie Tombstone: Are you gonna skin that smokewagon or just stand there and bleed? 😁
Barry

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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#218

Post by James Y »

The Miracle Fighters (1982, Hong Kong). Director: Yuen Woo-Ping. Action directors: The Yuen Clan.

This is another Yuen Family project. Even though by today’s standards the special effects might be considered crude, at the time this movie was made, it was chock full of creative ideas that still hold up today. I actually prefer many of these old-school creative effects over much of today’s CGI. They have a charm that is lacking in today’s movies.

I’m not sure how long this clip will remain on YouTube. Most of the time, high-quality clips of movies from Hong Kong’s Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers Studios (Miracle Fighters is a Golden Harvest production) get taken off of youtube before too long, due to copyright issues or whatever.

The movie’s young hero and the evil wizard villain are two of the Yuen brothers in real life.

Final fight: Yuen Yat-Chor vs Yuen Shun-Yee:

https://youtu.be/KycwPKLFRK0

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#219

Post by James Y »

Drunken Master (1978, Hong Kong). Director: Yuen Woo-Ping. Martial arts directors: Yuen Woo-Ping & Hsu Hsia.

This was Jackie Chan’s second movie under director Yuen Woo-Ping that fully cemented his superstardom.

On a side note, Tae Kwon Do Master Hwang Jang-Lee, who plays the villain, has said that this was his favorite movie that he’d ever been in. It’s almost surreal that Hwang literally taught himself martial arts by spying on a group of men in a field practicing Tae Kwon Do as a child in South Korea, then going off by himself to practice what he saw, often in freezing weather (his parents had refused to let him join what they felt was a ‘rough crowd’). A friend later snuck him into a black belt test, which he easily passed before joining South Korea’s infamous Tiger Division in Vietnam. As mentioned in my post on The Invincible Armour (see page 8 of this thread), Hwang became known as the best and most dangerous kicker in cinema history (though not necessarily the flashiest), and is the only martial arts movie star known to have actually killed someone with his empty-hand skills (a single roundhouse kick to the temple of a Vietnamese knife fighter during the Vietnam War). Drunken Master allowed Hwang to show off more of his kicking and hand skills than he did in The Invincible Armour.

The old man playing Jackie’s Master is Yuen Siu-Tin, the patriarch of the Yuen Clan. He was also Alexander Fu Sheng’s master in Shaolin Martial Arts (see page 10 of this thread).

Intro fight: Hwang Jang-Lee vs Yuen Shun-Yee:

https://youtu.be/wAu4YK9apQY

Final fight: Jackie Chan vs Hwang Jang-Lee, part 1:

https://youtu.be/V1oSxcqp9O8

Final fight: Jackie Chan vs Hwang Jang-Lee, part 2:

https://youtu.be/ac0Hn4Cgyt8

Final fight: Jackie Chan vs Hwang Jang-Lee, part 3:

https://youtu.be/eh-Ys_UpeJQ

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#220

Post by James Y »

The Wrecking Crew (1968, USA). Director: Phil Karlson. “Karate advisor”: Bruce Lee.

I’m including this for historical interest. IMO, the movie itself is pretty awful. It stars Dean Martin as Matt Helm, and co-starred Elle Sommer, Nancy Kwan, and Sharon Tate. It was also the onscreen debut of Chuck Norris, in a tiny uncredited role as a thug. Chuck can thank Bruce Lee, who brought him in (along with American karate legends Joe Lewis and Ed Parker) to play bit parts.

Not surprisingly, the fight scenes themselves are awful, and are perfect examples of non-athletic lead actors trying to perform in martial arts fight scenes. But the choreography has the hallmarks of Bruce Lee’s choreography style, including Sharon Tate kicking at the camera.

Unfortunately, as everybody knows, only a year later, Sharon Tate would become one of the Manson Family’s murder victims. Bruce Lee had also privately given martial arts lessons to Tate’s husband, Roman Polanski. After the Tate murders, Polanski actually hired a private detective to secretly investigate Bruce Lee (as well as John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas) as possible suspects in the Cielo Drive murders.

Sharon Tate vs Nancy Kwan:

https://youtu.be/KFldtFYBV4I

Dean Martin vs thugs (including Chuck Norris):

https://youtu.be/rIHy_VzxK4I

Jim
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