Favorite movie fight scenes

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James Y
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#321

Post by James Y »

remnar wrote:
Thu Jan 16, 2020 2:24 pm
James Y wrote:
Mon Jan 13, 2020 4:19 pm

Actually, legOFwhat? posted a Kung Pow clip on page 2 of this thread, but it’s all good. Thanks again.

Jim
I don't know how I missed that. :D
No sweat, remnar! :) I’m sure I’ve probably posted songs in the “What are you listening to?” thread that were already up, because that thread is so huge now, it would be nearly impossible to go back and check every song that was posted. And this thread, while not nearly as big, is kinda getting up in numbers.

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#322

Post by James Y »

A Bloody Fight (1988, Hong Kong). Director and action director: Wilson Tong.

This is my all-time favorite baseball bat fight scene:

Warehouse fight: Lau Kar-Leung & Norman Chu vs thugs:

https://youtu.be/7N4oC_o_yEk

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#323

Post by James Y »

The Iron-Fisted Monk (1977, Hong Kong (filmed in South Korea). Director & action director: Sammo Hung.

The Iron-Fisted Monk was Sammo Hung’s first full movie as director. Before that, Sammo had already been action directing in movies since at least 1970, and was one of the best action directors anywhere. Once he started directing his own movies, Sammo’s action choreography went to another level. And Sammo himself, as usual, was stellar...both in his acting and in his fight scenes.

Chan Sing (AKA Chen Hsing), playing the Shaolin monk, usually played vile villains. IMO, this is one of his better performances in a hero role, especially in his execution of the fight choreography.

Note: This clip is the re-dubbed English version. Most of the time, I prefer original Mandarin or Cantonese with English subtitles, but I do like many of the original old-school English dubs. However, I absolutely HATE the English re-dubs. Golden Harvest, the film company behind this film, replaced many of the original English dubs in their movies when Fortune Star remastered their films. The re-dubs sound dorky, and lack the British and other accents of the original dubs. The only re-dubbed voice I recognize as an “original” dubber was the one who voiced Chan Sing’s character.

I would never embed the full movie here, as the full movie contains scenes that are highly inappropriate for this forum.

Final fight: Sammo Hung & Chan Sing vs thugs (Wang Hsieh, Yen Shi-Kwan, Chin Yuen-Sang, Peter Chan Lung, Mars, Billy Chan Wu-Ngai, Lam Ching-Ying, Chang Chin-Po, Wan Fat, Hsiao Hou, Lee King-Chu, Dean Shek, etc.). Sammo Hung & Chan Sing vs Fung Hak-On & Chao Hsiung:

https://youtu.be/20zD86xDh70

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#324

Post by James Y »

Duel to the Death (1983; filmed in South Korea & Hong Kong). Directors: Ching Siu-Tung & Lee Hyung-Po. Action directors: Ching Siu-Tung & Lau Chi-Ho.

Many years ago, my response to this movie was lukewarm, mostly because of the extremely fantastical nature of the fight scenes. But over the years, I've come to like it and just appreciate it as the escapism it was meant to be. Another thing I liked was that the Japanese samurai, played by Norman Chu, was not the typical Japanese villain, as in most Hong Kong films. Rather, he was as much a hero in his own way as was the Chinese swordsman, played by Damian Lau. Norman Chu has described in an interview how challenging and dangerous filming these fight scenes were, especially those scenes involving crude wire work and trampolines on the seaside cliffs during the final fight. However, I do NOT share the opinion of the many fans of this movie who believe that this is the greatest sword fighting film of all time.

Ninja fight: Norman Chu (a.k.a., Norman Tsui) & Damian Lau vs ninjas; Norman Chu vs Eddie Ko Hung:

https://youtu.be/Ur68dWVpPRI

Final fight: Damian Lau vs Norman Chu:

https://youtu.be/fgqgcRa0W6U

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#325

Post by James Y »

Martial Arts of Shaolin (AKA Shaolin Temple 3; 1986, Mainland China). Director: Lau Kar-Leung. Action direction: Lau Kar-Leung.

This was the first movie that Lau Kar-Leung directed after Shaw Brothers Studios ceased movie production. All of the performers were top-class Wushu athletes. Lau Kar-Leung’s distinctive style of choreography is very evident.

Actress/Wushu athlete Huang Qiu-Yan was Jet Li’s first wife.

Final fight: Yu Hai & Jet Li (with Hu Jian-Qiang & Huang Qiu-Yan) vs Yu Cheng-Hui:

https://youtu.be/dWWTdt5n8BI

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#326

Post by James Y »

Shaolin Temple (1982, Mainland China & Hong Kong). Director: Chang Hsin-Yen. Action directors: Yu Hai, Ma Xian-Da, Pan Qing-Fu & Wang Chang-Kai.

Shaolin Temple was Jet Li’s first movie. Released in January 1982, Jet Li was only 18 during filming. It resulted in sequels and other films, and created a ‘Shaolin mania’ in China in the 1980s.

The clip below is not a fight scene, but is commonly referred to as “the four seasons training scene.” It is the best scene in the movie, far better than the actual fight scenes. This is also the only scene not filmed in Mainland China. Jet Li was brought to Hong Kong’s Shaw brothers Studios for this sequence only, where they could specially recreate the four seasons in Shaw Studios’ indoor sets.

Note that there was no use of wire work, trampolines or undercranking (speeding up of movements). This was Jet Li’s actual speed and athleticism. He was the star performer of the prestigious Beijing Wushu Team. While Wushu is a performance art/sport and not a fighting method, it is based on selected traditional kung fu movements, combined with gymnastics and dance. Jet’s Wushu training was at least the equivalent of that of the various grueling Peking Opera training academies which turned out performers like Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Chiang Sheng, Angela Mao Ying, etc.

Jet Li, four seasons training sequence:

https://youtu.be/fTIm8b9Rft8

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#327

Post by James Y »

The Crane Fighter (AKA The Crane Fighters; 1979, Taiwan). Director: Raymond Lui. Action directors: Raymond Lui & Su Kuo-Liang.

*Full movie.

Lead actress Chia Ling (AKA Judy Lee) was another alumna of the Fu Shing Peking Opera Academy in Taiwan, which also produced many of the kung fu movie performers of the 1970s and 1980s.

The parts of the story dealing with the relationship between Raymond Lui and Chia Ling were inspired by the relationship between Chen Kuan-Tai and Lily Li’s characters in Executioner From Shaolin; a husband who has difficulty defeating his wife to consummate the marriage.

Kam Kong portrays a Manchurian villain with “Golden Bell” or “Iron Shirt/Iron Cloth” kung fu, which supposedly renders the practitioner invulnerable, but for one weakness or weak point that the opponent(s) must discover and exploit in order to defeat him. It is a common theme in many kung fu films, usually possessed by a villain, and is featured in several earlier entries in this thread.

Final fight (begins at 1:21:20); Chia Ling & Raymond Lui vs Kam Kong:

https://youtu.be/6euJ7WAtkZ8

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#328

Post by James Y »

Winners and Sinners (1983, Hong Kong). Director: Sammo Hung. Action directors: Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Billy Chan Wui-Ngai & Lam Ching-Ying.

This clip is a compilation of all the movie’s actual fight scenes. Winners and Sinners was the first of Sammo Hung’s modern-day ensemble comedies overcrowded with familiar faces in Hong Kong cinema at the time. These became especially popular from the early to late ‘80s in Hong Kong and Taiwan. These were not “martial arts movies” per se, but ensemble comedies that contained some martial arts action. Even so, the action and stunts were still bone-bruising and more hardcore than the vast majority of actual “fight movies” or “martial arts films” in the West. Many of the protagonists in this film were not martial artists or even action stars, but either comedians or dramatic actors.

Cherie Chung was a former Hong Kong beauty pageant contestant and dramatic actress who still had to take a fall onto a hard marble floor in one scene, @ 2:13. And it was really her, not a stunt double.

Charlie Chin, the taller ‘handsome’ guy doing the poses, actually came from a Peking Opera background, from Taiwan’s Fu Shing Peking Opera academy, but he was not an action star and, AFAIK, not an acrobat, either; he was mostly known for playing leading men in Taiwanese romance films.

Although there are both good and intentionally silly fights in this clip, my personal favorite of the movie involves Richard Ng and Tai San, starting @ 2:46.

All fight scenes, compilation; Featuring Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Cherie Chung, Richard Ng, Charlie Chin, Stanley Fung, and John Sham. Some of the bad guys are: James Tien, Peter Chan Lung, Dick Wei, Chung Fat, Shan Kuai, Tai San, Fung Hak-On, etc.

https://youtu.be/SdkdAbwrjTQ

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#329

Post by James Y »

Righting Wrongs (AKA, Above the Law; 1986, Hong Kong). Director: Corey Yuen. Action directors: Hsu Hsia, Yuen Biao, Corey Yuen, Mang Hoi.

Cynthia Rothrock was the most popular and successful Westerner ever to appear in Hong Kong action films. She was popular there from the mid-1980s into the early ‘90s. She was universally respected there for her ability to execute the demands of the hardcore fight choreography of that era. As great a physical talent as she was, she was never a great dramatic actress, neither in Hong Kong nor in her later American films. Before her movie career, she had been a nationally-known forms champion in the American karate tournament circuit of the late ‘70s/early ‘80s.

Fellow American forms champion Karen Shepherd made her only appearance in a Hong Kong film here as an assassin.

Note: The young kid whom Karen Shepherd assassinates is a young Fan Siu-Wong, who, over 20 years later, would become most familiar in the West as Donnie Yen’s tough northern Chinese rival in the first Ip Man movie (2008). He also bulked up considerably and played the title character in 1991’s Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky.

This movie end fight was shot in two versions. In the original version (shown here), Cynthia Rothrock’s character is killed by villain Melvin Wong. The manner of her character’s death upset Hong Kong audiences enough that the scene was re-shot with an alternate version where her character is beaten but survives. IIRC, another version also had Yuen Biao’s character surviving.

Fight: Cynthia Rothrock vs Karen Shepherd:

https://youtu.be/ePUp8Yi3zH4

Final fight, part 1: Cynthia Rothrock vs henchmen & Melvin Wong:

https://youtu.be/YYtbtc09g68

Final fight, part 2: Yuen Biao vs Melvin Wong:

https://youtu.be/WMsbCYSgDVY

Final fight, part 3: Yuen Biao vs Melvin Wong, conclusion:

https://youtu.be/rgU8uHcbqlg

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#330

Post by shunsui »

Someone might have posted this but it's worth watching twice.
https://youtu.be/PjJofEuSA78
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#331

Post by James Y »

60 Second Assassin (AKA, My Life’s on the Line; 1978, Taiwan). Director: Wang Chung-Kuan. Action directors: Wan Li-Peng, Chan Long & Kung Hou-Lung.

*Full movie.

I will start out with a caveat about the final fight scene. IMO, it is set up and executed well, but has the most disappointing ending ever in a kung fu movie. However, also IMO, the performances of both Wan Li-Peng, and especially Leung Kar-Yan, as the villain, are worth seeing. Nobody could do ‘crazy’ like Leung Kar-Yan.

Final fight (starting @ 1:21:38): Wan Li-Peng vs Leung Kar-Yan:

https://youtu.be/b-BJlT4eCWw

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#332

Post by James Y »

Dance of Death (AKA, Eternal Conflict; 1979, Taiwan). Director: Chen Chi-Hwa. Action director: Jackie Chan.

*Whoever posted the opening credits video, incorrectly said it was from 1976, when in reality it’s from 1979.

Angela Mao Ying was one of the most famous graduates of Taiwan’s Fu Hsing Peking Opera Academy. She is most familiar to Westerners for her small role as Bruce Lee’s ill-fated sister in Enter the Dragon, but she acted in many films before and after ETD. Off the top of my head, this is the only movie where she acted silly. Also IIRC, this final fight was her longest-ever fight scene. The Peking Opera influence is very obvious.

Chia Kai, who played the arch-villain, was another former Peking Opera performer. Although a villain here, he normally played protagonists/supporting characters, and sometimes monks.

Jackie Chan directed the fight scenes, but did not appear in this film. He was credited as both Chen Yuan-Lung and Cheng Lung (Cantonese: Sing Lung). Chen Yuan-Lung (Cantonese: Chan Yuen-Lung) was Jackie’s original screen name before he took the name ‘Jackie’. Even after he became ‘Jackie Chan,’ he was known in Taiwan as Cheng Lung.

Opening credits, featuring Angela Mao Ying:

https://youtu.be/mogK_VP1TZg

Final fight: Angela Mao Ying vs Sun Jung-Chi; Angela Mao Ying (with Wang Tai-Lang & Hsu Bu-Liao) vs Chia Kai:

https://youtu.be/mzP4S1md64s

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#333

Post by James Y »

A Fist Full of Talons (1983; Taiwan and Hong Kong). Director: Sun Chung. Action directors: Tony Leung Siu-Hung & Robert Tai.

*Full movie.

The majority of this movie was filmed in Taiwan. I’ve long wondered if the scenes featuring the giant reclining Buddha (the indoor set where the training scenes and final fight take place) were filmed at Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers Studios. Director Sun Chung was a Shaw director, although this movie is by Eternal Films; many of the same DeWolfe Music Library tracks were used here as were used in numerous Shaw Brothers productions; and the reclining Buddha set just looks more like an indoor Shaw Studios set than an indoor Taiwan set.

IMO, the fights weren’t as smooth or as good as they could have been. Billy Chong isn’t as technically sharp-looking here as in most of his other films.

Arch-villain Hwang In-Shik, a real-life Hapkido master who teaches in Toronto, also doesn’t look as sharp as usual. AFAIK, this was Hwang’s final movie appearance.

Liu Hao-Yi (AKA, Hilda Liu) was my senior classmate at the first kung fu school I trained at in Taiwan; she didn’t get to show any of her skills here. I know for a fact that she had far better skills than the choreography here indicates. I should have asked her when I knew her if the finale was filmed at Shaw Brothers Studios, but I never thought to ask at the time.

Preliminary end fight; Billy Chong & Liu Hao-Yi vs Ma Chin-Ku & Cheng Kei-Ying (@ 1:14:00)

Final fight: Pai Ying vs Chiang Tao & Hwang In-Shik; Billy Chong & Liu Hao-Yi vs Hwang In-Shik (@ 1:16:50):

https://youtu.be/W8S0C2hHLu8

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#334

Post by James Y »

Mismatched Couples (1985, Hong Kong). Director: Yuen Woo-Ping. Action director: Brandy Yuen.

This was Donnie Yen's second movie.

Breakdance contest: Donnie Yen vs Kenny Perez:

https://youtu.be/muihGehFJuI

Final fight: Donnie Yen vs Dick Wei:

https://youtu.be/Ji9OGcfSmEQ

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#335

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Yellow-Faced Tiger (AKA, Slaughter in San Francisco; 1974, Hong Kong; filmed in San Francisco). Director: Lo Wei. Action directors: Chin Yuet-Sang & Lam Ching-Ying.

My reason for posting this to this thread is as a curiosity, especially for any Chuck Norris fans who may be unaware that he appeared in a second Hong Kong movie after Bruce Lee’s Way of the Dragon. Here he played the crime boss of San Francisco. :rolleyes:

Yellow-Faced Tiger was also the second film appearance (and first starring role) for Wong Tao (AKA Don Wong), who later went on to star in numerous kung fu films in Taiwan throughout the rest of the ‘70s and into the ‘80s. Obviously, Wong Tao improved considerably in his later films (a great example is Death Duel of Kung Fu, posted on page 12 of this thread). Early on, he was so wild that he had to practice slowing his hands down in front of people’s faces to avoid hitting them, because he lacked control.

There is no denying this was a bad movie. But considering that Wong Tao was literally given NO preparation, and had no training as an actor, nor how to use his martial arts for the screen (he was a Tae Kwon Do black belt), and that he was thrown into the deep end, he didn’t do bad at all. Wong Tao’s father, George Wang, had acted in Italian spaghetti westerns, but Wong Tao himself was not an actor beforehand. The movie being bad was not Wong Tao’s fault, but scriptwriter and director Lo Wei’s.

As bad as this movie was, amazingly, it contained some of Chuck Norris’s best acting performances. His facial expressions and body language in his non-fighting scenes actually appeared more natural than in anything else he did for the rest of his career, which is bizarre, but not exactly sad; right now, Chuck is worth about $70 million.

Note: Someone overdubbed the clip with Russian(?), but fortunately, there’s barely any speaking in the clip.

Final fight: Wong Tao vs henchmen (Chin Yuet-Sang, Lam Ching-Ying, Lee King-Chu, Pan Yung-Sheng, etc., etc.); Wong Tao vs Chuck Norris:

https://youtu.be/tvasDgrPiY0

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#336

Post by James Y »

Fatal Needles vs Fatal Fists (AKA, Fatal Needles, Fatal Fist; 1978, Taiwan). Director: Lee Tao-Nam. Action director: Tommy Lee (AKA, Li Chin-Ming).

One of the countless Taiwan movies that starred Wong Tao (AKA, Don Wong). Although he always had a rather intense, power-oriented onscreen fighting style, it’s obvious how much Wong Tao had improved as a leading man over the years, over his first starring role in Yellow-Faced Tiger (AKA, Slaughter in San Francisco; see previous post). Wong Tao was doubled for his character’s acrobatic stunts, as Wong Tao was never an acrobat or Peking Opera performer.

The arch-villain was played by Chang Yi (AKA, Chang Yu). He had a lengthy film career, beginning in the 1960s into the 1990s, until he retired to Vancouver, Canada. Chang Yi was another alumni of Taiwan’s Fu Hsing Peking Opera Academy. He played both heroes and villains throughout his career, but by the late ‘70s, he was usually cast as villains. His greatest fighting role was as the arch-villain in The Victim (1979; see page 6 of this thread).

Wong Tao and Chang Yi fought each other in several films in the late ‘70s.

Final fight: Wong Tao vs Chang Yi (starts @ 0:17):

https://youtu.be/DEDsvGWqTo4

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#337

Post by James Y »

Five Shaolin Masters (1974, filmed in Taiwan). Director: Chang Cheh. Action directors: Lau Kar-Leung & Lau Kar-Wing.

This post includes the training scenes, as well as all five final fights in separate video clips (each protagonist has his own specific opponent(s) to deal with). The fights will sometimes appear to skip; this is because in the movie, the scenes switched between different fights, which were supposedly happening simultaneously. Otherwise, each fight scene is more or less intact. Out of the five lead actors, my personal favorites are Ti Lung, Chi Kuan-Chun and Alexander Fu Sheng.

Training scenes; featuring Chi Kuan-Chun, Alexander Fu Sheng, Ti Lung, David Chiang & Meng Fei:

https://youtu.be/0FC-NH75EKI

Final fight 1: Meng Fei vs Leung Kar-Yan:

https://youtu.be/sV_aDDCSqqM

Final fight 2: Ti Lung vs Tsai Hung:

https://youtu.be/klzFgUPbrW8

Final fight 3: David Chiang vs Chiang Tao, Teng Chiang-Mei & Teng Chiang-Ying:

https://youtu.be/YePEpIz1eSA

Final fight 4: Alexander Fu Sheng vs Wang Lung-Wei:

https://youtu.be/iwboUDcgClo

Final fight 5: Chi Kuan Chun vs Fung Hak-On:

https://youtu.be/fPdgDjSnXbk

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#338

Post by James Y »

Jason and the Argonauts (1963, US). Director: Don Chaffey. Stop-motion animation: Ray Harryhausen.

One of my favorite old-time fantasy films. I’ve always loved this skeleton fight scene, but only in more recent years came to truly appreciate the complexity and sheer difficulty of filming this scene. I’m a big fan of stop-motion animation, and IMO, it imparts a feeling to a scene that modern CGI can never match.

Skeleton fight: Jason (Todd Armstrong) & his men vs the skeletons:

https://youtu.be/vUK3VCW2LH0

Jim
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#339

Post by shunsui »

James Y wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2020 10:52 am
Jason and the Argonauts (1963, US). Director: Don Chaffey. Stop-motion animation: Ray Harryhausen...
Harryhausen was a hero to many at Lucasfilm and ILM, with a statue built in his image on display in Lucasfilm’s Letterman Digital Arts Center campus in San Francisco. It's in the lobby of Building A, and it's a BIG statue.

Image
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Re: Favorite movie fight scenes

#340

Post by James Y »

shunsui wrote:
Thu Feb 06, 2020 8:30 pm
James Y wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2020 10:52 am
Jason and the Argonauts (1963, US). Director: Don Chaffey. Stop-motion animation: Ray Harryhausen...
Harryhausen was a hero to many at Lucasfilm and ILM, with a statue built in his image on display in Lucasfilm’s Letterman Digital Arts Center campus in San Francisco. It's in the lobby of Building A, and it's a BIG statue.

Image
For sure. When I was a kid, I loved all the movies he did the special effects for. Harryhausen and his mentor, Willis O’Brien, who did the stop-motion animation for The Lost World, the original King Kong, etc.

The Beast from 20,000, for which Ray Harryhausen creates the creature effects, was a direct inspiration (along with King Kong) for the original Godzilla movie.

Jim
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