It's a no-holds-barred battle to the death for possession of the invaluable Purple Sword. Assistant director Wang Po-yi also wrote this entertaining and exciting adventure which could have also been called "The Five Tigers" since there's no doubt that this quintet is the highlight of the action. Huang Tsung-shun is "Fierce Tiger," Hung Liu is "Drunk Tiger," Hsu Erh-niu is "Lame Tiger," award-winning actor Ku Feng is "One-eyed Tiger" and respected director/actor Wu Ma is "Sick Tiger" in a tangle of tussles and thrills.
Chang I, Chen Hung-lieh, Shu Pei-pei, Essie Lin Chia
Yeh Yung-tsu only directed a precious few films, making each all the more distinguished. This is one of his first, a sword-filled thriller centering on the title location - an inn where the down and dirty meet to plot nefarious doings. Award winning actor Ku Feng stars as the "Whip Devil," while the luminous and lethal Shih Szu plays "The Lady Hermit" who has a surprise in store for all the double-crossing masters of mayhem.
When is THE BRAVE ARCHER movie a "Venoms" film? When it is this, the fourth in a series originally starring international favorite Alexander Fu Sheng as master martial artist Kuo Tsing. But Fu only appears here in a cameo as the son of a character played by Lung Tien-chiang (best known as a spear master in the "Venoms" film THE FLAG OF IRON). Kuo Chue is the new hero (as he is in the "Venoms" films as well) who is out to defeat the mass murderer of his martial arts masters. In fact, this fast-moving, action-packed, Venom-filled film is even choreographed by the three core "Venoms", making it a unique combination of grand "Martial Arts World" mayhem and special Venom-style high flying kung-fu.
Linda Lin Dai struggles with The Blue forces of freedom, love, the sea and the sky, and The Black, the bottomless pit of evil. Lin’s poignant performance is memorable, however, it is that of newcomer Angela Yu Chien, who was named Best Supporting Actress. Part I ends with a literal cliffhanger, setting the stage for the equally memorable Part II.
When super director Chang Cheh found new talent and blood with "The Five Venoms" actors, most of which were trained in the highly acrobatic Chinese opera and well versed with exotic martial arts weapons, this created a new spark for his use of bizarre weapons in his films. The Flag Of Iron is one of 20 movies that he directed featuring the utterly flabbergasting and physically exhausting action bits created by these five dudes. You have the good guys from the righteous clan versus the bad guys from the villainous clan and it's so filled with "don't-blink-or-you-will-miss-something" gags, you will need to watch it over and over again so you can see the things you missed.
Kuo Chui , Chang Sheng , Wang Li , Lu Feng , Lung Tien-chiang
Tales Of A Eunuch reunites the potent mix of martial arts superstar Gordon Liu Chia-hui, who plays Emperor in cognito Kang Hsi, with the kung-fu comedienne Wang Yu, an anti-Ching revolutionary. It is a film laced with wild barrages of excellent martial arts chiefly choreographed by Yuen Hua and Yuan Pien; Jackie Chan's long-time kung-fu classmates. At one time, Wang was considered to be the next Alexander Fu Sheng.
Wang Yu , Ku Feng , Linda Chu , Liao Li-ling , Liu Chia-hui
A rare directorial foray for acclaimed martial arts choreographer Tang Chia, Shaolin Intruders is an entertaining amalgamation of eye-popping martial arts and thrilling detective story. On a routine courier mission, the prestigious Chin Hu Chief was murdered by four mysterious monks. When all evidence pointed to Ching Hua (Liu Yu-po) his friend Lei Hsin (Derek Yee) was determined to clear his name by barging in the Shaolin Temple thrice. When Lei thought justice was served for the culprits, he soon realized the table had turned and the monks stroke again. What followed is a series of intense pursuit for the ultimate villain﹗The film is filled with jaw-dropping action sequences developed by Tang and six leading choreographers of the era. Scenes including the "Blade Array", "Twelve Vajrayana Array" and the acclaimed "Stool Array" are all lauded as the defining Chinese screen gems, for their insane complexity and lightning speed.
Audiences echoed the name of this film after seeing Nat Chen Pai-chiang create the title character in Hong Kong Playboys and Prince Charming. This time, Lolanto takes center stage in a script written by both the director and the star. An angry man is chasing him all over Hong Kong as he tries to deal with his feelings for the idiot daughter of a wealthy mobster. Will Lolanto live happily ever after? Don’t count on it, but do count on lots of laughs in this madcap mixup.
Chan Pak-cheung, Patricia Ha , Wang Yu , Chen Hui-min
Asian fans of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon recognized that its director Ang Lee was actually inspired by director Chu Yuan and novelist Ku Lung's wonderful tales of a "martial arts world" where all wushu warriors try to attain the "Deer Sword" and escape from the insidious maze-like "Toy Land." Master kung-fu choreographer Tang Chia leads the king and queen of Shaw - Ti Lung and Lily Li - to engage in a fascinating and entertaining swordplay adventure of consummate swordsmen and sorceresses.
THE KUNG-FU INSTRUCTOR is martial arts film director Sun Chung's loose homage to Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo where unlike Toshiro Mifune's Sanjuro character being a snarling, bastard, drunk swordsman looking for a drink, popular actor Ti Lung's Huang Yang role, is an upright, righteous, weapon instructor looking to keep his limbs. Huang is a famous martial artist trapped into teaching kung-fu to the wrong clan while the opposing "good" clan tries to save him so he can instruct their members. Besides kung-fu comedienne Wang Yu starring in one of his few serious roles, Sun became the first Shaw Brothers' director to use a Steadicam which gives the film's action and editing style a unique brand of tension and rhythm. The pole fights are also out of this world.
The story is about the legendary Monkey King (Liu Chung-chun) teams up with Goddess of Mercy (Chao Li-chuan) and the Dragon Girl (Lung Nu) to battle the child god Hung Hai-erh (Ting Hua-chung),son of the Ox Demon (Hung Hai-erh) to rescue Tang Tseng, the Holy Pilgrim (Teng Chio-jen).
A gritty, realistic Chinatown tale about the life of an illegal immigrant who went through a sham marriage is indebted to thugs in this critically-acclaimed film.
The 5th Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Director (Mabel Cheung)
Wang Yu plays Kwei Wu, who stumbles onto a kidnapping with his wife Kan Lien-chu (Chin Ping) at the Red Lotus Temple. Kan sends Kwei to go for reinforcements while she stays to fight the kidnappers, but she is captured and imprisoned in an iron cage. As Kwei returns with reinforcements, he must also race to the temple to save his wife.
