Martial Arts

  • Wei Lo – Long hu jin hu AKA The Tattooed Dragon (1973)

    Wei Lo1971-1980ActionHong KongMartial Arts

    Wang Yu stars as the Tattooed Dragon, who comes to the rescue after Mafia- types take over a small village. They set up gambling halls and soon thereafter the men in the village lose everything to the mob. Dragon uses his skills to beat the mobsters at their own game. He can actually hear the dice as they tumble and can pick the correct number to bet on. He breaks the bank and wins back all the money that the villagers lost. Dragon makes them promise never to gamble again. The mobsters go after Dragon, but as always Good triumphs over Evil.Read More »

  • Hiroshi Inagaki – Zoku Miyamoto Musashi: Ichijôji no kettô AKA Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)

    1951-1960ActionHiroshi InagakiJapanMartial Arts

    Synopsis:
    Hiroshi Inagaki’s acclaimed Samurai Trilogy is based on the novel that has been called Japan’s Gone with the Wind. This sweeping saga of the legendary seventeenth-century samurai Musashi Miyamoto (powerfully portrayed by Toshiro Mifune) plays out against the turmoil of a devastating civil war. The Trilogy (whose first part won an Academy Award) follows Musashi’s odyssey from unruly youth to enlightened warrior. In the second and most violent installment, Duel at Ichijoji Temple, Musashi beats a samurai armed with a chain and sickle and is later set upon by eighty samurai disciples—orchestrated by the sinister Kojiro—while the two women who love him watch helplessly.Read More »

  • Hiroshi Inagaki – Miyamoto Musashi kanketsuhen: kettô Ganryûjima AKA Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956)

    Hiroshi Inagaki1951-1960ActionJapanMartial Arts

    Synopsis:
    Hiroshi Inagaki’s acclaimed Samurai Trilogy is based on the novel that has been called Japan’s Gone with the Wind. This sweeping saga of the legendary seventeenth-century samurai Musashi Miyamoto (powerfully portrayed by Toshiro Mifune) plays out against the turmoil of a devastating civil war. The Trilogy (whose first part won an Academy Award) follows Musashi’s odyssey from unruly youth to enlightened warrior. In the third installment, Duel at Ganryu Island, Musashi reunites tragically with the women who love him, and battles for samurai supremacy in a climactic confrontation with his lifelong nemesis.Read More »

  • Joseph Velasco – Ying han gong fu ben AKA Kung Fu’s Hero (1973)

    Joseph Velasco1971-1980ActionHong KongMartial Arts

    An undercover cop infiltrates a gang of smugglers to save the women he loves.Read More »

  • Al Adamson – Black Samurai (1976)

    Al Adamson1971-1980ExploitationMartial ArtsUSA

    Quote:
    Robert Sand, agent of D.R.A.G.O.N. (Defense Reserve Agency Guardian Of Nations), is playing tennis on his vacation with a beautiful black girl, when his commanding officers ask him to save a Chinese girl who happens to be Sand’s girlfriend, and the daughter of a top Eastern Ambassador. The ransom for the abduction was the secret for a terrific new weapon – the freeze bomb – but the ‘Warlock’ behind the deed is also into the business of drug dealing and Voodoo ritual murders. The search takes him from Hong Kong to California through Miami, and plenty of action, against bad men, bad girl, and bad animals.Read More »

  • Jesús Franco – La sombra del judoka contra el doctor Wong AKA The Shadow of Judoka vs. Dr. Wong (1985)

    Jesus Franco1981-1990Martial ArtsSpainThriller

    Review by Nzoog Wahrlfhehen
    Dr. Wong (Jess Franco) sends his thugs to eliminate Mr. Jung. The “judoka shadow” of Bruce Lyn (José Llamas) is cast against a wall, swearing to take revenge. Meanwhile, Lina Romay and Albino Graziani, both of whom work for the British secret service, investigate Jung’s murder. Wong is also out to eliminate Macedo, a Filipino gangster involved in dubious dealings, with the purpose of having the whole market to himself. But Bruce and his judoka shadow (which does the fighting for him) interfere with his plans, leading him to send the beautiful Honey Eyes to do him in. Honey Eyes sets a trap for Bruce, but the latter is saved in the nick of time by the British agents. What follows are numerous fights and chases until Bruce and Dr, Wong finally meet, face to face. The issue is raised of a boat bearing a heroin cargo. The two secret agents find the boat, though this turns out to be manned by two corrupt millionaires. Bruce Lyn arrests them but then, on recalling that his masters had taught him to be compassionate, sets them free.Read More »

  • Woo-ping Yuen – Siu nin Wong Fei Hung ji Tit Ma Lau AKA Iron Monkey (1993)

    1991-2000AsianHong KongMartial ArtsWoo-ping Yuen

    Plot
    A Hong Kong variation on Robin Hood. The corrupt officials of a Chinese village are continually robbed by a masked bandit know as “Iron Monkey” named after a benevolent deity. When all else fails, the Govenor forces a traveling physician (Donnie Yen) into finding the bandit. The arrival of an evil Shaolin monk, brings the Physician and Iron Monkey together to battle the corrupt government.Read More »

  • Kazuhiko Yamaguchi – Kaette kita onna hissatsu ken AKA The Return of Sister Street Fighter (1975)

    1971-1980ActionJapanKazuhiko YamaguchiMartial Arts

    Synopsis:
    Back in Hong Kong, an old friend of Koryu’s, Detective Cho (Jiro Chiba, Shinichi’s brother), shortly before being stabbed right through the tie, asks Koryu to accompany his niece Rika to Yokohama and look for the little girl’s mother, Shurei, who has become the mistress of Oh Ryu Mei (Rinichi Yamamoto), “shadow ruler of Yokohama’s Chinatown,” and whose “certain large Japanese corporation” is hoarding stolen gold.Read More »

  • Chung Sun – Feng lei mo jing AKA The Devil’s Mirror (1972)

    1971-1980Chung SunFantasyHong KongMartial Arts

    In his feature debut, Sun Chung – one of the most interesting filmmakers at Shaw Brothers – helms this wild tale of two martial arts clans who each possess an amazing mirror with supernatural powers. The mirrors are coveted by the evil Jiuxian Witch (Li Chia-hsien), leader of the Bloody Ghouls Clan (sure, name your clan that and how do you expect them to turn out?), who plots to use them to enter the tomb of Emperor Wu and ransack his magical treasure. A gang of masked ninjas – in reality, captive swordsmen poisoned by the witch’s “Corpse Worm Pills” – steal the first mirror from one-legged clan chieftain Bai Tian Xiong (Wang Hsia), whose duplicitous lieutenant, Leng Yun (Tung Lam) drives a wedge between him and rival Chief Wen (Ching Miao). Nobody suspects he is working for the Bloody Ghouls Clan and sneaking off for occasional hot, between the sheets action with the sexy, three-eyed, super-witch. Eventually, star-crossed lovers Bai Xiaofeng (Shu Pei-pei) and Wen Jianfeng (Liu Tan) team-up to see justice is done.Read More »

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