Blog Archives

Dirty Ho (1979)

(from , dir: )
Posted on November 3, 2008 by Justin

Dirty Ho‘s title may inspire sniggering from the back of the class, nowadays, but it’s a very different film than you’d think: the film does open inside a brothel (a floating one, no less!), but the Ho of the title is a male thief and kungfu practitioner (played by Wong Yue), and his dirtiness is conferred by a poisoned wound he receives early in the film. So, if you’re after something more like The Golden Lotus, I’d suggest … (read more)

Comments Off on Dirty Ho (1979)

The Lady Is The Boss (1983)

(from , dir: )
Posted on March 25, 2007 by Justin

Lau Kar Leung brings Hung Fist kung-fu to the disco in 1983’s The Lady Is The Boss, one of his most uneven films with the Shaw Brothers studio. The basic premise is excellent: an old-fashioned kung-fu instructor clashes with the young American-educated daughter of the school’s founder, who arrives in Hong Kong to take over the school’s management. Unfortunately, some truly woeful over-acting and cheesy comedy make most of the film fairly difficult to watch, even when interspersed with … (read more)

Comments Off on The Lady Is The Boss (1983)

The Five Deadly Venoms (1978)

(from , dir: )
Posted on October 22, 2006 by Justin

You would be hard pressed to find a Shaw Brothers film more well-known internationally than The Five Venoms. It’s garnered a huge fanbase as a cult film over the years, inspiring everyone from rap supergroup the Wu-Tang clan to cult filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. Released in 1978, it fuses elements of the older swordplay and wuxia films that Shaws produced for many years with the harder, more realistic action sequences that came with the kung fu films of the late … (read more)

Comments Off on The Five Deadly Venoms (1978)

Invincible Shaolin (1978)

(from , dir: )
Posted on January 25, 2006 by Justin

Invincible Shaolin is one of the first two discs to be released on to the Australian market from the remastered Shaw Brothers catalogue being lovingly restored by Celestial in Hong Kong. For those who don’t know: Shaw Brothers was a powerhouse of a studio operating in HK from the late 50’s to the early 80’s. They made hundreds of films in the kung fu and wu xia genres, and those by this director — Chang Cheh — are amongst the … (read more)

Comments Off on Invincible Shaolin (1978)

The Master (1980)

(from , dir: )
Posted on January 25, 2006 by Justin

The Master is a later kung-fu flick, made in 1980 by director Lu Chin-Ku. It stars a young actor named Yuen Tak in his first film and several Shaw Brothers veterans, notably Chen Kuan-tai and Johnny Wang Lung-wei. Though the focus is on the action scenes, particularly in the second half of the film, it’s obvious that the director has taken note of the introduction of comedy to the genre — wide-eyed slapstick and sproing-oing-oing noises are rather common until … (read more)

Comments Off on The Master (1980)

Martial Club (1981)

(from , dir: )
Posted on November 25, 2005 by Justin

Martial Club, shot in 1981, is one of action director par-excellence Lau Kar-leung’s later films for Shaw Brothers. It stars Gordon Liu as Chinese historical figure Wong Fei-hung, who’s been brought to the screen many times by many different actors. Notable in this list are Kwan Tak-Hing in some 100-odd Wong Fei-hung films, Jet Li in Once Upon a Time in China and Jackie Chan in Drunken Master I and II. Gordon Liu played him in Challenge of … (read more)

Comments Off on Martial Club (1981)