We are finally living in the glory days for fans of vintage Hong Kong and Japanese cinema. For decades we’ve read articles about films that weren’t properly offered in America. The American distributors hacked the films apart to save a reel or two in shipping costs. The home video release featured bad transfers that were pan and scanned so you didn’t see all the action. Other times there wasn’t an American distributor for theatrical or VHS. You’d have to look for a bootleg release. But in the last two years, boutique home video studios have been delivering top quality Blu-rays of films that might have played in America as part of a 35mm film festival, but otherwise didn’t get a real release. This has been a banner year. The Shaw Brothers studio vault has been opened wide. We’ve been treated to retrospective releases featuring Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Angela Mao and Sonny Chiba. We’ve been able to finally collect Yakuza movies that would have challenged ’70s Hollywood gangster films if they’d made it here. This is time to get hooked on Asian Cinema from the late ’60s to the early ’90s. If you know someone who can’t stop humming Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting,” you might want to pick them up several titles from this holiday gift guide list.
Shaw Brothers
While it seemed like a lot of Shaw Brothers martial arts titles were released last year, Shout! Studios had a serious surprise for us. Over the course of 2023, they put out 63 movies from the Shaw Brothers. Back in the early ’90s, I was told that it was nearly impossible to find legitimately released Shaw Brothers films on home video. Now there’s 63 titles available in Blu-ray on six boxsets. The films in these collections are more into the sword play wuxia genre that Shaw also specialized in. We get to see so many of the actors that were familiar faces in their martial arts films swinging weapons.
Shaw Brothers Classics, Vol. 1 features 11 films. The collection focuses on films that were produced after Come Drink With Me transformed how martial arts movies captured the dynamic action. It includes Golden Swallow, the sequel to Come Drink With Me starring Cheng Pei-pei. Also included are The Assassin, The Thundering Sword, The Jade Raksha, The Bells of Death, The Sword of Swords, Killer Dark, The Invincible Fist, Dragon Swamp, The Flying Dagger and The Golden Sword. Several of the films feature Cheng Pei-pei who would have a major comeback in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Shaw Brothers Classics, Vol. 2 features 12 films including Lady of Steel, Brothers Five, The Crimson Charm, The Shadow Whip, The Delightful Forest, The Devil’s Mirror, Man of Iron, The Water Margin, The Bride From Hell, Heroes Two, The Flying Guillotine & The Dragon Missile. This highlight of this set is The Flying Guillotine which is the greatest weapon known to martial arts theaters. It’s like a killer Frisbee with a chain so that when it goes over someone’s head, you yank the chain and it decapitates them. While there’s zero evidence that anyone perfected the Flying Guillotine, it’s so good that I refuse to think of it as fictional.
Shaw Brothers Classics, Vol. 3 features 11 films including Killer Clans, The Shaolin Avengers, The Web of Death, The Vengeful Beauty, Death Duel, Life Gamble, Soul of the Sword, The Deadly Breaking Sword, Clan of the White Lotus, Shaolin Abbot & Shaolin Rescuers. We get even more films featuring Shaw Brothers superstars such as Alexander Fu Sheng, Lo Lieh, Ti Lung, David Chiang and the Deadly Venoms.
Shaw Brothers Classics, Vol. 4 features 12 films including The Rebel Intruders, Two Champions of Shaolin, Legend of the Fox, Black Lizard, House of Traps, Masked Avengers, The Sword Stained with Royal Blood, Five Element Ninjas, Shaolin Prince, Shaolin Intruders, Holy Flame of the Martial World & Opium and the Kung-Fu Master. We’re given even more exciting action featuring Phillip Kwok, Sun Chien, Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng, and Lo Meng and Derek Yee and Ti Lung. Opium and the Kung Fu Masters deals with the effects of getting high during these times.
The Ti Lung / David Chiang Collection features 12 films includes Have Sword, Will Travel, The Heroic Ones, Vengeance!, The Anonymous Heroes, The Deadly Duo, Duel of Fists, The Duel, The Angry Guest, All Men Are Brothers, The Blood Brothers, The Savage 5 & 7 Man Army. Has Shaw Stars Ti Lung and David Chaing teaming up to take out anyone that gets in their way. Director Chang Cheh made the pair extra potent on the screen. This boxset is a Shout! Studios online exclusive and limited edition.
The Brave Archer Collection features 5 films including The Brave Archer, Brave II, Brave Archer III, The Brave Archer and His Mate & Little Dragon Maiden. This series stars stars Alexander Fu Sheng in the first four films. The Little Dragon Maiden is debated as a sequel in the series. But it is featured in this collection so you can talk about it after you see it. This boxset is also exclusive to Shout! Studio’s website and limited edition.
Bruce Lee
Has it really been 50 years since Bruce Lee passed away? The iconic action star was only 32 at the time of his passing and missed out on seeing himself becoming a massive star in America with the opening of Enter The Dragon. To honor the occasion, Arrow Video released Bruce Lee At Golden Harvest. The boxset included 4K UHD versions of The Big Boss, Fist of Fury, Way of the Dragon, Game of Death and Game of Death II. The set gives us the Mandarin version of The Big Boss with 10 more minutes. They dig into the vault and get us more of the fight footage from Game of Death, the film Bruce Lee paused to focus on Enter the Dragon. This boxset was only released in the UK because Criterion has the US rights to the films and has only put out a Blu-ray collection. Enter the Dragon is only in the collection as a Blu-ray, but you can get the 4K UHD version from Warner Brothers. It’s available in America.
Jackie Chan
After the death of Bruce Lee, the Hong Kong film industry was frantically looking for the next Bruce Lee. There were dozens of clones of Bruce Lee renamed with variations of Bruce Lee to try to fool the public. One of the next Bruce Lee turned out to be his own superstar. That man would be Jackie Chan. He had worked in small parts of Bruce Lee films. Now he would be the main man.
New Fist of Fury has Jackie Chan showing up at the Jingwu School. Nora Miao from the original film is still there. The film was directed by Lo Wei, who helmed the original.
The Jackie Chan Collection Vol. 1 (1976 – 1982) gives us 7 films from the time when Jackie Chan was establishing himself as a leading man. Included in this Blu-ray boxset is The Killer Meteors, Shaolin Wooden Men, To Kill With Intrigue, Snake & Crane Arts of Shaolin, Dragon Fist, Battle Creek Brawl and Dragon Lord. Battle Creek Brawl was his first film made in America with the folks behind Enter The Dragon. You get to see Jackie Chan on roller skates before he arrives at a massive street fight.
The Jackie Chan Collection Vol. 2 (1983 – 1993) gives us 8 movies from when Jackie Chan had established his brand of comedy action. Winners and Sinners, Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars, Wheels On Meals, The Protector, Armour of God, Armour of God II: Operation Condor, Crime Story and City Hunter. This is Jackie when he gives us stunt spectaculars. Many of these films finally get complete cuts released after being butchered by American distributors.
Hand of Death (Arrow Video) brings together Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and John Woo. Hand of Death is an exciting film packed with lots of action. This is a John Woo film minus the bullets flying all over the place. Leading man Tan Tao-liang doesn’t make you wish one of his not-famous-yet co-stars had snagged his role. He’s rather badass as the student who must stop the carnage against the Shaolin Temple survivors. You root for him to create a return attack for those Extended Eagle’s Claw. James Tien comes off as brutal and heartless as the bad guy who wants to wipe out the true believers. But what about the future stars? It’s interesting a jolt to witness Sammo Hung as the bad guy who has no problem chopping down Shaolin monks. He’s not good natured or goofy even if he’s wearing fake front teeth. Jackie Chan has the best role in the film as the noble blacksmith. He’s willing to do anything to help Yun Fei and stop Shih. He gets the second-best fight scenes after the lead.
Sammo Hung
Sammo Hung received a Blu-ray retrospective of his career as an actor and director from Arrow Video. Instead of a boxset, Sammo’s titles came out as individual releases.
The Iron-Fisted Monk (Arrow Video) is considered the first film to mix comedy with martial arts made in Hong Kong. The film did come out a year before Sammo’s friend Jackie Chan got into the genre with Drunken Master. Sammo plays so much of Luk for laughs. But the movie isn’t a straight out laugh riot. The marketplace attack is nasty, but has comic touches such as when Chan Sing takes control. When the Official (Snake In the Eagle’s Shadow‘s Fung Hark-On) has his way with owner of a dye factory’s daughter while her mother is in the other room, it’s extra vicious. This is the Hong Kong cut and not the U.S. release that shortened this scene considerably. While there are great playful sparing moments with Sammo, the last thirty minutes is intense battles that mixes slapstick with bloodletting. Sammo has the amazing ability to give these great comedic expressions and then get extremely serious when it matters. He has a natural ability to surprise which gets back to his deceptive nature on screen.
Warriors Two shows how Sammo Hung as a writer and director understood what an audience wants from a martial arts movie. We’re not overburdened with plot. We get enough dialogue to understand the situation. He creates well rounded characters without having them get too talky. When they aren’t fighting, we’re learning about Wing Chun Kung Fu. Cashier training scenes with Master Tsang are a touch unconventional. He has to defend against a moving dummy and later trains to use a pole to smackdown unusual targets. The last quarter of the movie is one giant action scene involving Cashier, Kei and Tsang’s niece going after the hitmen and their boss. The fights get extremely inventive including one person having to deal with a bear trap on his leg. We even get a taste of Praying Mantis Kung Fu in the finale. The most important thing is seeing the lessons of Master Tsang put to use by his students.
Heart of Dragon (Arrow Films) has Sammo Hung directing Jackie Chan and playing his brother with issues that makes him mentally challenged. Even though this seems like an out-of-control movie, Heart of Dragon remains on the rails. The credit goes to Sammo Hung for giving a restrained performance and not turning Dodo into joke. It’s not Simple Jack from Tropic Thunder. While Sammo Hung might have been the top screen fighter, he doesn’t turn Dodo into a fighting savant. His fighting skills are mainly in the amount of punishment he absorbs by the bad guys. He takes a series of beatings over the course of the film. Likewise, Jackie plays the protective brother as a man who is about to snap from realizing that he will never have day without worrying about taking care of Dodo. His emotional breakdown scene has Jackie doing more than playing an action hero.
Knockabout (Arrow Video) has Yipao (Wheels on Meals‘ Yuen Biao) and Taipao (The Thundering Mantis‘ Bryan Leung) as small time hustlers. They pull a major scam selling gold to a greedy exchanger. Before they can enjoy their loot, they meet up with Jia Wu Dao (Master of the Flying Guillotine‘s Lau Kar Wing). The duo think they can handle the old man, but he proceeds to kick their butts and swipe their booty. Instead of plotting revenge Yipao and Taipao beg to old man to be their teacher. They want to learn his Snake style of marital arts. After the two get very good, Yipao discovers a very bad thing about their teacher. This leads to a very nasty outcome. Yipao has to learn a new form of kung fu to take on Jia Wu Dao. He finds a new mentor in a beggar (Sammo Hung) who knows Monkey style.
Millionaires’ Express (Arrow Video) is a strange mix of elements, but Sammo understands that as long as he fills the screen with comic action, the audience is going to eat it up. There’s plenty of action between major stunts and serious martial arts battles. In one scene, a woman leaps out of a burning building and lands in the dirt. Even if they super padded the stunt person, it had to hurt. The train stunts appear to be extremely risky. Quite a few famous names pop up in the film including Lau Kar-wing (Master of the Flying Guillotine), Jimmy Wang Yu (One-Armed Boxer), Bolo Yeung (Bloodsport) and Cynthia Rothrock (China O’Brien). Sammo and Rothrock have a big battle during the finale that has her get a few good high-flying kicks.
The Prodigal Son (Arrow Video) has a Chinese Opera troupe comes to town. Rich boy Leung Chang (Wheels On Meals‘ Yuen Biao) claims he’s the King of Kung Fu, but his fights have been rigged. When the phony meets the lead actress of the Opera Troupe, he learns quite a bit. Turns out the actress is Leung Yee-tai (Magic Cop‘s Lam Ching-ying), a master of Wing Chun fighting. Things get destructive when the nobleman Ngai Fei (Outlaw Brothers‘ Frankie Chan) arrives for a show. But Fei isn’t there to be entertained. He’s looking for a great fighter to face off against. He wants a piece of Yee-tai. The fight gets paused which leads to Fei acting like he’ll be back for a makeup date. Instead Fei’s men cause destruction to the Troupe. This leads Chang to have to not only learn Wing Chun from Yee-Ti, but they travel to meet a master of a unique technique (Sammo Hung). Can he really become the real Kung Fu King or will he always be a rich boy wannabe?
Sonny Chiba
The Sonny Chiba Collection, Volume 2 (Shout! Factory) gives us seven films that show how the action actor could dominate the screen no matter how much time he spent up there. His one scene in 13 Steps of Maki makes an impact. None of the seven films have English audio dubs so it seems these films weren’t imported to America to take advantage of The Street Fighter buzz. The film included are Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon, Karate For Life, The Great Okinawa Yakuza War, Karate Warriors, The Defensive Power of Akido, 13 Steps of Maki: The Young Aristocrats and The Okinawan War of Ten Years.
The Executioner Collection (Arrow Video) really delivers with this double dose of Sonny Chiba showing off his mad Ninja skills in The Executioner & Executioner II: Karate Inferno. Director Teruo Ishii proves he can put his own signature on action films. Both films are a bit of a tone shift from Sonny Chiba’s Street Fighter flicks that came out earlier in 1974, yet they deliver on the action and brutal fights that he could deliver.
Angela Mao
Lady Whirlwind & Hapkido (Arrow Video) star Angela Mao as a powerful force in action cinema. She is not a typical female character. She’s more about action than emotion. She doesn’t seduce her opponents with feminine charms. She fights them on their own level. She is relentless in Lady Whirlwind when she blows into town looking to kill the man who broke her sister’s heart. While it looks like Sammo Hung and Carter Wong would be the serious fighters in Hapkido, Angela Mao proves to be the highlight real with her barrage of strikes against the Black Bears. Angela Mao knows how to dish out the pain and serve up a beating.
Hong Kong Action
The Tiger Cage Collection (Shout! Studios) brings together the three Tiger Cage movies directed by Yuen Woo-Ping from 1988 – 1991. While you’d imagine they are trilogy, the movies storylines have nothing to do with each other. Even when the actors return, they’re playing different characters. The one thing the three films have in common is they are all about cops. Tiger Cage has a drug unit get hit when their main target gets revenge. Tiger Cage 2 has an ex-cop find himself part of a manhunt when he accidentally gets involved with a gang war. Tiger Cage 3 gets into corporate corruption as a young financial advisor discovers what’s required to move up the company’s ladder. Woo-Ping ramps up the danger in the cases as there’s always a chance of fire fight or fistfight around every corner in Hong Kong. The always in action cast for the three films include Donnie Yen (John Wick: Chapter 4), Simon Yam (Election), Jacky Cheung (Bullet In The Head), Cynthia Khan (Yes, Madam), Robin Shou (Mortal Kombat) and Michael Wong (City Hunter).
In The Line of Duty I – IV (88 Films) Major Hollywood studios had a serious issue at letting a woman be an action star in the ’60s and ’70s. Yet in Hong Kong, there were quite a few women playing leads in action films including Come Drink with Me with Cheng Pei-pei and Angela Mao in Hapkido and numerous films. In the ’80s, Michelle Yao was added to the pantheon of lethal ladies when she cast as a police inspector for the newly established D & B Films. Her two films with a badge are part of In The Line Of Duty I-IV along with the first two films of Cynthia Khan who would take over the role.
Magic Cop (88 Films) is a thrill ride with the mixture of Hong Kong action and supernatural spell casting. This is guns, fists and incantations. The fight between Uncle Feng and the person behind the drug smuggling operation is next level as they exchange physical and spiritual blows at each other. There are a lot of things on fire as the battle rages between them. Director Stephen Tung Wei and his crew keep the screen jumping with action even if a fighter is a re-animated corpse. Lam Ching-ying dominates the screen with a character who won’t be stopped in the real world or the spiritual realm.
Bio Zombie (Vinegar Syndrome) plays like a mix of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead and Kevin Smith’s Mall Rats. We’re treated to the nasty underbelly of Hong Kong mall culture since the stores are rather outlaw. Can you imagine your local ’90s mall allowing a shop to operate that’s selling extremely bootlegged VHS tapes? Or how about a cellphone store that has no problem putting a price tag on stolen merchandise? This is a cramped little thieves market. The film gets extreme with the fact that the two main characters are thugs-in-training. Woody and Crazy are not the innocent people we’re used to seeing in the midst of a zombie attack movie. They’re both nasty.
Ghost Nursing (Vinegar Syndrome) is as weird as the title suggests. Are you one of those people who imagine all Hong Kong films made in the ’70s and early ’80s followed the same formula? You imagine that they were always about a martial arts student getting revenge for his teacher being beaten up. There were quite a few with that plot. Ghost Nursing is not formulaic. This Hong Kong film shot in Thailand in 1982 brings a supernatural wonder to a tale of an extreme way to break a bad luck streak. Can black magic really help your dating life? Ghost Nursing doesn’t hold anything back with extreme advice and uncomfortable rituals.
The Last Blood (a.k.a. Hard Boiled II) (88 Films) isn’t a sequel to John Woo’s Hard Boiled. In fact it came out before John Woo’s film. The Last Blood has the elements that make Wong Jing films exciting. The action scenes fill the screen with mayhem. Beyond the airport, we’re given a creative shootout at a hospital (which is why a distributor thought they could rename it Hard Boiled 2). The motorcycle stunts are tremendous in the nighttime chase. The guy who has the valuable blood type is a complete jerk and hustler. He wants to get paid to help out with the transfusion action. He’s a hustler who finally has something in demand. Andy Lau’s boyfriend is a serious jerk throughout the film even when he’s desperately trying to save his girlfriend’s life. These are not easy to embrace characters. Alan Tam was mostly doing comic roles before this movie. He shows that he can be a serious action star on the screen as the Interpol agent. He’s not yucking it up when he takes out the room full of JAR members. He’s there to slay.
The Postman Fights Back (88 Films) brings a touch of the Old West to the East. There is that sensation that the industrial revolution was going to change this untamed part of China (actually South Korea). The mailman pushing the story keeps it from feeling like a Western we’ve seen before. There are bullets flying across the screen, but martial arts and handheld weapons dominate the action. Chow Yun-Fat plays the badass to the hilt. He even has cool devices like James West in The Wild Wild West up his sleeves to deal with the bandits. You could sense in this film from 1982 that Chow was going to get even more roles. Even though Chow is so cool on the screen, Bryan Leung doesn’t vanish as the mailman who gets pulled into this dangerous delivery. He gets into a nasty fight for the finale that is brutal with an original finishing move. Ronny Yu visually ramps up the film including the final destination for the packages. There’s a lot of great and unusual fights on the screen. The most unexpected is martial arts fighting on ice. It’s like a bloody drenched Ice Capades.
Taxi Hunter (88 Films) will make you laugh, cry, scream and avoid hailing a cab. Things are looking good for Kin (Infernal Affairs‘ Anthony Chau-Sang Wong). He’s been going beyond his co-workers in selling life insurance policies and is about to get a major promotion. Making this even more exciting is his wife (Super Cop Lady‘s Athena Chu) is about to give birth to their first child. Everything is going along smoothly until he gets becomes the victim of a taxi driver’s rear-ender scam. He gets forced to cough up cash for repairs by the cabbie and other goonish cabbies. Then he discovers his own car has suffered a major engine issue. The car goes in the shop at the worst possible time. When his wife goes into labor, they have to hail a cab in the middle of the night. The cabbie isn’t up for having a woman about to give birth in his backseat. This leads to a horrific moment that sends Kin on an emotional tailspin.
A Moment of Romance (Radiance Films) is a rarity with teen love being mixed with Stockholm Syndrome. This is not exactly the “how I met your father” story that warms a child’s heart. There might be the initial sticking point of: How could she fall so hard for her kidnapper? Andy Lau is the kind of heartthrob that makes this tricky situation click.
The Inspector Wears Skirts (88 Films) has Sibelle Hu and Cynthia Rothrock have to fight crime and deal with male chauvinism in the workplace. The movie was produced by Jackie Chan and features his stunt crew.
The Long Arm of the Law I & II (88 Films) is the first two entries of the successful series that shot up Hong Kong.
The Blue Jean Monster (88 Films) has a cop rise from the grave to close his final case.
Yakuza
Big Time Gambling Boss (Radiance Films) came out in 1968 and should have set the standard for mobster movies except was obscure in America when The Godfather (1972) and Mean Streets (1973) were released. Now we can truly absorb the glory of an epic Yakuza tale after 55 years. There’s so much going on in a movie that’s just over 90 minutes. This one movie could be drawn out into a series on HBO. Tomisaburô Wakayama and Kôji Tsuruta are a perfect pair on screen. They rank up there with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in Goodfellas and Casino. Big Time Gambling Boss is a cinematic masterpiece right down to the final moment when with an ironic twist to finish off the mayhem.
Yakuza Graveyard (Radiance Films) When an argument comes up as to who made the best gangster films in the ’70s and ’80s with the choices being Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and Brian De Palma; I ask: Where’s the Kinji Fukasaku option? During the ’70s, the director made the monumental Battles Without Honor and Humanity that over the course of five films and a three-part sequel series looked into the rise of the Yakuza in Hiroshima. He did away with the dignity and loyalty that had marked previous films about the Japanese version of the mafia. He showed them as dangerous men who will turn on each other if given a chance. Screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara wrote the original film and three of the sequels. Kasahara produced memorable Cops vs. Thugs script for Fukasaku which is considered a masterpiece of the genre. The duo teamed up one last time for a movie that gave light to another aspect of mobster life in Yakuza Graveyard. This final outing would give us characters dealing with not only the relationship between law enforcement and organized crime, but national identity.
Game Trilogy (Arrow Video) includes The Most Dangerous Game, The Killing Game and The Execution Game. The trilogy is about Shouhei Narumi (Yusaku Matsuda) the hottest killer in Japan. The three films didn’t arrive in America until now. I don’t think audiences could have truly appreciated the story, performances, action and music if they’d watched it on a crummy VHS tape. Who knows how cartoony the English dub would sound. Toru Murakawa directed three films that need a large screen to full appreciate the scale of the imagery. The Blu-ray boxset lets you take in the majesty of Narumi. I feel bad that the movies weren’t released before Yusaku Matsuda’s first big break in America as the villain going against Michael Douglas in Black Rain.
Spaghetti Western
Shanghai Joe (Cauldron Films) brings the Far East to the Wild West in the world of the Spaghetti Western. Shanghai Joe (Return of The Sister Street Fighter‘s Myoshin Hayakawa renamed Chen Lee) arrives in San Francisco from China eager to make it big in the Old West. While Shanghai Joe is a mash up of Spaghetti Western and Chop Socky, the film has more depth and excitement than a simple cash grab. Shanghai Joe faces a lot of bigotry on his journey across the American West. He is the victim of greed. Ultimately he becomes the target of revenge. This is a lot of stuff that Joe probably didn’t read about in the brochure that described all the amazing things awaiting you in America.
