This is considered by most aficionados to be the first great Kung Fu genre film to come out of Hong Kong in the 1960′s and is most certainly a great film by any standard. Produced by the inimitable Shaw Brothers and written and directed by King Hu, this film is an absolute technical masterpiece that defied the stereotypical films of Hong Kong at that time. The script, plot, performances, fight choreography, cinematography (compliments of master Tadashi Nishimoto) as well as direction and production values far surpassed the Hong Kong films of the era. One can make a very strong argument that the golden age of Hong Kong film making began with “Come Drink With Me” and ended with Bruce Lee’s passing.

At the time of this film’s release in 1966, it was selected as the Hong Kong entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 39th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.

There are many remarkable and notable things about the film: Jackie Chan claims to be one of the choir children in the opening scenes. Pei Pei Chang plays Golden Swallow, at a time when female action stars were unheard of. Hua Yueh turns in a masterful performance as “Drunk Cat” (Fan Tai Pei).

The plot revolves around a general’s son who is taken hostage and used as leverage to free a bandit leader. The general’s other offspring, a girl named Golden Swallow, is sent to rescue the son. When the bandit gang encounter the Golden Swallow in a local inn, the prisoner negotiation escalates to bloodshed and the kidnappers are beaten to a pulp.

A local drunk beggar named Fan Tai Pei acts as Golden Swallow’s guardian angel, secretly helping her avoid being ambushed at night. That morning Fan Tai Pei, whom we now know only as “Drunken Cat” tips off Golden Swallow to the bandits whereabouts. They have occupied a Buddhist monastery.

Under the guise of an acolyte, Golden Swallow penetrates the temple and confronts the man who’s taken her brother hostage. During the brawl she is injured by a deadly, poisoned dart. She escapes and is rescued in the woods by Fan Tai Pei who nurses her back to health. While she’s convalescing, Golden Swallow learns that Fan is actually a martial arts master and a leader of a Kung Fu society, which he otherwise keeps a secret.

The monastery is led by an evil abbot, Liao Kung, who is also a kung fu master and has allied himself with the bandits. He finds out that the beggar carries a bamboo staff and then realises that the beggar is the former student of the same master. The abbot has in fact killed their master in order to get his bamboo staff, which was rescued by Fan Tai Pei. Now abbot Liao Kung sees the opportunity to gain control of the staff.

Fan Tai Pei is hesitant to confront Liao Kung for two reasons. First, Liao Kung’s Kung Fu skills are unparalleled, and he thinks he has no chances against him, or at the very least, one of them would not survive a confrontation. Second, despite his evil ways, Liao Kung has actually done a good deed to Fan Tai Pei: he persuaded the master to accept Fan Tai Pei into the Green Wand Kung-Fu school when he was a mere homeless orphan, thus giving him a chance in life. For this reason, Fan is reluctant to fight the abbot even though Fan knows about the abbot’s criminal deeds.

In order to release the General’s son, Fan stages a prisoner exchange. During the exchange, the government soldiers receive the General’s son, but Fan prevents the bandits from releasing their leader. As the government soldiers march the bandit leader back to prison, the bandits attack the procession. Golden Swallow, leading her female warriors, fights off the bandits. The evil abbot forces a showdown with Fan Tai Pei.

And the rest, as they say, is history…

In this classic martial arts film, Lo (Hwang Jang Lee) is a Kung Fu fighter who kills for money schooled in the powerful Eagle’s Claws style of fighting. Lo is hired to kill a man named Tai (John Chang), and Tai prepares himself by seeking out a Kung Fu master to teach him the Eagle Fist style so that he may combat Lo’s flesh shredding Eagle’s Claws.

John Chang assumes the typical “Kung Fu revenge movie” country bumpkin persona, who’s desperate to learn the arts. His first choice of Sifu turns out to be a real disappointment until he meets a beggar who saves him from some thugs. The beggar soon agrees to teach Tai all he knows. Hwang enters the fray as an evil Eagle Claw assassin when he is hired to take out Tai and the Beggar by the defeated thugs stuttering boss.

Lo kills the Beggar, leaving Tai to go head to head with him in an extended duel to the death. The final scenes feature some very fine Taekwondo style high kicking from Hwang Jang Lee. Hwang makes this film watchable and his style is fairly flawless. A must see for all Taekwondo connoisseurs.

The Emperor is under attack by marauders and he is so depressed with his failure to protect his people, that he sees no other option than to kill himself. In his grief, he also decides to maim his daughter by cutting of her arm (there is a long tradition of one armed fighters in Hong Kong cinema).

After being maimed, the Princess wanders around trying to enlist help from anyone who will listen to her, but no matter whom she meets they either prove too weak to fight off the marauders or they wind up betraying her.

Things take a turn for the surreal when her faithful servant girl cuts off her own arm to impersonate the Princess and dies. The Princess goes crazy until she meets handsome Carter Wong, the gentle brute of a butcher who is caring for his Buddhist nun mother. He promises his mom on her death bed he will marry the now lunatic princess. Serious ass kicking ensues, including sword wielding women, and some high kicking action from Mr. Carter Wong. Enjoy!

The real Bruce Lee is back in this mash up of early footage found in the Chinese archives. This feature also stars the sensational DRAGON LEE, and of course that master of all things “bruceploitation”: BRUCE LI.

This is really a half-hour documentary about Bruce, followed by a full-length Kung Fu feature called “The Ultimate Lee” that’s lays claim to being the  next scheduled movie Bruce was to have done before is untimely death.

The first half-hour is where this feature really shines as we see selected clips from Bruce’s first four films made while he was a youngster in China. We see clips from “The Little Dragon”, “The Bad Boy”, “Carnival” and “Orphan Sam”. Also included is the only scene Bruce ever did with his father. There are a few terrific cameos of Bruce behind the camera and casual. We also see scenes of Bruce’s funeral. This is a must see for any serious Bruce Lee aficionado.

Ninja Terminator is the King of Bad 80′s Ninja Movies! Its got it all: Richard Harrison, Bad dubbing, bad dialogue, an insane and senseless plot line, gratuitous violence, and an endless array of black clad, sword wielding Ninjas! As with all the other ninja movies by Godfrey Ho, what we are witness too here is a completely separate and non-ninja related film into which some newly shot ninja footage has been spliced, whilst an illusory link between the two unrelated stories is created and sustained by the over dubbing: Its an old school Ninja Movie mash-up!
It has to be said, that in the vast majority of these cut and splice ninja outings, only the ninja footage usually has any entertainment value. However, in the case of Ninja Terminator, BOTH…ahem…”‘movies”…prove to be highly enjoyable!
In the non-ninja sequences we have one ultra cool dude by the name of Jaguar Wong. A rough and tumble bad ass who gets in more fist fights in this one movie than most professional boxers have in their entire career. Of course with a bad ass name like Jaguar Wong, he is destined to put the smack down on all challengers. Although, he does get a little roughed up during the films climax by the always excellent Hwang Jang Lee.
The ninja sequences are equally as energetic with loads of sword play, acrobatics and people disappearing in plumes of smoke. Best of all Ninjitsu Master Richard Harrison: wearing heavy eye liner and mascara! Yet, after watching this ninja freak fest, I am still left with a few lingering questions:

1. Why does the villain wear a blond woman’s wig?
2. Why would a Ninja attack using several guns, a slingshot and a FOLDED PIECE OF PAPER?
3. What is with the Garfield phone?
4. What’s with the toy robot?
5. Do all Ninja’s wear tennis suits during their morning Ninja workouts?

If you figure any of this out….please let me know. In the meantime, I’ll be meditating on these important questions with more ferver than a Zen Buddhist Monk (Well…okay…maybe not). Enjoy!

This is an absolutely wonderful lost interview with none other than the master himself, Sifu Bruce Lee. This interview was conducted live from Hong Kong by for the Pierre Berton show, which interestingly, was filmed in a different international location each week. Here Bruce talks about everything from his Martial Arts philosophy to his Hollywood friends including Steve McQueen and James Coburn. This is a really great lost interview from the later part of Bruce’s career. This is absolutely great stuff: Bruce is very candid and humble. It’s easy to see why he is still revered and loved today, more than 30 years after his death. Please Enjoy!

As B-movies go, this movie is hilarious and absolutely entertaining. If renegade macho posturing, over-the-top costuming and sound effects and the genuinely comic manners of “flawless kills” can easily coalesce into something transcendent for you; this camp martial arts flick will not be a waste of time.
After this movie, I got the sudden urge to slap on some “Brut” cologne, do squats and hold my breath until laughter prompted release…This is THE Ninja movie. All of the classic elements are here: smoke bombs, climbing claws, shurikens, villainy… you name it, it’s in there.
The movie opens with an excellent trial, where Cole must defeat legions of opposing ninjas (fellow students), then make it back to base and calmly recite the Nine Levels of Power in front of Master Komori. To this day I have a .wav file of the Nine Levels of Power… it is a cool scene.
The bulk of the movie is setting up the rivalry between Hasegawa and Cole. Hasegawa, being the evil, black-clad Ninja that he is, causes as much mayhem as possible, culminating in the killing of Cole’s buddy Frank. Cole, being the good white-clad Ninja, must now (of course) avenge his buddy’s death and face Hasegawa one-on-one.
I won’t tell you the outcome of the final battle, but I will say that it is a classic Ninja battle. You won’t be disappointed. Sure it is a silly movie, but you aren’t watching it for its screenplay, are you? You may never want to see it more than once, but Enter the Ninja is definitely worth seeing. Check it out!

Yuen Biao plays the pampered son of a wealthy businessman who discovers his Kung Fu training has been a sham. He struggles to learn real Wing Chun Kung Fu from a Chinese opera performer (Lam Ching Ying) and his oddball brother (Sammo Hung). This film is simply one of the best and most accurate displays of the Wing Chun Kung Fu style that has ever graced the cinema. Interesting plot, great action, and also a historical, fictionalized account of Wing Chun Kung Fu as well. Wong Bah Bo (played by Sammo Hung), Leung Yee Tai (played by Ching-Ying Lam) and Leung Jan (played by Yuen Biao) are all emissaries of the Wing Chun style.
Wong Bah Bo and Leung Yee Tai were members of the Red Junk Opera Troupe who taught Leung Jan. Leung Jan was Yip Man’s Sitaigung (Sifu’s Sifu) as Yip Man studied under Chan Wah Sun (Leung Jan’s student). The most intriguing connection in all of this is that Bruce Lee was also a student of Yip Man, whom is considered by many as the modern living grandmaster of Wing Chun. If you like this movie, you might want to check out ‘Wing Chun’ starring Michelle Yeoh. It’s also a historical fictional account of Yim Wing Chun after which the style was named. 5 Stars!

This Video Starts Out with a Blank Screen. Please hit PLAY. The Great Gordon Liu stars in this Shaw Brothers classic! Not as polished as later films by Chia-Liang Liu, “Challenge of the Masters” is still a pretty slick accomplishment when gauged against other contemporary Hong Kong films. Shot in 1976, 2 years before Mr. Liu would rise to seminal greatness in “36 Chambers”, there’s little doubt in watching this film that Gordon Liu is a star in the making. As always, his physical presence is arresting, his technical skills second-to-none, and heck, he’s just plain likable! His mentor Chia-Liang Liu does a reasonable job with the direction, but the high velocity fight choreography really shines here. Gordon Liu’s one-on-one fight with his protege Chia Hui Liu in the bamboo forest stands out as a high point and may seem familiar as it has been ripped off many times over.
The plot is pretty straight forward: When the son of a Kung Fu master proves himself in a competition, he receives a new tutor as his prize. The youth’s new association leads him to do battle to avenge a friend’s death and protect his family honor. There are some interesting twists and the recurring theme of fraternity amongst martial artists is a rarity for these films. This is a classic and a must see for any fan of the genre, particularly fans of Gordon Liu. Enjoy!

Countdown of the 10 deadliest weapons in the Kung Fu combat arsenal. This video is slightly off topic, but contains some absolutely amazing footage of Martial Arts weaponry and techniques. If you love Kung Fu, then you will really appreciate this documentary. I found the footage extremely interesting and very informative. It contains a wealth of well researched content on dynasty era Chinese military ground strategies and common infantry armament. Everything from swords and spears to the sleeve arrow and flying guillotine. Featured are several modern Kung Fu masters and weapons specialists. They perform some brief Kata and mock fighting at lightning fast speeds with a high level of agility. Very insightful, I give it a 5/5. Enjoy!