Back by popular demand, here’s an extension of my original Hong Kong martial arts movie post. As with the last this isn’t a “top ten” or “top twenty.” There’s no way all the fights I’d want to include would be on Youtube (for example there’s a Kwan Tak Hing fight that I’d love to include that’s nowhere to be found) and coming up with such a list would take me a lot longer than the few hours each one of these posts take. This just a continued exploration of the incredible content out there on Youtube with a little commentary by me.
And with that, more kung fu goodness:
Jet Li vs. Colin Chou, finale of Bodyguard from Beijing
This is one of my favorite Corey Yuen Kwai fights. It’s a nice blend of the wild wire-enhanced antics he’s known for and plain old ass-kicking. I absolutely love where Jet uses the wet towel as a weapon.
Kent “Fatty” Cheng makes an appearance at the beginning. Always a bonus.
Sammo Hung from Encounters of the Spooky Kind
If you’ve never seen a supernatural themed film from Hong Kong, I implore you to do whatever it takes to see one as soon as possible. There’s enough familiarity that it won’t be completely alien but the differences are enough to make your head spin. The short description- the vampires hop around and Taoist priests fight them with kung fu. That’s 45 kinds of cool.
Anyway, this scene from the excellent Sammo Hung helmed supernatural film doesn’t actually have any supernatural elements. What it does have is Sammo Hung and around these parts, that’s enough. I love this fight. I’ve seen it about a million times and it never gets old for me.
Lam Ching Ying vs. Frankie Chan from Prodigal Son
This is a great little fight from a film filled with great fights. The precision of the choreography will please old schools fans to no end. Maybe not the flashiest scene I’ll post today, but it still brings a smile to my face.
Lo Lieh vs. Lau Kar Fai from the finale of 36th Chamber of Shaolin.
My exuberance for this film has never diminished. I wrote my first article for Shovel Magazine partially on this film and my love for this movie has only grown in the intervening (ten!) years. this scene is a great example of the sort of tight choreography that Lau Kar Leung produced with stunning regularity during his lengthy and illustrious career and, hell, it’s the finale of one of the unquestioned genre classics. That’s got to count for double points.
Basic formula for success? Lau Kar Fai + three sectioned staff = mad cool.
Jackie Chan vs. Benny Urquidez (+ Yuen Biao and Sammo) from the finale of Wheels on Meals.
I was originally going to post just one of these Jackie Chan vs. Benny Urquidez fights, but after re-watching the pair I realized I couldn’t choose just one. The Dragons Forever fight might be a little cooler in terms of pure “fight” but there’s a real charm about this one for me. The little touches are great- like when Urquidez kicks out the candles or when Jackie goes into “just pretend it’s practice” mode. It’s a real classic.
There are a couple of versions that show just the Jackie Chan vs. Benny Urquidez fight, without the interspersed scenes with Sammo and Yuen Biao. I figured I’d go for the original.
Jackie Chan vs. Benny Urquidez (+incredible work by Yuen Biao) from the Dragons Forever finale.
Excluding my slightly inexplicable love affair with City Hunter, Dragons Forever might be my favorite Jackie Chan film. This finale is a major reason why. It starts with one of Yuen Biao’s best sequences. Full of great acrobatics, stunt work and plain old screen fighting, he really shows his incredible talent in the beginning of this reel. The fact that, amongst the sea of stuntmen, he faces off against personal favorite Billy Chow certainly helps matters…
And then there’s Jackie. While I enjoy Jackie’s comedic side, this is how I want to see him. He starts off with some great environmental stuff and then goes toe to toe with Urquidez in an absolutely perfect capper to the scene.
I also love Yuen Wah in this movie.
Jet Li drunken staff vs. Yu Cheng Hui drunken sword from Shaolin Temple
I really wish I could embed this fight, which is my favorite from the series, but I can’t so this excellent, stylized duel will have to do.
And why not? This is drunkenfist.com after all. I’ve got to have some drunken styles in the list or else I’ll lose my lease or something…
Jackie Chan vs. Lau Kar Leung from Drunken Master 2
Where the finale of this film (posted in the previous list) was all Jackie, this fight obviously has touches of the master, Lau, all over it. I’m not complaining about the existing finale of this film, it’s one of my favorites of all time after all, but one can’t help but wonder how the finale might have been handled had Lau still been on the film.
Whatever the answer to that question, this fight is an unquestioned classic.
Donnie Yen vs. Yu Rong Guang from Iron Monkey
Obviously, if you’re not a fan of the wire enhanced style employed in this movie, then you’re not going to love this scene. If, like me, you love all that stuff, then this scene will be right up your alley. It’s not the wildest scene in this film full of wild scenes, but it’s short and oh-so-sweet. Yu and Yen absolutely go to town up on that rooftop. A great little fight from one of my favorite martial art movies…
My review of the film and an interview with Donnie Yen
Michelle Yeoh from Royal Warriors
Sadly (and surprisingly), the choices aren’t great for Michelle Yeoh videos on youtube. While I was sorely tempted to post the excellent fight from Crouching Tiger between her and Zhang Zhiyi (I love that film and fight), I figured I’d go to my first love, 80s style Hong Kong action. This one has everything I love about that era – including Michelle Yeoh herself of course 🙂
RSS - Posts
By ilm 2009/07/26 - 13:29
I am looking for an old movie from hong kong where jackie chan had a role. he was young, and he was fighting with ninja, last fight was long and ended that they were equal and started to fight a common enemy. there was a scene where ninja were trying to put the candles and jackie chan was trying to set the candles on fire (or was it latterns). anybody knows the movie i am talking bout? if yes – email me at ilmarinen1@wp.pl thanks