Flicks With Kicks
Seven Styles of Eagle's Claw (1980): A wonderful flick that shows the many styles of eagle style kung fu. The plot: A general who wants to rule all over China needs to demolish the Eagle Claw school. An old adversary heads this institution. They fight and the old master becomes badly hurt. Being so, he names the new head successor of the school to the second brother, overlooking the #1 man. Confused and upset by this, the #1 brother becomes a part of the general's unit. The story gets complicated by the fact that both #1 son and the general make a deal (the general wants him to kill off some of his students while #1 learns the general's deadly praying Mantis fist to ensure that he will be protected and not be double crossed). Yes, it comes down to the two brothers and the general. A strange twist comes into play when the general realizes that he has been tricked and thus loses the final battle. Sad to see that #1 had to kill off his homies. A good flick nevertheless....cool boots that the general wears.
Return of the Chinese Boxer (1970): Jimmy Wang Yu is back with his first role as a director. Takes place back in China in the day. "Rabbit Fist" as he is known here goes up against hoards of ninjas, Japanese swordsmen, the undead clan amongst others to save the daughter of a general. In a twist at the end "Rabbit Fist" realizes that it was a political ploy. Great scenes of fighting with the finale at the end and the martial arts tourney. The chick ninjas was coo too. It's your basic Chinese boxing vs. theother styles. I would watch others before this one, but Jimmy Wang Yu is pretty cool and was the most popular action hero before Bruce.
The Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms (1979): The sequel. Not much in comparison to the original. In fact it's a completly different story....A fighter who trains his son to fight with artificial arms that in the process handicaps our 5 famous venoms crew. In time they work together to take out the those two. Some great training scenes especially the part with the ring. I see why the Venoms crew is very popular....they kick ass. However, get the OG one first....definitely.
Avenging Eagle (1978): A nice one by the Shaw Brothers. Chi, a member of the eagles clan that kills ruthlessly is hurt and taken in by a family who gets him better. Unfortunately, this family turns out to be an enemy of the Eagle family...He is forced to kill the master's pregnant daughter (as he does so quickly and painlessly). He then leaves the clan to vow to die at the hands of the husband. Scores of clansmen try to kill him and in doing so Chi picks up a partner to help his quest in defeating the whole clan. A twist at the end shows his partner (good fighter) to be the husband. Everyone of the clan dies and Chi makes husband kill him...what chivalry. Good flick.
Three scenes from the "Poison Clan" from the 5 Deadly Venoms
