I know this is a silly thread but really... the general level of Movie knowledge makes me feel like an expert (which, trust me, is far from the truth). Bruce Lee - Trained in Peking Opera as a child. Appeared in some obscure Hong Kong films. Known as "Little Dragon". Studied Wing Chun. Went to America. Taught Wing Chun to Americans (a radical step, perhaps not unique, but still very unusual). Appeared in "The Green Hornet" TV Show. Went to Hong Kong to make some movies. Blew the Hong Kong scene wide open with his movies breaking all previous records. Made a US-budgeted movie called "Enter the Dragon" which still rates as one of the best MA movies. Taught MA to many Hollywood stars. Created the style of no style, Jeet Kune Do. A very serious Martial Artist who made a career from teaching, then made a successful transfer to Movies. Died when his career looked set to take-off globally (Died before the release of "Enter the Dragon"). The explosion of interest in "Kung Fu" around the world following his death brought fame and fortune to many people (not all of them deserved it). Some that did deserve it were Sammo Hung Kam Bo (Samo Hung), Jackie Chan, and in the West, Chuck Norris. All Bruce's films (he only made a handful) are terribly dated now. The acting, the characters, the storylines are all old-fashioned and the pace is very slow during the non-action scenes. The charisma, the style and the fairly obvious "expert skill" that Bruce displays in his fight scenes are what makes the films watchable. The choreography was fairly revolutionary for the time among HK action movies and when they were shown abroad they were a sensation. Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao (and a score of other Yuens) all went to the same Peking Opera school in Hong Kong. Jackie was "sold" into the school at age 5, under a contract which made the school's head his loco in parentis. The boys (and a few girls) lived at the school and as previously mentioned, they trained from morning until night. Traditional Peking Opera is a rigid discipline, consisting of familiar tales of heroic deeds featuring Heroic Young Men, Mighty Warlords, Winsome Damsels, Angry Fathers, etc. The actors are trained in acrobatics, singing, dancing, kung fu and weapons. Many of those insane Hong Kong stuntmen started off in Peking Opera (as did many of the Pop stars and actors...). They don't make them like that any more... Jackie Chan graduated from his Peking Opera school to join his "Big Brother" Samo in the blossoming Hong Kong film scene in the early 70s. "Little Brother" Yuen Biao joined them later. They worked as stuntmen (Samo got featured roles quite early on, like "A touch of Zen"), and all three of them were among the hundreds of stuntmen that found themselves working on "Enter the Dragon". Samo is the temple fighter that Bruce is in a contest with at the beginning of the movie (black shorts, finger-gloves, tubby with long hair). Jackie and Yuen Biao are there, but you need DVD freeze-frame to find them (Bruce defeats them and a few dozen others in the blink of an eye). Jackie Chan broke through (after some false starts) with "Drunken Master" and "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" when he combined with the right director to create a new style of Comedy Kung Fu which proved to be a big hit with the audiences. From the late 70s through the 80s and into the 90s JC developed the genre and reigned supreme as the biggest star in Asia (Hong Kong, Mainland China, Malaysia, Phillipines, Indonesia, Japan, etc.). He did the Kung Fu, he added big stunts, he sang the soundtrack songs and was a huge celebrity. He made some abortive attempts to crack the US markets ("THe Big Brawl" aka "Battlecreek Brawl", and "The Protector") but apart from in "Cannonball Run" most people never saw him outside Asia. Late 90s saw "Rumble in the Bronx" finally hit the US box office as a surprise hit (filmed in Vancouver, it featured JCs familiar brand of laughs-fu and action stunts). He is getting used to the new US methods of movie-making, and has recently made films in HK and Hollywood alternately. Unfortunately, time is catching up with JC, and so are the insurance companies who finance and jealously guard their investment. JC films have always been a group effort with his stunt crew, but recent films have been shown to feature more stunt-doubles for JC than were previously required. Film fans might enjoy his recent works, but the MA fan will be able to find more rewarding viewing in his earlier work. The choreography (his), is always different, it seldom repeats a move. Kick combinations are varied and the situations make use of props and environment to present an entertaining show of a skilled performer at his peak. I've often wondered if Bruce would see JCs film fights and call them Jeet Kune Do. He uses any tool, any weapon, any kick or punch or weapon that comes to hand. Jean Claude Van Damme (born Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg) is from Belgium, not France, and although not quite accurate, his nickname is "Muscles from Brussels". IMDb has various trivia listed, such as "Former European Professional Karate Association middleweight champion." and "Studied classical ballet for five years." along with the rather cheesy "He became a European Karate Champion in 1979 and went to USA to win the World Championship. He didn't win. Few months later he had a rematch with the opponent he lost against in World Championship and he won in less than 2 minutes.". The films he has made are American. They suffer from the American obsession with "one pretty kick" filmed in slow-motion, that ends each encounter. JCVD is the ultimate star for such a film. He developed his looks, his physique and his posing to perfectly meet the requirements of the US-made MA film of the 80s and 90s. The style of these fight scenes has been relegated to the past with the import to Hollywood of the true masters of Action, like Samo and Jackie Chan and the Fight Directors like Stanley Tong (a former stuntman), Yuen Woo Ping and, to some extent, John Woo. Steven Seagal is, apparently, a MA first, and then a Movie star. I haven't seen much of his work, but I agree with the earlier comment that in his first films the action was brutal, quick, effective and probably closer to reality than some of our more favourite fight movie stars. He went to Japan at age 17. He later married the daughter of his Aikido teacher and was set up as the instructor of his own Dojo. Since divorced and married a couple more times. He is supposed to have taught some celebs when he returned to the US, including an influential Movie Producer, who helped him into the Movies. So... My favourite movies to watch are Jackie Chan mid-80s. Big respect to Bruce, but I would have liked to see his later work. More respect to Seagal than Van Damme, but both have developed incredible ego-stroking self-belief and smarm (oops, should I have said "charm"... nope, probably right the first time). No apologies for long post.
John Lone (Remember Year of the dragon, anyone?) who was last seen in Rush Hour 2 went to a peking opera school with lam ching ying, **** hoi, chin yuet sang et al. this school run by madam fan fok fa and the other run by yu jim yuen were where most of the hk stuntmen got their training before going into movies. don't forget that alot started off working as bruce lee's stunt team on his movies ie. chan lung, chan wu ngai, lam ching ying. these 3 were part of samo's hung gar ban in later years. as said earlier i think most of the usa ma movies were a bit crap, with a few exceptions and i have to say at least the didnt import guys from hong kong to do the fights like they do now. oh yeah has anyone seen drive?
the other masters of action Cory Yuen (yuen kwai), ching Sui-tung, hung yan yan, and don't forget yuen biao and former shaw bros star and jc stunt team memeber john cheung (chang) who did the fights in Dragon: the bruce lee (fairy) story and fought J scott lee in the movie a couple of times. oh yeah i must must mention koich sakamoto and his alpha stunts team who are just as able as the hk guys but dont seem to get as much recognition.
yup, very accurate, especially about Jacky Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. one thing, i never knew that Bruce Lee trained in Peking Opera as a child?? i thought he first performed with his father because his father worked for the Cantonese Opera Company in America, they then went back to HongKong and Bruce appeared in many Asian films. and from what i know he first learnt Tai Chi from his father and then went on learning Wing Chun at the age of 13, so he never started learning any martial arts until he was 13. IMO best fighter = Bruce Lee best in movies and good looking on screen = Jacky Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao
Butcher Wing, I'm so glad you stopped using capital letters at the start of every word.. thanks. Are there any resources online that you know of, where I could read about Lam Ching Ying. He's in a load of films, but I don't know much about him. Is he the one that died of liver cancer a few years ago? I think so. He was in "Prodigal Son", "Mr Vampire 2" and so on...
I just looked up Lam Ching Ying on IMDb and here is the link; He has 90 films listed as actor, including some real classics. He too goes right back to "A Touch of Zen" and "The Big Boss" and "Fist of Fury" (that's "Fists of Fury" and "Chinese Connection" to you USA-captives!). He is best known from a string of supernatural comedy action movies as the Maser Vampire Hunter.
hk movie resources imdb is a good place to start. i recommend www.lovehkfilm.com, www.dragonsdenuk.com and www.kungfucinema.com. these are very informative sites.
what about jet li? bruce lee...jackie chan...steven seagal...chuck norris...van damme...i like them all....van damme was great in in hell.....he is supposedly filming the sequal to bloodsport called kumite...
www.JeanClaudeVanDamme.net is his official website, and yes he is coming out with a new movie Called "The Kumite" ,and also will be released soon is his new movie "The Wake Of Death".
personally, I'd have to go with Jet Li. because he is the most realistic martial artist of all them. he spent most of his life studying martial arts. I'd also have to give credit to seagle. If you wanna talk about Van Damme as a serious martial artist, then maybe we should also consider tom cruise for "the last samurai" haha.
bruce lee, because he was the epitome of MA. he did it all, brought MA to north america, invented his own style, actually properly understood the philosophy of MA, and still inspires people living today. maybe not a great family guy (at least two wives, probably through corruption), but still a great martial artist.
