Issue 071
January 2011
On the 70th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s birth – and because it’s that movie-watching time of year – FO presents the best scraps on screen
Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Swashbucklers are rarely considered to be martial arts movies, just as archery is often overlooked as a martial art. However, this classic Hollywood adventure makes great capital of its swordplay sequences – the climactic duel between Errol Flynn’s Robin and Basil Rathbone’s Guy of Gisbourne (supervised by fencing master Fred Cavens) is one of the screen’s great sword fights – and, of course, highlights Robin’s bow-and-arrow skills. Howard Hill, known at the time as the world’s greatest archer, actually performs the famous split-the-arrow shot.
Barabbas (1961)
Kubrick’s Spartacus is a better film and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator is better known, but Richard Fleischer’s Biblical epic features the movies’ best-ever gladiator-arena scene. Barabbas (Anthony Quinn), the thief pardoned when Jesus was crucified, has a hard road to salvation, including a grueling, extended Colosseum bout against the fearsome Torvald (Jack Palance). Scott uses CGI and fast edits but Fleischer stages the fight as if he were covering a real event. It’s exciting and appalling, and gets close to showing why bloody gladiatorial combat was (and, let’s face it, remains) such a popular draw.
Bloodsport (1988)
At his height, kickboxer Jean-Claude Van Damme was the most graceful fighter in action films, and he shows his best moves in this biopic of Frank Dux, the first Westerner to prevail in the all-comers elimination multi-style international martial arts contest, the Kumite. Besides Van Damme’s signature stunts (and balletic splits), this tough little picture offers an array of relatively unusual fight styles – including a memorable, seemingly unbeatable, spider-like African martial art, and formidable opponents like hulking kung fu regular Bolo Yeung.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
A rare example of a martial arts film to get serious critical consideration (and Oscars), this US-Chinese co-production revived the classic/historical mode of wuxia filmmaking (a genre based around martial artists’ adventures). Yuen Woo-Ping, one of China’s great choreographers, stages the swordplay and fist-fighting, but Hollywood director Ang Lee takes great care in photographing the bouts, often pulling back to give whole body views of the combatants (just as it was important to see all of Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly in dances) or looking down on swirling skirts and swords as fighters engage with each other in play, violence, love and hate.
DOA: Dead or Alive (2006)
Though the competition is far less fierce than the one depicted in the plot, this is the best film ever adapted from a computer game; it doesn’t even try to add depth and simply delivers what the fans expect (ninja babes in non-stop fighting) with as few trimmings as possible. Director Corey Yuen, whose career runs from Game of Death II to The Transporter, is an excellent, underrated martial arts choreographer and stunt arranger, and far outclasses such dismal rivals as the Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat films.
Drunken Master (1978)
What could Jackie Chan do that Bruce Lee couldn’t? Convincingly lose a fight – and, of course, in martial arts movies the hero (here, Chan plays the historical and often-filmed Wong Fei-Hung) has to take a beating in early scenes, before toughening up physically and spiritually in training (here, by learning the ridiculous-looking but devastatingly effective ‘drunken fist’ technique), then equally convincingly beating his opponents in the climax. Director/fight arranger Yuen Woo-Ping and Chan here play broad comedy, mixing Chaplin-esque slapstick with seemingly effortless yet amazing power punches.
Enter the Dragon (1973)
You can’t overestimate the importance of the tragically short-lived Bruce Lee to martial arts. None of his films are outstanding cinema, but all showcase his athletic, indomitable style and matching charisma. Lee, out to avenge the death of his feisty sister (the wonderful Angela Mao), sets out to wreck the villain’s schemes. Its glossy, ‘70s feel makes it seem like a violent TV movie, but Lee, seeing off hordes of bad guys with graceful boots to the head, demonstrates why he was king of kung fu.
Five Element Ninjas (1982)
A classic of the ‘you killed my teacher, I seek revenge’ school of Chinese cinema. The hero (Cheng Tien-Chi) takes part in a series of bouts against rival ninjas whose near-supernatural styles are based around the five Eastern elements (wood, gold, water, fire, earth). Director Chang Cheh – who likes bright light and white costumes so audiences can see every move – specialized in these minimally plotted ensemble spectacles, and also made the well-regarded Five Deadly Venoms and The Ten Tigers of Kwantung.
Gladiator (1992)
Less well remembered than it should be because someone else later poached the title, this bare-knuckle boxing drama is a rousing, cheer-along teenage Rocky. Director Rowdy Herrington (of the classic Road House) handles the in-the-ring fisticuff action better than anyone since Scorsese in Raging Bull. The plot provides a bunch of clearly defined supporting characters, notably Brian Dennehy as the monstrous manager who finally gets in the ring with hero James Marshall for a pounding finish that has audiences howling for blood.
Hard Times (1975)
Writer-director Walter Hill’s Depression-set drama about a hustling manager (James Coburn) who talks his near-silent fighter, Chaney (Charles Bronson), into a couple of grueling bouts. Bronson, who got his wiry physique in coal mines, was in his 50s when he peaked as an action star, but few screen fighters are as convincing – his battles here, with bit-players/stuntmen Nick Dmitri (who plays the ‘ringer’ from Chicago) and Robert Tessier (‘Skinhead’) are among the most convincingly nasty fights in movies. Titled The Streetfighter in Britain, to avoid confusion with the Dickens novel.
House of Flying Daggers (2004)
After Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon led to a revival of traditional martial arts cinema in China, Yang Zhimou – the country’s leading director – contributed several elegant, epic, breathtaking pictures to the trend (Hero is almost as good). This Tang Dynasty triangular romance is formal, graceful and charming, with charismatic performances, the expected tragic ending and wonderful set-pieces that blur dance with fight. Zhang Ziyi is remarkable as a supposedly blind courtesan who passes a test of throwing accuracy involving drums, stones and scarves.
Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)
Quentin Tarantino’s pop culture mélange covers several revenge-obsessed action genres, but – with martial arts advice from Yuen Woo-Ping and appearances from Asian stars Gordon Liu and Sonny Chiba – it’s most indebted to Chinese kung fu and Japanese chanbara (swordplay). Uma Thurman, dressed in a Bruce Lee tracksuit, has a terrific mass samurai-sword fight against the Crazy 88s in the House of Blue Leaves, but also one-on-one catfights with Vivica A Fox (brutally, in a kitchen) and Lucy Liu (formally, in a garden).
Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)
Beardy old Walker Texas Ranger he might be now, but Chuck Norris has enough kickboxing medals to earn anyone’s respect, and was one of the few Westerners who could stand up on screen to Bruce Lee. Of his many ‘80s vehicles, this is perhaps the most fun – if only for the off-screen circumstance of Norris avenging Lee for the loss of Lee’s tailor-made role in the Kung Fu TV series to a non-Chinese David Carradine. He plays the villain McQuade (Norris) batters at the end. Of Carradine, Norris said: “He’s about as good a martial artist as I am an actor.”
Once Upon a Time in China (1991)
Jet Li takes up the role of Wong Fei-Hung in a big-scale superproduction from Hong Kong director Tsui Hark. The movie revived the Chinese folk hero for new audiences and played up his political significance in seeing off Western interests in late-19th-Century China. Politics aside, this is worth seeing for Li’s many, many fights – the final battle, which involves combatants perching perilously on tall ladders, is among the greatest fist duels in the movies. Many sequels and imitations followed.
Ong-Bak (2003)
This simply-plotted Thai action film abjures cheats like CGI and wirework to deliver plain-old thumping and stunting with often eye-opening ferocity, showcasing the Muay Thai skills of its breakout star. Tony Jaa is astonishing as the humble peasant out to retrieve a stolen Buddha, body-slamming opponents, elbowing the tops of skulls, resisting a saw with his forearms, walking up walls, kickboxing with his legs on fire, leaping impossibly through small loops of barbed wire and so on. There’s a mass chase through the streets of Bangkok with three-wheeled tuk-tuk cabs too.
Raging Bull (1980)
Have you ever noticed the paradox about boxing films? The stories are all about how crooked, cruel, physically and psychologically damaging and inherently evil the racket is, but once the camera gets in the ring, the spectacle can’t help but become beautiful. Rocky is one of the comparatively few pro-boxing movies, whereas Martin Scorsese’s biopic of Jake LaMotta is all about how boxing ruins even champions – and yet, with a cameraman on roller skates and Robert De Niro landing and taking blows in slow motion that makes every drop of sweat or blood dance on-screen, it’s undeniably magnificent.
Streetfighter (1974)
In the 1970s, Chinese martial arts movies became more stylized, retreating to a history as romanticized as the Old West or Camelot… and the Japanese responded with Sonny Chiba in a modern-day brawling movie that features some of the most brutal, intense, dirty fighting ever shown on-screen. This is the movie that conveys the force of its hero’s low blows by intercutting x-ray visions of broken bones. Terry Surugi, a half-Chinese/half-Japanese hero who combines the fighting styles of both nations, became Chiba’s signature role, and he was back in – naturally – The Return of the Street Fighter.
The Three Musketeers (1973)
Richard Lester delivered the best of many film versions of the Alexandre Dumas-authored classic, with an all-star cast and a distinctive, earthy sense of period. It was hard to best the lithe footwork of the brilliantly cast Gene Kelly in the 1948 film, but fencing master/fight arranger William Hobbs stages a series of exciting, funny, credible knockabouts as the heroes (notice how they use swords a lot more than their muskets?) deftly overcome their cloaks and boots and use anything that comes to hand in a washing room, a kitchen, or a stables to see off the Cardinal’s men. Contrary to the belief of many lay MMA fans, FO’s Gareth A. Davies does not appear in this picture.
Yojimbo (1961)
The Japanese equivalent of the Western is the chanbara (swordplay) movie, which follows the exploits of wandering samurai in the Edo period. Akira Kurosawa had made the classic band-of-heroes film Seven Samurai, but this is his greatest lone protagonist movie – the template for A Fistful of Dollars and many others. Toshihiro Mifune plays a scruffy, canny ronin (master-less samurai) who fetches up in a town where two rival factions are making life miserable for honest folk. In chanbara, the crux is often a face-off between two styles of weaponry – here, a swordsman (Toshiro Mifune) duels the only villain (Tatsuya Nakadai) in town who owns a pistol; in the sequel, Sanjuro, the antagonists return, but Nakadai plays an ultra-traditionalist who likes to settle things in the astonishing duel-of-a-single-sword-stroke.
Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983)
A fantastic spectacle, this is the summit of the ‘legendary hero’ brand of mystic martial arts – with swordsmen and swordswomen who can practically fly, in combat with hordes of demon creatures. But director Tsui Hark also delivers a scurrilous satire of the form, told from the point of view of a regular soldier (Yuen Biao) caught up in insane clashes between larger-than-life characters: a monk who fights with his eyebrows, an evil red blanket who wants to conquer the world and a stone-faced, shape-changing sorceress.
Kim Newman is one of the world’s top authroities on cult movies.
He is a contributing editor to Empire magazine and his collection of short stories Mysteries of the Diogenes Club is out soon
MMA movies
Unrivaled (2010)
Argentine martial artist-turned-actor Hector Echavarria attempts to realize his dream to be an MMA fighter. Features a Greg Jackson Team special with roles for Rashad Evans, Nate Marquardt and Keith Jardine.
Never Back Down (2008)
A slightly inaccurate take on the MMA underground and its interaction with the high-school population aimed toward the MTV-teen market. Likely the highest grossing of the bunch at $41m.
Redbelt (2008)
A respectable, if unsuccessful, David Mamet-directed play upon an alternate version of mixed martial arts. It stands out among its peers for a focus on implicit editing rather than all-out action. Stuffed with MMA notables like Randy Couture, Mike Goldberg, Enson Inoue, John Machado and even Dan Inosanto.
Fighting (2009)
A stab at being MMA’s Rocky that struggled to appeal to fight fans. Romantic drama favorite Channing Tatum’s ‘Shawn MacArthur’ likely appealed to female pulses, however.
Death Warrior (2009)
Hector Echavarria gets another opportunity to play MMA, this time as an unwilling participant in a devilish underground fighting contest where he must scrap it out to save his wife. ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Georges St Pierre and Keith Jardine are rewarded for their roles with the names Wolf, Shaman and Andre respectively.
Beatdown (2010)
A lower-budget picture that boasts the acting debut of UFC middleweight Michael Bisping (with bit parts for Strikeforce’s Bobby Lashley and veteran fighter Heath Herring) in a typical ‘fight for money’ storyline.
Cradle 2 The Grave (2003)
While not strictly an MMA film, Jet Li is still forced to indulge in elaborate and unlikely sequential hand bags with Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. Not only can you spy Tito fictionally grounding ‘n’ pounding a win over Chuck, but you can watch Strikeforce commentator Stephen Quadros snag a few lines playing a prison guard.
Other films with MMA notables: Crank 2 (Keith Jardine), Pandorum (Cung Le), Tekken (Roger Huerta), Midnight Meat Train (‘Rampage’ Jackson)
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