Okay, so my recent "
STOP COMPARING EVERY KUNG FU MOVIE EVER TO CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON" rant got somebody interested in
Wong Fei Hung movies.
This is fun.
Bear in mind that there have been OVER NINETY TWO movies made about the man, making him arguably the subject of more feature-length movies than anybody else, particularly interesting since he was a realy person. He was usually portrayed quite seriously--with some very noteable exceptions--because the real Wong Fei Hung was known not just for being a master of a number of wushu styles, but also as an expert in Chinese traditional medicine and a superb patriot. As such, you'll really not see him kill anybody in the films, at least not in any I can remember.
So, behind this cut I'll give you a brief primer in Wong Fei Hung movies that I am familiar with and where you might want to start. These films are all over the place in quality, awesomeness, actors, age, and so on. Get ready for a ride, 'cause I've got a
LOT of YouTube clips behind this cut.
Oh, and go here to download or just stream THE music from Wong Fei Hung films. To get the songs, you either have to click the tiny little play button on the black bar or wait thirty seconds for the gray bar to say DOWNLOAD.
The
first one here has no lyrics, and is recognizeable to
every Chinese person ever as the WFH theme.
The
second one has lyrics and is the main theme to the
Once Upon a Time in China movies.
Nutshell:
Challenge of the Masters: Above average 1970's quest kung fu film.
Dreadnaught: Never seen it, supposed to be pretty good early-eighties/late-seventies fare.
Drunken Master: Better-than-average-but-still-pretty-standard Jackie Chan movie, with final bad guy and training with drunken Beggar So, et cetera
Drunken Master 2: Incredibly fun, a little bit of wire, but not a lot, Jackie's last great hybrid kung-fu / prop film before he started leaning very heavily on the latter due to his age.
Iron Monkey: One of the bars that I use to compare all other 1990's kung-fu movies to. Incredible.
Magnificent Butcher: More about Butcher Wing, but still one of my favorite Sammo Hung movies and worth it.
Once Upon a Time in China (1-5): Lots of wire-fu, but also lots of Jet Li moving at 153 mph. Plots vary from good to bad, jokes vary from okay to terrible, but they're all worth a watch. Except 4...or was it 3...which didn't have Li as WFH.
There are a number of other good ones, including some parody films, like Jet Li's
Last Hero in China and the hysterical (?)
Master Wong vs Master Wong, but there are the basics.
Telling somebody what order to watch them in is insane, and I'll politely ask people to keep their disagreements peaceable. I say just start with
Once Upon a Time in China and go wherever you want to from there, cool? Maybe do a double-bill of
Drunken Master 1 & 2, or...whatever, just know that they're all totally different.
Right, back to the Balvenie 10 year scotch...
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