The Bride With White Hair (product link) Martial Arts / Fantasy For my money, this is the best sword and sorcery movie in all of Hong Kong filmdom. Brigitte Lin's smoldering glare could bore a hole through titanium. Frenetic action, hilarious villains, and a tragic love story combine to make this film a real winner.
The Great Silence (product link) Western / Drama Grim, bloody and violent. Sergio Corbucci's masterpiece of melancholy and murder features Jean-Louis Trintignant as the mute gunslinger Silence and Klaus Kinski as the bloodthirsty bounty killer Loco. This unique western is set in the snowy mountains of Utah and features one of the most sadistically downbeat endings in the entire spaghetti western genre. Corbucci's finest work.
Any Gun Can Play (product link) Western / Action/Adventure Pretty fun in its execution, this is essentially a remake of "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly".
City Of God (product link) Drama / Action/Adventure Incredible tales of survival in the drug-infested slums of Brazil. Violent and dark, this movie also has some great comedic flourishes. HIGHLY recommended.
Deadly Outlaw Rekka (product link) Crime / Drama Riki Takeuchi seethes as the embodiment of rage in this pulpy Yakuza thriller from director Takashi Miike.
Some uneven pacing might make the middle of this movie seem to drag, but the incredible opening scenes and the apocalyptic finale make it worthwhile.
Probably the best thing about Deadly Outlaw Rekka is the soundtrack. The action scenes in this movie are all edited to synch up with a Japanese psychedelic rock album from the 1970's. It sounds very contemporary and very cool.
Recommended to fans of Miike-style weirdness or those familiar with the generally slower, more deliberate pace of Japanese film.
Hitch-Hike (product link) Horror / Thriller Intense psychological thriller about a couple returning from holidays, who get taken hostage by a sadistic hitch-hiker. Excellent score by Ennio Morricone, and the performance of David Hess' career.
The Flying Dagger (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure This early swordplay movie from Shaw Brothers features Lo Lieh in a rare heroic role, the beautiful but deadly Cheng Pei Pei, and the rugged direction of Chang Cheh.
Pitted against the evil Flying Dagger, the hero and heroine must combine their efforts to thwart his schemes. Classic Wuxia.
10 Tigers Of Shaolin (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure This kung fu movie has a standard plot, but above average fight choreography. This flick also has way more genital grabbing/twisting scenes than the average guy may be comfortable with. If you can stomach that, 10 Tigers of Shaolin is a worthy addition to your collection, I actually prefer it to the similar Shaw Brothers movie "10 Tigers of Kwangtung".
Deadful Melody (product link) Martial Arts / Fantasy Pretty decent wife fu/wuxia flick from Hong Kong, Deadful Melody is highlighted by a rare leading performance from the incredibly talented, yet woefully underused, Yuen Biao.
Lots of magic effects and flying dominate the battle scenes, but Yuen Biao does get to perform a bit of old school swordplay. Also features Brigitte Lin (and her smoldering glare) and the lovely Carina Lau.
While not quite up to the calibre of Wuxia classics like "Butterfly and Sword" or "Bride With White Hair", Deadful Melody is a fun ride and worthy of multiple viewings.
Django (product link) Western / Action/Adventure A completely over-the-top maelstrom of extreme violence. This is the movie that spawned dozens of unofficial "sequels" and made Franco Nero an international star.
An essential entry in the spaghetti western genre.
AGREE?
READER COMMENTS
AUTHOR
Y
Totally entertaining. The one to get if you are new to the genre and only know Sergio Leone's work.
Tomas Milian stars in this surreal and bizarre spaghetti western.
Set in a little town called "The Unhappy Place", this flick is filled with dirty, ugly and unhappy people. And they are all trying to kill each other over a few bags of gold.
The DVD description talks about "relentless sexual depravity" and "hideous torture", but the torture sequence is really quite tame, and the only "sexual depravity" to be found is a posse of black-clad cowboys who are implied to be homosexuals.
But that is easily forgiven due to the quantity and quality of violence in the movie. Lots of shootouts, and LOTS of shots of the aftermath of the shootouts. This movie actually almost fetishizes death, the camera lovingly lingering on bloodied corpses, bullet holes, and the bulging tongues of hanged men.
Definitely unconventional, even for a spaghetti western, "Django, Kill" is worth a look for fans of the subgenre.
Samurai Cop (product link) Action/Adventure / Crime This movie utterly fails as a serious action flick, which it is clearly trying to be. However, for a fan of cheesy and crappy low-budget fare, Samurai Cop is your Holy Grail.
This movie has it all: inane dialogue, glaring continuity errors, wretched acting from just about everyone, poorly choreographed fight scenes, ridiculous plot devices, laughable editing, cheesy 80's synth music, and 3 of the most painfully uncomfortable-to-watch love scenes I've ever witnessed.
Probably the most unintentionally funny movie ever made.
Odd Couple (product link) Martial Arts / Comedy This is the ultimate sword vs. spear movie. The story is very simple, but the choreography is completely insane.
Sammo Hung and Lau Kar Wing play rival masters, AND each plays the student of the other. Great comedy and incredible physical feats make this kung fu gem a winner.
Secret Of Tai Chi (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure This independent Kung Fu flick from the early 80's suffers from low production values and some overused plot devices, but the excellent and long fights more than make up for it.
Shaolin Intruders (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure More no-frills action from Shaw Brothers, this movie is pretty much non stop kung fu. Unarmed or with a variety of weapons, the speed and complexity of the fights escalates gloriously towards full-blown insanity.
I bought this movie blind and it has quickly become one of my favorites.
The Strangers Gundown (product link) Western / Action/Adventure Pretty dark and violent spaghetti western, but somewhat formulaic. Some nice gothic overtones give a spooky atmosphere.
This movie shares many similarities with, and was likely the inspiration for Clint Eastwood's (superior) "High Plains Drifter".
Zatoichi At The Fire Festival (product link) Swordplay/Sword(s) / Action/Adventure My favorite Zatoichi movie (of the ones I've seen), The Festival of Fire contains a perfect blend of humor, intrigue and lightning fast swordplay. Tatsuya Nakadai is great in a small, but ominous role.
Features Zatoichi in an unbelievable fight against about 20 other guys in a bath house, did I mention they are all naked?
Ran [HK Ocean Shores] (product link) Drama This is absolutely my favorite film ever. Akira Kurosawa spent years in preparation for the filming of Ran, and it shows.
Incredible drama, costumes, cinematography, you name it, Ran does it stunningly well, including a truly inspired performance by Tatsuya Nakadai. Since it is based on Shakespeare, it is fairly talky, so that might turn off more casual viewers or folks looking for a little more action-oriented samurai fare.
For those that can sink their teeth into the melodrama offered up here, be forewarned that the tone of this film is staggeringly bleak. The final image of the film will stay burned into your mind for some time.
Azumi (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure A cute girl in a short leather skirt carrying a katana fights over 100 men at once. It doesn't get much better.
This story of young men and women trained as the deadliest of assassins is beautiful to watch, and the action is stylized but excellent. No shortage of spraying blood here.
Bijomaru is one of the most memorable bad guys in recent years in martial arts cinema. This movie is MUCH better than the similar (girl with sword) Princess Blade.
Mad Monkey Kung Fu (product link) Martial Arts / Action/Adventure Lau Kar Leung is simply incredible. He and Hsiao Ho showcase some of the greatest monkey style kung fu ever put to film. Add in the incomparable Lo Lieh as the insidious villain and you are left with a "must-have" movie for any serious martial arts fans.
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