The one in Drunken Master doesn’t even do his own kung fu, it’s a stand in. I dunno man, but there’s just something about the old drunk guy who seems to know everything. The charachter just doesn’t work for me.
One thign you have to realize is he is OLD. The doubling is done very nicely, and is done even better in the sequel to Drunken Master, Dance of the drunken Mantis. In Sleeping Fist SImon Yuen does most of the stuff himself and looks great for his age. About 10 years before Drunken MAster was made Simon Yuen was still moving around very well.
Nothing… absolutely nothing beats Kungfu vs Yoga…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrYlNNy929Y
It’s not cringe inducing, it’s just so **** cheesy it’s actually funny.
I got one for ya’s
How’s this for cheesy? BLACK MANTIS! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmLt9X38bwY
(And just so some of you don’t go searching the Internet trying to get this movie – it is part of the SXSW Grindhouse Trailer contest …)
Late answer but…
[QUOTE=mickey;743122]Actually, Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s performance against Bruce Lee was not bad at all. He was the ONLY screen opponent who matched Bruce Lee in terms of athletism. I saw two superbly conditioned athletes putting on a good show. You should watch the Warrior’s Journey for a better showcase of the choreography.[/QUOTE]
It’s not so much the action as it is the line delivery. It sounded really unnatural to me. Combine that with the fact that it was supposed to be deeply dramatic and you’ve got some serious cheese in my view.
You guys are such sinophiles. Cant you think outside teh box? I know this is a Kung fu forum, but what about the most successful cheezy martial arts actor of all time?
Sonny Chiba
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7QJEDwa7iw
He is like a cross between a monkey, Bruce Lee, and some kind of meat grinder that rips off people’s balls. AND, he is not afraid to hit a girl.
Go out and rent one of his movies TODAY!!
B Red
If there is any doubt, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7QJEDwa7iw
(of course the video editing doesn’t hurt)
[QUOTE=bredmond812;783500]You guys are such sinophiles. Cant you think outside teh box? I know this is a Kung fu forum, but what about the most successful cheezy martial arts actor of all time?
Sonny Chiba
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7QJEDwa7iw
He is like a cross between a monkey, Bruce Lee, and some kind of meat grinder that rips off people’s balls. AND, he is not afraid to hit a girl.
Go out and rent one of his movies TODAY!!
B Red
If there is any doubt, watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7QJEDwa7iw
(of course the video editing doesn’t hurt)[/QUOTE]
LOL! Beat me to it. I love baiting my Sifu about Sonny; he absolutly hates Sonny’s work.
Don Wilson, Cynthia Rothrock and anyone that knows them. Wilson was a great kickboxer, but couldn’t act and had bad choreography. Rothrock also had bad choreography, but I just can’t overlook her always yelling,“Ki-ai!!” In all her years in MA, nobody taught her that “Kiai” means the shout, and not the sound you make when you shout? Sheesh!
John Saxon looked like crap in ETD-might just be the polyester slacks…
Kareem Abdul Jabbar might be a great athlete, but not in MA. His kicks sucked. he had to lean way over to throw a waist high sloppy roundhouse.
I love how Bredmond says to think outside of the box and then lists king of exploitation Sonny Chiba. :p:D:D
For me it doesn’t get any cheesier than Dragon Lee. That guy was God. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B81Njc1UR1A
Greetings,
TenTigers,
I would never say that Jabbar was an excellent martial artist. His conditioning was THERE to see. He did not have to struggle to keep up with Bruce. He was there, step by step.
The Xia,
You are right about the dialogue. It was cheesy. But that was Bruce’s fault.
mickey
[QUOTE=TenTigers;783865]Rothrock also had bad choreography, but I just can’t overlook her always yelling,“Ki-ai!!” In all her years in MA, nobody taught her that “Kiai” means the shout, and not the sound you make when you shout? Sheesh![/QUOTE]
Maybe she studied under this guy? 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M35LvWlpYs
[QUOTE=mickey;784204]The Xia,
You are right about the dialogue. It was cheesy. But that was Bruce’s fault.
mickey[/QUOTE]
I agree that the writing was cheesy but I don’t think his delivery was any better.
To his credit, I thought Jabbar actually had a somewhat decent Lee-style side snap kick, especially for a man of his height. There aren’t too many guys around and over 7 feet tall who can do nicely-coordinated martial arts kicks. Just his physical stature alone could have accounted for his seeming awkwardness at his roundhouse/spinning kicks.
Don Wilson’s movies were pretty bad. As Ten Tigers mentioned, he was an excellent kickboxer, one of the very best. It’s a perfect example of a great real-life competitive fighter who couldn’t translate well to the screen. I really wonder: if he’d been in a mid-'80s HK flick directed by Sammo Hung, as a villain or something, if he could have been made to look good in a fight scene. That was when Sammo’s choreography was in top form, and nearly everyone looked good in his movies. It sure worked for Benny Urquidez and Billy Chow.
A little off-topic: Wasn’t that Urquidez as a ghost attacking John Cusack in 1408?
I only saw the movie trailer, not the movie itself.
Did you know that Benny and Billy Chow actually fought eachother in the ring? That would be awesome to see. And I don’t know about 1408, but Benny has a great fight with John Cusack in a movie called Grosse Point Blank.
Somehow I don’t associate John Cusack with good fight scenes.
But jethro does know his martial arts movies so you never know.
I love that fight scene. I didn’t think the movie was great, but it had a lot of nice touches to it, like this fight scene for example- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11GjYpWO-xc
The first person that comes to my mind that fits this thread to a T, and I like his acting, if you wanna call it that, is STUART SMITH. He is in many of those IFD/Filmark ninja movies, as well as Blood Fight, with Bolo Yeung, he plays the caucasion Hong Kong punk, who starts to be a student of the films star.
Stuart Smith. He is awesome. You can find some of his clips on Youtube too.
Chosen One
But Stuart Smith has NEVER a good fight scene. He cant do any of the action himself. In order to be the best cheesy martial arts actor, you have to at least have some martial arts talent. Like Dragon Lee for instance. Here is a rare fight with him vs. Hwang Jang Lee- http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kWBnU1nv8Q4&mode=related&search=
Dragon Lee could have been a star if he had good choreogrphers working with him. Stuart Smith on the other hand would have never been in movies if it wasn’t for that idiot godfrey Ho. He has no talent, he just got put into a lot of cheesy movies.
[QUOTE=jethro;784804]I love that fight scene. I didn’t think the movie was great, but it had a lot of nice touches to it, like this fight scene for example- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11GjYpWO-xc[/QUOTE]
I dont know what was cooler, the fight, or the vintage retro 80’s pop hits playing in the background.
B Red
Haha, good call. The music was a big part of the scene.