Movies

KUNG FU 101

Living under a rock? wondering what all the fuss about martial arts cinema is for? Read.

Whether we see kung fu, judo, karate, jeet kune do, or drunken boxing, martial arts have always looked great on screen. There are few things as soul satisfying as watching a hero hand down a royal ass-whooping to a villain who deserves it. The graceful, acrobatic, and showy action in kung-fu films has mesmerized audiences since the first "hee-yah!," a battle yell so ubiquitous that even the likes of Miss Piggy have gotten in on the act.

OLD SCHOOL KUNG FU FILMS

Everybody knows about '60s and '70s kung fu movies. Masters and students, Shaolin and Wu Tang, bad dubbing, cheesy costumes, outlandish stunts. Unfortunately, the constant parodies of the bad examples of the genre have obscured the good ones!

Before Bruce Lee, there was Jimmy Wang Yu. Wang is best known for playing the differently-abled title character of One-Armed Swordsman, but Wang made all kinds of kung fu films, pioneering several forms. Probably the easiest of his films to find in the United States is Blood of the Dragon, a thoroughly Americanized but enjoyable version of a film wherein a weapons master can take on the entire Mongol horde, but only after getting completely inebriated.

The most popular director of the old school period was Chang Cheh. His movies were brutally violent and imaginatively titled. Check out Two Champions of Shaolin, Five Deadly Venoms, and Crippled Avengers (on video as Return of the Five Deadly Venoms), among many others.

WILL THE REAL BRUCE LEE PLEASE STAND UP?

Kung fu movies are split into two eras: pre-Bruce and post-Bruce, divided only by a brief three years of actual Bruce. Although he completed only four kung fu films, his charisma, physique, martial skills, and tragic death made him a legend. The essential Bruce Lee films are The Chinese Connection and Enter the Dragon. The Chinese Connection was a huge hit in China, and the story, about a Chinese man's revenge on the Japanese dojo who killed his teacher, has been remade by both Jackie Chan and Jet Li (see Modern Masters below). Enter the Dragon was Lee's triumphant Hollywood premiere and fantastic slice of funky '70s filmmaking, but Lee died from a drug allergy before its premiere.

Lee's death didn't stop other Hong Kong filmmakers from making Bruce Lee movies. Some of them all but dug up his body and propped it up in front of the camera. First there were the Bruce Lee imitators, who went by names like Bruce Le, Bruce Li, and Bruce Lea. Then there were movies that literally desecrated Lee's grave, like Tower of Death, The True Game of Death, and Bruce Lee Fights Back from the Grave. These were not kung fu cinema's finest moments.

MODERN MASTERS

Although the martial-arts craze died down somewhat in the States during the '80s (and let's not even go into the Karate Kid series), filmmakers in Asia were honing their craft. Japan turned out a number of amazing Samurai films with deadly swordplay action, including the famous Zatoichi: Blind Swordsman series. For the Japanese, martial arts even extended into their animated features, including Fist of the North Star and comedic TV series like "Ranma 1/ 2."

The Chinese, especially those in Hong Kong, were turning the chopsocky film into sophisticated, choreographed kung-fu ballet. In the mid-' 80s, the use of "wireworks" (suspending actors and props from hidden wires to achieve certain kung-fu stunts) became popular, and the violent "dances" became even more outlandish and beautiful.

As budgets escalated and styles emerged, certain young men (and occasionally women) began to distinguish themselves, particularly Jackie Chan (Drunken Master, Rush Hour) and Jet Li (Once Upon a Time In China, Black Mask). Chan's easy grace, open smile, and mastery of physical comedy have made him one of the world's biggest film stars. Jet Li has constantly reinvented himself, both as an actor and as a martial artist, producing one of the most varied and impressive catalogs of films within kung fu cinema.

But not all of kung fu's stars stand in front of the camera. Men like Yuen Wo Ping, Tsui Hark, and Sammo Hung created the fights you see on screen long before the camera started rolling. Movies like Fist of Legend, Once Upon a Time in China, and Pedicab Driver owe as much to these choreographers and directors as to their stars.

WOMEN CAN KICK ASS TOO DEPT.

Much has been made of the fact that Ang Lee's new film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, has three strong female characters, but fighting females are common in kung fu films. Chief among them is Michelle Yeoh, who nearly stole Supercop from Jackie Chan and Tomorrow Never Dies from Pierce Brosnan. Yeoh's unconventional beauty and athletic prowess have catapulted her to the top of the leading lady heap. She has competition like Anita Mui and Maggie Cheung, both of whom co-starred with Yeoh in Heroic Trio, but Yeoh has impressed everyone with her style. America has had its share of fighting females like Cynthia Rothrock (who spent a few years in the Hong Kong film industry), but only recently have leading ladies in Hollywood films been allowed to strut their kung-fu stuff.

THEIR KUNG-FU WAS BETTER THAN OURS

In the early days of chopsocky flicks, the attempts to reproduce the high-kicking fun here in the States were more dismal than the silly Asian movies themselves. Even Chuck Norris, who held the title of Professional World Middleweight Karate Champion and made a memorable appearance in Return of the Dragon, couldn't make it look convincing on screen. Norris eventually took up guns instead for a more conventional action career, but he always has time for a roundhouse kick.

Norris' unintended legacy has been an unending string of direct-to-video action flicks with goofy karate champions leaping from the covers. Jean Claude van Damme made a spirited attempt to break free of the mold with slightly better-written films like Bloodsport and Kickboxer, but Americans have mostly preferred the sound of machine guns to the smack of a fist on a face.

Recently, however, kung fu's breakout success in Asia has been infiltrating Hollywood movies. In the early '90s, Jackie Chan movies like Rumble in the Bronx were given their chance to shine, and shine they did. Chan's Hollywood career was cemented with Rush Hour and the recent Shanghai Noon. Jet Li's turn as a villain in Lethal Weapon 4 garnered him a number of Hollywood roles. In 1996 the amazing but completely unheralded Drive proved that Americans could make martial arts films to rival those of Asia.

The real watershed for American kung-fu cinema, however, was The Matrix, in which the Brothers Wachowski brought in Yuen Wo Ping for the fight choreography. America's love affair with martial arts was instantly rekindled as Keanu Reeves and Lawrence Fishburne duked it out in virtual reality. Now we have films like Charlie's Angels, which feature kung fu and wireworks for no other reason than that they just look cool-- which, in the realm of kung fu cinema, is all the justification you need.

--Scott Hamilton & Chris Holland

DVD Report

SUCH A TEASE

Something Weird Video brings Bettie Page burlesque back with Varietease

It is a favorite joke of older stand-up comedians that television is the box in which they buried vaudeville. The racier side of vaudeville, namely burlesque, was pushed to the movie theaters, sometimes in as straightforward a manner as Varietease, in which a burlesque showÑ-- complete with "baggy pants" standup comedians and musical numbers-- is filmed on a sound stage.

It's doubtful that modern viewers will find the acts in Varietease enthralling. While the strip teases are pleasant enough and the women are attractive, there's just not much to keep you watching. Today, Varietease is more of a curiosity than a form of entertainment; it's a representative sample of an art form gone by.

The main attractionÑ and probably this disc's reason for existingÑ is the presence of Bettie Page, pin-up queen extraordinaire. Page's film appearances were few and far between, but Something Weird Video has found all of them and lovingly restored them to disc. Although Bettie has only one number in Varietease, there are a few extras that Page fans will find of interest. If you're a Page aficionado, you will definitely want to add this DVD to your collection, but those with a mere curiosity-- or those looking for the most Bettie bang for the buck-- would do well to seek out the more Bettie-rific Teaserama instead.

The interactive menus are given a nice "lobby card" sort of look, with faded papers and vintage type-faces that really evoke the feel of a burlesque theatre. These are some very nice aesthetic touches; Something Weird is to be commended.

The main extra on this disc is some audio commentary-- not by Bettie Page, folks-- featuring David F. Friedman, one of the major players in the exploitation film world. Friedman's producer credit graces such films as Blood Feast, The Adventures of Lucky Pierre, and Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS. Accompanying him is Mike Vraney, the proprietor of Something Weird.

Friedman introduces the piece by saying he's going to tell us about burlesque movies, but what he really does is tell us about the original burlesque houses, and how he eventually put them out of business with "nudie cutie" films.

It's obvious both men have love and respect for the burlesque tradition, and the highlights of the commentary involve Friedman's re-enactments of some of the comedy routines. Those with an appreciation for classic movies will find it tough not to feel saddened by the passing of burlesque when Friedman does the candy butcher's routine. Vraney helpfully steers Friedman back on course whenever his memory takes him down some side alley of history, but even the stories that relate to burlesque take the scenic route to their punch lines.

What is also obvious is neither man knows much about the actual production of

Varietease. Friedman wasn't involved in the making of the film, and he only met Irving Klaw once, so there's not a lot to tell, especially if you're really interested in Bettie Page. Burning questions like "Why do both Varietease and Teaserama include a Mexican dancing team, one half of which is a drag queen?" go unanswered. Unfortunately there's a bit of scratchy static towards the end of the disc as if a microphone cable came loose, and one is tempted to turn off the final moments of the commentary in annoyance.

Page fans will be pleased by the inclusion of two extra Bettie Page film spots, one a silent "peep show" arcade loop, in which Bettie shows off her legs with some stockings and high heels. The other features Bettie's only speaking part on film ever, from the film Strip-o-Rama. Trailers for Varietease and Teaserama are also included, proving that Something Weird may be a bit rough around the edges sometimes, but they do get the basics right. B

--Chris Holland