Just received my DVD of the Master of the Flying Guillotine!
It’s one of QT’s and Sam Jackson’s favorite all-time old school martial art films.
In an early draft of True Romance the movie Clarence and Alabama are watching is not A Better Tomorrow 2, but The Incredible One-Armed Boxer Versus The Master of the Flying Guillotine (the longer alternate title for the film)!
It has commentary by two LA film critics… the only wish I have was that QT and Sam Jackson had a commentary track! ÂÂ
I think it gives a preview of what me may expect from KILL BILL!
It opens on a lonely and desolate craggy mountain side with a white-haired and white-eyebrowed (!) blind kung fu master!  He receives a note that his two disciples are dead and he goes a mission to avenge them.
The electronic score is awesome.
I will watch the rest of it in an hour or two and then report any insights I think it will give to the filming style and aesthetic “look” of KILL BILL.
[quote]I could have swore i saw it last week in Best Buy, but maybe that was something else.[/quote]
Was it one of these two?
'Cause these are the only ones that I’ve seen in stores so far:
I’ve got a copy of the original one up above, fairly decent, I’m sure it aint shit compared to MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE (I remember seeing the trailer of that flick online and was blown away)
I do love the opening credits/music on the original FLYING GUILLOTINE flick, though. Shit is tight!
I was looking at so many dvd’s while i was there, so i’m not sure if my memory has failed me or what. I’m pretty sure you can order it from HKFlix, but i can’t remember if i just saw it on hkflix or if i actually held it while in best buy. It’s not like my memory to just imagine something like that, but you never know
Yeah, pantsman-- that’s the one I got! I ordered it from HKFlix, but who knows… it might be available elsewhere.
It’s a prett damn cool movie and I won’t spoil any scenes for you. Love the Shaw zooms, love the sound FX, love the fights, love the guillotine and I LOVE the Master’s theme evertime he appears! It’s a booming ominous theme and just sounds BADASS!
Hope you guys see it soon so I can discuss it with you!
Just wanted to bump this thread in case some of you fans haven’t come by this true classic!
I got this DVD back in December and pretty much watch it on a weekly basis. Its THAT good and makes me want to see what else Jimmy Wang-Yu was able to come up with!
So many highlights in this beauty as Jeff pointed out. The Blind Assassin is BAADASS! The guy just chops off heads like nothin’ and of course, you can’t go wrong with that tight theme music of his.
The Thai fighter played a pretty good @$$hole (He looks just like American actor Richard Tyson. You know, the baddie in KINDERGARTEN COP) and The Yogamaster is obviously a big scene stealer.
As the commentators point out, this film has some of the best set pieces you will ever see in an old school kung fu flick.
My favorite being the booby-trapped hut which has the one-armed boxer fighting the Thai fighter on a floor that just keeps getting hotter and hotter and hotter!
So if you got around 20 bucks to spare and in the need for some vintage martial arts action at its best, spend it here! You’ll be thankful!
Glad you bumped this topic too Laydback. I finally got around to seeing both One Armed Boxer and Master of the Flying Guillotine about a month or two back. I had already seen Return of the Chinese Boxer beforehand so I was already kind of initiated with Jimmy Wang’s style. Which is to say his style basically means insanity
I may be crazy or something, but I actually ended up enjoying One Armed Boxer more than Flying Guillotine. Both are brilliant of course, but One Armed Boxer just kind of knocked me on my ass. The Kung Fu was just great in it, and the training sequences kind of gave the film a backbone. No doubt though, Flying Guillotine is awesome, and the blind assassin is badass.
I also saw another Jimmy Wang flick a little while back called The Screaming Tiger. I only watched it once with a friend so I didn’t catch all the plot, but the last fight scene was just amazing. It was like twelve minutes long, and Jimmy Wang and this guy travel half across China. It starts off on a hill, then they jump on a train, still fighting of course, then they jump off the train on to a waterfall. It’s one of the best fight scenes I’ve seen in a while. I can’t understand how it got a 1.8 on the imdb. I guess a bunch of people saw the crappy quality dvd and were just disgusted by the quality. Anyway, Jimmy Wang rules.
Sorry, but this movie just isn’t that good. The yoga master was humorous, and the end fight was ok. But the movie has wall to wall fights that are just so slow, and one-armed boxers aren’t that cool(except for that guy in The Blade). It’s not terrible but not that great either.
My favourite old-school kung-fu flick is Shaolin Invincible Sticks. I really enjoyed that. Oh, or 36 chambers of Shaolin. I’m not sure, but I think that’s different from 36th chamber of shaolin. Hmmm… Anyway, I love it. I’m becoming quite a fan of Godfrey Ho. He;s such a nutter. Deadly China Dolls is awful, and that’s why I love it :
[quote=“GRINDHOUSE”]
Off Topic to DD: Master of the Flying Guillotine is da best M.A. movie ever! LOL!
[/quote]
[quote=“me”]
I have yet to find a Kung Fu movie that entertains me more than Master of the flying guillotine
[/quote]
… bah, over-rated. The Chinese Boxer is better.Return of the Chinese boxer is better too (and better than the original). And One-Armed Swordsman movie are better.
but hey, not a bad movie. Been some years since I saw it, maybe I should give it a new chance. I recall the characters and the soundtrack were awesome.
[quote=“Hung Fist”]
… bah, over-rated. The Chinese Boxer is better.Return of the Chinese boxer is better too (and better than the original). And One-Armed Swordsman movie are better.
but hey, not a bad movie. Been some years since I saw it, maybe I should give it a new chance. I recall the characters and the soundtrack were awesome.
[/quote]
Yeah, the soundtrack rocks. I think it’s definitely the best tournament movie. As far as the best kung fu film? I agree with Hung that it’s a little overrated. But I don’t think it’s too overrated. It’s one of the more enjoyable kung fu films. Personally, I think when it comes to kung fu, a lot of the classics are a little overrated. Five Deadly Venoms, Come Drink With Me and 36th Chamber of Shaolin can’t possibly live up to all the hype that we fans surround them with.
[quote=“me”]
Am I the only one who thinks the tournament scenes are little like Mortal Kombat?
[/quote]
The stretchy indian guy reminded me of Dhalsim in Street Fighter II
