Good book but I would have preferred less films and extensive information.Bey Logan's 36 Chambers is a far engaging read. 978-0897501927 Great coverage of its genre. 978-0897501927 I really don't mind that this book is heavy on the releases from Shaw Brothers studios. I prefer it over some of the entries like the Rudy Ray Moore films, which I love, but really shouldn't be included in a book with this title. While the writers endless puns is really tiresome and rarely clever, each entry contains some really good information about the fighting styles, history and interesting facts about the production and cast. Informing the reader of a training / fight breakdown with running time and overall viewing percentage of action is unique and quite welcome. The frustrating aspect of this book is the lack of film criticism. Since the author avoids expressing his opinion in the text, the standard star system would have been beneficial. Reid really knows the material, probably better than anyone, so it's shame that we're left to assume that practically every film listed is highly recommended by him. Which seems absurd, with some of the entries. If your interest is 100% fights, you won't be disappointed. 978-0897501927 Even though I have been seriously involved in numerous martial arts for than sixty years, I did not really have an avid interest in martial arts movies until after I had seen the late Bruce Lee's movies beginning with Enter the Dragon. When the award winning martial arts movie Crouching tiger, Hidden Dragon came out I became hooked on these martial art action movies.The 1970s was a time when American audiences first began to appreciate Asian martial art action movies. In fact, I recall one of the first ones I saw was Five Fingers of Death. This fantastic well researched book really goes into great detail on the martial arts movies made in the 1970s. I was amazed at how many were produced during that time. This volume has than 500 films with interesting details about each film. The author was a an active martial arts practitioner and an avid fan of all kinds of martial art films. The truth is, he was also a consultant on numerous martial art films. The author has produced the most complete martial art movie guide of the 1970s that has ever been written. Even though most of the movies in this book were Asian martial art films, other countries, including American made ones are also included.This giant 287 page volume is organized to make it easy for the reader to understand the martialogies in this book. You will learn how much real martial art action time is spent in each film, as well as the actors, and the numerous other titles that are actually the same movie. You will also know what country the films were made in, which of course the majority were made in China. One of the things I liked about this book was the list of top ten martial art films listed at the end of the book.In conclusion, if you are a martial arts movie fan, this is a must book to have as a reference source.Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Predator Hunter: A warrior's memoir) 978-0897501927 This book covers a ton of 70s martial arts movies from several different countries, with a particular focus, of course, on those from Hong Kong and Japan. The author had previoulsly worked in the HK film industry, and is also an experienced practitioner of martial arts, and so is able to bring his experience from those endeavors into his writing on these movies. As others have mentioned, he does not give rankings to the films in his capsule reviews, but instead offers plot summaries, personal observations, and tidbits of cultural, martial arts, and filmmaking info pursuant to the film. Personally, I've seen than enough top ten lists and rankings from everyone and his brother on the internet and if you're a serious fan, you're not going to agree with a lot of them anyways. I don't care about seeing of the same, so I like Dr. Reid's approach on that front. Others have criticized the author's negative comments on the martial arts skills of various actors as a martial artist myself, I found his comments pretty accurate, and at any rate I didn't feel he was disparaging the films in general when he made these comments, he was just pointing some things out.Others have mentioned that Chinese films from Golden Harvest and the independent film companies are underrepresented in this book. I believe the author said that he had difficulty acquiring photos from those films, and that's why those films don't figure as prominently in this guide. But really, that's what I love most about this book: this is about the only guide out there that gives write ups and glossy pictures of a TON of obscure 70s Shaw Brothers martial arts films. After Celestial pictures remastered the Shaw library in the early 2000s, we fans were presented with dozens and dozens of widescreen, remastered martial arts movies that were largely unknown to all but the most serious collectors. This is the only book I've seen that really covers those movies, and as a huge Shaw fan, that's what makes this book completely worth it.I did knock off one star because the author occasionally gets out of his league when he starts talking about some of the history of martial arts. He occasionally confuses martial lore and legend with historical certainty. The Chinese tradition has a tendency to embellish the origins of martial arts styles, weapons, etc., with stories of noble monks, wise men who watched animals fighting, emperors creating styles, etc. Most of these are just stories passed down orally, and are considered fairly dubious by serious historians as there's very little primary source documentation for these tales. For instance, the author tells of the invention of the 3 sectional staff, where a famous figure supposedly broke his staff in battle and then tied the ends together. Personally I think this is laughably unlikely, but any rate it's definitely not an agreed upon historical fact. I wish the author would have prefaced these comments with lines like One story has it, or According to legend, rather than presenting them as historical certainties. (See the book Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals: A Historical Survey )Still, this is an excellent, entertaining book that should be on the shelf of every fan of martial arts movies. I don't think it's left my coffee table since I bought it! 978-0897501927
Dynamic and entertaining, this movie guide brings depth to the martial arts films of the 1970s, with than 2,000 titles from 14 countries broken down into lively reviews, detailed discussions, and meticulous references. With an engaging introduction to kung fu cinema, this examination then launches into a collection of than 500 martial arts reviews that include the movie name, time, and place of theatrical release, director name, list of principal actors, fight instructors, and interesting tidbits about the film. Eachentry also includes statistics such as the number and length of training and fight sequences. Complete indexes are also featured, listing actors and movies by their English variations as well as countries of origin. Both a fun read and an accurate resource, this handbook is a must have for movie fans and martial artists alike. The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s: 500+ Films Loaded with Action, Weapons and Warriors: 500+ Films Loaded with Action, Weapons Warriors
Summary The Ultimate Guide to Martial Arts Movies of the 1970s: 500+ Films Loaded with Action, Weapons and Warriors: 500+ Films Loaded with Action, Weapons Warriors
