Customer Reviews

Martial Arts 50 Movie Pack Collection

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Some of the titles in MARTIAL ARTS 50 MOVIE PACK are so obscure, very little information could be gotten about them. A couple of selections here are from a long-forgotten American TV series. There's even a few spaghetti-karate films thrown into the mix. The majority however originate in the Far East: Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.

Lots of choreography went into the making of these movies; undoubtedly, there were a few unintentional injuries along the way, too. The action and pratfalls are non-stop and the plots mere window dressing for the foot-to-head combat scenes. For all martial arts fans these cinematic slugfests are sure-to-please.

Overall rating was achieved by averaging out viewer polling on 42 of these titles. Based on a film resource website's 1 to 10 scoring system, the current rating for MARTIAL ARTS is: 4.8.

The following alphabetized program list includes individual poll scores, original theatrical names (where indicated), country of origin, years of release and primary performers.

(5.0) The Big Fight (Taiwan/Hong Kong-1972) - Roc Tien/Cheung Chin Chin
(4.0) Black Cobra (Italy-1987) - Fred Williamson/Eva Grimaldi
(5.1) Black Cobra 2 (Italy-1988) - Fred Williamson/Nicholas Hammond
(4.5) Black Cobra 3 (Italy-1988) - Fred Williamson/Forry Smith
(4.8) Black Fist (1975) - Richard Lawson/Dabney Coleman/Philip Michael Thomas
(2.7) The Black Godfather (1974) - Rod Perry/Damu King
(4.4) The Brave Lion (1977) - Wei Tzi Yung
(3.9) Breakout From Oppression (1978) - Fonda Lynn/Alan Tam
(2.7) Chase Step By Step (China-1982) - Chee Fung/Wong Gwan Sheong
(???) City Ninja (1986) - Wai-Man Chan/Chia Che Fu
(6.6) The Deadly Duo (Hong Kong-1971) - David Chiang/Chuen Chan
(2.2) Death Machines (1976) - Ronald L. Marchini/Michael Chong
(5.6) Death Of A Ninja ("Black Magic Wars") (Japan-1982) - Hiroyuki Sanada/Sonny Chiba (in support)
(4.0) Fighting Mad ("Death Force") (USA/Philippines-1978) - Jayne Kennedy/Leon Isaac Kenndey (both minor roles)
(6.1) Four Robbers (Hong Kong-1987) - Charlie Cho/Feng Ku
(5.1) Four Shaolin Challengers (Homg Kong-1977) - Charlie Chan/Phillip Ko
(3.7) The Guy With The Secret Kung Fu (Hong Kong-1981) - Sally Chen/Fei Meng
(3.9) Hands Of Death (Hong Kong-1987) - Richard Harrison/Roc Tien
(3.6) The Head Hunter (Hong Kong-1982) - Rosamund Kwan
(4.6) Heroes of Shaolin Part 1 (Hong Kong-1979) - Sing Chen/Jang Lee Hwang
(4.6) Heroes of Shaolin Part 2 (Hong Kong-1979) - Sing Chen/Jang Lee Hwang
(4.3) Image Of Bruce Lee (1978) - Bruce Li/Chang Leih
(8.1) The Impossible Kid (Philippines-1982) - Weng Weng
(5.5) Infernal Street (Taiwan/Hong Kong-1973) - Feng Chang/Wan Hsi Chin
(4.7) Karate Kids USA ("The Little Dragons") (1980) - Charles Lane/Ann Sothern
(6.6) Kung Fu Arts (Taiwan-1980) - Carter Wong/Sing Chen
(7.8) Kung Fu Kids Break Away (Hong Kong-1980) - Au Dai/Cheung Hoi Fan
(???) The Master (series): "Max" (TV-1984) - Lee Van Cleef/Timothy Van Patten/Sho Kosogi/Demi Moore (bit part)
(???) The Master (series): "Out-Of-Time Step" (TV-1984) - Charles Collins/Dick Durock
(2.9) Ninja Champion (Hong Kong-1985) - Bruce Baron/Pierre Tremblay
(5.1) Ninja Death I (1987) - Alexander Lou/Fei Meng
(???) Ninja Death II (1987) - Lo Yiu/Fei Ming
(???) Ninja Death III (1987) - Lo Yui/Fei Ming
(2.3) Ninja Empire (Hong Kong-1990) - Mike Abbott/Marko Ritchie
(???) Ninja Heat (1988) - Chan Sheng/Chan Wai Mang
(3.2) Ninja The Protector (Canada/Hong Kong-1986) - Richard Harrison/Jackie Chan
(6.0) The Real Bruce Lee (Hong Kong-1973) - Bruce Lee/Bruce Li/Dragon Lee
(4.9) Return Of The Kung Fu Dragon (Hong Kong-1976) - Sing Chen/Tao Chen
(6.1) Return Of The Street Fighter (Japan-1974) - Sonny Chiba/Yôko Ichiji
(6.7) Shadow Ninja (Hong Kong-1983) - Roy Chiao/Wei Tung
(5.7) Shaolin Deadly Kicks ("Flash Legs") (Hong Kong-1977) - Tao-liang Tan/Lieh Lo
(7.3) Shaolin Temple (Hong Kong-1976) - Sheng Fu/Kuan-Chun Chi
(5.7) Sister Street Fighter (Japan-1974) - Hiroshi Miyauchi/Sanae Ohba
(3.4) Snake Fist Dynamo (Homg Kong-1984) - Erik Yee/Dick Lee
(???) The Snake, The Tiger, The Crane (Hong Kong-1975) - Carter Wong/Nan Hsi Yen
(5.2) Spirits Of Bruce Lee (Hong Kong-1973) - Michael Chan/Poon Lok
(6.9) The Street Fighter (Japan-1974) - Sonny Chiba/Waichi Yamada
(???) Tiger Love (1977) - Hu Chin/Lieh Lo/Ya Wang
(4.0) T.N.T. Jackson (Philippines/USA-1975) - Jeannie Bell/Stan Shaw
(3.3) The Weapons Of Death (1982) - Eric Lee/Bob Ramos

This collection is well worth every penny you'll spend on it, as long you enjoy this film genre. Personally, these movies evoke more laughter for me than most of the comedies being currently released. Some of the movies don't really qualify as martial arts movies - in particular, I'm referring to Black Cobra 1, 2, and 3 - three of the worst movies ever made. These movies, starring former NFL player Fred "The Hammer" Williamson would more appropriately be categorized as action movies, although there isn't a Hell of a lot of action in them. I digress. The point is that there are maybe 3 punches thrown in the entire first movie. It's definitely not a martial arts movie. Most of the movies in this collection, however, are exactly what you would expect. In particular, there are three movies, Ninja Death 1, 2, and 3 that are so awful that they border on greatness. I'm not a film student, so I couldn't tell you what the filming technique is called wherein the "actors" fight in slow-motion, and then the film is sped up to make the fights look like they are taking place at a normal speed. The director of these Ninja Death movies sped the fights up too much, and the result is that every battle looks like an episode of the Benny Hill show. I put these kind of crappy movies on at night to fall asleep to (spaghetti westerns and cheesy horror flicks work well also), but Ninja Death kept me awake and laughing. None of the movies in this collection are big budget - they are all old, and the sound and picture quality is poor, but that adds, not detracts, to the experience of watching them. If you "get" these kinds of films, you absolutely can't go wrong spending the money on this collection.

I was looking through the list of movies surprised to see that all 20 movies that I bought in a 20 pack are in this 50 pack. And now I punching myself in the head this very momentttt because I REALLY WISH I WOULD HAVE JUST PAYED LIKE 20 DOLLARS OR WHATEVER IT WAS EXTRA BECUASE THERE WERE ONLY LIKE 3 GOOD MOVIES IN THE 20 PACK, BUT THERE IS LIKE 10 GOOD ONES IN THIS FREAKING 50 PACK.

Let me go over what I am talking about.
20 pack has ninja death 1, 50 pack actually has the sequels part 2 and 3.
50 pack has guy with secret kungfu with meng fei, 20 pack doesn't.

50 pack has a chow yunfat and a jackie chan movie, 20 pack doesn't.

Now I'm 99% sure that the jackie and chow movies suck balls, but that is why you go exploring. In the 20 pack I found one of the greatest kungfu movies ever, shadow ninja, which is of course in the 50 pack, what the real name of it is I don't know, but I do know that I would buy it at like best buy for up to 25 dollars because it is rare and AWESOME. So that is a major reason to buy this collection, and if somebody finds out if chow and jackie are actually in this collection and what the movies are like THEN PLEASE POST THAT AT THE LEAST.

Now the main reason I wanted to post a review on her is because I saw Shaolin Heroes on there and have not seen this movie in SOOOOOOOOOOO many years it is likely I will throw away my 20 pack and get this thing because I saw it as a kid and had no idea that there are 2 parts to this. I can't remember if I saw one or two but I do remember seeing a pretty good kungfu movie. CHen sing I remember as the good guy, so that stood out for me, but the thing that really sttod out for me was Lieh Lo(pei mei) and Hwang Jang Lee(druinken master) as the bad guys. I wish america had an equivilent to these two guys, but I just don't find hannibalector that scary. The only possible way that they could have made this movie better is if they added Johhny Wang(Lung Fei) as a third bad guy. Now this movie I remember has a little more of a storyline than normal kungfu, but if I could sit through the slow moments as a kid, I know that I can now.

Also the dvd quality of these are all pretty good, all full-screened I think, but probably around 2-3 will be almost unwatchable like chase step by step, but it is still watchable if you wanna see a semi-original kungfu movie, but still VERY good.

So whoever has this please take the time to review all of the movies that you think are worth watching. Because heroes of Shaolin is a LONG forgotten kungfu movie that definitely needs to be discovered as does shadow ninja with shen yi-kwan(jet's opponent in OUATIC 1), and ninja death 1 2 and 3 with alexander lo rei and Lu feng(the centipede). And I know that everyone wants to see the Karate Kids starring the great Charles Lane. Now if you are not familiar with Charles Lane, then you are in for a big surprise. Charles Lane is a grandmas--yeah I know just kidding...

SO DO NOT BUY THE 20 PACK GET THIS AND THEN YOU WON'T HAVE TO SPEND LIKE A YEAR TO GET NINJA DEATH 2 AND 3 LIKE i DID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i have reviewed many of the 50 movie packs and have found most of them enjoyable and this one is no different. most of these films were never seen except on saturday noon kung-fu theater so don't look for clean crisp transfers here but if you enjoy these types of movies you will love this set. not all the films are family friendly so watch out, and enjoy.

This is a good deal if you're into B-movies and kung fu films. There are some bad ones in here, but at less than $0.33 per movie it's not much of a gamble. Expect mediocre acting, bad dubbing, average plotlines, and the occasional naked chick. The best ones are "The Street Fighter" (Sonny Chiba), "Return of the Street Fighter" (Sonny Chiba) and "Shaolin Deadly Kicks" (Dorian Tan), though I haven't seen the last two discs yet. The bad ones will either make you fall asleep or keep you laughing at how cheesy it is. There are a few non-martial arts films which may be a good or bad thing. All the movies are full screen with VHS quality video and English dubbing. The menu is really basic with just play and scene selections, but that's to be expected. There are no Millcreek logos that pop up from what I hear about the other boxsets.

There are actually two versions of this boxset. The old one was released in 2005 and features a generic guy on the cover. The newer one was released in 2007 and has Bruce Lee on the cover (though there aren't any actual Bruce Lee movies in it). They have 45 of the same movies and have 5 different ones each.

The 45 they share are:

The Big Fight (Roc Tien)
Black Cobra (Fred Williamson)
Black Cobra II (Fred Williamson)
Black Cobra III (Fred Williamson)
Black Fist (Richard Lawson)
The Black Godfather (Rod Perry)
The Brave Lion (Wei Tzi Yung)
Chase Step by Step (Chee Kung)
City Ninja (Michael Chan)
Deadly Duo (David Chiang)
Fighting Mad (Leon Isaac Kennedy)
Four Robbers (Shek Hon)
The Four Shaolin Challengers (Bruce Leung)
The Guy with the Secret Kung Fu (Meng Fei)
Hands of Death (Roc Tien)
The Headhunter (Chow Yun Fat)
Heroes of Shaolin - Part 1 (Chen Xing)
Heroes of Shaolin - Part 2 (Chen Xing)
Image of Bruce Lee (Bruce Li)
The Impossible Kid (Weng-Weng)
Infernal Street (Yiu Tin-Lung)
Karate Kids U.S.A. (Charles Lane)
Kung Fu Arts (Carter Wong)
Kung Fu Kids Break Away (Wan Ye Leung)
The Master: Max (Lee Van Cleef)
The Master: Out-of-Time-Step (Lee Van Cleef)
Ninja Champion (Bruce Baron)
Ninja Death I (Lo Yiu)
Ninja Death II (Lo Yiu)
Ninja Death III (Lo Yiu)
Ninja Empire (Mike Abbott)
Ninja Heat (Chan Sheng)
Ninja: The Protector (Richard Harrison)
The Real Bruce Lee (Bruce Lee)
Return of the Kung Fu Dragon (Sing Chen)
Return of the Street Fighter (Sonny Chiba)
Shadow Ninja (Steve Tung Wai)
Shaolin Deadly Kicks (Dorian Tan)
Shaolin Temple (Shu Feng)
Snake Fist Dynamo (Eric Yee)
The Snake, The Tiger, The Crane (Carter Wong)
Spirits of Bruce Lee (Michael Chan)
The Street Fighter (Sonny Chiba)
Tiger Love (Hu Chin)
Weapons of Death (Eric Lee)

The old version has:

Death Machines (Ron Marchini)
Death of a Ninja (Sonny Chiba)
Fist of Fear, Touch of Death (Bruce Lee)
Sister Street Fighter (Sonny Chiba)
Ten Fingers of Death (Jackie Chan)

While the new version has:

Breakout From Oppression (Lona Chang)
Day of the Panther (Edward John Stazak)
The Guy From Harlem (Loye Hawkins)
Jive Turkey (Paul Harris)
TNT Jackson (Jeanne Bell)

Note that all five movies of the new version are also in the Drive-In Movie Classics 50 Pack:
http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Movie-Classics-50-Pack/dp/B000AA4KLK/ref=pd_bbs_sr_4?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1227302770&sr=8-4

If you buy directly from Amazon you will get the new version.

If you like this boxset you should get the Martial Arts 20 Movie Pack, also by Millcreek. It has 18 movies that aren't on this boxset and comes in a more durable plastic case:
http://www.amazon.com/Martial-Arts-20-Movie-Pack/dp/B00196SUPQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1227301598&sr=8-1

It's a good deal for getting lots of movies cheaply. This set got me into buying the Martial Arts 20 Pack and the Horror 250 Pack from Millcreek. I just wish they would combine all their martial arts packs, add some more and make a big 250 pack. Speaking of the 250 packs, you should get them while you still can because Millcreek said they are discontinued. They also said there will be more movie packs coming out in January 2009.

I was ecstatic when i heard about this collection from a friend and snatched it up right away [great price!!]. This set includes some of the worst movies I have ever seen, but I am one of the rare people who actually gets a kick out of watching these types of movies, especially bad kung-fu. My only real gripe is there wasn't enough of the "Shaolin" style films...oh well.

Now not to say that ALL are bad, as there are actually a few really good ones too. So If you are looking for a quick way to build up your kung-fu collection and love "B" movies...this is the one for you!! All I have to say is "The Impossible Kid" was the best of the worst...classic!!!

In Snake Fist Dynamo a guy eats a lizard. A real, living one.

In Kung Fu Arts a woman marries a monkey. A real, living one.

Seriously, that's the level of the films in this set. It's not Master Killer-ish, there's very few that are even decent action films, but the level of goofiness is through the *roof*. Master Ninja? Oh yea! Ninja Death? Bring it on!

First thing i'd like to point out is that the listing that amazon shows for this (as far as the movies go) is incorrect. The listing as amazon puts it is the same as the original release (which is NOT to be confused with the new version, of which the picture is shown) with the exception of "TNT jackson". Instead of "TNT jackson" you get Fist of Fear, Touch of death.

Now since amazon is listing the picture for the re-release of this box set, im going to assume that's the version they are selling. It should be noted that along with "TNT jackson", you get four other movies which are:

Breakout from oppression
Day of the Panther
Jive Turkey
The Guy from harlem

the movies they replace are the aformentioned "Fist of fear, touch of death" along with

Death Machines
Death of a ninja
Sister Street Fighter
Ten Fingers of death (which to Morgoth, is the Jackie chan movie Master with cracked fingers under an alternate title)

Also the movie with chow yun fat in it is entitled "the Head hunter".

The easiest way to tell the difference is that the original (and it should be noted BETTER) version has a non-descript guy on the cover as opposed to bruce lee.

Now that thats out of the way, I can get on to the other thing i wanted to mention.

I'd like to thank morgoth for pointing out Shadow Ninja. I have had this movie pack since at least the time when it first came out, and never bothered to check out that movie until i read his review of this pack last night. When I got home i popped the movie in and was thoroughly entertained. So thank you.

Now on to the actual reivew of the pack itself....

due to the fact that i have seen little if any of the movies featured all the way through, i shall end this review by giving a list of the more noteworthy movies to look out for on this pack.

The aformentioned Shadow Ninja (which should definitly be the first movie to watch as soon as you get this.)
Tiger Love
Kung Fu arts
Chase Step by Step
Deadly Duo AKA Two Great Cavaliers (which is not to be confused with the Ti Lung epic of the same name)
Fighting Mad
The Master: Max and out of time step (which are actually episodes of a tv series)
The heroes of Shaolin 1 and 2
The impossible kid (a martial arts movie featuring A MIDGET! has to be seen to be believed!)
The street fighter, Return of the street fighter (a duo of great movies featuring samurai master sonny chiba)
Ten fingers of death AKA Master with cracked fingers (possibly jackie chan's first starring role and a great movie)
Snake Fist Dynamo (mentioning it only to say look for the brooklyn zu version called dragon snake fist thats uncut)

if i've missed any it would be because i haven't actually seen them and therefore do not know they are good.

i own many of these megapack movie collections and like them and this is a good one. if you like these silly chop-socky movies like me you will love this. as always if great transfers and the like are what you want you will hate this, but if you give it a chance i think you may like these martial arts movies

I just received my copy of the Martial Arts 50 Movie Pack yesterday, and although I've only watched 4 of the movies included, I feel that I've already gotten my money's worth.

You see.. I first chose to watch the Ninja Death trilogy, after reading recommendations in these reviews.

All I can say is that it's absolute genius! I won't spoil the movies by describing them, but if you're into cheap 70s Chinese Kung Fu flicks, you'll be hard pressed to find anything better to watch than the Ninja Death trilogy. The other 47 movies on here are just icing on the baffling and confounding cake that is Ninja Death.

If you're looking at this page, I assume that you get some enjoyment from Z-grade cinema. If you've never seen the entire ND trilogy, then pop this sucker into your cart and click away. You won't be disappointed.