martial Arts Comedies

[Michael Hopcroft]

I was looking over my bookshelf and seeing that i still had a slightly dmaaged copy of The Ultimate Martial Artist and need to replace my copy of Ninja HERO, and it occured to me with what i was watching and reading recently that it might indeed be fun to cosnider a martial arts comedy campaign. I've gotten a lot of inspirational material recently, from the silly to the serious (can you imagine the comedic potential of a Soul Calibur II spoof?).

All sorts of plotlines entered my mind, like the old classic the martial-arts sex comedy, where numerous characters all of whom have different martial arts styles are tied up in all kinds of romantic and sexual complications. One of my favorite old kung=fu movies, in fact, revolves around this very premise -- a wu shu fighter discovers his japnese bride is really a ninja and then accidentally insults an entire clan of japnese martial artists, thus being forced to fight them one at a time. At the same time as he reconciles with his bride, he must fight her family, including her powersul ninja brother, who has gone from wanting to show him up to wanting to see him dead.

And can you iomagine what would dveelop if martial artists from all over the world were questing over the same mystic source of power, constantly crossed each others paths, and developed complicated rivalries and interrelationships? Particularly when they have to fight people they'd rather take into the sack? (I see that in video games a lot -- characters who by all rights should be making out fighting each oither instead).

[NuSoardGraphite]

Oh, you mean Fatal Fury!

[Labrat]

Kung Pow, Enter the Fist.

It's the difinitive martial arts comedy IMHO. Kill Bill has some pretty tongue in cheek humor in it as well.

[Jhamin]

Kung Pow, Enter the Fist.

It's the difinitive martial arts comedy IMHO.

If we are going for American comedies, I would personally go with the "Fistful of Yen" segment from Kentucky Fried Movie.

It is a very cheezy Bruce Lee Era flick, but it is alot of fun

Dr. Klahn: We are building an fighting force of extraaa-oroooodinary prorportiorns.........

Or:
Agent: We need you to infliltrate the secret mountain base of ...

Loo: Through the perfection of my arts I have risen above petty worldly concerns.

Agent: You would have the oppertunity to kill 30, maybe 40 men.

Loo: I'll Go!

[StGrimblefig]

Has anyone else seen the movie "They Call Me Bruce?"

It is about an utterly clueless guy who bears a passing resemblance to Bruce Lee, so everyone treats him as if he is a martial arts master. He has absolutely no martial arts ability, but through sheer serendipity, he manages to not only survive, but beat the bad guys and get the girl. I would almost call it the "inspector Clusseau" of the martial arts genre. Quite funny, actually.

[Enforcer84]

Has anyone else seen the movie "They Call Me Bruce?"

It is about an utterly clueless guy who bears a passing resemblance to Bruce Lee, so everyone treats him as if he is a martial arts master. He has absolutely no martial arts ability, but through sheer serendipity, he manages to not only survive, but beat the bad guys and get the girl. I would almost call it the "inspector Clusseau" of the martial arts genre. Quite funny, actually.
Did you see the sequal? That is the mark of a true fan...

[StGrimblefig]

Did you see the sequal? That is the mark of a true fan...
"They Still Call Me Bruce?" -- Why, yes, yes I have. :D

It has been a long time since I have seen either of them, though.

I am not sure how useful they would be for a roleplaying game, unless you have one really good player who is willing to go along with it. Lots of Luck rolls, combined with some good descriptions of the effects generated by those rolls, might make it fun for the other players to watch once in a while, but not for the entire game.

On second thought, maybe the "Bruce" character would work better as a friendly NPC that the main characters encounter once in a while. Sort of a recurring character.

[Susano]

Two Words: SHAOLIN SOCCER.

Trust me on this.

[Bozimus]

Two Words: SHAOLIN SOCCER.

Trust me on this.

Great movie!

[Michael Hopcroft]

One film that is difficult to find but worth the effort is a wuxia parody called Eagle Shooting Heroes. It was made about 15-18 years ago. It has, among other things, the use of ingested invertebrates as toprture devices, Flying does that, when they fall off in mid air, becoem deadly projectiles, characters who take a good twenty minutes to die after having their brain imapled by said flying shoe, the fakest-looking monsetrs you will ever see in your life, a man whose quest to become a god makes another character believe him to be both queer and insane, and -- best of all -- the single unlickiest master villain since the Coyote.

I haven;t seen Shaolin Soccer, but it would have its work cut out to be funnier than Eagle Shooting Heroes.

[Susano]

I haven;t seen Shaolin Soccer, but it would have its work cut out to be funnier than Eagle Shooting Heroes.

SHAOLIN SOCCER has several ex-Shaolin masters use their fighting skills to win a soccer game. It stars Stephen Chen (I think,?) who is known for his comedies. It isn't a parody per se, so it isn't as whacked as EAGLE SHOOTING HEROES sounds to be, but it is still plenty funny and weird.

I also have to recommend THE FLYING DAGGERS, which I've seen in a dubbed version. The plot (such as it is) has a wandering swordsman and his sidekick run into a wandering swordswoman and her sidekick. Together they fight Fox, a (multi-?) tailed thief. Latter they find out they've been tricked and have to fight the required evil eunuch (tm).

Oh, and ENTER THE FAT DRAGON, in which Sammo Hung does his homage to Bruce Lee. A comedy yes, but Sammo can do a spot-on Bruce impersonation!

[steriaca]

That reminds me...anyone got a modern (5th edition) writeup on Stoogefu? Or prehaps the most underdeveloped martial arts of them all, Iknow Karate (also known as Iknow Kung Fu, Iknow Rastling, and Iknow Jubjitsoo, amoung other names)?

[Chimpira]

SHAOLIN SOCCER has several ex-Shaolin masters use their fighting skills to win a soccer game. It stars Stephen Chen (I think,?) who is known for his comedies. It isn't a parody per se, so it isn't as whacked as EAGLE SHOOTING HEROES sounds to be, but it is still plenty funny and weird.

I also have to recommend THE FLYING DAGGERS, which I've seen in a dubbed version. The plot (such as it is) has a wandering swordsman and his sidekick run into a wandering swordswoman and her sidekick. Together they fight Fox, a (multi-?) tailed thief. Latter they find out they've been tricked and have to fight the required evil eunuch (tm).

Oh, and ENTER THE FAT DRAGON, in which Sammo Hung does his homage to Bruce Lee. A comedy yes, but Sammo can do a spot-on Bruce impersonation!
Stephen Chow is great for the kung fu spoofs. He is coming out with a new movie in which he plays a thug-in-training trying to get into the red ax gang from Drunken Master 2.

[Markdoc]

Stephen Chow is great for the kung fu spoofs. He is coming out with a new movie in which he plays a thug-in-training trying to get into the red ax gang from Drunken Master 2.

Why? So he can get beaten up by some guy with a chair? :stupid:

cheers, Mark

[ShinHakkaider]

I'll second Shaolin Soccer, but also add one of my own personal favorites: ENCOUNTERS OF THE SPOOKY KIND.

Sammo Hung stars as Cheung, who's wife is cheating on him with his boss. Together they conspire to kill him by having him take a dare to stay in a haunted shrine. It sounds pretty serious but it's actually pretty funny and there are some awesome fights in this movie. Especially the end when Sammo gets possessed by a monkey spirit and fights another possessed proxy. Sammo is awesome in this movie.

[mattingly]

Another one I quite like is Surf Ninjas. It starred Leslie Neilsen as the bad guy.

[OddHat]

Shaolin Soccer, God of Cookery, and Forbidden City Cop are all great Kung-Fu Comedies.

Royal Tramp 1 & 2 may be the bes Kung Fu Comedies ever.

Chinese Odessey 1 & 2 may be some of the best Super-Hero Kung Fu Comedies ever.

All of the above star Stephen Chow.

[tkdguy]

Of course, you need to look at Jackie Chan's stuff.

Also, I remember a movie about "Cooking Kung Fu." I think it and God of Cookery are different movies.

[Vulcan]

Invoking the spirit of the fallen masters for some Thread Necromancy...

Since the thread ended, there was KUNG FU HUSTLE!

(Buddha's Palm Descending from Heaven) http://www.herogames.com/forums/images/icons/rofl.gif

[tkdguy]

I remember watching lots of kung fu comedies on Kung Fu Theater. They're not too hard to find, and you can probably rent them at Blockbuster.

[bubba smith]

does tmnt 2 secret of the ooze count

[steriaca]

I don't remember if anyone mentioned it before but, My Young Auntie.

[Clonus]

Bah. Just listing martial arts comedies isn't constructive. Building blocks, those are constructive.


Perverted Master: These guys range from old men who are eager to talk to young girls to outright sex criminals if petty ones.
Family vows: To the modern mind fulfilling a family promise made generations ago often seems funny
Drunken fighting: Real drunken style does not require a character to actually get drunk to use it. In comedies, you can easily have characters who only know how to fight when they are drunk
Arranged marriages and romantic triangles
Improvised weapons: Really cardboard tubes do not make efficient bludgeoning weapons
Bodily functions: Like how Naruto defeats someone with a superhuman sense of smell
Bloody Noses for arousal: Only of course with Japanese virgins

[Maelstrom]

Improvised weapons: Really cardboard tubes do not make efficient bludgeoning weapons

Hm! How are they at cutting?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/uploads/2008/07/30/pax_cover.jpg

[Shigeru]

I liked Kung Fu Hustle as much as Shaolin Soccer.

For the oldschool, I say go with The Big Brawl. I remember likeing it quite a lot and its got soem classic Jackie Chan comic moments.

[Maelstrom]

The Big Brawl was awesome. Can't believe how old it is, now.

[brionl]

Geeze, 4 years and nobody has brought up Ranma 1/2 yet?
"Spring of the drowned Womp-Rat" for the win!