Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Leofwine_draca
36 CRAZY FISTS is one of those cheap and cheerful kung fu efforts that were all the rage in the '70s. This one is a lot poorer than most, with an absolutely bottom dollar budget that means we only get a handful of different sets and actors throughout the movie. Most of it takes place in a field someplace where guys fight for what seems like an age. As well as the bad production values, this one suffers from an absolutely appalling dubbing job (one of those jobs by the 'Cockney boys'), rubbish editing, even worse acting and a director whose idea of comedy is to speed the film up and have his characters speaking gobbledegook.In fact I reckon this film would be totally forgotten about today (and with good reason), if it wasn't for the participation of Jackie Chan. There are dubious claims that he helped out with the direction and fight choreography here, although he's uncredited for both; personally I can believe the latter but am not so sure about the former! To be fair, the fights aren't too bad, and in particular the extended final bout is a good one – lengthy, hard-hitting, against one of those white-haired supervillains so beloved of the genre.Although some of the cast are familiar – including the master guy and Fung Hark-On as a typical thug – for the most part they're undistinguished. Kuang Hsiung is just another Chan or Lee imitator. The plot is the worst part of the film, a simple, boring amalgamation of all the themes that were popular in '70s period kung fu flicks, from drunken beggars who turn out to be kung fu masters, to the evil clans, the Buddha-praising monks and the pretty girls (one of whom strips off for a cheesy/sleazy topless bedroom moment).Sadly it all feels false and by-the-by and you never really understand the main character's motivations. Worse still, there's little excitement to be had from the seen-it-all-before feel of the film, and there's nothing here which hasn't been done better elsewhere. 36 CRAZY FISTS is one to avoid, unless you're a real completionist.
mstomaso
Jackie Chan directed this fairly typical parodic plagiarism of several of his own films (and a few from before his time). A few Chan's regulars show up, including the master from the masterpiece Drunken Master playing essentially the same role, but Jackie himself is nowhere to be found. I got the feeling that this film was tossed together as a vehicle for one or two of the younger actors in it. The plot is not very clever, and though some of the characters are interesting (particularly the male lead and his two masters), they all dissolve into not very clever and not-as-funny-as-they-could-have-been stereotypes once the central plot comes into focus. Thankfully, there is very little pseudo-philosophical pretentiousness here.The plot is a story of family revenge - where a hopelessly sensitive tiny young man (smaller than Bruce Lee, even) wants to exact revenge on s band of thugs who have terrorized his village, leaving him and his sister orphaned. So he seeks a master at a Kung Fu gym and is treated ruelly for a while, until he meets another master (a drunken old vagabond in the woods), and suddenly starts to show some promise. Plenty of poorly realized comedic opportunities arise and there is some good fighting (and some miserably acted fighting as well). ho hum. Bottom line is - it took me three nights to get through this and I only laughed a couple of times.For fans only.
americanpie7000
Wow,this movie was TERRIBLE!The plot goes somewhat like this:A young man learns kung-fu from a shoalin master to avenge his father's death(he was killed by gangsters).I liked Drunken Master,which this movie reminded me a lot of,but this movie wasn't funny.It tried despretly to be funny,but never got close.Every single time someone fell down or made a stupid face,it wold make this loud WA WA WAAAAAAAAAAAAA sound,that was so annoying,i wanted to hit the screen.Another thing that made me mad is that Jackie Chan was on the box and the back of the box said he was IN the movie,but he wasn't in it AT ALL!Oh,and I hate that drunk old man with a stick.The young man(I never can remember his name)always walks down the road carrying water for his master,and this drunk old man with a stick jumps out of no where and starts to beat him up.Every time he does,The young man gets better at kung-fu.If I was a better fighter every time I got beat up,I could kick ANYONE's a$$!The young man does learn kung fu,and avenges his pop's death.I just feel so cheated out of the 2 bucks I payed for this terrible flick i wanna puke.
. "themollineaux" (themollineaux)
My gosh, you can't go anywhere without hearing about how great this movie is. Everyone feels that they need to point out the greatness of this movie, 36 Crazy Fists, but I just don't get it. The climaxic battle scene between the hero and the "gray monkey man" seemed flat and lifeless, (not to mention long) and the training scenes were neither "genius" or "inspired." Some people have told me that this movie had changed their lives, but I really have trouble believing that after finally watching the film.Overall, the film is good, but not all that I thought that it would be. You probably should see it if you want to, but don't do it solely out of peer pressure. Thank You.
