masterly master lee

a home for forgotten and famous korean pulp, its heroes, its heroines, and its pulpeteers

Archive for gangsters

The Jaws Of The Dragon aka The Fierce One (1976) review

Master Lee likes movies with James Nam because he’s such a good bad guy. So, what to think of a movie which he not only directed, but also stars in as the main good guy? Well, fortunately, the good guy here is a criminal, so James Nam can be as bad ass as he wants to be while staying in character. Read the rest of this entry »

The Kung Fu Fever 정무지보 (小師傳與大煞星) (1979)

the black dragon going at it

Another internationally coproduced product of prolific Korean martial arts flick director Kim Si-Hyun 김시현. This one stars Dragon Lee 거룡, sidekick staple Choi Min-Kyu 최민규 and the Black Dragon himself, Ron Van Clief (respect from Master Lee for the Black Dragon!). And quite rarely, Ron Van Clief is the bad guy in this movie about a lost book with the secret finger techniques of Bruce Lee (“So well-suited to a woman,” coos pretty female lead Amy Chun with what hopefully is irony). Read the rest of this entry »

Deadly Angels AKA The Bod Squad 俏探女嬌娃 1977 review

The Master was thoroughly entertained by this Charlie’s Angels rip off, that is much better than the original in all respects. Goofy effects (often unintended, but that’s what 30 years having floated by will do for you) are offset by the grim, gritty atmosphere. The 70s yellow plastic visors on the space helmets of the robbers during a jewelry heist dressed as security guards don’t look so funny anymore after they start killing people almost indiscriminately. Read the rest of this entry »

Run Away 런어웨이 1995 review

Oh yummy, a very early Kim Seongsu 김성수 movie! He’s the pulp master that brought us Musa (Musa: The Warrior) 무사, There Is No Sun 태양은 없다, and Beat 비트. And this one features as martial arts director the unsurpassed Jeong Duhong 정두홍.

Yi Donghui (Yi Byeongheon 이병헌), a handsome game designer, and Choe Miran (Kim Eunjeong 김은정), a pretty free-lance illustrator (who lives in an impossibly large loft), have a steamy one-night stand, Read the rest of this entry »

Girl Scouts 걸스카우트 2008 review

The Master just saw the movie Girl Scouts (2008) and he was impressed. No, boys and girls, despite the title, this is not a seedy movie about barely legal pretty girls strutting their stuff and doing naughty things with balding, fat males. This is an action comedy (a genre the  Master usually doesn’t have time for) about four women who get swindled out of significant amounts of money (needed among other things to pay for the surgery of a young son) and decide to chase the culprit (pretty hairdresser cum swindling femme fatale Im Ji-Eun 임지은 who looks suitably sexy-vulgar here, ready to do anything to get her way) Read the rest of this entry »

An Emperor Of The Underworld 암흑가의 황제 1994 review

dragonleeAn Emperor Of The Underworld, directed by Hwang Jang Lee 황정리 (who also convincingly plays the überbaddie here) is a very solid action vehicle for Dragon Lee 거룡, his chubby and funny sidekick Yi Jin-Yeong 이진영 and the very, very pretty and voluptuous Kim Mi-Yeong 김미영. Dragon and his chubby friend are ex-commando’s, forced by the police to take on evil crime lord Hwang Jang Lee. This they do. Read the rest of this entry »

Bloody Mafia 붉은 마피아 review

bloodymafiaThis is the last movie directed and starred in by  action legend Wang Ho 왕호 better known as Casanova Wong 卡萨伐 from his many, many, many Hong Kong action flicks. OK, OK, not his last movie, I mean, this ex-marine also helmed the South Korean Ministry of Defense propaganda flick Read the rest of this entry »

Fate 숙명 2008 review

fate6Can you say ‘overacting’? Then you can say Fate. Violent glares, emotional outbursts, screaming contests, ten minute swearing sessions, extreme action, one man beating up tens of tough gangsters, overcooked romantic (?) liaisons, sentimental flashbacks… Read the rest of this entry »

The Terrorists 테러리스트 1995

mlm terrorisatA gangster movie with Choi Min-su (Choe Minsu 최민수)? Master Lee is paying attention. Choi Min-su is one of the few truly believable gangsters out there in movie land. Not as believable as the Master, of course, but that would be asking too much, wouldn’t it now? It starts off well… really fake-looking camera shot of police trainees storming through a wood, screaming their lungs out (and screaming “we’re underpaid extra’s… no f*#&$ing way we’re gonna sound convincing to you!). Read the rest of this entry »

Shanghai Blues 샹하이 부르스 1969 review

eab980eab8b0eb8d952Shanghai Blues by director Kim Kidŏk (pictured; no, not the guy who hates women) is a colourful gem among Korea’s less serious features (and Master Lee wonders why it has not yet been brought out on DVD, whereas terribly forgettable movies such as 갯마을 have). Why? Read the rest of this entry »

Quick Man 追殺令 2002 review + update

quickman.jpgThis is directly from the back of the DVD: “The death of a company CEO triggers a battle for his estate, when his will indicates that he leaves everything to his missing granddaughter. Read the rest of this entry »

Vintage Korean film posters 2 한국영화 옛 포스터 2

the-stray-bullet.jpgHere are some more vintage Korean film posters. The first one is from what is commonly regarded as the best Korean film ever, The Stray Bullet 誤發彈 (1961). And Master Lee agrees. Although he doesn’t really think in terms of lists with at the top the best (except when it comes to himself, of course), Read the rest of this entry »

If You Want 그대원하면 1987 review

ifyouwant1.jpgIf you’re looking for 80s pulp, look no further. It’s all here: the strange, scrawny hairdo’s, big leather belts with holes big enough to put your arm through, tight leggings, colors that scream “Mismatch!” and that inimitably dark feeling of doom from movies like The Class Of ‘84: Read the rest of this entry »

Vampire Cop Ricky 흡혈형사 나도열 2006 review

vampirecop2.jpgRicky 나도열 is a crooked cop (played by the king of supporting actors Kim Suro 김수로) who manages to get bitten by a mosquito infected with the blood of Count Dracula. Whenever he gets an erection, he now turns into a vampire… Read the rest of this entry »

Charisma 카리스마 1997 review

vlcsnap-88488.pngWell, after watching Charisma, there can be only one conclusion. Superheroes do exist and they are very hard to beat, although they seem to be very sentimental and vulnerable to rather pathetic music. From the director who brought us Clementine, this 1997 gangster flick is memorable for two things. Read the rest of this entry »

Gangsters and comics and gangsters in comics

kim-shirasoni-movie.jpgGangster movies in Korea are part of a much bigger cultural field. With roots going back to the birth of Korean cinema under Japanese occupation, the gangster movie has produced a cultural icon that partly fulfills the role of the PI Read the rest of this entry »

Four Toes 4발가락 2002 review

four-toes.jpgThis is the kind of movie that gives gangster movies a bad name. Not satisfied with producing a gangster comedy, that unfortunate bastard child of two genres that should have stayed away from each other, the producers of Four Toes felt it necessary to drag the viewer with them into the darkest depths of cinematic stupidity and meaninglessness. Read the rest of this entry »

Run 2U 런투유 2003 review

run2u.jpgPretentious pulp is about as hard to stomach as pretentious art-house cinema. And this Japanese-Korean co-production is pretentious. Two Japanese-Korean best friends (a lethargic singer of love songs and a would-be yakuza) flee Japan Read the rest of this entry »

The Invincible From Hell 1981

masterlee.jpgThis blog really should have started with a review of this DVD (a double feature; the other movie on it is Duel of the 7 Tigers), starring the eponymous Master Lee. In The Invincible From Hell Master Lee plays a former triad member who has taken on the triads after they killed his wife. This really is a very nice movie, starting with the soundtrack, which is improbably versatile Read the rest of this entry »

Family: Action Vs. Love 패밀리 2002

family-action-vs-love.gifWell, I guess I had it coming. I am quite vocal about my love for really bad Korean gangster movies and in general low standards and budgets do not scare me off. There is one exception, though. Really bad gangster comedies. I can’t stand them. They sully the genre and aggravate the hell out of me. Family: Action Vs. Love has all the ingredients to ruin a perfectly good viewing experience. Read the rest of this entry »

Rules of the Gangs 건달의 법칙

14059.jpgThousands of video’s with gangster movies on them must be running the risk of extinction in South Korea. The friendly neighborhood video shop has lost the battle with the South Korean version of Blockbusters. Their stock is discarded or ends up in the hands of wholesalers. As a result, the low-budget pulpies disappear. More often than not, the original spools are gone and there is little interest (and no funds) to transfer these movies to dvd. Some of them, however, escape the quiet extinction of their kind. Rules of the Gangs is one of those movies. Read the rest of this entry »

Clementine 클레멘타인

clementine.jpgClementine isn’t the worst Korean movie ever. That honor probably goes to gangster flick Rules of the Gangs or one of the generic melodrama’s South Korea keeps curning out. Clementine was made by martial arts movie director Kim Du-young (김두영), Read the rest of this entry »

Killing Game 킬링 게임 1996

killinggame.jpgNo better way to start this blog than a posting on a very typical gangster pulp video. I just watched Killing Game, a 1996 direct-to-video pulpie about a gangster who is forced to enter a cage fight competition for the evil crime lord (no, this is not a tautology. The movie also features a good crime lord) of his mining home town. The acting is atrocious (worst acting honors go to the Bored Rich Lady), the dialogues surreal (not a good thing here), the sex gratuitous and violent, the plot absent, but the fighting is actually pretty good. Read the rest of this entry »

The Showdown 거칠마루

Martial arts, unknown actors, gangsters, competing fighting styles, seven people wondering: “Who is the best?” Sounds like a typical martial arts low-budget movie, but Kim Jin-seong’s The Showdown is anything but typical. Yes, it is low-budget and, yes, it is about who can kick ass best,geolchilmaru1.jpg but there the similarities end. The Showdown is a thoroughly enjoyable, well-acted, well-thought out and funny little gem of a movie. It’s a story about the quest for Geochilmaru, a martial artist whose prowess in posting messages on http://www.mulimjizon.com, a martial arts website, has won him the admiration of many martial artists. Read the rest of this entry »