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Sometime between 1992 and 1994, I saw this kung-fu flick on a local UHF station.  The movie started off with a few minutes of narrative describing the history of kung-fu and the myriads of different styles.  Then it started talking about one unique style called "cooking kung-fu" or something similar.

The master of cooking kung-fu was also a master chef.  All of the fighting moves were also moves used in the kitchen for the preparation of food.  Other than that, the movie was a typical 1970s-ish Hong Kong kung-fu flick.  There was the old master, the young student, the vengeance for something and the big fight against the bad guy at the end.

The movie was no masterpiece, and aside from the unique fighting style involved was really no better than any other low-budget kung-fu movie, but I would like to see it again if I can find it.

I have no idea if any famous martial arts actors (e.g. Jackie Chan (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000329/), Bolo Yeung (http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0001866/), etc...) were in this.

Could the film have been from the 90s, itself?  The only thing that springs to mind is Stephen Chow's "God Of Cookery" from '96.

I doubt that is the film, but here is the imdb page just in case:

http://imdb.com/title/tt0116426/ (http://imdb.com/title/tt0116426/)

Sorry Skaboi, thanks for the guess but I definitely saw this movie between July 1992 and May 1994.  I know this because I remember where I was living when I saw it and I only lived there between those dates.

The Jackie Chan movie "Mr Nice Guy" (where JC plays a cook) comes to mind for me.

was this the young student?

(http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/images/people/header/gordon-liu_3ee2bc8bde8e2f601a829b45a7ea760b.jpg)

Not to be an ass about it, but I saw the movie once 15 years ago over the air on a UHF channel; I couldn't possibly say if that's him or not.

Besides, I was watching a lot of kung-fu flicks at that time and they all sort of blur into one another.  (Almost as if they all had the same plot, hmm...)  I'm just interested in this one because of its gimmick (the unique cooking fighting style).

Jackie Chan's Wheels on Meals? 

it sounds like shaolin drunken monk.  gordon liu's movies usually had training scenes.  I remember him throwing dishes on a rack to practice accuracy or something.   throw water around and ladeling things about.

Based on what the IMDB has to say about Shao Lin zui ba quan/Shaolin Drunken Monk, The (1982) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200126/), it might be it.  However, reading the review on Amazon's page for this movie (http://www.amazon.com/Shaolin-Drunken-Monk-Elton-Chong/dp/6304557906/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-4708799-1422813?ie=UTF8&s=video&qid=1193980407&sr=8-2) by an Erik James (http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A1UKJF6YPSSZ1Q/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp/105-4708799-1422813) suggests otherwise.

Based solely on Erik's review, I believe I saw Shaolin Drunken Monk on the same channel as the movie I'm looking for.  If so, I remember enjoying it.

I'll throw Operation scorpio in the mix,
http://imdb.com/title/tt0102159/

which features Chia-Liang Liu as the elder cooking master and has some of the greatest fighting moves I ever saw in an eastern like the Eel and the scorpion.
Also it's from 1991 which puts it in the possible time frame.

What with the spate of martial arts films being asked about recently, I decided to try and find this movie again.  I think I may have succeeded this time.

Amazon (http://www.amazon.com) advertises a movie named "Of Cooks and Kung Fu (http://www.amazon.com/Cooks-Kung-Fu-Chia-Kai/dp/B0002ZDWUS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1232333383&sr=1-1)", which if not the movie I'm looking for certainly comes closer than anything else so far.  Interestingly, the IMDb page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079653/) for this movie (Tao tie gong) lists entirely different actors' names (except Kun Li may be Lee Kuen).

There is a short clip of this movie on YouTube (http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=AnfYk0ECML0).  At about 2:33 into this clip, the hero demonstrates "cooking style" which really seems to upset the bad guy.

If anyone owns this or has seen it, could they verify that the beginning has the voiceover narration about various kung fu styles ending with cooking style?

I have been haunted by this film for a long time--and I'll be damned if I can remember the name of it, but I was able to rent it in the early 1990s in Seattle at the local video store--tell me if this is same one you have in mind. The hero has to develop a special neck-strengthening technique (which he does with a bunch of bamboo contraptions) because the evil master (who was evicted from the emperor's kitchen for some offense or another based on information from the hero's master--subsequently killed) has some extreme neck attack technique. It seems to me that this is the key to identifying this film, but I've looked in guide books vainly to find it--it eventually will be found! Best, J

I don't remember the neck strengthening aspect (which is not to say it's not in my film), but the part about the bad guy being evicted from the Emperor's kitchen certainly rings a bell.  I do believe we are talking about the same film.



Thanks, but it's definitely not Operation Scorpio.

This one can be moved to Solved.  "Of Cooks and Kung Fu" (aka "Tao Tie Gong") (1979) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079653/) (Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Cooks-Kung-Fu-Chia-Kai/dp/B0002ZDWUS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1232333383&sr=1-1)) is definitely the movie I was looking for.  I finally found a clip of the beginning and it was as I remembered it.

Cool, another movie for my Netflix queue. And as it turns out, they've got it available for instant play.