Chinese Popeye

[Ash]

Popeye was, and still is one of my favorite cartoon characters.
But I've never seen him like this! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozuQsY0bLGk

That is messed up.  The concept of Popeye is completely butchered with hilarious results.    (the actual name of the flick is "The Dragon Lives Again")
Are those suppose to be mummies he's fighting?

I need to get a 12 pack of beer and sit down and watch both this and Turkish E.T. back to back.
On second thought, better make it a case of beer...

[peter johnson]

I love how the mummies -- with the visible zippers up the back -- help Popeye up so that he may beat them.  Mummies are cooperative!  I also love how they obligingly line up to be smacked around -- yeah, weirdness city . . .
peter johson/denny seegar

[Mr. DS]

Have you ever noticed in really awful Fu flicks the sound effect of knives penetrating skin sound like fabric ripping?  Side note, I've always said a virtual goldmine of undiscovered material exists in foreign B-cinemas and this video is part of it. 

[AndyC]

It's a weird movie for sure, but that guy does a pretty good Popeye.

[Flangepart]

E-yup...when it comes to weird a$$ $#!+, give me Asia/Orient anyday...or year of the monkey,rat, goat...what ever.
Oh, Lord...that is a thing of insane beauty.

[Captain Tars Tarkas]

There is an actual Chinese Popeye film called Super Energetic Man

http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=8356&display_set=eng

It is unofficial, because why would it be official?

[Underbelly]

That's some really messed us stuff

[Gigantor]

Nice,It reminds of some of the bad fight scenes on the Power Rangers TV show

[Jim H]

Ok, I guess this is a chance for me to post again (haven't in quite a while) to show off my Chinese/HK film knowledge.

As was mentioned, that's The Dragon Lives Again.  It's one of the MANY Bruce Lee-clone films, probably the best one I've seen.  It stars Bruce Leung as Bruce Lee (literally, he's not a character, he's supposed to be Bruce Lee). 

The basic plot is that Bruce Lee died, and is now in hell (everyone goes to hell in China, pretty much).  He looks a lot different because you look different after you die, according to the movie.  Bruce Lee ends up in conflict with various factions in hell, all of whom consist of famous characters from western and eastern sources.  The film is also filled with nudity and sex.  The dub is atrocious.  The fight choreography varies quite a bit in quality, from pretty good to bad.  But the film is so ludicrous and insane it's gotta be one of the best bad movies out there. 

List of characters in the film:

Popeye
The One-Armed Swordsman (popular Chinese character from the 60s and 70s)
Dracula (the move Bruce uses to beat him has to be seen to be believed)
Emanuele (yes, THAT Emanuele)
The Godfather
The Exorcist
Zatoichi (blind swordsman from Japanese films of the 60s and 70s)
David Carradine's character from Kung Fu
Clint Eastwood (meant to be the Man With No Name)
James Bond (and yes, they steal the Bond theme for his appearances)

I'm probably forgetting a couple.  Yeah, the movie is awesome, and you can buy it in a 4 pack with three other Bruce Lee-type movies, none of which are nearly as good.  But the 4 pack was only like $11. 

Some other notes: Bruce Leung, who plays Bruce Lee, is the main villain (Beast) in Kung Fu Hustle.  It was his first film in decades, and now he's in a couple of newer things, which is cool.

The guy playing Popeye is Eric Tsang (looking very fit in that role, too).  Eric Tsang is a prolific comedic/dramatic actor still VERY active in Hong Kong.  If you've seen Infernal Affairs, he's the boss of the Triad who puts Andy Lau "undercover".  In the Departed, the equivalent character is Jack Nicholson.  He's awesome in every film I've ever seen him in. 

[Gigantor]

Ha ha Eric Tsang,I didnt recognize him at first.I get to see him on Tv everyday over here.

[Jim H]

Ha ha Eric Tsang,I didnt recognize him at first.I get to see him on Tv everyday over here.

Oh yeah?  Where are you located?  What's he do on TV? 

Yeah, I just watched The Last Blood, which had him in a supporting role.  He's great in it.

[Gigantor]

I'm currently living in China,Eric Tsang is the host on a daily Variety type TV show over here called SUPER TRIO WONDER TRIP

Yeah I like him as an actor too.It's funny seeing him on the TV show as its a show that something your mom would watch if she was Chinese.

[Terf]

I find this funny, but I guess it's a "racist" funny.

[Derf]

I just finished watching the whole movie (Dragon Lives Again). It's truly a masterpiece of oddball silliness. I don't quite get how Zatoichi is a bad guy; I guess it's just that he's Japanese. And Dracula is hilarious; he just walks around making lion claw motions. That seems to be his entire attack aresenal. I only hope there are some other wacky gems in this set.

[Jim H]

From what I can remember, there's one other good film in the set, but it's quality is REALLY bad.  It has weird VHS errors that hurt my eyes to see them.  I couldn't get through it all.  I think it's the one with a title that references Game of Death.