Episode 122: Ninja! Ninja! Godfrey Ho! Ninja!

==Show Notes==
: We discuss the career of cut-n-paste artist Godfrey Ho and his work on such films as Ninja Terminator, Undefeatable, and Catman in the Lethal Track. Also, the other 50+ movies he made that have NINJA in the title.
==Films Discussed==
* Films directed by Godfrey Ho
** The Blazing Ninja (1973)
** The Dragon, The Hero (1979)
** Ninja Project Daredevils (1985)
** Ninja Champion (1986)
** Ninja Dragon (1986)
** Ninja Hunt (1986)
** Ninja Terminator (1986)
** Ninja Kill (1987)
** Ninja In Action (1987)
** Ninja Commando Squad (1987)
** Black Ninja (1987)
** Ninja Demons Massacre (1988)
** Thunder of Gigantic Serpent (1988)
** Robo Vampire (1988)
** US Catman Lethal Track (1990)
** Lethal Panther (1990)
** Undefeatable (1993)
** Manhattan Chase (2000)
* The Blood Brothers (1973) Dir. Chang Cheh
* Marco Polo (1975) Dir. Chang Cheh
* Dragon Lee vs the Five Brothers (1978) Dir. Kim Si-Hyeon & Liu Yueh-lin
* The Clones of Bruce Lee (1980) Dir. Joseph Kong & Nam Gi-nam
* Challenge of the Tiger (1980) Dir. So-Ryong Yeo
* Drunken Master (1984) Dir. Yuen Woo-ping
* The Uninvited Guest of the Star Fairy (1984) Dir. ???
* Yes, Madam (1985) Dir. Corey Yuen
* Shanghai Express (1986) Dir. Sammo Hung
* Batman (1989) Dir. Tim Burton
* Men Behind the Sun (1989) Dir. Mou Tun-fei
* China O'Brien (1990) Dir. Robert Clouse
* Operation Condor (1991) Dir. Jackie Chan
* Once Upon a Time in China (1991) Dir. Tsui Hark
* Irréversible (2002) Dir. Gaspar Noé
== Discussion Notes ==
* Godfrey Ho - director king of the ninja film, and man of many aliases
** Will: Possibly 'the worst filmmaker we've devoted an episode to'
** Born in 1948, and worked as assistant on many Shaw Brothers films, alongside Chan Che and John Woo
** Holds an cynical askew view on what makes for a commercially-viable film
*** Why did he work so hard on the scenes he shot, and yet was so cheap in slapping the rest together?
** His connection to the mysterious fiery death of Thomas Teng in the IFD offices
** Currently teaching at the Hong Kong film academy
* How can a man be as prolific as he is?
** Made films for the international market with partner Joseph Li
*** Buy the rights to unfinished and unreleased Chinese, Thai, Korean, Japanese films and use them as the raw material to build their own films
**** Combine lots of old footage plus a little new footage, cut them together smartly and cheaply, and voila!
**** Easier to fool the audience with the edits, and having a semi-recognizable-looking white guy in them gave them appeal
*** Richard Harrison and Dragon Lee were part of his actor stable
* Will's Lynchian construction of a world known only as Children of a Lesser Godfrey
* Ninja Terminator
** A monument in Ho's filmography
*** Actually kind of entertaining all the way through!
** Built around the South Korean film The Uninvited Guest of the Star Fairy
** Iconic scene of Richard Harrison using a Garfield phone
* US Catman Lethal Track
** Ho's attempt to rip off Batman, except with a tracksuit and goggles
** Spliced together with Thai POW war film footage - and done poorly!
*** Noticeable example of the dubbing performers making fun of the film
* Undefeatable
** Viral hit as 'the worst fight scene ever filmed' on early YouTube
** Very problematic film - contains a killer with mommy issues, and has a lot of sexual assault in it
*** Cynthia Rothrock does some great kung-fu though
** Contains a scene someone being kicked out of the second-story of a parking garage onto a car and then onto cement
*** Will: "It's a snuff film"
==Listener Letters==
* William
** Our hosts thoughts on re-purposing classic film footage for advertising?
*** Fred Astaire dancing with a vacuum or Gene Kelly break-dancing - they don't like it!
* Daniel
** Possible episodes on Lizzie Borden and Slava Tsukerman
*** Lizzie Borden
**** Our hosts saw Born in Flames (1983) together
**** Interested in her other two films, Working Girls (1986) and Love Crimes (1992)
*** Slava Tsukerman
**** Liquid Sky (1982)
**** Premium episode planned!
* Mitchell
** Wanted to correct the omission from the long-take episode, suggests an episode on contemporary Toronto filmmakers or late period Rainer Verner Fassbiner
*** Calls for adding Operation Avalanche (2016) Dir. Matthew Johnson
**** Justin also adds John Hyams's Univeral Soldier: Regeneration (2009) and Isaac Florentine's Close Range (2015) to the notable one-take list
*** Justin is somewhat averse to reviewing local filmmakers
*** Our hosts want to review Fassbinder, but the scope of his work is a challenge
== Post-Outro Discussion ==
* Will and Justin saw Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid (1972) on one of the last remaining prints
** Benefits from an audience viewing, thanks to the dry understated humor
* Our hosts discuss an Elaine May retrospective
** The Birdcage (1996), Primary Colors (1998), Crisis in Six Scenes (2016)
* They also watched The Instructor (1981) Dir. Don Bendell
** Made in Akron, Ohio by one dude with a karate studio
*** Has an amateur feel - Matt-Farley-esque without the self-awareness
** Very entertaining, with an incredible Hard Boiled-style lengthy ending chase
Category:Episodes
Category:Godfrey Ho