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