Opium Kung Fu

 

 (themoviedatbase)

OPIUM AND THE KUNG FU MASTER-aka LIGHTENING FISTS OF SHAOLIN-1984-Tieh (Lung Ti; THE SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN (1977)) is the leader of a Chinese militia and martial arts teacher. A master turns his place into an opium den. Many of the men become addicts, abandoning their wives, losing their jobs and generally slacking off. Ti is defeated by his nemesis Yung Feng (Kuan Ti Chen) because of his own addiction to opium. After his son is killed, a blind priest helps Ti break his habit. He goes through the usual back breaking retraining. In a rematch, Tieh not only has to fight Yung but his two henchmen who have huge shields. 

The movie features some great fights but the strangest part is that a kind of comedic character becomes an addict, leading to the deaths of his wife and children and his suicide. One of three movies actor Tang Chia (SHOALIN INTRUDERS (1983)) directed for the Shaw Brothers.

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Confessions

 

 (imdb)

CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER-1962-In San Francisco's Chinatown in 1802, a Tong war rages. Soldier of fortune Gilbert de Quincey (the one and only Vincent Price) is hired by newspaper publisher George Wah (Richard Loo) to help stop the auctioning of illegally obtained Chinese women for Chinese men living in the US. Ruby Low (Linda Ho) and Ching Foon (Phillip Ahn) are the leaders. The story features de Quincey in and out of trouble while trying to save the women. He's almost like a secret agent! Visiting an opium den, de Quincey has a pipe and has a wild dream where he fights, run, watches a butcher behead a pig and falls off a roof, all in slow motion! Angelo Rossito appears selling newspapers. 

Rather bizarre drama directed by Albert Zugsmith (SEX KITTENS GO TO COLLEGE). It's based on the novel of the same name by Thomas De Quincey.

 (amazon.com)

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