Member Treacherous Mastermind Posted January 2 Member Share Posted January 2 A lot of us fans see Lo Lieh as an epitome of a kung fu movie villain. When you see him on screen, you usually expect him to be the main bad guy due to many notable bad guy roles. For the Shaw fans who watched the late 60s early 70s movies, Lo Lieh had a good amount of good guy roles too. King Boxer in 1972 being a major one that helped spark the kung fu movie interest across the world. There is no doubt he made an impact in the kung fu movie world playing both roles, but do you guys think his good guy roles were/are underrated and why? Personally, I think Lo Lieh is well-rounded actor who can play both kinds of roles well, and that his many successful bad guy roles perhaps diluted his good guy roles. From his interviews, Lo Lieh thought of himself more suited to the bad guy role. What are your opinions? 1 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Ah_Tao Posted January 2 Member Share Posted January 2 Very much so! He's extremely likeable whenever he plays a good guy. Like you said, in King Boxer, he plays a very noble and humble young Kung Fu student who would rather turn the other cheek than fight. Where as you have films like in Human Lanterns, where he plays a very hateable character. We all know Lo Lieh did oddball movie roles (one second he'd do a film for Shaw Brothers as a big villain, then play a minor villain in a Taiwanese Joseph Kuo film). Maybe it's because he played all these different roles no matter how big or small they were (ala Ron Perlman). It's funny how he did The Stranger and The Gunfighter yet it's still not a very acclaimed film. Lo Lieh had top billing aside from Lee Van Cleef yet he was not really known before being in that film. I really wish Lo Lieh did more heroic roles. Personally, I feel his role in Mercenaries from Hong Kong should have given more similar gigs- as opposed to playing a gangster (Dragons Forever) or a military commander (Police Story 3) that only appears for 5 seconds. He was truly a great actor! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member ShawAngela Posted January 2 Member Share Posted January 2 This is so true! He was very good playing good guys and heroic characters ready to sacrifice themselves for the ones he loved. And he even was very good playing good villains, such as in Devil and Angel, that I watched for the first time a few days ago. And he had a lot of humor in some of his movies. I appreciate him a lot! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted January 2 Member Share Posted January 2 One of my favorite good guy roles from him was in Kiss of Death. I would love for that film to get a blu ray release even if it's just a pipe dream. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member saltysam Posted January 2 Member Share Posted January 2 Similar to Chen Sing,known mainly as a baddie but he was a great good guy in those 70s basher classics 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Chu Liu Hsiang Posted January 2 Member Share Posted January 2 I love Lo Lieh in all his movies but especially his early heroic swordsplay roles, probably bc this is my favorite era anyways. He also was soo good as bad guy, and could give those psycho killer vibes. Interesting that he thought himself more suitable as villain. Maybe that's also a bigger challenge for an actor. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member morpheus Posted January 3 Member Share Posted January 3 (edited) Short answer: Yes! I rather enjoyed his early roles as a hero and prefer them to his villainous ones. Invincible Fist, The Long Chase, The Flying Dagger, Golden Swallow, Twelve Deadly Coins, The Rescue are just some of my favorites. Oops, that reminds me.....I have to finish the write-up on King Boxer. Edited January 3 by morpheus 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member morpheus Posted January 3 Member Share Posted January 3 11 hours ago, Treacherous Mastermind said: A lot of us fans see Lo Lieh as an epitome of a kung fu movie villain. When you see him on screen, you usually expect him to be the main bad guy due to many notable bad guy roles. For the Shaw fans who watched the late 60s early 70s movies, Lo Lieh had a good amount of good guy roles too. King Boxer in 1972 being a major one that helped spark the kung fu movie interest across the world. There is no doubt he made an impact in the kung fu movie world playing both roles, but do you guys think his good guy roles were/are underrated and why? Personally, I think Lo Lieh is well-rounded actor who can play both kinds of roles well, and that his many successful bad guy roles perhaps diluted his good guy roles. From his interviews, Lo Lieh thought of himself more suited to the bad guy role. What are your opinions? hey, maybe you can make a poll: Lo Lieh, good guy or bad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yihetuan Posted January 3 Member Share Posted January 3 (edited) 51 minutes ago, morpheus said: Short answer: Yes! I rather enjoyed his early roles as a hero and prefer them to his villainous ones. Invincible Fist, The Long Chase, The Flying Dagger, Golden Swallow, Twelve Deadly Coins, The Rescue are just some of my favorites. Oops, that reminds me.....I have to finish the write-up on King Boxer. I know he got a lot of chaff from some because he wasn't leading man handsome (or didn't fit the ideal of "leading man handsome" like David Chiang, Ti Lung, etc) & that's why he didn't get more hero roles even after breaking out in King Boxer but he was quite a dapper fella especially in his younger pics. He can really act too. I just watched Wayne Wang's "Life is Cheap..." and his short little role in that movie had me spellbound. Edited January 3 by Yihetuan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member morpheus Posted January 3 Member Share Posted January 3 12 hours ago, Yihetuan said: One of my favorite good guy roles from him was in Kiss of Death. I would love for that film to get a blu ray release even if it's just a pipe dream. Ah, this was the one with Chen Ping as the victim of "The Vietnam Rose" following her rape. Lo played a bar owner who walked with a cane, but was still able to chew bubblegum and kick ***. I remember reviewing this film; it was kind of painful to watch some of the scenes. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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