Kung Fu Mama (1973) User Reviews

Great Kung Fu Flick of the 70's

[Blackace · 7/10 · 30 July 2011]

My father took me to see this with my mother back in the earlier 70's. I was like 8 or 9yrs old at the time and it was quite obvious that my parents couldn't find a baby sitter for me. I had no idea where I was going until after I was put in the car. This movie was a double feature with a Rated "X" flick called "The Bang Bang Gang" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177530/ . My father was a huge martial arts fan, so that was why he went to see this. The lady at the booth said, "You know these movies are rated "R" and "X" and it's not appropriate for your little boy. My father said, "He'll be sleeping through most of it." LOL, not!! I'm sure my mother went just to get out of the house for a change. Anyway, the X rated movie came on first, I remember my mother telling me to close my eyes when the nude sex scenes started and she put her sweater over my head. Luckily the sweater was knitted with large holes and I was able to see everything. lol!! See my review of "The Bang Bang Gang" on its page. Now, as for the Kung Fu Mama movie, I was allowed to watch that. I don't remember the plot. Something about Big Mama's land being taken by crooked people. Her and her daughter had to fight these baddies and the action was pretty awesome for back then. One guy threw an ax at Mama and she caught it and threw it into his chest. Then she did a flying kick to another guys face. Big Mama got beat up pretty bad as well though. I don't remember how it ended. All I know was there was some great action and a lot of high jumping attacks. The flick is definitely worth watching if you can find it. It also goes by the name "Queen of Fist" & "Karate Lady". You can probably watch it on the Internet if you Google search it. I give the movie a 7 out of 10. I wish I could tell you more about it, but I was way to young to remember everything. If I get more info, I'll update my review.

In which much backside is kicked

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 16 January 2018]

KUNG FU MAMA is a surprisingly decent Taiwanese kung fu flick which is packed with action from beginning to end. Hiding underneath half a dozen alternate titles, the film's blurb on Amazon Prime cheekily fashions it as a sequel to the Shaw Brothers smash hit THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG, with the aforementioned boxer's mother gunning for revenge against an axe gang responsible for the death of her offspring. Essentially this film is nothing more than a running battle between a bunch of familial heroes and axe-wielding thugs, but boy, is it entertaining! The sight of an old woman kicking kung fu backside is endlessly entertaining, and there are various other noble heroes along for the ride, including a young and beautiful female fighter. The bad guys turn out to be Japanese, unsurprisingly enough, with genre regular Lung Fei his usual imposing self. A blaxploitation soundtrack adds to the fun, and the fight choreography is generally decent, reminiscent of a Jimmy Wang Yu movie from the era. Check it out!

An opposing view

[ckormos1 · 2/10 · 20 June 2019]

I am surprised to see two other reviews here. In 2015 I watched this movie but did not post what I wrote at the time because it was all unfavorable. Today I rewrote my review for posting.

I did not like the movie for the same reasons the two other reviewers did like it. I questioned how anyone would spend their money to produce a movie where an unattractive chubby woman with no martial arts skills stars as a kung fu master. Her best move is standing motionless as the stunt men just miss with punches and kicks. When she does make the slightest move the dozens of stunt men circling her fly off in all directions despite not having been touched.

The plot is bad guys acting like bad guys and good guys resisting. The resulting fights are senseless and the choreography and execution of the moves is pathetic. There is also singing making it worse. Fast forward to about the 34 minute mark for an absurd example of Thai boxing. The only fights I found not bad in this movie involved stunt man versus stunt man with Kung Fu Mama out of the frame.

I rate this movie as way below average for the year and genre. I cannot recommend it to any fan of the genre. At least two other such fans did seem to enjoy it though so what do I know (or what do they know?) Who knows?