Seven Man Army: even more "Behind-the-Scene" photos

[teako170]

No-budget to mega-budget .... All films have cast photos shot.
Shaw Brothers films were no different.

Unfortunately not a whole lot of nice color ones have surfaced.
TKAM and Life Gamble are two that I've cleaned up and posted in the past.
I wish I could find more.

The ultimate (for me) would be one from the set of 5V. Imagine it...
Chang Cheh sitting in the director's seat ... Chiang Sheng and Dick Wei stand on opposite sides with ... the 5 Venoms donned in their masks surrounding them.

NICE! :cool:

I'm sure this and many other cast photos were shot. Maybe I'll make it my mission in life to hunt them down.

Anyway, here's a tasty morsel from SEVEN MAN ARMY that I pasted together and cleaned up.
A nice change of pace from the Shaolin flix that CC was putting out at the time.

http://www.teako170.com/sevenmanarmy.jpg
...props to Carol

[gfanikf]

Thats fucking awesome and my new wallpaper. I love 7MA!

[teako170]

Thats fucking awesome and my new wallpaper. I love 7MA!

But... wouldn't you prefer a nice "Mets" wallpaper instead? ;)

[gfanikf]

But... wouldn't you prefer a nice "Mets" wallpaper instead? ;)

Bah!

[Tosh]

FNA! Thanks for the pic bro! There's so much talent there it's scary.

[The Dragon]

:cool:!!!

[thekfc]

Sweeeeet.

[Yu_Xihong]

Here's a question... THIS or Naval Commandos?

[gfanikf]

Never finish NC can't imagine its better though :)

[Kwok Choi]

Rare Gem!!!!

[Karlos]

Absolutely ASTOUNDING photo!! :)

7MA is, for me, unmatchable - Naval commandoes is OK but cannot compare to this.

Thanks for posting!

[teako170]

Man - oh - man. Just popped this bad boy in this afternoon.
Hadn't watched it since I first got the IVL back in 2005.

What a phenomenal film!
I had forgotten about all the flashback sequences.
And Johnny, Gordon and Beardy as the Mongols? Fantastic!

Wonder how CC talked Run Run into footing the $5M (HK) budget?
I don't have box office stats for the film but I bet it didn't recover its investment.

Did some further research ... film was shot in the Cheng Kung Mountain Range of Taichung (Central Taiwan).
Some of CC's military advisors were Gen. Huang Chieh and Gen. Kuan Lien-chen.
Actual veterans of the various battles of North China: Ku Pei Kou, Nan Tien Man, and of course, Pa Tou Lou Tzu.
Over 10,000 people participated in the film.

The one thing that bugged me was the Chinese Army's uniform.
I know CC wasn't big on historical accuracy but since they were using the actual army I can only assume they didn't make special uniforms but ... blue??
It just doesn't seem a good choice (from a tactical POV) considering the terrain. Anyhow...

Here's a few more scans....

http://www.teako170.com/sevenarmy1.jpg

http://www.teako170.com/sevenarmy2.jpg
..props to Carol.

[venoms5]

Chang apparently got into some trouble shooting both this and BOXER REBELLION in Taiwan. SEVEN MAN ARMY grossed close to $800,000 and the vastly inferior NAVAL COMMANDOS even less but it appears to far more underbudgeted than its predecessor.

[Yu_Xihong]

I think 7 Man Army had a better story and overall better action but I think Naval Commandos had a better finale. The mongol part really pushed it over the top (mongols > lau wing).

[teako170]

Chang apparently got into some trouble shooting both this and BOXER REBELLION in Taiwan. SEVEN MAN ARMY grossed close to $800,000 and the vastly inferior NAVAL COMMANDOS even less but it appears to far more underbudgeted than its predecessor.

That US or HK dollars?

Yeah, I was just re-reading some of those details. Looks like CC was trying to distance himself from his old political activist buddies but one such individual, Gen. Wang Sheng, telling him he needed to shut down shooting and get out of town (in so many words). Luckily, a chap named Qian Fu (one of Taiwan's "Four Gentlemen") stood up to this opposition which allowed CC to complete his projects. Isn't movie-making fun? ;)

[David Rees]

Thanks for the scans....one of my favourite much, much better than naval commandoes.

Official Shaw Brothers DVD's REGION O, FROM $1.98! CLICK HERE. (http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=4&campid=5335817596&toolid=10001&customid=shaw+dvd&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fstores.ebay.com%2FMood-in-Asia_Shaw-Brothers-Martial-Arts_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ13727520QQftidZ2QQtZkm )

[venoms5]

That US or HK dollars?



HK dollars.

[Kwok Choi]

Teako blue is correct they were not Mao Tse Tung's " Red " army that had the sort of khaki uniform.This was the Kuomintang or the Chinese Nationalist Party and the party colour was blue.It was and stil is a sensitive and complicated political matter that brought about the existence of two main armies with two different ideologies;the rest as the cliche goes is history though history is still being made.

[lillippa328]

I want some info on this...is it any good? I came across one the other day...the cast i noticed was stacked with some of SB biggest names (Ti Lung, David Chiang, Gordon Liu, Chen Kuan-Tai, Alexander Fu Sheng)...and Chang Cheh directed i saw....



only downfall that i saw about it (not sure if its a downfall or not tho) is that its a war movie with weapons. So is there any martial arts? Or is it mostly guns a blazin....



EDIT: I meant 7 Man Army

[Morgoth Bauglir]

http://hkmdb.com/db/movies/view.mhtml?id=5599&display_set=eng

aka All Men are Brothers? Get it, immediately. Cool music, cool fights, cool movie!

[lillippa328]

i meant 7 ManArmy

[Bravery]

7 Man Army was a movie I wanted to watch based on the cast alone. I can't say I was disappointed with the movie, it was alright, but everyone in this movie had done far far far better work. As for the fight scenes, nothing really memorable. This is a movie that should have been better, it's not terrible, just not really good either. Boring at times.

If you want to complete a Shaws library, get other movies on your wish list first, this one near the end. If you don't care to complete anything, pass on this movie, you're not missing anything.

[lillippa328]

so its not worth it? Is it rare?

[teako170]

so its not worth it? Is it rare?

It's not rare but it is a rare gem. Excellent cast and plenty of action.
A must-have....

[teako170]

Came across some additional photos and scanned ... thought you guys might enjoy.
Doesn't look like ol' CC was snoozing on this particular afternoon.
(But then who doesn't look busy when their boss is around?) ;)

http://www.teako170.com/7armya.jpg

http://www.teako170.com/7armyb.jpg

http://www.teako170.com/7armyc.jpg