This week on the Silver Emulsion Podcast, Stephen and I talk about one of my all-time favorite Hong Kong films, 1993’s Iron Monkey! Start humming the Wong Fei-Hung song and enjoy! 🙂
Watch the original version of Iron Monkey along with us on Region B Blu-ray! You can also watch the far inferior US version on Blu-ray, DVD, iTunes, or Amazon Instant Video!
Also: the show is on iTunes! So if you feel like subscribing there, or rating/reviewing the show, feel free to share your thoughts!
Music NotesIntro:
Outro:
If you’ve got feedback, throw it into the comments below or email it to me via the contact page! We’ll include it in a future show!
The podcast is embedded directly below this, or you can go directly to Podbean (or use their app) to listen. If you want to subscribe, paste http://silveremulsion.podbean.com/feed/ into whatever reader you’re using.
What’s up Silverados! This will finally be a comment that doesn’t include Demons! Ha! I lied. The Demons VHS cover was actually the one that has a giant demon hand that is holding a bunch of theater-goers in its palm. It’s a badass VHS cover. I remember always bringing random horror shit like this to school back then. It would’ve probably landed me on an FBI watchlist nowadays.
Dude I found a pic of the Rambo tricycle I had! Check it out: https://i.redd.it/gk6kb2miyxa11.jpg
That’s pretty much how I looked too, a rotund fatty who daydreamed of mowing down bad guys in a tricycle, before he had to run in the house and take an ice cream shit.
I brought this all up originally to expand on what you said, that the Rambo movies are really great kids movies! Back in the 80s censorship and the MPAA were vicious! There was a big crackdown on shit like horror movies, violence, and even heavy metal and rap. Yet someone had the brilliant idea to take this R-rated, violent action hero Rambo (who is basically a mass murderer), and make toys of him and his weapons and market them to kids! The target audience who wasn’t even allowed to see the movies! Yet, it was successful. It was fine. Nobody cared. And society didn’t crumble. I find it odd that filmmakers nowadays fight to make movies PG-13 to sell toys and merch, but it’s not even necessary to water down the movies themselves. Shit like Rambo and Terminator and Predator are hard R movies, yet they were the talk of the playground for years. Kids love this shit and I think it’s good to show kids violence and horror, and have a good heroic figure too that saves the day. (Side note: I have a theory that most horror movies are really Christian movies, just on the other end of the spectrum.)
So if Stallone had to be replaced for Rambo, who would be a good choice? I like Stephen’s suggestion of Dolph Lundgren! That’s a good one since he can pull off action and he’s chiseled like a Swedish beast. It’s easy to imagine. I like that nobody really suggested Schwarzenegger either. Rambo is kind of a damaged loner, who spent so many years in the shit, that Arnie just wouldn’t fit the role. He’s a good heroic figure like Rambo, but doesn’t pull off that damaged loner aspect. Jeff Fahey is kind of a guy that looks like he can pull off the loner, but not much of an action guy. He’s more like the scientist that gets kidnapped in action movies. But combine Dolph Lundgren’s action capability with Jeff Fahey’s sensitivity. And you’d get… Michael Biehn! That’s my pick. I think based on Terminator, he was an awesome misunderstood loner, who could fight the good fight and rescue those in need. Based on Aliens, he’s a fucking badass soldier action star. He just looks like he’s been in the shit for years too. He doesn’t have super-soldier physique like Stallone, but I think Michael Biehn fits the Rambo character really well. This was a pointless thought exercise, but fun!
Sorry these are always so fucking long! But speaking of which, I like when you guys ramble on to different shit too! I think you already gave probably the best dissection of Iron Monkey in podcast history. Covering the history, character, culture, different releases, etc. that it’s perfectly fine to go off on tangents like Dark Souls and acupuncture benefits. It all flows just fine. I’ll stop before I start going on a Dark Souls tangent too (I fucking adore those games!).
Peace!