The MAN FROM HONG KONG Presents
10 Slices of Classic Kung Fu Action!
THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS Companion: Part 2

The immortal line of dialogue ‘A game of chess is like a sword fight, you think first before you move’ which was used on the first Wu Tang album in 1993 comes from this movie, which pits the Shaolin style against the Wu Tang style with the Master Killer himself, Gordon Liu, heading the Shaolin side while Adam Cheng from Duel to the Death leads the Wu Tang.

Master Liu and Master Law are rival masters of Shaolin style kung fu, and Wutang style sword fighting, running schools in the same city. Their top students, Chao Fung-wu (Adam Cheng), and Hung Jun-kit (Gordon Liu), are actually close friends, with Jun-kit’s sister, Yan-ling, having a crush on Fung-wu. After observing the two students fighting at a brothel, two of the local Qing Lord’s (Wang Lung-wei) soldiers report the power of the styles to him. The Lord determines that the two styles are dangerous, and he must learn both.

After poisoning Master Law, and having Yan-ling killed, the Qing Lord is able to learn both Wudang 8 Divine Sword style and Shaolin Chin kang fist from a spy. Fung-wu and Jun-kit both return to their respective temples for training, as a priest and monk, respectively. Jun-kit hopes to revenge his sister’s death, and Fung-wu also wants to avenge his master’s death.

The Qing Lord has since learned both the styles, but because he did not learn either from a master, his grasp on both styles is not perfect. To overcome this deficiency, he decides to have the Wudang and Shaolin destroy each other, so he may be the only master of both styles.

To do this, he stages a martial arts contest between the two temples, hoping to appeal to the traditional rivalry between the Shaolin and the Wudang. Jun-kit (now called Tat-chi), and Fung-wu (now called Ming-kai), are selected by their respective temples as the representatives.

The Qing Lord, in his impatience to see both Wutang and Shaolin destroyed, admits his true motives, and his role in Yan-ling and Master Law’s deaths. Tat-chi and Ming-kai must then combine Shaolin Chin kang fist and Wutang 8 Divine Sword style to defeat him.

Its a classic kung fu movie filled with some great characters, a top notch cast and some incredible choreography by Lau Kar-leung and his team, and while the film is officially credited to have been a directorial outing of Gordon Liu, the truth of the matter is the film was directed by Lau Kar-leung with Liu assisiting his adopted brother and being credited as director to circumvent Lau’s contract with Shaw Brothers which at the time forbid him from working outside of the studio.

The best DVD version of the film is the UK Vengeance Video print which is sourced from a very crisp looking print and well worth tracking down.

Soul Brothers of Kung Fu

Also known as The Last Strike, this movie stars the best of the Bruce Lee clones, Bruce Li (Ho Tsung-tao) alongside Toad from the Five Deadly Venoms Lo Meng himself, and a young Black American martial artist named Carl Scott who would later co-star with Indonesian martial arts hero Billy Chong for a series of movies.

According to RZA, Scott is the best black actor in martial arts films and that along with Five Deadly Venoms, this is a movie he would love to have been a part of.

The films plot is pretty simple, two Chinese immigrants to Hong Kong (Bruce Li & Lo Meng) become friends with a young American (Carl Scott) through their mutual love for martial arts and looking out for their friends and family. All is going well until Lo Meng’s character is seduced by the temptations of the Triads and joins classic kung fu villain Ku Feng in his nefarious activities.

Now Bruce Li and Carl Scott must battle their former friend and the Triads in a  deadly battle to the death, choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping and his family, the film features some of Bruce Li’s best fights and serves as a great showcase for Carl Scott. Scott was one hell of a martial artist and acquitted himself so well in his Hong Kong films including this, and themovies he made alongside Billy Chong but he never really got the break out role he should have and after returning to America, seemed to step back from the industry.

There are various versions of the film available, the better looking prints are of the less bloody international print, while the more violent version’s finale often pops up on certain discs as a full frame bonus.

Mystery of Chessboxing

Also known by the misleading alternate title of Ninja Checkmate, Mystery of Chess Boxing is a Joseph Koo Kung Fu classic starring Jack Long, Mark Long & Lee Yi-min.

This movie is the inspiration for the Wu tang Clan songs “Da Mystery of Chessboxin'” on the album Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers) and the villain of the film inspired the name of Wu Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah!

Lee Yi Min stars as a young boy, Ah Pao, who wants to learn Kung Fu so that he can avenge his father’s death at the hands of the Ghost Faced Killer (Mark Long).

The Ghost Faced Killer meanwhile is hunting down a number of clan leaders who all conspired to have him killed. Before attacking, the killer always throws down his “ghost face killing plate,” a decorated metal plate with a red face. He then uses his distinctive five elements style.

Ah Pao attends a local kung fu school but is bullied by the seniors.

However, the school’s cook (Simon Yuen) helps the boy and teaches him some moves. These prove to be adequate for his day-to-day living but cannot fulfill his deep desire for revenge. When Ah Pao is found in possession of the Ghost Faced Killers’ symbol, he is expelled from school. Still wishing to learn kung fu, he turns to an old Xianqi (a.k.a. Chinese chess) master Chi Sue Tin (Jack Long), recommended by the cook, for training.

The master is an old enemy of the Ghost Faced Killer who reveals his former identity: he was a former kung fu chief who held sway over the area with his fellow fighters, but he was forced to go into hiding after being badly injured in a fight and also coming under scrutiny by the Ghost Faced Killer. Chi Sue agrees to teach Lee his chess boxing kung fu.

Ah Pao finally learns the strategic link between chess and kung fu. He and Chi Sue Tin team up using double horse style, a reference to xiangqi, and they defeat the Ghost Faced Killer.

There’s a Tai Seng full scren DVD of the film under the Ninja Checkmate title with a commentary by Ric Myers & Bobby Samuels, but if you can track down the UK DRAGON release, its the widescreen version of the film which gets the thumbs up!

Executioners from Shaolin

Executioners from Shaolin or Hung Hsi Kuan is a 1977 Shaw Brothers film directed and choreographed by Lau Kar-leung, its a multi generational story of revenge pitting the disciples of Shaolin against the villainous Pai Mei, founder of Pai Mei (White Eyebrow) kung fu.
.
The opening title scene is a battle between Pai Mei, master of the Shaolin temple, in an empty red backdrop (this type of opening is a frequent trademark of Director Lau).

Here we get the first display of Pai Mei’s mastery of internal kung fu techniques that allow him to retract his privates into his groin. After using his body protection techniques to ward off a clawing attack to the face, he traps a kick to the groin from Master Zhishan and delivers his own coup de grâce.

Master Zhishan’s vision blurs as the scene changes to a more realistic scene of the aftermath of the temple’s destruction.

Bai Mei’s protégé, area governor Kao Tsin-chung (Kong Do) and his army, chase the fleeing ex-students of Shao Lin. Tung Chin-chin, (Gordon Liu) after watching waves of other students fall to the pursuing army’s arrows, makes a heroic last stand to divert their attention. He falls to a hail of arrows, crushing the throats of the soldiers he is closest to.

It is left to Hung Hsi-Kuan to lead the remaining students to safety.

They join an itinerant opera group which travels from town to town and along the way he encounters the comely Ying Chun, herself a master of the Crane style. Together, they have a son, whom both of them train. When area governor and student of Pai Mei, orders the destruction of the red junks, the couple retreat to a modest home where they raise their son (Wen-Ding) and Hong begins mastering the Tiger style of kung fu in preparation for challenging Pai Mei. In the meantime, Wen-Ding seems to develop a taste for piggybacking on his father after training sessions…

After a decade of training, Hsi-Kuan goes to face Pai Mei, defeating several of his henchmen before retreating from his temple stronghold. Along the way, he discovers Pai Mei’s weakness: he’s vulnerable between one and three o’ clock.

Hung trains with renewed zeal on a sophisticated life-size bronze dummy fitted with grooves representing acupuncture meridians along its surface. By releasing a vessel in the head, metal balls cascade along these grooves so that he can snatch them to train his speed and accuracy. Still, he refuses to integrate his wife’s Crane style, to his ultimate detriment.

In the final act, Hung goes to confront Pai Mei at his temple once again.

He uses his training in vital point striking to catch Pai Mei off-guard. But again, he gets his foot trapped in Pai Mei’s groin. Pai Mei tells Hung that he moves his vulnerable point up and down at will. After incapacitating Hung, Pai Mei tells the governor to keep him alive, only for Hung to kill the governor as he comes near. Pai Mei kills him with a swift but powerful blow.

Wen-Ding returns to avenge his father’s death having been forced to synthesize his father’s Tiger style with the crane style his mother taught him.

Once again, he too lands in battle with Pai Mei, getting his foot trapped in Pai Mei’s groin. But when Pai Mei goes to break Wen-Ding’s leg, he jumps on Pai Mei’s shoulders piggyback-style. Wen-Ding rips off Pai Mei’s topknot, smashes him on the now unprotected crown of his head and, as his eyes are startled open, blinds him with a brutal dual jab in the eyes. They both tumble down the temple steps as the ending explains, “A combination of Tiger and Crane styles is what finally defeated Pai Mei.”

According to RZA himself in a recent interview: “This is like a companion piece to 36 Chambers. The Shaolin temple is burned down by the government, and this guy has to go learn Tiger Style—which is what I practice—and perfect his martial arts so he can get revenge on those who destroyed his temple. He goes through years and years of study and determination, and even then, he doesn’t succeed. There are lessons in that. He dies trying. And the reason he didn’t succeed is because he was stubborn and would only use his father’s martial arts. What he needed was to combine his father’s martial arts with his mother’s martial arts, a true balance. That’s what his son ultimately does. There are lessons there, too.”

The film introduced the character of Pai Mei played here by Lo Lieh, who would later turn up in a slightly different form in Kill Bill Vol 2 with Gordon Liu playing the character, bizarrely Quentin Tarrantino’s original casting choice for the character was himself!

There’s a crisp Celestial Pictures DVD release of the film, and a bare bones Dragon Dynasty release from a few years ago too.

Two On the Road

Also known as Fearless Dragons and in some territories as The Fearless Jackal, is a very hard film to describe.

A couple of conmen are accused of heisting a gold shipment intended for some refugees in one of China’s famine areas. The conmen accuse each other for the heist after a bounty is put out for the arrest of the parties who did the heist. After the double crossing, squabbling, and fighting that the two partake in daily does not bring any money to their pockets, the twosome decide to combine their energy to find the real guy behind the gold heist. The humour and direction are rough at times but there’s plenty of incredible martial arts action especially during the finale.

As for RZA’s thoughts on the movie, “It’s a really strange film. This is a total Chinese comedy movie with totally bad jokes. It’s like this weird James Bond knock-off with weird casting and bad dubbing. It’s funny throughout, but the average viewer will leave in the middle of it. I suggest you wait until the end because it has one of the greatest two-on-one, hand-to-hand martial arts sequences ever filmed. It took 60 days to shoot. This fight is ridiculous, the horse fist style and the dragon fist style. I watch this movie all the time. Stay patient. Don’t get pissed off. Stick to the end. We wanted our movie’s action to be that good. I think we might’ve done it.”

The best currently available print is the UK’s Vengeance Video release

Writing Kung Fu

According to UK martial arts movie fan John Brennan when I asked him about this film when I came across a VHS copy in the 80’s, “Its got Bolo in it and he’s not looking, what else do you need to know?”. The film stars John Cheung (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, and former Jackie Chan Stunt-Teamer) and the great Beast from the East which is Bolo Yeung (Enter the Dragon, Bloodsport, etc.)

According to the RZA: “It had a few titles over the years, but this is the title you can find it right now. This movie, I sampled it in the 8 Diagrams on the intro. This movie is about a teacher, who throughout his whole life learned ethics and the proper way to live. And he was a teacher of this small town and taught the students. Yet, the bandits took over the town and they were killing people. And the students were like, ‘Why the fuck are we learning how to read, write, and live righteous, how to work hard and practice honesty when these men are killing people? We need to learn kung fu!’ But the [teacher] doesn’t want nobody to learn kung fu, he just wants them to learn how to read and write. Until tragedy strikes him, and everything he loves are killed. And it drives him crazy. He goes crazy and then he meets these two other crazy motherfuckers who happen to be old kung fu masters. And they teach him kung fu, but he knows he’s a teacher, he’s always writing calligraphy, and his calligraphy becomes a style of his kung fu. The villain’s actually Bolo, who’s in Enter the Dragon. It’s also one of Bolo’s best performances because people know Bolo as a strong man throwing punches, right? In this film he’s doing flexible, real, wushu-type moves. And the reason why is because of the morals of it.”

Once again the Vengeance Video version is the best currently available take on the movie.

Here’s hoping these ten flicks give you some insight into and aid your enjoyment of THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS, as always with a kung fu movie, its best to watch with a few friends, a few drinks and the volume up….raise the roof, make some noise and enjoy the FU!