Chia-Liang Liu
Legendary Weapons of China
"Legendary Weapons of China" is a classic martial arts film filled with epic battles and humorous moments, showcasing unique fighting styles.
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Return to the 36th Chamber
This follow-up to the classic "The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin" shows kung-fu’s the illustrious Liu brothers at their lethal best. Director Liu Chia-liang has more than a few new kung-fu tricks up his monk’s sleeve as he transports brother Gordon Liu Chia-hui back to the Ching Dynasty and the Shaolin Monastery. And not just any part of the monastery, but the clandestine 36th chamber, where the most advanced methods of kung-fu are taught to the deserving few. Alas, Gordon is not one of the anointed elite and must find a way to covertly observe the secret training in order to obtain the skills necessary to battle the hated Manchus. Though the movie’s conclusion is never in much doubt, the Liu Brothers have a lot of fun getting from points A to Z with plenty of murder and mayhem in between.
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The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter
What started as masterful kung-fu filmmaker Liu Chia-liang’s homage to the heroic Sung Dynasty Yang family became an angry, even savage, rumination on heroic sacrifice when international idol Alexander Fu Sheng died in a car accident midway through production. Fu’s death was not only tragic because he was such a close friend, but because the role he was playing was one of only two survivors of an ignominious betrayal by a jealous General. Knowing that he had to immortalize Fu’s final, unfinished performance, Liu carried on, having co-star Hui Ying-hung step into the action. The finished film is unique in the director’s extraordinary filmography for the intensity and power of its emotions and kung-fu. There are heartbreaking references to the tragedy throughout, but the climax is truly unforgettable as the other family survivor, now a Shaolin-trained warrior faces his betrayers amid a pyramid of coffins. What he, and his Shaolin masters, do then has to be seen to be believed….
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My Young Auntie
With his fight choreography, Liu Chia-liang was a central figure in Hong Kong martial arts film, first establishing a new-style of Mandarin kung-fu hero film in the 1960's. Then as a successful director, his films usually had a strong traditional sense and emphasis on martial virtue and the importance of family. This is no more evident than in the kung-fu comedy My Young Auntie, the film that rocketed actress Hui Ying-hung to the top. Hui plays a young heiress to an esteemed kung-fu family embroiled in internal strife. Her gutsy and dauntless performance opposite Liu's starring role as her calm to psychotic elderly nephew-by-marriage, earned Hui the Best Actress Award at the 1981 HK Film Awards. The film's final 20 minutes is ultra-guaranteed to blow your mind away.
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Dirty Ho
Master martial arts moviemaker Liu Chia-liang wanted to make a movie about Chinese royalty’s relation to the common people. He accomplished it with one of the greatest kung-fu adventures ever made, incorporating at least three of the most brilliantly conceived and executed fight sequences ever caught on film. Wang Yu is the streetwise title character while the director’s adopted brother, Gordon Liu Chia-hui, plays an incognito prince who uses Ho as a dupe to try avoiding court intrigue. But any description of the plot cannot communicate the beauty and ingeniousness of Liu’s invention and vision. Combining laughs and thrills, the monumental director adds to his legend with a film that only gets more impressive with each successive viewing.
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Heroes of the East
Whether it’s known as "Heroes Of The East" or "Shaolin Challenges Ninja", this ranks as a special favorite among even the most avid fans of legendary director Liu Chia-liang. Ric Meyers, author of Great Martial Arts Movies, the premiere, groundbreaking book on the genre, dubbed it the “Kramer VS. Kramer of kung-fu films” -- only instead of drama, there’s action galore as a Chinese groom and Japanese bride create a loving “kung-fu family feud”. Watch, in appreciative awe, as one Nipponese expert after other tests the skills of Gordon Liu Chia-hui in one maginificent bout after another -- with swords, spears, pikes, karate, and even Sai Seui. The result is a dazzling delight featuring the great “Shoji” Kurata (Fist Of Legend).
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The Lady is the Boss
The pre-eminent martial arts moviemaker Liu Chia-liang came up with the novel idea for this exciting and hilarious kung-fu clash between an old-fashioned kung-fu master and a hip and beautiful marketing wiz.
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Martial Arts of Shaolin
It’s taken the West a long time to discover Jet Li, but his extraordinary martial arts skill and on-screen charm has been no secret to Asian moviegoers and kung-fu fans. Long before "Lethal Weapon IV" and "Romeo Must Die", Jet teamed up with legendary martial arts director Liu Chia-liang for "Martial Arts Of Shaolin", one of the top hits of 1986. As the title implies, the picture takes place at the famed Shaolin Monastery, the birthplace of a variety of kung-fu at which Jet Li is particularly adept. The on-location photography makes good use of such landmarks as the Great Wall and, of course, the Shaolin Monastery. Set in the days of imperial China, the classic tale of good versus evil gives young Jet ample opportunity to display the prowess that won him several Chinese national martial arts championships.
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Disciples of the 36th Chamber
Whenever acclaimed martial arts film director Liu Chia-liang directs his half-brother Gordon Liu Chia-hui as a Shaolin monk hero, it's guaranteed that the film will not only become a classic but that it will rock the very foundation of martial arts cinematic culture. "Disciples Of The 36th Chamber" is no exception to the rule. Gordon Liu Chia-hui reprises his famed role as Shaolin Monk San Te, the real life Shaolin hero that created the "36th Chamber of Shaolin". In this film, San Te protects other real life Shaolin hero Fang Shih-yu (Hsiao Hou), who seems to enjoy stepping on the wrong Manchu foot at the right time. As always with director Liu Chia-liang, the final fight scene leaves you gawking in wild-eyed wonderment.
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The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter
What started as masterful kung-fu filmmaker Liu Chia-liang’s homage to the heroic Sung Dynasty Yang family became an angry, even savage, rumination on heroic sacrifice when international idol Alexander Fu Sheng died in a car accident midway through production. Fu’s death was not only tragic because he was such a close friend, but because the role he was playing was one of only two survivors of an ignominious betrayal by a jealous General. Knowing that he had to immortalize Fu’s final, unfinished performance, Liu carried on, having co-star Hui Ying-hung step into the action. The finished film is unique in the director’s extraordinary filmography for the intensity and power of its emotions and kung-fu. There are heartbreaking references to the tragedy throughout, but the climax is truly unforgettable as the other family survivor, now a Shaolin-trained warrior faces his betrayers amid a pyramid of coffins. What he, and his Shaolin masters, do then has to be seen to be believed….
Apple TV
Shaolin Mantis
Liu Chia-liang is arguably the best martial arts film director of traditional style kung-fu action and was a pioneer in focusing on authentic martial arts techniques and training procedures in his films. This is why stars in his movies looked more like kung-fu experts rather than actors simply going through the motions.
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Martial Club
Arguably, the greatest kung-fu film director of all time is Liu Chia-Liang. Unarguably the greatest kung-fu film character of all time is Huang Fei-Hung. So what do you think would happen when you put these two titanic talents together? You get one of the finest “pure” kung-fu films ever made, with nary a character getting killed, but the thrills coming a mile a minute as two pugilism schools tests each other for a full hundred minutes. Lau returns his dynamic adoptive brother, Gordon Liu, to the leading role, then gives the king of screen villains, Wang Lung-Wei, one of his few anti-heroic roles... just in time for a stunning climax unparalleled in its adeptness and invention.
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Cat vs Rat
One of Liu Chia-liang’s classics, 'Cat vs Rat' is almost a full-scale slapstick comedy, as well as a tailor-made showcase for the "odd couple" of Alexander Fu Sheng and Cheng Shao-chiu. Their wushu squabbling for supremacy ultimately imperils an incognito emperor, resulting in a sparkling and unexpected family affair, from the king of kung-fu filmmaking.
Apple TVLegendary Weapons of China
On a continent which reveres its martial arts, the director’s nickname is “Kung-fu Liang” – holder of a filmography unprecedented in its innovation of theme, ingeniousness of plot, and imagination of its astonishingly designed kung-fu. This production is clearly the culmination of his initial Shaw Brothers work – the film which he used as a showcase for his and his brothers’ – Chia-yung and Gordon Lui – skills. In the premiere, groundbreaking book on the genre, Martial Arts Movies, author Ric Meyers called it “the quintessential martial arts movie” and perhaps the greatest kung-fu movie ever made. Showing prescience customary with this visionary, the plot revolved around early 20th century pugilists vainly attempting to find a kung-fu which could defeat the bullet … years before the same theme would be used in Once Upon A Time In China. It also features the rarely dramatized magician-spies of China, who would ultimately inspire the Japanese ninja. But most importantly, it is a beautifully made action comedy featuring international fan favorite Alexander Fu Sheng and supremely brilliant kung-fu.
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Mad Monkey Kung Fu
Besides his pioneering films based on authentic martial artistry and kung-fu comedies during the 1970's, acclaimed director Liu Chia-liang also embraced the master/pupil relationship to form the cornerstone of many of his other works where his characters exhibited physical and moral failure as a means to either "make them or break them". Besides directing "Mad Monkey Kung Fu", it's also Liu's debut as a lead actor playing down and out, monkey kung-fu master Chen, crippled by the ruthless villain Tuen (Shaw's penultimate bad guy Lo Lieh). Street boy Hsiao Hou (which means "little monkey" and played by popular martial arts aerialist Hsiao Hao) convinces Chen to teach him monkey kung-fu to avenge Chen's shame. The wacky training sequences and outlandish finale fight leave you stupefied.
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Martial Club
Arguably, the greatest kung-fu film director of all time is Liu Chia-Liang. Unarguably the greatest kung-fu film character of all time is Huang Fei-Hung. So what do you think would happen when you put these two titanic talents together? You get one of the finest “pure” kung-fu films ever made, with nary a character getting killed, but the thrills coming a mile a minute as two pugilism schools tests each other for a full hundred minutes. Lau returns his dynamic adoptive brother, Gordon Liu, to the leading role, then gives the king of screen villains, Wang Lung-Wei, one of his few anti-heroic roles... just in time for a stunning climax unparalleled in its adeptness and invention.
Apple TVReturn to the 36th Chamber
This follow-up to the classic "The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin" shows kung-fu’s the illustrious Liu brothers at their lethal best. Director Liu Chia-liang has more than a few new kung-fu tricks up his monk’s sleeve as he transports brother Gordon Liu Chia-hui back to the Ching Dynasty and the Shaolin Monastery. And not just any part of the monastery, but the clandestine 36th chamber, where the most advanced methods of kung-fu are taught to the deserving few. Alas, Gordon is not one of the anointed elite and must find a way to covertly observe the secret training in order to obtain the skills necessary to battle the hated Manchus. Though the movie’s conclusion is never in much doubt, the Liu Brothers have a lot of fun getting from points A to Z with plenty of murder and mayhem in between.
Apple TVMad Monkey Kung Fu
Besides his pioneering films based on authentic martial artistry and kung-fu comedies during the 1970's, acclaimed director Liu Chia-liang also embraced the master/pupil relationship to form the cornerstone of many of his other works where his characters exhibited physical and moral failure as a means to either "make them or break them". Besides directing "Mad Monkey Kung Fu", it's also Liu's debut as a lead actor playing down and out, monkey kung-fu master Chen, crippled by the ruthless villain Tuen (Shaw's penultimate bad guy Lo Lieh). Street boy Hsiao Hou (which means "little monkey" and played by popular martial arts aerialist Hsiao Hao) convinces Chen to teach him monkey kung-fu to avenge Chen's shame. The wacky training sequences and outlandish finale fight leave you stupefied.
Apple TV
The Shadow Boxing
When reputable fight choreographer Liu Chia-Liang debuted as a director with The Spiritual Boxer, it not only established him as a superb director, but it also encouraged other martial arts instructors to turn to directing. Plus, it was the first film to introduce comedy into kung-fu so it made sense for Liu to return to that foundation with the same bumbling idiot Wang Yu still not quite getting it when it comes to the affair of ghost control in The Shadow Boxing. Liu also brings in both of his brothers Liu Chia-Yung and Liu Chia-Hui, which guaranteed that the fights would be an extra notch above magnificent, further ensuring that the audience had never seen anything like it before. The Shadow Boxing was twice as successful as The Spiritual Boxer.
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