Lung-Wei Wang
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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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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Clan of the White Lotus
Lo Lieh was famous as Shaw Studio’s first international kung-fu film star. He was famous throughout Asia for dozens of superlative performances in everything from horror to modern thrillers to martial arts. But it was the rare saga Lo also directed, and this was one of those special events. Following his huge success starring as the infamous Shaolin Temple traitor in preeminent kung-fu filmmaker Liu Chia-liang’s Executioners From Shaolin, he returned to the role in this, a combination sequel and remake.
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Full Moon Scimitar
No team of “Martial Arts World” sword-and sorcery epic-makers ever matched that of exceptional director Chu Yuan and best-selling author Ku Lung. This is one of their most powerful and interesting, giving screen idol Derek Yee one of his most challenging roles.
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Lion vs. Lion
It captures the most impressive sequences of lion dancing on film. Besides being loaded with enjoyable martial arts chicanery, film historians can revel because it's also the first film that clearly demonstrates the intricacies and differences between the traditional Northern and Southern lion dancing techniques. In this film, "Five Venoms" star Lo Mang, who was discovered by Chang Cheh, teams up with Liu Chia-liang protege Wong Yu, as they inadvertently turn from vagabond kung-fu school operators into anti-Ching, patriotic fighters.
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My Rebellious Son
The venerated Sun Chung made many different kinds of films for Shaw Brothers, including popular and renowned satirical comedies, contemporary action dramas, and magnificent martial arts movies. This is one of his last of the latter for the studio, so he wanted to have fun and let the audience share it. Toward that end he cast international favorite Alexander Fu Sheng as the title character who keeps testing the patience (and kung-fu skills) of his father, a small town bonesetter and herbal healer played by award-winning character actor Ku Feng. But when a local dignitary not only smuggles drugs but plans to give a Chinese treasure away to evil outsiders, the father and son unite to take on foreign fighters and even Japanese ninja's in a non-stop display of comic action prowess.
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Wits of the Brats
International favorite Alexander Fu Sheng both co-directs and co-stars with his brother Chang Chan-peng in an all-out, all-star, non-stop action comedy. It also features legendary director Liu Chia-liang’s brother, Liu Chia-yung (a famous director in his own right).
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