Lung Wei Wang
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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The Kid with a Tattoo
Director Sun Chung was the first Shaw Brothers’ director to use the Steadicam and in the mid-70s was one of the most productive directors Shaw Brothers ever had. His action films had strong tension, snappy editing and slow motion, the things that influenced up and coming martial arts director John Woo. Sun Chung joins forces with kung-fu comedian Wong Yue, a ballistic kid on a mission to clear his father's name, in The Kid with a Tattoo which also features plentiful ripsnorting martial arts at the hands of Liu Chia-liang's 10-year, exceptionally creative, choreographer partner Tang Chia. Jackie Chan's long time kung-fu classmates Yuen Hua and Yuan Pin along with best martial arts fighting villain Wang Lung-wei, add wickedly wild altercations to the melees of death.
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