Hsueh-Li Pao
The Battle Wizard
A brother who loves books and a sister who loves swords must face a yellow-robed warrior, the Red Python: a sinuous snake-charmer, and a silk-masked beauty (who must kill or wed the first man to see her face) in this special, cliche-smashing production.
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Man of Iron
“Godfather of the kung-fu film” Chang Cheh had made stars of Jimmy Wang Yu, David Chiang, and Ti Lung. With this film, the sequel to the smash hit "The Boxer From Shantung", he and co-director Pao Hseuh-li did the same for real life martial arts champion Chen Kuan-tai. Master of the “Monkey King Split and Deflecting Arm” style, Chen exuded incredible power on screen, which his directors used to great advantage in this fight-filled follow-up. All the title character did was win some money gambling with a Shanghai gang leader’s playboy son, but that’s enough for the father and child to want obsessive revenge. It all culminates in an incredible climatic fight, choreographed by the legendary Liu Chia-liang and Chen Chuan, co-star of Bruce Lee’s "Fist Of Fury".
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The Boxer From Shantung
The movie that firmly established Chen Kuan-tai as a kung-fu superstar, The Boxer From Shantung was a top ten hit for 1972 and is now considered a martial arts classic. Chen is perfectly cast as “Ma Yung Cheng” (which is also the film’s Chinese title), an early 20th century patriotic youth from Shantung (northern China) who moves to Shanghai and gains fame as the first Chinese to defeat a professional Russian wrestler. When he refuses to become a hired assassin for the city’s leading gang, he finds life on Shanghai’s mean streets far riskier than the boxing ring. With the help of martial arts choreographers Liu Chia-liang and brother Liu Chia-jung, Chen shows that he’s more than equal to any boxer in or out of China. “Hong Kong Action Cinema” cites this as one of director Chang Cheh’s ten best, describing it as an “intense actioner, featuring bloodletting of Sam Peckinpah proportions.” This is also one of the first movies on which John Woo worked as assistant director, and it is interesting to see the Shaw Brothers influences on his later works like "Broken Arrow" and "Face/Off".
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The Water Margin
There are martial arts epics and "brotherhood hero" films but then there is nothing out there that comes even close to The Water Margin. Based on the classic novel and true legend, All Men Are Brothers about how 108 rebels bravely fought against the Sung Dynasty, just about every big Shaw Brothers’ star around at the time, David Chiang, Ti Lung and Chen Kuan-tai to name a few, were called in to do this film to make it one of the most dynamic films in the history of cinema.
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Iron Bodyguard
Following the director and star’s landmark successes 'The Boxer from Shantung' and 'Man of Iron', came this powerful, exciting tale of a patriot committed to ending the corruption of the Ching rulers.
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Blood Brothers
Made at the peak of the martial arts film craze, "Blood Brothers" stands out against the run-of-the-mill kung-fu flicks that flooded the market in the 1970s. It would be hard to find more legendary names in front of and behind the camera: director Chang Cheh, who virtually reinvented the genre; the brilliant martial arts choreography by Liu Chia-liang, before he himself embarked on a directorial career; and the number one buddy team in kung-fu, Ti Lung and David Chiang, joined by Shaw Brothers newest superstar, Chen Kuan-tai. Set in the waning years of the Ching Dynasty, Blood Brothers tells of one of the most sensational scandals in Chinese history, the assassination of a provincial governor (Ti Lung) by his lieutenant and sworn brother (David Chiang). Ti Lung, in a complex role that allowed him to flex his thespian muscles, was honored with Golden Horse Award of Outstanding Performance.
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