Swords, Wigs And Dubious Eyebrows

Yesterday afternoon I popped in my DVD of Shaolin & Wu Tang for a little Kung Fu Theater of my own. This movie has it all: classic Shaolin martial arts, Wu Tang swordplay, spears, arrows, wigs, dubious eyebrows and beards and mustaches, dubbed dialogue in an English accent (sometimes with a hint of John Wayne), English subtitles that don’t match the dubbed dialogue, whip-snap sound effects with every landed strike of a hand or foot, and of course the unbelievably painful training sequences in the Shaolin temple.

This is Hong Kong Kung Fu cinema, circa 1981. The film stars Adam Cheng and Gordon Liu, in Liu's directorial debut. Liu plays a young student of Shaolin, while Cheng is a student of the Wu Tang sword style. An evil Manchu prince pits the two schools against each other for his own gain, and then it’s on! The fight sequences are like ballet. The plot moves quickly, and you get just about everything you’d want in a Kung Fu film. Here’s a good review of the film. One last thing: as you watch, listen for the bits of dialogue sampled by the rap group Wu Tang Clan. Enjoy.