This erotic comedy features three lotharios who vie to become principal of the Macho Man Training School -- an extremely sexy institution dedicated to extremely non Shaolin-types of physical exertion.
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).
Connecting all the antics of bosses, monks, beggars, and thieves is the slippery and sinuous efforts of three pickpockets so adept at their chosen skill that they can even trick three beauties of their underwear without missing a step.
Film lovers and critics went out of their way to praise this Liu Chia-liang version of the Shaolin destruction and revenge epic. Many called it the preeminent kung-fu director's best and certainly his greatest on the theme of history, martial arts, and family. Little wonder, since, beyond the Shaolin story, it also shows how Liu's own family style of kung-fu, Hung Fist, was created. There are unforgettable sequences throughout, highlighted by Hung Hsi-kuan (the mighty Chen Kuan-tai) and Fang Yung-chun's (the wonderful Lily Li) wedding night... where the lovers inexorably test their Tiger and Crane kung-fu styles in a symbolic treatment of a couple's power struggles. Almost equally unforgettable are the training sequences and a full three titanic confrontations with the White-Browed Hermit (the impressive Lo Lieh), betrayer of the Temple. The critics were right: Liu has out-done himself...as usual!
Chiang Sung-ping (Chiao Chuang) is a nightclub drummer, he take care of his passed-away teacher, Su's daughter Su Ling (Ivy Ling Po). Chiang trains Su Ling to be a popular singer and they admire each other. Vocalist Pai Lu (Shen Yi), who has feel affection on Chiang, worried he may fall for Su Ling. Pai Lu starts Chiang off on drug habit and tells Su Ling. In desperation, Su Ling decides to leave Chiang...
Jimmy Wang Yu, plays Kwei Wu who happens upon a kidnapping with his wife Kan Lien-chu (Chin Ping) at the Red Lotus Temple. Kan sends Kwei to go for reinforcements while she stays to fight the kidnappers. She is captured and imprisoned in an iron cage. Kwei gets reinforcements, not knowing that he is sending everyone into an ambush by the gang. As the good guy falls, Kwei races to the temple to save his wife. Fortunately, the mysterious Scarlet Maid (Ivy Ling Po) seems to have been a step ahead of the bad guys.
One of Shaw Brothers' highly successful film series based on the classic Chinese novel Journey To The West, this takes up where The Monkey Goes West, Princess Iron Fan, and The Cave Of The Silken Web left off. The Monk, Monkey and Pigsy find themselves in the title realm, where women can only give birth to women, unless loved by a man...
A year before he was to direct King Boxer -- the first Hong Kong kung-fu film ever to break into the international market -- Cheng Chang-ho both wrote and directed this powerful martial arts movie. Ling Yun, of Gun Brothers and Hellgate (among many others), ably plays a magician-warrior who initially protects the villain from an ambush by the title heroes. But after his wife's and friend's deaths, he must fight to set things right.
Chiang Yi is blackmailed into a jewelry heist by his former boss, who threatens to expose his shady past. Complications arise when he discovers his first love works at the store.
A Chinese costume version of the legend of French King Louis XIV, Shin Yung-Kyoon plays the double role of twin sons of the Emperor who are separated as children. One is a brave noble warrior, the other is a debauched ruler whose suspicion is so great he orders his very own sibling's face to be hidden by an iron mask. The ever-talented Li Ching co-stars as the princess, a love interest for both brothers.
Kwan leads a double life as a waitress and as an infamous outlaw, The Black Butterfly. When she steals a cache of gold from the Five Devils Rock bandits, she soon has the bandits, and the government, on her tail.
Li Ching plays, Ah Chiao, a girl from a rural village stranded in the city, who befriends a kind-hearted tramp and a retired actor. They are all poor, but Ah Chiao’s fortune change for the better when she becomes a singer. However, she ultimately learns money can't buy happiness.
"Without a doubt," it was written in the seminal Study Of The Swordplay Film, "Hsu Cheng-hung is one of the key figures in the Mandarin new style." And this is both one of his key films and one of his last for Shaw Brothers. The lovely Ching Li and handsome Chang I star as star-and-sword-crossed comrades who take on the vicious Black Tigers gang in a quest for hidden wealth. There’s action galore, until the final, fiery fight in a temple of treasure.
Ching Li, Chang I, Shu Pei-pei, Lin Ching, Tien Feng
Based on the classic Ming Dynasty novel The Water Margin, Three Sinners is a Huangmei Opera about love, betrayal, murder, and redemption. Starring Hong Kong's premiere movie couple, it is one of the grandest Eastmancolor-Shawscope costume musicals in the Shaw Brothers library.
