El luchador de Shantung

Before the advent of DVD media, films such as Cheng Cheh's "Boxer From Shantung" could only be seen in severely butchered form, complete with laughable and awful dubbing, fair to poor picture quality, always in "pan and scan" format with a percentage of the picture chopped out, and in most cases, with the harder violence removed as well. Finally "Ma Yong Zhen" can be seen the way director Cheh envisioned his passionate "rags to riches" epic, with "epic" being a suitable word as this film is quite big in scope, and surpasses the 2 hour mark. The tale itself is a familiar one to be sure; a young, ambitious street urchin uses his unique boxing skills and mental cunning to climb the bloody ladder of success, and fortune. But this tale has rarely been filmed so eloquently. There is so much to praise here, beginning with cinematography; forget comparing this film with the endless and uninspired kung-fu pictures made through the 60's to 70's. For the look of "Ma Yong Zhen" is that of a mostly beautiful art-house style production. This can finally be seen in it's original aspect ratio of 2,35 widescreen, and the difference is hardly describable. For years apparently, this was only released widely with a running time of just over 90 minutes, but the wonderful DVD from "Celestial Pictures" restores the feature to it's 124 minute running time. The lead character, played by Chen Kuan-tai, is really superb in his role as the ambitious 'Ma'. He possesses a strange, utterly unique physical beauty which somehow elicits sympathy from the viewer. The film reminded me a bit of 1983's "Scarface", as the stories, as well as the extreme violence are similar themes within both pictures. However Chen's character never loses touch with his own humanity, unlike Tony Montana, who became a monster. And I must agree with another poster who described the feeling of "sadness" that envelops the film. Much of it is quiet, subdued, featuring some haunting, and totally unobtrusive musical score. Of course this is misleading, as the film explodes with a brand of violence hard to describe, for the films breathtaking climax. That new DVD also features the original Mandarin language audio track, and hearing the original language is the only way to see this. There are English subtitles as well. Recommended viewing for anyone curious to see a how a traditional kung-fu film can be transformed into a work of art.

Boxer from Shantung is pretty much what you'd get if you made Goodfellas as a Chinese martial arts film. Ma Yongzhen (Chen Kuan-tai) is poor country boy who moves to Shanghai to seek his fortune. Unfortunately, the times are tough and oftentimes he and his friends don't even have enough money for a roof over their heads. But after meeting a legendary crime lord Tan Si (David Chiang), Ma realizes that the only way to move forward in this city of poverty and misery is to do so through illegal means.

Boxer from Shantung elevates itself above most of its peers by the virtue of its fight scenes. Chen is a fantastic, fully-trained martial artist, whose various moves and stunts are beautiful to watch. I also like the fact that unlike in so many other martial arts films, the main character is not invincible. Fitting for a gangster film. The last fight scene is actually pretty brutal to watch because of this, but all the more awesome for it. Definitely one of the best fight scenes I've seen in my life and worth the price of admission by itself.

What keeps the film from being a masterpiece is the fact that the story is rather bland. It starts out well enough and the ending is fantastic, but the middle part lost me pretty quickly. It felt like the film was simply going through the motions to get to the good part. It's by no means awful and you still get a lot of good fights, but the characters themselves don't become as dear to you as they should.

Still, it's a film you see to watch people kung fu fighting. And for that it is a very good film. If you're looking a captivating story and fleshed-out characters, this is not your film, but I think you already knew that walking in.

'Ma yong zhen' or 'Boxer from Shantung' in the dubbed videocassette version I viewed is a long film but engrossing, showing the rise of Ma Yung Chen from lowly labourer to gang boss.

The film has a strange melancholy air, ending with some of the characters fleeing from Shanghai as war approaches. The music has also a sad feel to it. Avarice is the main driving force of most of the characters as they go about their business but over all there is a doomed air.

Kuan Tai Chen who plays Ma Yung Chen (very well) has a pleasant appealing smile but there is something sad in him too. His yearning to be somebody is touching. He is plausible in the fight scenes too, particularly the tremendous gory fight at the end, which seems to go on endlessly like a nightmare you can't wake up from. David Chiang as usual is great, though not on the screen long enough. The 'four champions' in the film include the Shaw Brothers regular Feng Ku who is always good value.

I believe John Woo worked as an assistant director on the film and is a fan of the director, Cheh Chang. Compare the end of this film with the end of Woo's 'The Killer'.

There is a lot of combat in this film but it sits well with the narrative and the characters. Some martial art films are all fighting and no plot but 'Boxer from Shantung' has both in equally good measures.

Pre-Venom Mob martial arts film from director Cheh Chang finds the film's hero working his way out of poverty by traveling to Shanghai, only to find himself drawn into the criminal underworld. The Shanghai underworld looks pretty much like every other Shaw Brothers backlot set and the story and characters are not particularly compelling, but the fight sequences are excellent, particularly a wildly bloody finale, where the hero battles the main villain's minions with a hatchet lodged in his side!

The Boxer From Shan Tung (1972) is a rags to riches story about a country bumpkin who aspires to become the greatest gangster of his era. Ma Yong Zhen makes a name for himself from the ground up by getting the poor and the down trodden to become a part of his "empire". But like all fast rising gangsters they have to fall sometime. The battle in the Tea House has to be the single greatest piece of action film-making I have ever seen. The usual Shaw Brothers players can be found in this two hour plus epic of bloodletting proportions. Kuan Tai Chen stars as Ma Yong Zhen. As usual he makes a great lead actor. He always sports a smile and never let his personal situations bring him down. Kuan also makes a credible butt kicking fighter. David Chiang has an extended cameo as Tan Si, a fellow gangster who becomes a mentor/friend to Ma. Feng Ku co-stars as one of the 4 Champions of Shan Tung, Wang Chung and Hark-On Fung have small roles as Tan Si's henchmen. Ching Li co-stars as the Tea House singer who falls for the mack-daddy charm of Ma Yong Zhen.

Check out the remastered print from Celestial Films. Not only is the film restored to it's original running time but the picture is in pristine condition and the English subs are excellent. Get ready for some action packed, bone crunching excitement!! Another winner from Chang Cheh and the Shaw Brothers!

Highest recommendation possible.