Fo Shan Zan xian sheng

DoWC, one of the greatest Kung FU films ever. It does so much for the genre in the pre-wirework and pre-special effects. As as choreogrpahy goes, I haven't seen stuff that amazed me as much since Iron Monkey, and I haven't seen something this different since Tai Chi 2. I won't go into story because it really doesn't matter, it's your standard revenge plot, but what reallly shines is the fight sequences, they are incredible and over 25 years, this movie has held up pretty well. The best part, it's completely watchable despite it's english dubbing, even though it really isn't that bad. In short, if you need a fix and have seen the Once Upon A Time In China Series, then go for this, pure classic.

This is an excellent kung fu movie.

I saw this movie for the first time back around 1980. I originally went to see Jackie Chan's "Big Brawl" or "Battle Creek Brawl". I remember that as a young boy growing up in Mexico, I used to devour martial arts magazines from the US. This is how I was exposed to such classics as "The Young Master", "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and other Jackie Chan films. I originally went to see Jackie Chan, expecting the other movie to be a poorly dubbed, poorly choreographed, and horribly acted chop socky. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised from the get go. The choreography is excellent. The fight scenes are long and the shots are long with few to no closeups or cuts. We actually see the skill of the fighters. There is a training sequence where the main character uses the Wing Chun "Dummy" it training when he believes that everyone is asleep. There are also awesome fight scenes including fights against multiple attackers which are excellently choreographed.

I rate it an 8 only because the dubbing is pretty terrible, but if you like excellent fight choreography, as well as a legitimately outstanding martial arts movie from the seventies, you won't mind the poor dubbing.

The movie opens to Fung Hak-On and Lee Hoi-Sang having a conversation on the beach. Experienced viewers will recognize these two as typical bad guys in martial arts movies. The conversation is thankfully short as they have come to fight not talk. Lee loses but Fung lets him have the stolen jewelry. Alan Cha Kwok-Kuen and men try to arrest Lee and succeed with the help of fellow law man Melvin Wong Gam-San. Lee is in prison.

Then the story turns to different characters. A chubby guy called skinny returns to town. He beats up a guy who previously bullied him. The old bully tries to pass off fake gold in Norman's pawn shop. Skinny comes to Norman for a martial arts challenge of the friendly bet version. Norman deliberately loses. Skinny next goes to his monk master for help in a future fight. Though the story now seems to focus on him as lead it is now a comedy but just temporarily. Melvin Wong is the opponent. They decide to exchange students to determine the better teacher. It's back to Lee and Fung though as Lee has escaped from prison.

I found the movie failed to focus on any one lead character and consequently failed to develop any emotional stakes in the fights. Plus it shifted from drama to comedy then back to drama awkwardly. The fights had the common fault of poor timing. Many times the stunt man or actor reacted just a tad too soon and went flying off before the blow actually arrived. Though there was some Wing Chun style in the training sequences when the actual fights started it was just a rumble. I can recommend this movie for fans of the genre but I won't rate it any higher than just average.

i just realized i love these kinds of movies. cheap sets, some fields in china, 2 line plot about masters' switching students only to find an old enemy comes back to cause trouble.

if i could i would watch nothing but these movies, plenty better than any movie out today. this one is okay, no big stars, but the kung fu is good. what would you rather watch? some guy in wires on a bluescreen or people throwing real punches and kicks on solid ground? crane style!

I see that THE DESCENDANTS OF WING CHUN has some positive reviews on here but I don't see it; for me, this was an entirely typical chop socky flick, one which passes the time but lacks the skill and technical prowess to make it a truly memorable viewing experience. The kind of knockabout comedy that invariably lightens these films is missing and the fight scenes are ordinary rather than exemplary.

The film begins with the introduction of a pair of villains, played by stock bad guy actors Fung Hark-On and Lee Hoi San. These two are probably the best things in the film, particularly the latter with his skilled fighting style. The heroes are a disparate group of lawmakers and layabouts on the hunt for some jewel thieves.

Melvin Wong (later a common face in Hong Kong action cinema) has a role here but nobody really distinguishes themselves in the fighting stakes and the limited comedy isn't very funny either. There is a lot of action, yes, but all too often the blows are obviously not connecting so it all feels a bit false. The usual pan and scan condition of the print and the poor dubbing also help to lessen the enjoyability of this one.