The movie opens with a baby left on the steps of the Shaolin Temple. The monks raise him up "because he is a boy" and I can't imagine what would have happened if he wasn't. In the next scene he is grown up and none of the other students like him. They call him "maniac" but this is also translated as "crazy kid" though nothing about his personality reflects it. After learning some kung fu he is sent out into the world.
I have been watching martial arts movies for decades, have a collection of thousands and have written hundreds of reviews here as of this date. Yet I never even knew this Shaw Brothers film existed until a few weeks ago. I tried to obtain the best copy but it seems there is only one choice available. This is a DVD with the company names "Red Sun" and "Shaolin Collection" on the box but it is really just a bootleg. The video is excellent but the audio is a mess. Some of it is English dubbed and some is subtitled. The English dub sounds like it was recorded over a bad telephone land line connection. Even the Chinese audio dialog is below standard. Regardless the video is what counts and as long as the audio is understandable or the subtitles readable no problem.
This is a movie only for the fans and comes in below average. If you have not already seen a few hundred of these type movies this one will leave you scratching your head until the end if you do make it to the end. The plot and characters are flimsy, one dimensional, and simplistic. The martial arts choreography is well directed and executed and looks totally unrealistic and over-done. On the other hand if you have seen a lot of these movies and know what goes in to making one it will get your respect. Shaw Brothers at that time had the greatest stable of stunt performers, actors, props, and film makers ever assembled. In this movie a bunch of "D list" people used about one week of time and two drops of sweat to put on film a movie that contemporary production companies could only dream of doing,
