Secret Rivals

THE SECRET RIVALS is a lively and solid kung fu film that helped launch the screen career of master villain Hwang Jang Lee. The film is set in ancient Korea and features a couple of kung fu fighters teaming up to bring down the Silver Fox, a wily master who has some high-kicking talent. You can guess which role Lee plays. The movie was directed by Ng See-Yuen, who has made some of the better entries in the martial arts genre, and is never less than entertaining.

One thing I did notice about this film is that it was made in the middle period between the success of the Bruce Lee and Shaw Brothers movies but before Jackie Chan came along and revitalised the decade at the end of the 1970s. Thus the fight choreography isn't quite as top notch as it would get to be later on in the decade and in the early 1980s, although the fights here are still pretty good and have a tendency to get better towards the end. There are some fun training sequences with a larger-than-life dummy and an Ennio Morricone score borrowed from an old spaghetti western. Lee is a delight as always and is well matched by the talents of John Liu and Don Wong.

This is one of the best martial Arts films I have ever seen, mainly because of the 1st rate skill of all the main characters. This is not a film you watch for it's plot or acting but if you want to see some of the best martial Arts ever filmed then this is one film you cannot miss. Wang Tao makes this better than the 2 sequels and his talent is exceptional, so much so that I puzzle over why he has not been in more films? John Lui is his usual 'North kicking' Best and Hwang Jang Lee as Silver fox is outstanding. This is one of the few Martial Arts films that rivals Bruce Lee films for pure skill ( with no special effects or wire work ) My copy is very poor quality and I hope that someday I can get a better DVD of this wonderful film.

Secret Rivals doesn't have a great storyline, but the actors know their kung fu! The movie features a good deal of fighting, and some excellent practice sessions.

The version I saw had very poor picture quality and not all of the subtitles were visible. This is of course a shame, and contributed a great deal to the fact that I only enjoyed this movie moderately. But if it was available in DVD quality, with a clear and crisp picture and sound, it would be a great experience.

This is the kind of movie that Bruce Lee SHOULD have done. His presence here would have elevated this to a world-famous classic.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

This is one of Hwang Jang Lee's first movies and it was pretty good at that. It concerns two men, played by Wong Tao and John Liu who are both after Hwang but don't realize it. The first half is standard kung fu. Things get good during the second half when John Liu, a great kicker also, and Hwang Jang Lee begin to fight. All leads to an excellent final battle between Wong Tao, John Liu, and Hwang. Hwang proves he's more than a match for the two combined. The kicking, although not as fancy as some other movies, is still impressive.

I had high hopes for this film, especially after watching the vastly superior sequel: Secret Rivals II and had read a lot of good reviews here and elsewhere. Unfortunately, although I think many people disagree with me about this, it was a huge let-down and had little appeal what-so-ever, except for some unintentional hilarious bad English dubbing. The story, although generally non-essential to kung fu-movies of the era, was excruciating at times, with prolonged scenes about some side-plot involving a mutual love interest of our heroes, and the rest isn't much better. This wouldn't have mattered at all if we were treated with a lot of fighting in between the tedious story telling, but WE'RE NOT! I'm a huge fan of Jon Liu and especially Hwang Jang Lee, but they are never allowed to show off their skills properly since they hardly get to fight.

The choreography is really sloppy in the first half of the movie, but doesn't improve nearly as much as I had hoped even for the end fight, which is over really fast. I don't know what other reviewers saw in this movie.. naturally John Liu and Hwang Jang Lee are excellent fighters and their skill somehow manages to bear to movie to some extent, but I was honestly never entertained by any part of it.

If you, like me, are into Chinese classic Kung Fu flicks of the 70's and 80s, you are likely to either have seen this or be about to do so, but I can't recommend it, in spite of it's good reputation. See Secret Rivals II instead, it's a masterpiece, this one isn't.