Shaolin and Wu Tang (1983)

June 6, 2015

Gordon Liu directs this thoroughly enjoyable film.  Shaolin and Wu Tang is the story of a Prince that manipulates two schools into fighting each other.

Gordon Liu (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2) is Chun Kit the best student of the Shaolin School Instructor.  It’s a shame that Gordon Liu gets type casted as a Shaolin Monk even in movies that he directs himself.

Adam Cheng (The Legend 1 & 2, Saving General Yang) , is the student of the rival school Wu Tang instructor Master Law played by Kwan Hoi-San, and a friend to Chun Kit.

Johnny Wang is the Qing Prince who is out to get the secrets of both schools by getting them to destroy each other.

Ida Chan (Return of the Condor Heroes (1983 TV Series), Casino Raiders )is Yen Lan.  Ida Chan dated Yun-Fat Chow between 1978-1983.

Elvis Tsui (Dragon Inn, The Grandmaster (2013), The Duel) has a small role as the Reverend Fa-Chau. it was odd seeing him without any facial hair!

This movie isn’t going to win any awards, the plot is transparent the sets seemed used and cheap, it is however straight forward and fun to watch.  It’s a shame that the bad English dubbing and even worse subtitles makes the story a bit sillier than it was probably intended.  Chun Kit’s training montage is almost identical to 36 Chamber of Shaolin so that was disappointing.  However all of the martial arts are rooted in real forms so if you’re an old school martial arts fan you’re going to enjoy this.  The end fight is really something, no wires, no tricky camera angles just pure skill.

On a side note this is the film that inspired the rap group Wu-Tang Clan to take their name and they mixed some of the English Dubbing from this movie into their debut album.

Kung Fu cinema review