Zhui lie (1978) User Reviews

Shaolin Kung Fu Master

[jddog130 · 6/10 · 16 April 2015]

I forgot all about this movie. I haven't seen it since one of those late night movies I saw in the early '80s on TV.

The copy I have is directed by Wong Fei Lung and is dated 1978 and "not" directed by Jimmy Shaw in 1980 as stated here.

There are five deadly fighters all trained in they're special techniques including monkey, arm, eagle claw, staff and one that's not mentioned only to assume that he's the main villain. These fighters are being killed off one by one and our star is trying to find out who is doing it.

This kung fu movie is a bit of a mystery with good choreography, plenty fights and Wong Tao (Don Wong) as a standout. It has a pretty decent cast, with Wong Goon Hung (Kuan-Hsiung Wang) as the leading man and Tsang Chiu (Chao Tseng) plays his sidekick.

Cheung Paang (Peng Chang) has a good villain role and Chang Yi plays the main villain (which isn't revealed until later in the movie). Chang Yi has a fight with Wong Goon Hung near the end of the movie and Wong gets defeated easily by Chang Yi, but he lets him go to train for six months hoping that Wong can come back and give him a good fight. It leads to his training scene where Wong uses bamboo poles and has a bunch of cobras around him and he catches them with his hands.

All of this is over a hidden treasure of gold buried in a well on a hill. I enjoyed seeing this again, I give it 6

Of course it's an inside job

[dafrosts · 7/10 · 23 March 2018]

The five royal escorts given the task of hiding the last Manchu Prince's treasury cache are being targeted for the secret they hold. Wang Kuan-Hsiung decides to investigate as his soon to be brother-in-law (Chung Wah), is one of the five escorts. He is joined by his BFF (Tsang Chiu) who is far more interested in the ladies in each town - available or otherwise - than the investigation. The duo arrives minutes after the assassins, The Twin Sky Eagles, who have been hired to eliminate the escorts.

Kuan-Hsiung and Chiu arrive seemingly in time to save Hu (Chi Kuan-Chun), but are distracted an Hu is lured into the forest to his death. Hu uses his final breaths to tell Kuan-Hsiung and Chiu were to find the cache. The duo dashes off to the last of the four hidden escorts (Tsia Hung), but one more arrive too late. Kuan-Hsiung kills the shortest Twin Sky Eagle (Siu Wong-Lung) while the taller (Cliff Ching Ching) escapes to report all four escorts are dead. Ching Ching is, of course, murdered to prevent his telling Kuan-Hsiung and Chiu who is behind the murders.

Kuan-Hsiung and Chiu return to Chung Wah's estate to find Wah has died under unusual circumstances. A pendant Wah has given his little sister (Xiao Bun-Jiao), contains a map with directions to the cache. Wah's wife (Zhou Rui-Fang) and right hand man (Chang Peng) kill off Bun-Jiao to get the pendant.

Kuan-Hsiung and Chiu are already at the site seeking the cache, when Zhou and Chang arrive. The treasure is revealed by accident as Chang is haunted by Wah's ghost. A dry well is made from disguised gold bars.

The Prince arrives and decides to take the gold for himself, despite Kuan-Hsiung demanded it be given back to the people. A fight ensues, in which Kuan-Hsiung is badly injured. Chiu begs for a rematch in 6 months. If, Kuan-Hsiung wins, the gold goes to the people.

Why this battle is even necessary is beyond me. The movie could be wrapped up with Chiu showing an ounce of courage and taking on the Prince to aid the injured Kuan-Hsiung. But, alas, no. We get to watch sloppy training from Chiu and Kuan-Hsiung that alleges takes 6 months to accomplish. Had the one training been Chi Kuan-Chun or Don Wong Tao, I might have bought they were sincere in what they were doing. Kuan-Hsiung seems uninterested in the training and occasionally on the verge of breaking out in a whine over how hard it is. I was actually hoping the Prince would win the final fight. This is Wushu and 98% of the time, Good will triumph ve evil, even when Good seems to be phoning it in