Shao Lin men
Tags: violence

Plot synopsis:
During the Qing Dynasty the Shaolin disciples are hunted down by a powerful warrior who wants to rid the Shaolin men from China. At a remote training camp a group of Shaolin train together, their best student Yun Fei is given the task of taking down Shih Shao-Feng and his reign of terror. Along the way he befriends Chan Yuan-lung's character named Tan Feng, who is a blacksmith.
Yun Fei arrives at Shih's camp and tries to take him, but fails. His Shaolin techniques are useless against Shih's "extended iron claw". When Shih beats him, he leaves the rest to his eight bodyguards, who each have weapons such as swords, shields and spears.
Yun Fei escapes with the help of the blacksmith, goes to a village and discovers Shih's men are taking apart the village and pillaging anything they can to scare the villagers into submission.
Tan befriends two people along the way, including a brilliant swordsman who has never drawn his sword after he accidentally killed a prostitute he loved.
The team forms a coalition to defeat Shih Shao-Feng.
With battle plans laid and the heroes trained, they prepared themselves for the battle ahead of them. After their training, Yun Fei's friends cut off his pigtail. Yun Fei and all the heroes will create a diversion, where they will assail Shih's headquarters in separate groups.
The diversion and ambush on the following day is ultimately successful. Luring away Shih's lieutenant Tu Ching (Sammo Hung) Tan Feng is the first to act in the climatic act. Arriving at the gate where the pagoda which is the stronghold of the main villain, he proceeds to kill off several guards, including two of Shih Shao-Feng's elite fighters. Whilst the rest of the characters reached a grassland where four more elite fighters under Shih's command comes by. Leading to a prolonged, lengthy fight between the heroes and four more of Shih's elite warriors.
Unfortunately for Yun Fei's gang, the battle went on longer than anticipated, and Shih realised their plans. Tan Feng went back to rendezvous with his friends and assist them in battle, but is mortally wounded whilst killing another elite. Yun Fei and the other heroes managed to kill the rest of the elites and they escapes, with Shih, Du and a small troupe of their men in pursuit.
More and more of the heroes are killed as the film reaches its end, while nearby a beach Yunfei beats Tu to death and kill off Shih's last elite fighter.
In the end, Yunfei faces off against Shih and his remaining soldiers. All which he defeats single-handedly, then he fights Shih and wins.
The movie ends with Yunfei strolling past the graves of all his friends, paying his respects.

Review: The Hand of Death aka Countdown in Kung Fu (1976) is a vastly underrated early work by director John Woo. The film stars Dorian Tan (Tan Tao-liang) and features Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and James Tien in significant supporting roles.
This is not a Jackie Chan film, Dorian Tan is the star but Jackie gives one of his best (most serious) early performances.The Hand of Death is about a Shaolin disciple named Yunfei (Tan) who is sent on a mission to assassinate a Shaolin traitor named Shih Xiaofeng (Tien) and protect a revolutionary named Zhang Yi (Woo).
Along his journey Yunfei meets up with a young woodcutter named Tan (Chan) and a disgraced sword fighter (Chang Chung) known as "the wanderer." Both men have suffered at the hands of Shih and want to take revenge.
The three team up to defeat Shih and his eight bodyguards and escort the revolutionary to safety.The martial arts action is above average under the direction of Sammo Hung.
Dorian Tan uses his trademark high kicks very effectively as the "Northern eighteen styles kicks" along with some "Southern five styles boxing." Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan provide excellent martial arts performances as well.
Some of the early fights are a bit slow and seem over choreographed but the final showdowns featuring Chan, Tan and Hung are very good.Director John Woo provides plenty of interesting character development in the film, which is refreshing.
Hand of Death is not Jackie and Sammo's usual kung fu comedy.
The film is one of the best artistically of its time and a preview of the great things to come from Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung.
Hung's great choreography is put on display here before his directorial debut and Chan's early charisma and talent can be clearly seen.Hand of Death is a solid, stylish old school kung fu film and a brilliant early work of the legendary John Woo.Kung Fu Genre Rating 7.5/10 Wanderer to Tan (referring to his new weapon): "The Little Eagle Wing God Lance." Tan: "Just a knickknack.".
Only John Woo Feature with Chan/Hung/Biao.
Made during the martial arts period of his career, John Woo came up with one of his best films from this early Woo era.
Shao Lin Men/Hand of Death(1975) features one of the early and most impressible performances from future Hong Kong action hero, Jackie Chan.
The main actor Tao-Liang Tan has faded out of the Hong Kong film scene after appearing in this movie while Chan and Hung would go on to become big stars.
The fight scene in the beach would be repeated by John Woo in both Heroes Shed No Tears(1985) and Mission:Impossible 2(2000).
At a remote training camp the last few shaolin men train, their best student (flash legs tan) is given the task of taking down James Tien and his reign of terror.
Along the way he befriends Jackie Chan who appears as a farmer however Jackie disappears (reappearing later on).He arrives at the main arena (Where James Tien is) and tries to take on Tien, but fails dismally - his shaolin techniques are useless against Tien's extended iron claw.
When Tien beats him, he leaves the rest to his eight bodyguards, each mastering different weapons such as swords, shields, staffs, etc.Half-beaten, Flash Legs Tan goes to a village and discovers Tien's men are taking apart the village and pillaging anything they can to scare the villagers into submission.Tan befriends two people along the way, including a brilliant swordsman who has never drawn his sword after he failed to protect his wife.The two men meet up with Jackie again and they convince themselves to stop Tien now or not at all and start training (which I found the best part of the film).The film as a whole is a good one, though pretty slow in places, the fight sequences are on a par with later movies - though expect overly long fight sequences..
This early John Woo movie stars Dorian Tan as the good guy and has an supporting appearance from Jackie Chan as a blacksmith who was a Shaolin disciple.
The structure of the fight scenes in the last half-hour showdown were later used in films such as Mission:Impossibe Part II.The two flaws this movie has is the fight scenes are shot at awkward angles, making them look fake.
Early in John Woo's career as a director in Hong Kong, he had the auspiciousness to direct three of the seven fortunes in Yuen Biao, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung in their first movie together Hand of Death (1976: Chinese Title literally means Shaolin Gate) though much was not made of this at the time because they were all struggling to make a career.
An interesting point, in hindsight, is that the star of the film is none of the three (it is hard to spot Yuen Biao as his role is of a stunt double and bit actor) but Korean export and Tae Kwon Do expert Dorian Tan Tao-Liang.Dorian Tan Tao-Liang stars as Yun Fei a Shaolin trained fighter looking to find Zhang Yi (John Woo) and escort him through White Stone town and across the White River.
He can get a hold of Zhang by contacting pupil Chiu Guo. However, when he is found, he has already been arrested and ready to be beheaded by the Manchus led by a traitor of the Shaolin Shih Xiaofeng (ubiquitous bad guy James Tien: Fearless Hyena, Winners and Sinners) who has taught himself White Crane Soul Chaser Style (he is the titular Hand of Death).
Even though his Kung Fu is superior, he has the additional help of Eight Bodyguards with different styles and two top ranking guards in Smiling Fox and Du Ching (Sammo Hung who also does the stunt coordination) whose overbite is quite preposterous and resembles a "hopping vampire" though he is trained in tiger and crane styles.Yun Fei gets the assistance of a woodcutter Tan, who helped him earlier to get past a roadblock and dispose of a body (a true friend helps you get rid of a corpse).
Tan also obtains the help of "The Wanderer" (Yeung Wai) an expert swordsman who accidentally killed a prostitute he was in love with also because of Shih and would have given up his sword for good if it was not for Yun. These men will help Zhang Yi get across the river to get the plans to help once and for all defeat the Qing Empire and restore the Ming Dynasty (the plot of the Qing Dynasty as bad guys is one of the staples of Hong Kong martial art movies like Heroes Two, Royal Tramp and Iron Monkey).Many will have bought, borrowed or rented this movie because of the presence of Jackie Chan.
He originally was only supposed to have a stunt man role (helped hired onto the film by his "big brother" Sammo Hung) but as John Woo found one of the Korean actors lacking in the physical department, he replaced his part with Jackie Chan and expanded his role according to an interview with Lee Server in "Asian Pop Cinema" he stated he "changed the whole script to focus more on him and show his great skill." though there might be some fraudulent hindsight with that statement.
Jackie originally had been the stunt coordinator for Woo's first film Young Dragons (1975) that came out a year earlier.
Jackie did get hurt on the film, getting knocked unconscious after being pulled by a cable while being kicked by Dorian Tan and landing and hitting his head on a rock (though this would not be as bad as his most famous accident in Operation Condor where he almost lost his life).Others might watch this because it belongs in the oeuvre of John Woo. It is still very early in his career (his fourth film in two years of being a director), but you can see traces of his talent.
There are some nice hand-held scenes, a little use of slow motion and hints of "heroic bloodshed" elements (though this would come to blossom in Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979)) like an early scene when Jackie Chan and Dorian Tan first meet which seemed to hint a certain homoerotism (or else those were some of the most strange smiles I have ever seen), but then failed to capitalize on it later in the film.Overall, this is a decent, yet unspectacular film.
The direction is solid, yet it does not feel like a John Woo directed movie.
Jackie Chan is also awesome with his fighting and you get to see him use a spear the Little Eagle God Lance as it is called in the film (which that and the staff are the traditional weapons that Jackie is best with).
The highlight fight scenes of the movie are when Jackie fights several of the Eight Bodyguards and later when Dorian fights Sammo.
The latter is especially impressive because of Sammo's willingness to hurt his body to make Tan look good.
James Tien is not much of a martial artist, though his acting if fine as he is the consummate Hong Kong bad guy, so his hand-to-hand combat scenes are a bit pedantic though he has one scene wielding a sword that was good..
Old-school martial arts 'classic' Hand of Death has a rather formulaic 'men on a mission'-style storyline, its high-kicking hero Yun Fei (Tao-Liang Tan) teaming up with several other skilled fighters to deal a blow to the evil Ching dynasty by killing traitor Shih Shao-Feng (James Tien), while protecting a revolutionary named Zhang Yi, who is carrying a map vital to the anti-Ching cause.But although the plot isn't all that inspired, the film will undoubtedly still prove of interest to avid Hong Kong movie/kung fu fans thanks to its director, Wu Yu Sheng, better known as John Woo, and the involvement of several performers who would go on to be major players in the Asian martial arts movie scene, most notably superstar Jackie Chan, who appears in a supporting role as vengeful brother Tan Feng, and Sammo Hung (sporting hilarious fake buck teeth) as Ching henchman Lord Du.Eagle-eyed viewers may also spot Yuen Baio as the guard killed with an arrow by Shih Shao-Feng, and Yuen Wah (my favourite martial arts villain of the 80s) as a bodyguard.
I didn't.As far as the action is concerned, Woo handles his fight scenes competently but with few of the stylish touches that he would later become known for (there's minimal use of slo-mo and absolutely zero doves in churches).
The martial arts involves a variety of styles and weaponry, enough to ensure that boredom never sets in, but in the end it won't be the fighting that most people will remember this film for, but rather the burgeoning talent involved.6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for Sammo's teeth..
Before the era of heroic bloodshed John Woo the master of gun-fu make some martial arts movies and the one i particular interest in is The hand of Death starring Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung.The movie is quite genetic with a plot has been done many time before and even when it featuring a young Jackie Chan he not even the main character.Fan of old school martial arts will enjoy this movie.
Funny how most of the DVD covers for "Hand of Death" has Jackie Chan all over it, despite him only having a supporting role in the movie.
But his face sells.Regardless, then "Hand of Death" is one of the more interesting movies to Jackie Chan's impressive movie list, prior to making it on an international scale.The story in "Hand of Death" is fairly simple, yet straight to the point.
And, of course, the sound effects here are hilarious - as they tended to be in many of these old action movies.Tao-liang Tan was doing quite a good job in this movie, and it wasn't Jackie Chan who was in focus in this movie.
As much as Sammo Hung Kam-Bo used to make great movies back in the day, then the buck-teeth he had to wear in this movie was just a bit too over the top.
It was also good to see Wah Yuen in the movie, despite a very small and brief appearance only, not to forget about Biao Yuen as well."Hand of Death" is well worthy of a place in the movie collection of anyone who is fan of martial arts movies (or Jackie Chan's movies).
Jackie Chan and John Woo learning their trade.
From the 'Golden (Harvest) age of kung fu comes this old school period style film from a bunch of young guns lead by director Wu Yu Shang (later to become famous as John Woo) featuring Tao Liang Tan (Dorian Tan) James Tien, Chan Yuan Lung (Jackie Chan), Hung Kam Bo (Sammo Hung) and Biao Yuen (Yuen Biao).
James Tien is far more charismatic in the lead villains role, with Hung providing trademark support as a semi comedic henchman.
Jackie Chan fills one of the two main friend of the hero roles and gets a couple of spots to show his wares, including what may be the best fight sequences in the film, as one of his adversaries has the most interesting weapon in the movie, a sort of sword blade on the end of a chain.
(Credit IMDb) Superkicker Dorian Tan Tao-liang plays a Shaolin student who must find a Manchu traitor responsible for the murder of the abbot.
Jackie Chan is a spear fighting expert who decides to help Tan because the traitor killed his brother.
Part of their mission is to help a scholar make it safely across the river without getting killed from the Manchus.I've been checking out Jackie's older works as of late.
The movie doesn't look dated at all but you can tell how old it is when you see the young Jackie Chan and skinny Sammo Hung, with some strange looking teeth.
I was expecting hard hitting action from this John Woo movie but I was quite disappointed.
Anyway, an ex-Shaolin student, Shih (James Tien), leaves the temple and creates his own clan called the Manchu.
Yun Fei (Tao-Laing Tan), who is the most promising Shaolin student, goes on a mission to kill Shih but he knows that he can't do it alone because he is heavily guarded by the Manchu army, led by officer Tu Ching (Sammo Hung), who was also an ex-student at the Shaolin temple.
Yun Fei recruits Tan Feng (Jackie Chan) who is seeking revenge after the Manchu killed his brother.
Its a well put together storyline which is pretty intense throughout but the action scenes really did let the movie down.
There isn't any silly comedy throughout the movie, thank God but the sound effects were pretty bad during the action scenes and some of the fighting seemed to go on forever.
With that aside, I have seen worse Kung Fu movies and I was quite impressed with Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung.
Watchable!Round-Up: This is the 4th major release from John Woo, 69, who has become famous for his detailed action scenes and unique gun movement styles.
He then started to make films for the western market, like Broken Arrow and the great Face/Off. In 2000 he made Mission Impossible II, which does have some impressive action scenes and he made Windtalkers, with Nicolas Cage and the poor Paycheck with Ben Affleck.
Personally, I think that he is definitely one of the best action directors because of his unique style but now that he has been out of the picture for some time, I can't really see him coming back to the Western market anytime soon.I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/martial arts movies starring Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Biao Yuen, James Tien, John Woo and Wah Yuen.
THE HAND OF DEATH most definitely rates a ten on a scale of one to- due, in no small part, to John Woo's masterful direction, coupled with Kat's superb cinematography: some of the leisurely tracking shots alone are worth the price of a rental; there are moments when this one borders on becoming an art-house film.
Both James Tien and Sammo Hung make for the kind of villains you can't help but love to hate.
Sammo's goofy "buck teeth" only make an already unsavory character seem even more flawed; that he also happens to be a skilled martial artist makes him even less likable- in a villain you love to hate kind of way.
Jackie Chan appears briefly (early on and late in the going) as a blacksmith, and I believe I actually glimpsed Yuen Biao somewhere along the way.
This movie gets funnier by the second--like when Jackie Chan's character finally dies in his final fight scene.
If you're looking for an amazing film in the realm of great production value, good or even mediocre acting, and good special effects...this is NOT that movie.
It is also the only movie where Jackie Chan has been killed on screen.Basically an evil emperor is banning all Shou-lung warriors and one particular warrior has betrayed the order and has joined the emperor.
He tries to sneak into the order but he is found out and swiftly beaten, but he manages to escape, builds up his force, and then returns to kick butt.The plot is basic and has no interesting character developments and interactions as the later Woo movies, though one of the characters refuses to fight because he accidentally killed his mistress.
This movie does not have any of Woo's dazzling camera effects that become obvious in later movies, nor does it focus on minor things that bring out the characters more, but it does show a side that we rarely see, and that is that a great filmmaker must come from somewhere.Though it is not the best, it is a start for somebody who goes on to become a famous, and much admired film-maker.