Heroes of the East (1978)

Heroes of the East (1978)
aka: Shaolin Challenges Ninja; Drunk Shaolin Challenges Ninja: Challenge of the Ninja
Chinese Title: 中華丈夫
Translation: Chinese Husband

 

Starring: Gordon Liu Chia-Hui, Mizuno Yuko, Cheng Kang-Yeh, Ching Miao, Yasuaki Kurata, Kato Naozo, Harada Riki, Sumi Tetsu, Shirai Manabu, Yana Nobuo, Nakazaki Yasutaka, Omae Hitoshi, Lau Kar-Leung, Norman Tsui Siu-Keung, Simon Yuen Siu-Tin, Chow Siu-Loi 
Director: Lau Kar-Leung
Action Director: Lau Kar-Leung, Wilson Tong Wai-Shing

 

Lau Kar-Leung was definitely on a roll by the end of 1978. By December, two of his last three films had been genre masterpieces: Executioners of Shaolin and The 36^th Chamber of Shaolin. The third film, Shaolin Mantis, was definitely a very good, if somewhat flawed, movie. But Lau Kar-Leung stayed on track and by the last week of that year, was ready to unleash a gesamtkuntswerk in a career defined by classics. That would be Heroes of the East.

The story is fairly simple. Gordon Liu plays Ho To, the son of a wealthy businessman with ties to Japan. As part of a business arrangement, his father has arranged for him to marry the daughter of his Japanese partner, a young lady named Kungzi (Yuko Mizuno). Ho To is initially opposed to the marriage; depending on the version you watch, it’s either because he thought she was ugly as a child (the subbed version), or because Ho can’t stomach the idea of marrying a Japanese woman (the original dub). However, when he sees just how beautiful she is, he seems okay with the idea.

After the first blissful days of crazy early marriage sex (we would assume), tension creeps into the marriage. Kungzi is a karate practitioner, and her loud kiai are mistaken by the help for spousal abuse. When Kungzi demonstrates a judo throw on a curious Ho To, his servants (led by Cheng Ka-Yeh) spread the gossip that Ho has been turned into a human punching bag by his wife. It does not help that Kungzi’s carelessness in her practice is quickly reducing the house to rubble. Ho To doesn’t find her brutal techniques (or breast-revealing gi) to be appropriate for a woman and attempts to school her in Chinese kung fu. The marital strife based on rival martial arts styles quickly gets vicious from a both physical and verbal perspective, and an enraged Kungzi departs for Japan. When Ho To sends her a letter challenging her to a duel, the letter is intercepted by Kungzi’s teacher, a ninjitsu master named Takeno (Yasuaki Kurata). He gathers together the greatest fighters in Japan and head to China for a definitive showdown with Chinese martial arts.

For years I have nutured a fan theory that the movie was conceived by Lau Kar-Leung the year before while he choreographing the Taiwanese film The Secret of Shaolin Poles. In that film, Japanese actor Yasuaki Kurata played on the film’s principal heavies: a cocky, dishonest Japanese fighter with a penchant for defenseless Chinese girls. Lau had previously worked with Kurata in the early days of the latter’s career in films like The Angry Guest and The Four Riders. It must have pained him to see Kurata playing to such a negative stereotype: the evil “Jap” with no honor or moral center. In some ways, this film feels like an apology for all those negative roles given to Kurata over the course of his Hong Kong career. While he is Ho To’s main opponent, he is not depicted as evil, ruthless or needlessly brutal. He’s an honorable fighter who allows himself to be drawn into a conflict that isn’t his over a misunderstanding, but who comes out a better man in the end.

Over the course of the book, any movie that has dealt with the Japanese has done so in a negative light. On the same token, many films featuring Japanese villains casted Chinese actors in the role, using generic movie fighting as a substitute for karate or judo. Lau Kar-Leung sought to portray Japanese martial arts with the same degree of respect that he had demonstrated toward Southern Chinese kung fu styles, and thus hired a number of real Japanese martial artists to play the roles. Moreover, he allowed each fighter to show off a different facet of Japanese martial arts: Kendo, or swordsmanship; Karate; Nunchaku; Yari, or straight spear; Sai, or short swords; Judo; and finally Ninjitsu.

As the movie is far more balanced in its depiction of Japanese fighting styles than any other Chinese movie made before or after, it also puts husband and wife on more or less equal footing in terms of the problems in their marriage. While Kungzi strikes the first blow—quite literally(!)—Ho To allows himself to grow more arrogant and condescending as it becomes clear he has advanced in his studies more than his wife. Had Kungzi been less impulsive in her training, or had Ho To been more willing to compromise, their conflict would not have escalated the way it did.

Now, I should point out that once the duels with the Japanese masters begin, the marriage subplot resolves itself almost instantly: Kungzi starts wearing Chinese outfits and becomes Ho To’s cheerleader. There is actually a reason for that. One of the big producers at the Shaw Brothers Studios was Mona Fong, who eventually married Sir Run Run Shaw, one of the studio’s founders. Mona Fong did not like for actresses at the studio to be too empowered, for fear that it might her look less so. As a result, Kungzi’s role was reduced in the second half of the movie.

Of course, the choreography of the fight sequences is of the highest standard available. The gimmick is that for each style on display or weapon wielded, the opponent uses an analogous one from his (or her) country. Thus, we get to see the red-tassel spear against the Japanese yari, or the one-handed straight sword (jian) against the katana. When Manabu Shirai shows up with the nunchaku, Gordon Liu responds with the three-section staff. Japanese karate is countered with Drunken Boxing—the influence of The Drunken Master is obvious, from Lau Kar-Leung playing Beggar So to Simon Yuen’s casting as Gordon Liu’s teacher.

Other weapons are used, including tonfa, rope-dart and the kusari-kama, or sickle-and-chain. And fans of ninja trickery will be pleased to see darts, shuriken, tetsubishi (caltrops), and smoke bombs galore, plus their Chinese equivalents, including sleeve arrows. Better still, even when the movie finds itself in a situation where it might repeat itself, like Yasuaki Kurata wielding a sword for part of the climax, Lau Kar-Leung shakes things up by arming Gordon Liu with a broadsword (dao) and having Kurata use a different sword technique. And Lau Kar-Leung, always one to teach the viewer lessons in fighting styles, has Gordon Liu use the long-ranged crane style against a (fictitious) Japanese crab technique, which depends on low stances and close-up elbow strikes.

Released two days before the year’s end, Heroes of the East was a proper send off for a year defined by martial arts classics. The movie is overflowing with great fights, and beneath it all is a strong story about tolerance and respect between cultures, plus the true meaning of martial arts. It is the first film of that period to truly demonstrate respect to the Japanese. Sadly, not many movies would follow this film’s example, Fist of Legend being a notable exception. Forty-three years later, practically every kung fu movie released—most of which are about Ip Man—features dastardly Japanese villains. We need more Heroes of the East and less Fists of Fury, if you can catch my drift.