Sunday, March 20, 2022

Heroes of the Wild (1977)

Heroes of the Wild (1977)
aka: Heroes of Shaolin; Fox of Shaolin: Hero of the Wild; Kung Fu Challenger
Chinese Title: 大武士與小票客
Translation: Great Samurai and Little Ticket

 


Starring: Chen Sing, Hwang Jang-Lee, Ting Wa-Chung, Lo Lieh, Doris Lung Jun-Erh, Corey Yuen, Yuen Biao, Chen Ming-Li
Director: William Chang, Gwon Yeong-sun
Action Directors: Corey Yuen, Yuen Biao, Yuen Shun-Yee

Heroes of the Wild is a special film for martial arts movie enthusiasts. Peking Opera classmates Yuen Biao and Yuen Kwei, who had spent most of the year as Yuen Woo-Ping’s assistants, moved up in the world and took on the job as head fight choreographers, alongside Woo-Ping’s brother, Yuen Shun-Yee. Corey Yuen has since gone on to be one of the best action directors in world action cinema, so this film is a treat in that it shows us what he was capable of doing when given enough leeway[1]. It was also Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee’s fourth film of 1977 and features one of his more versatile fighting performances. Taiwanese starlet Doris Lung also gets one of her best fighting performances, too. And all this, plus a strong story, compelling characters, and a great chemistry between lead actors Chen Sing and Ting Wa-Chung, who was maturing as an actor by this point.

The movie begins with a teenage boy (Ting Wa-Chung) flying a kite on the beach with his dad. Then it comes. Anyone who's watched a lot of kung fu movies knows what I'm talking about. It's that musical rift ripped off from The Spy Who Loved Me in the pyramids-Jaws scene. Almost always it's used to introduce some bad guy. The guy in this movie is Tu Ta-Shen (Chen Sing) and he's come to challenge the dad to a fight. They fight and Tu wins, causing the dad to commit suicide as a form of honor. However, before dying, the dad asks Tu to carry out a last request: bring to justice a traitor, Nan (Hwang Jang-Lee), who's begun siding with Qings in order to overthrow the Ming dynasty. Tu accepts and decides to take the man's teenage son with him, in order to train him for revenge.

Some time later, we find Tu and the son, Siao Hu, traveling along the countryside in capes and cone-shaped straw hats. They kind of look like wandering samurai, which isn't surprising, as this part of the storyline is vaguely reminiscent of the old Lone Wolf and Cub films—even the literal translation of the title suggests a direct inspiration. The two arrive in a town and Tu makes contact with some mysterious dude in a mask (the mask looks like the "Oni" mask that I saw in an old Sega game called “Black Belt”).

The resulting conversation teaches us that Tu is not only a martial artist, but an assassin as well. Actually, he's an assassin of the most dangerous type: if he doesn't agree the client's choice of who to knock off, he knocks off the client and takes their money. Makes me wonder how he'd get any business. I guess when you're dealing with the best, you're willing to take a few risks.

So the guy in the mask hires Tu to kill Nan as well, but tells him that he should go through Nan's colleague, Lui (Lo Lieh). Tu and Siao Hu challenge Lui to a duel, but Lui sends his effeminate student to meet them. Siao Hu takes the challenge but is beaten for his efforts. Tu nurses Siao Hu back to health and begins to train him further in kung fu. Some time later, Tu and Siao Hu pay a visit to Lui and his gang. Siao Hu has a rematch with the rather delicate student, who gets his hind parts handed to him on a silver platter. Tu does the same thing to Lui, but ends up getting injured when Lui pulls some dirty tricks on him.

Tu and his young follower reverse roles as Siao Hu now has to nurse Tu back to health. By then, Nan has found out about Tu's plans to defeat him and sends his two grandsons (Corey Yuen and Yuen Biao) to finish him off...but they too get whooped. To add insult to injury, those two came in armed with weapons that pierce and slash and they still couldn't beat an unarmed Tu. But don't worry, the fight itself is quite a sight to behold and is a good example of the high-quality weapons fighting in this movie.  

By this time, Nan is ready to duel with Tu. And they do. However, this time Tu gets to learn the lesson of what happens whenever you try to step to Hwang Jang-Lee, especially before the climatic fight: You get whooped. Hwang Jang-Lee is one of those guys whom you do not want to fight, especially if you're not the main hero. Because if you aren't, chances are that your number is up. Yup, you don't stand a chance against Hwang. Hwang will destroy you. Even if you're the main hero, oftentimes you need a partner to beat Hwang. And sometimes, that's just not enough.

This is one of the movies in which the plot plays an important part in the film and one of the few old school movies that I've seen where character relationships play an important role in pushing the story forward. This isn't to say that the movie has to sacrifice fights for character development; the movie has a healthy balance of both. The character development is exemplified by the relationship between Tu Ta-Shen and Siao Hu. Siao Hu begins the film with nothing but hatred and contempt for Tu Ta-Shen but as the film progresses, he learns to channel his hatred and develops a certain degree of respect for his rival. This comes to a climax shortly after Tu's first duel with Nan. Siao Hu's development as a character is found not only on the personal side, but on the martial arts side. Siao Hu starts off the film as a whiny kid who can barely swing a pole. As the film progresses, his fighting skills gradually improve. Unlike other films, where the kid is a kung fu master after one simple training montage, Siao Hu's growth is more realistic. At the last reel of the film, we learn to what extent his skills have truly developed.

Tu Ta-Shen's character is just as memorable as Siao Hu's. He's a man of honor and principle. He works as an assassin, but has a personal code which prevents him from killing those of honor and integrity. Also beneath his violent exterior is a certain degree of tenderness, as demonstrated by the affection he learns to feel for Siao Hu, who should be his rival, and for the aforementioned prostitute. What's interesting is that the character is played by Chen Sing, who was one of the great perennial villains of the old school. If you’ve seen The Himalayan, you’ve seen just how sleazy and despicable a villain Chen could be. But Chen in fact played a hero in many of his earlier films, like The Bloody Fists; The Two Cavaliers; and The Rage of Wind. As Tu Ta-Shen, Chen gets to combine aspects of both his heroic and villainous roles to create a compelling antihero for the audience to root for.

Villainy is provided by Hwang Jang-Lee and company. One review I read of this film said that this was Hwang "at his white-haired nastiest." I think that's a bit of an overstatement, as he was far more evil in movies like Invincible Armor and Secret Rivals, Part II. Actually, his character is fairly restrained in this one. He's supposed to be a traitor the Mings, but his character is far more interested in being a champion than in any political machination. We learn the reason for this seemingly inconsistent behavior at the climax.

In addition to our man Hwang, supporting villains are played by Lo Lieh, Lung Jun-Erh, Yuen Biao, and Corey Yuen. All four of them do a good job with their roles and the film's choreographers provide everyone with a good showcase of his or her talents. Most notable is Doris Lung Jun-Ehr as Hwang’s granddaughter, who fights with a combination of the snake fist style and a pair of short, double-bladed spears. Her character is implied to be the superior to that of her brothers—the two Yuens—and she does especially well in her fight scenes, of which she has a few.

I want to note that Corey Yuen, who helmed the choreography alongside Yuen Biao, gets to fight in front of the camera. I say this because most people (fans of the genre) know him to more of a director and choreographer than an actor. He's worked on some of the best action films of the 1980s, more than half of Jet Li's filmography, and a bunch of other movies over the years. He's a creative choreographer, so with that in mind, it's refreshing to see him fighting in front of the camera just as much as directing behind it. Actually, he's had supporting villain roles in about four Hwang Jang Lee movies that I've seen, including Invincible Armor and Dance of the Drunk Mantis. Now I just need to see Yuen Woo-Ping and Ching Siu-Tung fight in a movie and I'll be satisfied.

The two Yuens to a great job of choreographing the plentiful fights. The style of choreography is characteristic of the era, an intricate combination of real kung fu styles and some acrobatics (probably provided by the Yuens as well). In a lot of movies, the players can take a lot of blows during a fight and still keep on going. Here, the power of the hits in emphasized and the actors aren't able to take as much punishment. This helps give the fights a slightly more realistic flavor, which is refreshing.

For you purists out there, you should be glad to know that there's a lot to see in this movie. Chen Sing uses his infamous tiger style while Hwang Jang-Lee uses the Eagle's claw/tae kwon do combination that he uses in a lot of other movies. Fans of Hwang Jang-Lee shouldn't be disappointed with his performance in this movie. He once again shows us that he can fight with his hands and with weapons just as well as he can kick. His kicking is good in this movie, although not as over-the-top as it is in some of his other movies. However, it's still used to good effect and depicted with a large amount of power.

Ting Wa-Chung, who plays Siao Hu, uses a combination of the praying mantis style and the tiger style, which is cool. Ting has always come across as a C-grade imitator of Meng Fei and Alexander Fu Sheng. He had that young baby face and petulant attitude. Today he’s most known—by hardcore fans—for showing up in the flawed Death Duel of the Mantis and the grade-Z Drunken Master rip-off Peculiar Boxing Tricks and the Master. This film represents Ting’s best work as both an actor and a fighter. He uses that Fu Sheng-esque arrogance to good effect, and some solid emoting when he has the opportunity to kill his master in a cheap shot.

There's also a lot of weapons work in this movie. Actually, the weapons work is some of the best that I've seen and ranks alongside Lau Kar-Leung's Shaolin Challenges Ninja in variety and quality. Hwang, showing his versatility, fights with a pudao, or assault blade (also known as a horse blade, as it was used in battle to slice off the legs of horses from under them) and looks great. Also seen are the double sai swords, pole, three-sectional staff, spear-tipped batons, sword and tonfa, and the shuangdao (that sword that "miraculously" splits into two swords). It's all great stuff.

I highly recommend this movie. It's an excellent film with great characters to compliment great fight scenes. Or is it vice-versa? That doesn't matter. What matters is that when you watch this movie, you'll not only get a showcase for about seven famous martial arts performers, but you get a compelling story to go along with it. If that's not enough for you, I don't know what is.


[1] - According to the Hong Kong Movie Database, he worked as choreographer on Duel of the Dragons; Kung Fu 10th Dan; and two Manda the Snake Girl films. We believe this film, however, is where he really came into his own.

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