New Shaolin Boxers
(1976)
Aka: Grandmaster of Death; Demon Fist of Kung Fu; Mad Boy; Silly Kid;
The Choy Lay Fut Kid
Chinese Title: 蔡李佛小子
Translation: Choy Li Fut Boy
Starring: Alexander Fu Sheng, Jenny Tseng, Johnny Wang
Lung-Wei, Lu Ti, Leung Kar-Yan, Jamie Luk Kim-Ming, Chan Wai-Lau, Shan Mao,
Phillip Kwok, Wang Yao, Wu Hsiao-Hui, Stephen Yip Tin-Hang, Wang Fei, Li Ying,
Wang Chang-Chi
Director: Chang Cheh
Action Director: Hsieh Hsing, Chen Hsin-I, Chen Jih-Liang
Despite its title, New Shaolin Boxers has nothing to do with Chang Cheh’s then-ongoing “Shaolin Cycle”. “Shaolin” figures into the story mainly due to the Choy Li Fut style’s origins being traced back to Shaolin, and it’s inferred that the teacher character is (or was) a Shaolin monk at one point. In any case, New Shaolin Boxers still stands proudly as one of Chang Cheh’s best movies overall and is certainly the best of his “transition” period, after he stopped working with Lau Kar-Leung and before his “Venom Mob” films.
Alexander Fu Sheng plays Zhong Jian, a carriage driver with an overdeveloped sense of justice. He’s also a kung fu student and a pretty good one at that. As a result, whenever he sees an injustice being committed, his reaction is to beat up the offender without giving a thought to property damage or the possibility of retribution from the people he beats up. The last part is especially important, considering that the town in under the iron fist of a crime boss named Feng Tian-Shan (Johnny Wang Lung-Wei). Zhong’s actions get him kicked out of his kung fu school, run by Master Zhou (Shan Mao). Nonetheless, Zhu shows compassion on his student and takes him to see Master Zhu, a former monk living in solitude.
Zhu agrees to take Zhong on as a student and teach him Choy Li Fut. Zhong learns the style and upon his return decides to set up shop as a carriage driver again. But an unfortunate twist of fate for two of his neighbors (played by Stephen Yip and Wu Hsiao-Hui) causes him to get back into the vigilante business and take Feng Tian-Shan on once more.
Chang Cheh movies generally hinge upon the concepts of vengeance and brotherhood, with his Shaolin Cycle films including an extra element of patriotism. New Shaolin Boxers does feature a little bit of revenge, but seems to be more of a criticism of the East Asian stereotype of “We don’t want any trouble.” It is very common in kung fu movies for commoners to be portrayed as spineless merchants who would prefer to be stepped on and pushed around by thugs, rather than stand up for their basic human rights and put their lives at risk. Even when gross atrocities are committed, few of them are willing to step forward as witnesses and put their lives on the line. People will gather around to watch a fight in public, but quickly turn their backs as soon as the Law shows up for fear of angering the bad guys. Even the kung fu teacher in the movie—the man responsible for teaching self-defense to his students—is reluctant for him or his students to actually use their kung fu to help others.
Obviously, Alexander Fu Sheng’s character Zhong Jian goes against the grain in this movie, being the only person willing to stand up for his fellow man. And rather than gain the admiration or respect of his compatriots for his willingness to do the right thing, all his actions get him is the ire of his compatriots…because they don’t want any trouble. As one reviewer pointed out, an appropriate alternative title for this film could be No Good Deed Goes Unpunished[1]. That point is driven home once we get to the typical Chang Cheh bloodbath ending.
Once more, the action is headed by Hsieh Hsing and Chen Hsin-I, Chang Cheh’s two main choreographers during his “transition” period. A third choreographer, Chen Jih-Liang, is credited as the “Boxing Instructor.” I assume what that means is that the two main action directors probably had a working knowledge of Choy Li Fut, and Chen Jih-Liang was an actual expert at the style who was hired to make sure its depiction was as authentic as movie fighting could be. The gamble turned out to be a successful one: New Shaolin Boxers is easily the best cinematic depiction of Choy Li Fut on record. Granted, there aren’t many movies to showcase the style, at least in its pure form. There’s a low-budget Taiwanese movie called Choy Lee Fut Kung Fu starring Cliff Lok that comes immediately to mind. Yuen Biao uses it in conjunction with other styles in both Knockabout and The Magnificent Butcher. Actor Felix Wong does a Choy Li Fut demonstration against Jackie Chan in Drunken Master 2. Finally, the less said about Choy Lee Fut (2011)—in which the style is glorified by the characters saying “Choy Lee Fut” every two sentences—the better.
The early fight scenes, in which Fu Sheng beats up both random criminals and Leung Kar-Yan, are mainly generic Chinese movie fighting (i.e. no discernible styles, moves taken from various Southern Styles) and some solid footwork from Fu Sheng. I must point out that Fu Sheng’s kicking looked especially good under the tutelage of Chang Cheh’s transitional fight choreographers. The second act of the film is the training portion, which features lots of Choy Li Fut forms plus some assorted exercise drills, mainly revolving around his carrying water. But then again, this was before 1978, when films like Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow raised the bar for creative training sequences.
The last act find Fu Sheng fighting numerous opponents, most of whom are armed with knives. Fu Sheng shakes up the action by fighting with a pole and with the shuangdao, or twin sabers. The final fight is a Choy Li Fut fight clinic put on by Fu Sheng. The only flaw here—and the only real flaw in the movie—is that there are too many cutaways to scenes of Fu Sheng’s training to show us which technique he’s using and how it’s being applied in the fight. While it does prove that the fighting on display is authentic Choy Li Fut applications, it does interrupt the flow of the action. Wang Lung-Wei counters with an uncommon weapon: a steel claw that fits around his wrist (a lá The Owl from the “Daredevil” comics). Fu Sheng whips out the broadswords at this point. As you might expect, a lot of people will be lying in pools of blood by the end of the movie. And thanks to Fu Sheng’s acting and Chang Cheh’s focus on the inability of people to do the right thing in order to save their own skins, the ending packs more of a punch than your average revenge scenario would.
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