Sticks N Stones May Break My... Teeth: The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter (1983) Review Update

With the massive box set that Arrow Video released of Shaw Brothers films, named Shawscope Vol. 1, one might have expected that most of the titles they grabbed would come that way. However, they have dropped two singular titles in the wake of that set and prior to the release of Vol. 2. The first was the quintessential and historically significant Come Drink with Me. You’re welcome to read my updated review for that HERE and the second is the subject of this piece, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter. 

 

Although my initial response to The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter was more or less lukewarm, particularly in the wake of watching so many Lau Kar Leung-directed masterpieces, it’s a film whose massive effect on the kung fu cinema fanbase has always intrigued me. I know, I know. The fact that I don’t adore this film automatically makes kung fu fans want to defang me like a wolf. Still, it’s a film that often stretches itself thin with its ambitions in some small ways.  

 

More Forgiveness, Less Aggression: Challenge of the Masters (1976) Review [Shawscope Volume 1 Boxset]

Director: Lau Kar-Leung

Notable Cast: Gordon Liu, Chen Kuan-Tai, Chiang Yang, Lau Kar-Leung, Lily Li Li-Li, Lau Kar-Wing, Ricky Hui, Chiang Tao, Wong Yu, Fung Hak-On, Wilsong Tong, Shih Chung-Tien, Cheng Kang-Yeh

 

Being a kung fu cinema fan often means that I have to explain why I thoroughly enjoy the genre to many people unaware of its merits. Just the other day, an associate of mine stated, ‘How can you watch so many of those? Isn’t it all just people fighting?’ Sure, that is a certain element to the films and for those who don’t understand how modern action cinema and blockbusters owe large portions of their cinematic DNA to kung fu films from Hong Kong of this era, it can feel like it's just a bunch of folks punching and kicking one another. 

 

Like any other genre, there is a spectrum of quality to their merits. In the case of so many of Lau Kar-Leung’s films, there is a dedicated sense of soulfulness and layered meaning between the characters and their relationship to martial arts. Although 36th Chamber of Shaolin may be his most famous film to explore this relationship and topic, Challenge of the Masters is damn near as effective in exploring its characters, a sense of justice, and how martial arts bridges the two. 

 

The Young Vagabond (1985)

Director: Lau Shut-Yue

Notable Cast: Gordon Liu, Jason Pai Piao, Johnny Wang, Wong Yu, Ku Feng, Kwan Hoi-San, Kwan Fung, Wong Man-Ying

One can tell that the Shaw Brothers studio was panicking by the time the mid-80s rolled around simply due to the unfocused films they created. The 80s did produce some of their most entertaining (and solidly crafted) films too, but the majority of the material being produced seems to pale in comparison to the heights of the studio in the 1970s. The Young Vagabond is a film that had so much potential. Whether it’s the stellar casting or the ambitiously fun concept of telling the origin story of one of China’s best folklore heroes, Beggar Su, The Young Vagabond could have been one of those cornerstone Shaw Brothers films that fans fawn over for decades down the road. It could have been. It should have been. Instead, the film tends to stumble over its own feet in finding a tone and balance. Leaping from some drawn out subplots to dramatic emotional material with little in regard of fluidity. The Young Vagabond has some very intense and well executed moments, but they all sit in a film that doesn’t quite know how to put it all together.

Secret of the Shaolin Poles (1977) / Shaolin Drunken Monk (1981)

SECRET OF THE SHAOLIN POLES (1977)

Director: Ulysses Au-Yeung Jun

Notable Cast: Mang Fei, Kurata Yasuaki, Dorian Tan Tao-Liang, Chang Yu, Lau Kar-Wing, Tso Yen-Yung, Doris Lung Chun-Erh, Yeh Hsiao-Yee

Also Known As: Bruce and Shaolin Poles, The Prodigal Son 3: Secret of the Shaolin Poles

Truthfully, I waited much too long to watch Secret of the Shaolin Poles. The film has a lot of great things to hook a fan of martial arts films including a rather impressive cast that includes Mang Fei, Lau Kar-Wing, and Kurata Yasuaki and action direction from the iconic Liu Chia-Liang (Lau Kar Leung). Just those two things should have made the film one to seek out, but a lacking legitimate release hindered my enthusiasm for the film. Still, despite the poor quality of physical material – including the usual and often unintentionally humorous dubbing and horrifically cropped frame work that rears its ugly head in the final fight sequence at its worst, Secret of the Shaolin Poles is still an impressive kung fu flick.

Cat vs. Rat (1982)

Director: Liu Chia-Liang

Notable Cast: Adam Cheng Siu-Chow, Alexander Fu Sheng, Kara Hui, Hsiao Ho, Lau Kar-Wing, Gordon Liu, Wong Ching-Ho, Lydia Shum Tin-Ha, Johnny Wang, King Lee King-Chu, Cheung Chin-Pang

It’s not surprising that when I was first looking into picking up the Shaw Brothers film Cat vs. Rat, I read a lot of mixed things about the film. Despite being directed by the legendary Liu Chia-Liang and featuring a regular slew of his actors, Cat vs. Rat is a wholly mixed effort even fringing on being one of the lesser films I’ve seen from the Shaw Brothers catalog. If there is anything that this film has going for it, it’s that the focus seems to be on being a ‘fun’ film over anything else, driving towards being a slapstick comedy in the vein of what was popular in the cinemas at the time. However, the sacrifices that the film makes with its narrative, characters, and overall approach for the sake of a joke is not worth it and it ultimately crumbles apart under a scrutinizing eye. It’s a silly movie and taken as such is rather inoffensive, but for those looking for another Liu Chia-Liang classic than this is hardly on that scale.

Re:Action - Top 5 Liu Chia-Liang Films for the Shaw Brothers

Picture courtesy of Celestial Pictures social media.

Each year around the time of the Lunar New Year, I try to come up with a new Shaw Brothers list for readers and fans. Sometimes it’s hard and sometimes it’s easy. It depends on the topic. Last year I covered the ten Shaw Brothers box sets I would like to see get a physical release for collectors, but this year I wanted to cover a topic that I see asked about (and have been asked about) a million times or more, “what are the best Liu Chia-Liang [aka Lau Kar Leung] films?” As a Shaw Brothers director, he didn’t fully direct as many films as some of his peers like Chang Cheh or Chor Yuen did and yet his work with the studio can be felt in films today that have nothing to do with martial arts or even Hong Kong cinema. The way that he was able to balance heart, complex choreography, drama, entertainment, humor, and thematic threads is something that makes his films stand out even in the robust Shaw Brothers catalog and it has been a significant influence on all of action cinema. His cinematic material is, quite simply, that good.

Five Shaolin Masters (1974)

Director: Chang Cheh 
Notable Cast: David Chiang, Ti Lung, Alexander Fu Sheng, Chi Kuan-Chun, Leung Kar-Yan, Mang Fei, Fung Hak-on, Tsai Hung, Johnny Wang, Gordon Liu

Although Executioners From Shaolin struggled to impress with its stuttered story telling but impressed certainly with its action choreography, the very similar Five Shaolin Masters improves on it in every way...and it was made three years prior. With an insanely strong cast, a great kung fu revenge plot that's surprisingly well written, a director of legendary status in Chang Cheh, and choreography by the just as legendary Lau Kar Leung - there isn't a single aspect of Five Shaolin Masters to dislike...sans some of its over the top emotional pan shots that seem to litter the film, but even that is just a small issue that arises.