The Secret of Shaolin Poles.
Meng Fei plays Fong Sai-Yuk, a folk hero freedom fighter, who has a bounty placed on his head by the local commander Chang Yi. He is befriended by Lau Kar-Wing, who had been previously impersonating him, and who has questionable motives. Doris Lung plays Meng Fei's bird and close ally. The bounty on his head is pursued by Japanese expert Yasuaki Kurata, who plays Dragon Li, and whose brother, Tiger, had been killed by Meng Fei pre-film. Kurata take himself a whore, who Meng Fei takes a fancy to.
Kurata lures Fei to fight him on a collection of booby-trapped poles, and Fei is lucky to escape with his life. He is trained in the art of fighting on poles by crippled boxer Tan Tao Liang, for the final showdown with Kurata and Chang Yi.
This is a rather odd film. Why?
- The film quality I watched was poor. It was vaselined to within a smear of its life, and during action scenes there was an awful lot of image lag and motion drag. I was sober, but felt pissed.
- The story is straightforward, but held my attention relatively well. Yet despite this, I struggled to understand the double-crossing motives behind Lau Kar Wing's character.
- The pole sections, which I thought would be the major draw, played second fiddle to the iron fan fighting imo. The camerawork and acrobatics were too close-up and indistinct on the poles, whereas the ground-based scenes were filmed beautifully. I'd expect nothing less from Lau Kar Leung, the director, and can only think that the low budget meant he had to go in for close masking shots on the poles.
- Flash Legs plays a bloke hobbling around with a stick, yet still unleashes the odd flurry of kicks with both feet, and generally appears to be the hardest mofo in the film. Yes, even harder than Kurata. It left me wanting more from Flash Legs!
- Kurata plays a right hard bastard, and merciless to boot. In fact, he's the real **** of the piece. Chang Yi is supposed to be the villain, yet is tied down in his actions by a greater sense of logic and his position as an official. Consequently, Kurata's ruthlessness surprised me more than I expected. A memeorable performance from the lad.
I enjoyed this. I watched it sober and it held my attention the whole time. It's a three-act film and reasonably well-acted (for a kung fu) throughout.
One thing that confused me, though, was that in other internet reviews it has the AKA of THE PRODIGAL BOXER 2. FFS, I thought to myself! I went and bought THE PRODIGAL BOXER 2 off Jamal a few months ago. I must have bought the same film twice!
But, no!
The SECRET OF SHAOLIN POLES (1977) is AKA THE PRODIGAL BOXER 2
THE PRODIGAL BOXER 2 I have from Jamal is AKA ENTER THE WHIRLWIND BOXER (1975).
Two different films! Both featuring Meng Fei, Tan Tao Liang and Yasuaki Kurata! Action Directed by Lau Kar Wing! I think that's what threw me. Just glad to see that I have both Prodigal Boxer 2s!
Meng Fei plays Fong Sai-Yuk, a folk hero freedom fighter, who has a bounty placed on his head by the local commander Chang Yi. He is befriended by Lau Kar-Wing, who had been previously impersonating him, and who has questionable motives. Doris Lung plays Meng Fei's bird and close ally. The bounty on his head is pursued by Japanese expert Yasuaki Kurata, who plays Dragon Li, and whose brother, Tiger, had been killed by Meng Fei pre-film. Kurata take himself a whore, who Meng Fei takes a fancy to.
Kurata lures Fei to fight him on a collection of booby-trapped poles, and Fei is lucky to escape with his life. He is trained in the art of fighting on poles by crippled boxer Tan Tao Liang, for the final showdown with Kurata and Chang Yi.
This is a rather odd film. Why?
- The film quality I watched was poor. It was vaselined to within a smear of its life, and during action scenes there was an awful lot of image lag and motion drag. I was sober, but felt pissed.
- The story is straightforward, but held my attention relatively well. Yet despite this, I struggled to understand the double-crossing motives behind Lau Kar Wing's character.
- The pole sections, which I thought would be the major draw, played second fiddle to the iron fan fighting imo. The camerawork and acrobatics were too close-up and indistinct on the poles, whereas the ground-based scenes were filmed beautifully. I'd expect nothing less from Lau Kar Leung, the director, and can only think that the low budget meant he had to go in for close masking shots on the poles.
- Flash Legs plays a bloke hobbling around with a stick, yet still unleashes the odd flurry of kicks with both feet, and generally appears to be the hardest mofo in the film. Yes, even harder than Kurata. It left me wanting more from Flash Legs!
- Kurata plays a right hard bastard, and merciless to boot. In fact, he's the real **** of the piece. Chang Yi is supposed to be the villain, yet is tied down in his actions by a greater sense of logic and his position as an official. Consequently, Kurata's ruthlessness surprised me more than I expected. A memeorable performance from the lad.
I enjoyed this. I watched it sober and it held my attention the whole time. It's a three-act film and reasonably well-acted (for a kung fu) throughout.
One thing that confused me, though, was that in other internet reviews it has the AKA of THE PRODIGAL BOXER 2. FFS, I thought to myself! I went and bought THE PRODIGAL BOXER 2 off Jamal a few months ago. I must have bought the same film twice!
But, no!
The SECRET OF SHAOLIN POLES (1977) is AKA THE PRODIGAL BOXER 2
THE PRODIGAL BOXER 2 I have from Jamal is AKA ENTER THE WHIRLWIND BOXER (1975).
Two different films! Both featuring Meng Fei, Tan Tao Liang and Yasuaki Kurata! Action Directed by Lau Kar Wing! I think that's what threw me. Just glad to see that I have both Prodigal Boxer 2s!
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