1977 ‘洪熙官’ Directed by Lau Kar-leung
A couple unite - she is fluent in the crane style of kung fu, he in tiger style. They have a son, but the boy's father is killed by the evil eunuch Pai Mei. Disguised as a girl, his mom trains him in crane style while he secretly learns tiger style from his father's training manual.
Hong Xi Guan, Los vengadores de Shaolin, Les Exécuteurs de Shaolin, I distruttori del tempio Shaolin, 홍희관, Mściciele z Klasztoru Shaolin, Carrascos de Shaolin, Палачи из Шаолиня
Hong Kong
USAR
France
France
Hong Kong
USA
Crane style or Tiger style? Which are YOU?
So far, Executioners From Shaolin has the revenge plot that sticks with me most (perhaps other than Drunken Master which I'm not sure is a whole revenge flick), and dips into a few more of the absurdities I tend to enjoy from HK cinema. The story revolves around a young man who falls in love with a young woman, each a devotee to a specific Kung Fu style. The beginning foray into the marital bed is not only hysterical but it plays into the unique perspectives of each of their specialties. There's just about several dozen crotch shots that happen here, every one seemingly missing its target or ending in one of…
There are few pleasures on Earth more pleasurable than a Lau Kar-leung film, even when it's not top tier mega-entertainment like 8 Diagram Pole Fighter or The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. Here, we have a pretty good and engaging narrative buildup to a final fight that isn't quite the showstopper that one would expect from Lau, in fact it's not even the best fight in the movie. But Pai Mei is one of the best Shaw Bros. villains of all time, and that giant stone staircase leading to his temple is one of the best Shaw Bros. staircases of all time. This is the good shit, everyone.
A very solid Shaw Brothers martial arts flick directed by Liu Chia-Liang (The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, The Legend of Drunken Master, etc). You know you are watching a special movie when there is a character that has a vacuum crotch that is able to neutralize kicks and punches.
Stars the (always great) Lo Lieh, Lily Li and Chen Kuan-Tai.
I was always gonna love a movie that opens with the shaw brothers best villain Pai Mei showcasing his ability to retract his genitals and vacuum up his opponent's body part (usually their foot) with his groin, as he laughs and challenges them to find what lies between his legs - THAT IS CINEMA! After Pai Mei kills his master one of his students vows vengeance and will stop at nothing to avenge his master's death even if it takes decades to do so. Hung who specializes in tiger style soon meets Yung Chun (Lily Li) who is a master in crane style and they fall in love and have a son but he still vows to become good enough…
In the long, storied history of the movies, there are few sound effects as satisfying to the ear as the sound of a hit landing in a Shaw Brothers movie.
An insane kung fu revenge movie that is fun for all the family! Executioners from Shaolin begins with the destruction of the Shaolin Temple by the evil Taoist Monk Pai Mei and moves in to a multi generational story, focusing on the Temple Master's best student and his quest for revenge while raising a family. Lo Lieh is the standout as Pai Mei. As if that hairstyle and eyebrows weren't enough, he also uses being a eunuch as his special move - trapping the foot of anyone who goes for perceived weakspot between his legs. The narrative leans heavily into comedy which is well fused with the kung fu, mixing in with scenes involving washing clothes, eating dinner and even…
The Shaolin heroes show up and try to heroically kick Lo Lieh square in the balls, but every time, if he's not just closing his eyes and enjoying it, he surprises them by trapping their feet in his gaping man-gina, where he can kill them at his ease. It's up to Chen Kuan-tai to learn the proper martial art to defeat him, through learning how to force Lily Li's legs apart on their wedding night so they can have sex. And if he can't quite figure it out, no worries, his cross-dressing son Wong Yu will master it, as long as nobody asks how. I don't know what anyone's preferred pronouns are in this one, please don't ask me. There's…
I don't know how inherent it is to the Pai Mei character to have his, uh, hole(?) where his junk used to be function as some sort of super powerful vacuum, but I have a hunch this is just Lau Kar-leung being his weird old self. Other examples that add to my case: a new-to-me chamber of Shaolin that involves trying to open your wife's legs on your wedding night, a Gremlins mechanic where Pai Mei can seemingly only be beat between 1 and 3PM, an iron training dummy that's loaded up with little pachinko balls, and for Lau-fanboys maybe more of an odd coincidence is the fact Lo Lieh (Pai Mei himself) would later remake this story, recasting Chen Kuan-tai and Lily Li Li-li with Lau regulars Kara Hui and Gordon Liu.
Genealogies of combat. Everything is mediated through martial arts: sex, family, politics, history written in styles and passed down through the hands and legs. The world is overdetermined in its divided forms until finally there comes a break in the code. The child synthesizes the mother (crane) and father (tiger), and gaps are filled with his own creation. The evolution defeats the seemingly invincible villain. New mutations are powerful in their unpredictability; a cycle is broken.
LKL’s action reminds me of Wassily Kandinsky writing on dance as point composition (Point and Line to Plane): he’ll zoom out on hands gesturing, holds, or poses, or snap in on an injury. The wider motion flows in easy, fairly simple tracks following players,…
Executioners from Shaolin hits the ground running with a fantastic fight-cameo appearance by Gordon Liu. After that the film settles down a little. But director Lau Kar-Leung has notably improved his filmmaking and storytelling skills since his last movie Challenge of the Masters. Executioners was undoubtedly his best movie up to that point, probably his first great one but certainly not his last.
Executioners is a movie that feels very well structured and paced. The fights, the comedy, characters, story and all technical aspect just fit together and create film that is not necessarily going to wow the audience in any particular way but manages to entertains on a consistently high level for the entire runtime.
There is one absolute…
The Pachinko balls said goat because Pai Mei may be one when it comes to Shaw villains.
Overall this quite a good film of the genre, has good fights, a timeline that makes the ending meaningful, and a fun family dynamic. It was mostly funny, but the honeymoon is borderline momentum breaking. Maybe the same percentage as The Deer Hunter.
An all around classic with a really head scratching middle act and a surprisingly long timeline.
