Synopsis
Tongyang brings his rickshaws into town and starts using his hired muscle to dominate the clientele.
Shaolin Kung Fu
1974 ‘少林功夫’ Directed by Joseph Kuo
Director
Genre
Popular reviews
More-
Subway Cinema’s 9th Old School Kung Fu Festival 2021
Nothing to do with Shaolin really, this is just a conflict between rival rickshaw companies that escalates to mass murder. Wen Chiang-Lung plays the lead, an irresistibly handsome but reluctant fighter who finally goes berserk when the baddies murder literally every woman who is nice to him. Pretty forgettable kung fu fare.
Read my interview this week with Grady Hendrix about Joseph Kuo and the OSKFF here.
Joseph Kuo films ranked here.
-
Has almost nothing to do with Shaolin and really not much kung fu either, at least of the philosophical variety you’d find in more reputable films. Instead it has a whole lot of fighting: quick and brutal, if not especially gory. The initial setting, sporadic fisticuffs breaking out between rival rickshaw companies, recalls Sammo Hung’s Pedicab Driver, as does its milieu of the working poor (in both films the drivers are equated with bar girl/prostitute counterparts). But there’s none of the nuanced world Sammo builds in his film, with its self-contradictory codes of brotherhood and patriarchy. Instead, building out of bits and pieces of Bruce Lee movies, Joseph Kuo sticks doggedly to one idea: a hero who has sworn off…
-
This fairly low budget eastern has nothing to do with "Shaolin" or "Shaolin Kung-Fu" for that matter. The fights aren’t as polished as in Shaw Brothers movies from that era but they do have good energy and there are plenty of them. The bad guys are really mean, which (even though Chiang-Lung Wen isn’t the most charismatic guy in the world) makes it easy to root for the hero. So, all in all, a solid watch for hardcore Kung-Fu enthusiasts. Newcomers, should start somewhere else.
-
Excellent beat ‘em up. There’s a brutal brawl at a rock quarry that’s physical, dangerous, and inventive. The hero is surrounded by some of the most annoying goody goody stock characters (blind wife who begs him not to fight, moronic and helpless kid, weak and ineffectual Uncle).
-
Shaolin Kung Fu. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Kinda. There is a lot of kung fu, though I doubt much is of the Shaolin style.
A film about a constantly escalating cycle of revenge, with what starts as a business dispute between rival rickshaw operators morphing into a bloody war which leaves about 90% of the named cast dead.
Chiang-Lung Wen makes a good lead in the Bruce Lee style, starting out as a punching bag for jerks due to his wife’s prohibition on him kicking ass. But soon enough he has to break his vow and after gomba stomping the big bad’s son to death, he is constantly provoked into greater violence, culminating in him storming…
-
Never fuck with another man’s rickshaw. Or kill his blind wife.
Two great life rules.
-
80% energetic fight scenes, 10% rickshaw etiquette, 5% blind women being threatened, 5% whiny kid with eggs + 1 dude who had all his organs broken when the hero stomped his sternum. Simon Abrams tells me this is basically a remake/ripoff of King Boxer, which I haven't yet seen; if so, at least it was smart enough to emphasize the good parts.
-
A Taiwanese low budget martial arts movie that you can take or leave.
Decent fight choreography, good direction, terrible dub, below average reluctant fighter turned revenge story. It’s possible the Mandarin language edition comes off better, who knows if I’ll ever find out. A good final fight scene by a river may convince you.
-
-
Another “Shaolin” movie that has nothing to do with Shaolin. It’s actually a pretty well done basher about escalating conflict around the rickshaw business. Of course our protagonist is an ass kicker that tries to avoid conflict, but gets dragged deeper and deeper into the conflict. Chiang-Lung Wen is not the most exciting lead, he lacks the swagger you want for this type of movie although he’s got some moves. Things culminate in a pretty fun fight on a tiny boat. It’s not Joseph Kuo’s best movie, but it is well made despite how generic it is.
-
Given that this movie is about a rickshaw driver with incredible fighting abilities, 'Shaolin Kung Fu' us a pretty bland name.... A better title for this movie would have been something like 'Rickshaw Killers' -- but then again, that probably conjures images of some kind of Mad Max vehicular fighting, lol.
This movie is more of a John Wick kind of vibe: a hero who is uninterested in fighting until he feels he has no choice, and then him dealing with the consequences of now having chosen to fight.
Chock full of intense action, melodrama, and histrionics.... this movie kept reminding me why I always enjoy this genre.
Also: around the mid-point of the movie, there's a villain with a moustache, shades, and a hat... the total effect of which makes him look like an evil Chuck Mangione. Priceless.
Watched as part of Subway Cinema & The Museum of the Moving Image's 'Old School Kung Fu Fest' virtual screening
-
Wow this was actually a really fun film and a great start to the Cinematic Vengeance box set (if you're watching in original release order)
The action is non-stop and though the writing can be bad at times, it's secondary the constant feed of fight scenes.