In a forest clearing, a Shaolin Monk (shaded under a large
dome-like straw helmet) is confronted by the notorious Silver Fox (Hwang Jang
Li), a deadly assassin for the Manchus. The Fox formally introduces himself and
coldly demands the Monk hand over a written secret message. When the Monk
refuses, the Fox declares the man is "as good as dead!" and unleashes
a flurry of jaw-dropping kick combinations against the Monk's ineffective staff
technique. A double flying kick sends the Monk to meet his maker as two of the
Fox's henchmen show up and retrieve a crumpled note from the dead man's clenched
fist. The Fox scolds his henchmen for letting the Monk get as far as he did.
At the Shaolin Temple, a group of messengers, led by Lee
and Yuen, are given a new secret message to deliver to the resistance movement
in the South. The film's main titles are superimposed over the squeezed image of
the entourage of messengers as they embark on their dangerous mission (musically
underscored by a royal processional theme). Just as the men are about to board a
small boat, a group of the Silver Fox's knife-wielding thugs attack and stab
each member of the entourage and throw them into the river. Lee, the lead
messenger, takes multiple stabs while his son, Tso, watches in horror and is
also stabbed and knocked into the water. Sitting on his throne, the Fox listens
to his men boast of successfully stopping the messengers. The Fox is angered
when he learns that they forgot to retrieve the message that Tso carried. The
thugs assure the Fox that the message is on the bottom of the river. The Fox
pays his men but is not satisfied until he chokes one of the thugs to death for
betrayal.
The young Lee Tso lies upon the river's shore barely
clinging to his life. He is discovered and dragged to a quaint cave dwelling by
a hermit Monk named Tang. Tang miraculously revives the boy through prayer and
pressure point therapy. Tang emits a painful, chronic cough and comments,
"you'll recover... unlike me." Some time passes as Tso (now sporting a
short cropped beard) strolls through the forest and into a village where he
encounters some of the Fox's men in a teahouse. Violence erupts when a
pickpocket bumps into one of the thugs and steals his money. Tso teaches the men
a lesson during a light, comical fight scene. Tso takes the stolen purse off the
pickpocket and gives it to the teahouse owner as compensation for the damage and
destruction.
Impressed by Tso's Kung Fu skill, the pickpocket follows
the young man and strikes up a conversation. They encounter an old man cooking
rice in and the pickpocket demands some food. With a wooden spoon and a pot lid,
the old man shows remarkable skill in deflecting the pickpocket's advances. Tso
eventually recognizes the old man as Monk Chung, a friend of his master Tang. An
abrupt flashback depicts how Tang taught Tso all of his Kung Fu secrets. A
flashback training sequence shows how Tso accidentally killed Tang during his
final Kung Fu test. Like a martyr, Tang dies happy with the knowledge that his
secret "Flying Fish" style has been passed on to a worthy
practitioner. Back to the present, the Fox and Tso begin separately training for
their eventual confrontation (they obviously read the script!) as Monk Chung
heads South. The pickpocket's not-so-shocking sexual identity is revealed after
a run-in with another group of the Fox's thugs on a bridge. The pickpocket
admits she is a female named Yuen Ling and that her father was killed in the
same messenger entourage massacre as Tso's dad. With a common revenge motive,
Tso and Ling engage in yet another encounter with the Fox's thugs. This time,
Ling flaunts her advanced fighting skills.
The Fox is in a rage when two of his thugs return home
dead, "killed by mere novices!" During the Fox's rant, a flying dagger
with a note sinks into his chamber wall, offering Tso's challenge to fight! The
Fox is anxious to kill Tso but two of his henchmen vow to kill Tso for him. As
Tso prepares for the next day's battle, Ling reveals that they were pre-arranged
for marriage by their parents. Tso agrees to honor the families' wishes but
doesn't want Ling involved in the next day's duel with the Fox.
In an open field, the Fox's two bald henchmen drag a
coffin as they approach Tso. The fighting gets heavy and Tso is has a tough time
(some of this fight scene is shot with an interesting diagonally-distorting
lens.) Back at the Fox's lair, a horse-driven cart trots in with a covered body.
It is the stacked corpses of the two henchmen who lost to Tso! Tso arrives and
confronts the Fox, face to face. As Tso and the Fox square off, Ling shows up
and handles two swordsmen while Monk Chung effortlessly fends off a group of
thugs and helps himself to the Fox's lavish buffet. Tso and the Fox start off
with some simple hand techniques that soon escalate into wild somersaults and
kicks. The Fox gets the upper hand with a devastating series of beautifully
executed spin and flying kicks. Chung joins in and restrains the Fox while Tso
delivers some fatal pressure point and throat strikes. Chung thanks Buddha as
Tso and Ling embrace.
A standard, simple revenge yarn marred by awkward pacing,
overly confusing non-linear editing, long-winded dialogue and lots of esoteric
philosophizing. This super low budget production benefits from some colorful,
exotic locations including mountains and breath-taking waterfall backdrops. But
the presence of Hwang Jang Li, one of Kung Fu cinema's greatest high-kicking
villains, and a few superior fight scenes make this very average production
worth checking out. While he's not allocated a lot of screen time, Li displays
his trademark precision kicks in some excellent fight and training sequences.
Especially cool are the stand-out training sequences with Li smash-kicking
coconuts and toppling trees with flying double side kicks! Li came to prominence
as the villain in two pivotal Jackie Chan films- SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW and
DRUNKEN MASTER. Some of Hwang's films on DVD include DRUNKEN MASTER, SNAKE IN
THE EAGLE'S SHADOW, HIT MAN IN THE HAND OF BUDDHA, MARTIAL MONKS OF SHAOLIN,
MASTERS OF TIGER CRANE, DRAGON' S CLAWS and 36 DEADLY STYLES (playing the Silver
Fox again!). The young male lead looks a heck of a lot like Yuen Biao. Director
Ho is known for a string of lower-rung Kung Fu potboilers and this probably
ranks as one of his better gigs. Other Ho films are represented on DVD include-
GRAND MASTER OF SHAOLIN KUNG FU (produced by Joseph Lai), MARTIAL MONKS OF
SHAOLIN TEMPLE (with Hwang Jang Li) and SHAOLIN DRUNK MONKEY. Producer Joseph
Lai heads the Hong -Kong based production/distribution company, IFD Films.
