Customer Rating: Summary: My impression about this martial arts dvd... Comment: Well I can say that this Jackie Chan's film is one of the classic and greatest I've seen coming from a youngster Chan. I expected more participation on Jackie, instead there were several unknown actors that I've never seen in my life as a Chan's fan. I got well impressed by the bad guy performance of Sammo Hung. The guy has great talent making bad boy's role. The only thing I disliked, was Jackie Chan's death. I have the habit of seen Jackie as a Hero and never encounter death but this time, It's the only movie that I found Jackie's character's death. It's worth the buying but in the other hand, if you are a fan that is always accustomed to see Jackie alive at the end of the movies, my advice is not to buy it. Customer Rating: Summary: Death only means a hole in my body! -- Tan Comment: Early in John Woo's career as a director in Hong Kong, he had the auspiciousness to direct three of the seven fortunes in Yuen Biao, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung in their first movie together Hand of Death (1976: Chinese Title literally means Shaolin Gate) though much was not made of this at the time because they were all struggling to make a career. They have yet to work together again in such a capacity though they have said nothing but kind words about each other since. An interesting point, in hindsight, is that the star of the film is none of the three (it is hard to spot Yuen Biao as his role is of a stunt double and bit actor) but Korean export and Tae Kwon Do expert Dorian Tan Tao-Liang.
Dorian Tan Tao-Liang stars as Yun Fei a Shaolin trained fighter looking to find Zhang Yi (John Woo) and escort him through White Stone town and across the White River. Zhang holds a map of all Qing bases in the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces in southeast China. He can get a hold of Zhang by contacting pupil Chiu Guo. However, when he is found, he has already been arrested and ready to be beheaded by the Manchus led by a traitor of the Shaolin Shih Xiaofeng (ubiquitous bad guy James Tien: Fearless Hyena, Winners and Sinners) who has taught himself White Crane Soul Chaser Style (he is the titular Hand of Death). Even though his Kung Fu is superior, he has the additional help of Eight Bodyguards with different styles and two top ranking guards in Smiling Fox and Du Ching (Sammo Hung who also does the stunt coordination) whose overbite is quite preposterous and resembles a "hopping vampire" though he is trained in tiger and crane styles.
Yun Fei gets the assistance of a woodcutter Tan, who helped him earlier to get past a roadblock and dispose of a body (a true friend helps you get rid of a corpse). Tan's elder brother was killed by Shih's men. Tan also obtains the help of "The Wanderer" (Yeung Wai) an expert swordsman who accidentally killed a prostitute he was in love with also because of Shih and would have given up his sword for good if it was not for Yun. These men will help Zhang Yi get across the river to get the plans to help once and for all defeat the Qing Empire and restore the Ming Dynasty (the plot of the Qing Dynasty as bad guys is one of the staples of Hong Kong martial art movies like Heroes Two, Royal Tramp and Iron Monkey).
Many will have bought, borrowed or rented this movie because of the presence of Jackie Chan. He originally was only supposed to have a stunt man role (helped hired onto the film by his "big brother" Sammo Hung) but as John Woo found one of the Korean actors lacking in the physical department, he replaced his part with Jackie Chan and expanded his role according to an interview with Lee Server in "Asian Pop Cinema" he stated he "changed the whole script to focus more on him and show his great skill." though there might be some fraudulent hindsight with that statement. Jackie originally had been the stunt coordinator for Woo's first film Young Dragons (1975) that came out a year earlier. Jackie did get hurt on the film, getting knocked unconscious after being pulled by a cable while being kicked by Dorian Tan and landing and hitting his head on a rock (though this would not be as bad as his most famous accident in Operation Condor where he almost lost his life).
Others might watch this because it belongs in the oeuvre of John Woo. It is still very early in his career (his fourth film in two years of being a director), but you can see traces of his talent. There are some nice handheld scenes, a little use of slow motion and hints of "heroic bloodshed" elements (though this would come to blossom in Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979)) like an early scene when Jackie Chan and Dorian Tan first meet which seemed to hint a certain homoerotism (or else those were some of the most strange smiles I have ever seen), but then failed to capitalize on it later in the film.
Overall, this is a decent, yet unspectacular film. The direction is solid, yet it does not feel like a John Woo directed movie. The scenery of the Korean hillsides is absolutely beautiful and helps makes this movie easier to watch. The story is mediocre, but not too many glaring holes in the story. The Kung Fu ability is give or take. The kicking of Dorian Tan is beautiful to behold, his punching ability and forms are good but not great. Jackie Chan is also awesome with his fighting and you get to see him use a spear the Little Eagle God Lance as it is called in the film (which that and the staff are the traditional weapons that Jackie is best with). The highlight fight scenes of the movie are when Jackie fights several of the Eight Bodyguards and later when Dorian fights Sammo. The latter is especially impressive because of Sammo's willingness to hurt his body to make Tan look good. James Tien is not much of a martial artist, though his acting if fine as he is the consummate Hong Kong bad guy, so his hand-to-hand combat scenes are a bit pedantic though he has one scene wielding a sword that was good.
***½/*****
The Fox/Fortune Star R1 release is a very good barebones release. There are no dubtitles and the film is uncut. There is an English dub, a genuine Mandarin mono track and it is presented in a very nice looking widescreen transfer though there is some damage to the elements. Unfortunately, like most of the Fox/Fortune Star releases you only get trailers as extras. Here is another example where the best release is the R2 Hong Kong Legends version -- Ultra-Bit Edition.
Customer Rating: Summary: Good Movie Comment: I really like this movie co-staring a very young Jackie Chan. This is not a Jackie Chan movie. He has a small role but when he starts to kick but it's worth the wait. I like the music, fighting and beautiful outdoor sets. I don't see how anyone could dislike this movie. Customer Rating: Summary: Fox/Fortune Star gives us teh movie with great picture quality, good sound, and widescreened Comment: The movie starts out with a really cool scene showing the destruction of the Shaolin Temple. Look for a quick cameo by Wilson Tong. Sammo is in a cool role as like a general. His buckteeth look a bit stupid but his fighting doesn't. THIS IS A DORIAN TAN MOVE but Jackie Chan is great in his small role as a man looking to help out Tan take care of the villian played by james Tien. The story is not going to go down as one of the best ever told. A swordsman comes to help them out and they take down the evil guys. The thing that really stood out is Jackie playing a serious role. He does it very well and his fight with a spear was awesome. Sammo and Dorian Tan have a good fight. Really good fighting all around. The final fight is not spectacular but James Tien puts on a good performance.
The DVD is great. Widecreened, great picture quality, and dual language tracks. Just about all that you could ask for. Customer Rating: Summary: John Woo's pre gun era good movie bad kung fu movie Comment: This is a pre 1986 John Woo film. He wrote it and directed it it is a good movie. It has a good plot. It is a realy slow moving film action wise. The charactors are very well thought out and planned and the story is realy good but it is a kong fu movie with a lot of acton sceens. It's not meant to be a film just on the basis of plot and story. The action sceens are a staple of what this film is as a period martial arts film. Believe me I love movies with that are period films that aren't martal arts films in hong kong but they don't need to be based on the sole idea of reveange. They are sopposed to be a certan way. I finaly got used to this film and I do like it. But there is no reason why the action sceens should be this slow paced Samo Hung is tha acton director after all. I think that John Woo must have wanted the acton sceens this slow paced but for what reason I do not know. Even the stars of the movie in "count down in kung fu" also called head of death by golden harvest in the original english dub. Tao-liang Tan was the lead and I have seen him do crazy insane stunts but in this movie it was very slow and tame. See it for youself! To you it may be good it may not!
