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Director and martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-ping is best known to American audiences for transforming Laurence Fishburne and Keanu Reeves into kick-ass kung fu cyber-warriors in
The Matrix, but this Hong Kong pro has been turning out some of the best fight scenes in Asian cinema since 1971. He directed Jackie Chan in his breakthrough hit
Drunken Master and helped turn martial arts champion Jet Li into a screen legend by choreographing
Once Upon a Time in China and
Fist of Legend. By contrast his 1980
The Buddhist Fist is achingly old-fashioned, a familiar revenge film about a poor but stalwart small-town orphan who returns home from the big city to find a tangled mystery involving oodles of assassins and a criminal godfather known only as "Big Small Feet." The plot is secondary to the spectacle, a tight series of precise strike-and-pose sequences that were all the rage in the 1970s, slick and practiced but stiff compared to the fluid 1980s style. Stars Yuen Shunyi and Tsui Siu Ming have neither the charisma nor the grace of Jackie or Jet, but they do pull out some furious moves in flare-ups both grim and goofy, including a deadly dinner date that brings new meaning to the term
food fight and an impressive climactic duel to the death. Chunks of the score were shamelessly ripped right out of Alfred Hitchcock's
Vertigo.
--Sean Axmaker
Product Description
AKA: Secret Of The Buddhist Fist
Languages: ENGLISH (Cantonese , Mandarin)
Subtitles: None
Plot: The tale of two orphans, trained by a Shaolin master in the deadly art of the Buddhist Fist. Separated by fate, they are finally reunited after a series of diasters in lethal combat.
Overview: An early classic by the legendary YUEN WO PING, director of Iron Monkey and action director for the Hollywood hit The Matrix, THE BUDDHIST FIST is the story of two orphans who are raised separately by Shaolin monks and trained in lethal art of the Buddhist Fist. Fate reunites them after a series of attacks at the monastery, and a surprise revelation leads to a duel to the death between the two brothers. Packed with furious fight scenes expertly choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping and presented in its original widescreen glory, THE BUDDHIST FIST is good old-fashion kung fu fighting at its very best!
Cast: Chui Siu Ming, Chan Siu Pang, Yuen Shun-Yi, Fan Mei Sheng, Simon Yuen (Siu Tin), Lee Hoi Sang, Peter Chan Lung, Ho Pak Kwong, Yuen Yat Choh, Dai Sai Aan, San Kuai, Yuen Chun Wei, Yue Tau Wan, Yuen Cheung Yan, Tong Jing. . .
Running Time: 87 mins. (approx.)
Features: Letterboxed 1.85:1 (OAR)
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