The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1979)

This story takes place during the oppressive reign of the Manchus of the Qing Dynasty, who overtake various settlements and terrorize and torture the citizens. A young ethics student named San Te (Chia-Hui Liu) suffers personal losses and eventually makes his way to the legendary Shaolin Temple, where it is said that the resident monks train their order in the art of kung fu. More than anything, San Te wants training, and the monks are willing to let him try, although they normally shunned outsiders. Their prerogative was not to get involved in "worldly affairs".San Te actually starts at the top, so you can't accuse him of not being ambitious. He enters each chamber in the temple and learns a different skill, impressing the higher-ups with his incredible tenacity.It is San Tes' rigorous training that forms the balance of this martial arts classic, considered by buffs to be one of THE definitive kung fu films. HIs trials and tribulations allow for some pretty funny, broad comedy at times, but you do marvel at his determination to succeed.Choreographed and directed by Chia-Liang Liu, this features fight scenes so intense that they keep you watching, and scarcely let you take a breath. There is some graphic violence, but not enough of it to truly put off more squeamish viewers. Excellent production values allow for a lot of potent atmosphere and flavour, and the music by Yung-Yu Chen is suitably rousing. The camera work and widescreen photography are first rate.What is appreciated is that San Te does not master kung fu in a relatively brief amount of time. He actually spends years at the temple and his training is a constant work in progress. Chia-Hui Liu delivers a performance of wonderful earnestness and intensity, and it's very easy to root for him all the way.Lieh Lo, John Cheung, and Wilson Tong are very effective loathsome bad guys, and the engaging Yue Wong is quite appealing in the small, fairly comic role of "Miller Six", whose father died before he could give his son a name.Being a relative newcomer to this genre, I was told that this grand epic would be a good place to start, and it's a sentiment that I'll repeat here.Eight out of 10.

Famous martial arts classic still holds up after all these years. Youngsters will specially love its story-line and the charismatic lead but adult fans of this genre also have lots to enjoy. Creative fighting and training sequences form a major chunk of the film and are engrossing to watch. The actual fighting isn't that fierce but is well choreographed.8/10

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin showcases that sometimes it is style over substance. Sometimes a mere training montage, usually a short five to ten minute segment in the middle, can be stretched out to cover almost the entirety of the whole film, while still remaining a good movie.The story is very simple. Liu Yude (Liu Chia-Hui, or Gordon Liu as he's known in the West) is a simple student, whose teacher is brutally murdered for his anti-government views. And thus Liu Yude begins his journey to learn kung fu and become the legendary martial artist San Te in order to have vengeance. The rest of the movie is almost entirely various training sequences the monks put him through.And it is awesome! Strange it may sound, but in this case it needs to be seen to be believed. All the various exercises are massively outlandish, each one more unbelievable after another. Everything from running over water floating on nothing but reefs to ringing bells with a eight feet stalk of bamboo to carrying water with swords strapped to your elbows. And more and more until you want nothing more than to see what torturous training method they come up with next.Plus, the actual martial arts fights are phenomenal, Gordon Liu shines brighter than any kung fu actor before or since, the sets, locations and soundtracks are all state of the art and as a whole it's just a fantastic sports slash martials arts movie. Definitely worth checking out.

Considered one of the finest martial arts films ever made, Shaolin Master Killer stars popular old school kung fu badass Chia Hui (Gordon) Liu as San Te, a young man who becomes involved in the struggle against the malevolent Manchus, seditious anti-Ching patriots. Steered by Ho Kuang-han, the Manchus have surreptitiously set up a headquarters in Canton. When his family is murdered for being linked with rebels, San Tse narrowly escapes and eventually makes his way to the Shaolin monastery. Here he requests to stay and learn the fighting techniques of the Shaolin, and after brief discussion among the elders, he is allowed to remain.The better part of the film is dedicated to the painstaking and exhaustive training San Te undergoes. San Te hones his skills over several years, and the tasks he must complete are within an arduous, and sometimes torturous, series of thirty-five distinct chambers (or phases) of instruction - ordeals intended to develop strength and agility. San Te?s initial failures are amusing (such as attempting in vain to balance on bound wooden logs in the water while also trying to eat lunch from a bowl), but when he finally begins to grasp the Shaolin techniques, he progresses past the other pupils and becomes the greatest student the temple has ever seen. Though there are only thirty-five chambers, Liu's character argues for the creation of a new one. This "36th chamber" in the temple would teach Shaolin kung fu to the general population so that they might effectively fight the Manchus. This idea doesn?t go over at all, and San Te is sent back into the world as a beggar monk. However, San Te has already learned what he needs in order to whip some severe amounts of Manchu ass.Shaolin Master Killer is the epitome of the classic post-Bruce Lee kung fu flick. While background story concerns revenge, the true focus of the film is San Te?s training at the Shaolin temple. These sequences were under the direction of Lau Kar Leung (who also directed Jackie Chan in Drunken Master 2), and their scope and perfection take martial arts filmmaking to new heights. The training scenes not only serve the purpose of furthering the story, but also allow the viewer to learn about and care for the protagonist before the climactic showdown. There aren't as many fights as one might expect from a Shaw Brothers film, but this does not detract from the overall story in the least. As a matter of fact, the occasionally languorous pace helps to enhance the mood of the film as a whole.Gordon Liu was a mainstay for more than a decade at legendary Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong. His first major role was in director Chang Cheh's Shaolin Martial Arts. The success of Shaolin Master Killer (the original title was 36th Chamber of Shaolin) propelled him to stardom. Liu can be seen in the high-profile role of Pai Mei in Kill Bill: Vol. 2, and in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 as the gangster Johnny Mo - dual roles in the same film showing the esteem Quentin Tarantino holds for this veteran actor.Shaolin Master Killer is dubbed in that oft-maligned and mocked kung fu movie manner (the lips don?t match the mouth), but most of the translation seems to be precise. The choreography is superlative and demonstrates why Liu is inarguably one of cinema?s greatest martial arts stars. Better than Bruce Lee? Well, that?s a fan-boy debate for another time and place. Shaolin Master Killer is definitely not-to-be-missed by kung fu, cult film, and action flick aficionados for any reason.