Heroes of the East (1980)

Excellent Lau Kar Leung direct martial arts film featuring Gordon Liu with an uncharacteristically huge head of hair. Liu marries a Japanese woman and manages insult all of her family, resulting in himself having to prove that Chinese marital arts are just as good as Japanese martial arts. This leads to a series of terrific fights that take up the last 40 minutes or so of the film. One of the fights involving Liu with a three-sectional staff and an opponent with nunchucks is a real standout. Sadly, that wasn't the final fight of the film., which is something I always felt director Cheh Chang did very well in most all of his films, building to the best fight at the end of the film. As with most Shaw Brothers films, the story here isn't all that good, but the fight scenes are excellent and make this film well worth watching for martial arts film fans.

Heroes Of The East aka Shaolin Challenges Ninja is one of many collaborations between actor Gordon Liu and director Lau Kar Leung brought to us by the legendary Shaw Bros. Studios. Gordon Liu has an arranged marriage with a woman from Japan. His wife is an expert of various Japanese fighting styles and each party is of the viewpoint that their style is better than the other. Their various sparring matches cause serious tension in their marriage as well as destroy much of the house. Gordon Liu is, of course an awesome exponent of Chinese kung fu. His wife takes off to Japan and in an effort to get his wife back, slams the Japanese martial arts and challenges her to a competition. His wife's martial arts instructor/love interest grabs the letter from her and does not appreciate the letter's content. Next thing you know Yasuaki Karata and a bunch of Japanese dudes show up at Gordon Liu's pad and challenge him to a tournament. Gordon Liu accepts and fights each representative of various Japanese fighting styles. What separates Heroes Of The East from various other Chinese vs Japanese productions is that it respects both cultures and their fighting styles as well. There are lots of great fights to be had here and both Gordon Liu and Yasuaki Kurata are in top form. Heroes Of The East is indeed a solid martial arts film but it is nowhere near as essential as Lau Kar Leung/Gordon Liu's kung fu masterwork The 36 Chambers Of Shaolin aka Master Killer. Heroes Of The East still resonates and is an enjoyable, fast paced and cohesive martial arts film that is memorable and far above average.

1st thing this movie is only enjoyable if lack the knowledge in family relations , dojo and martial arts history.i would'd liked the movie if the movie was based on group single per person challenge but the movie has a such an insult to the viewer by creating a super human martial artist who could master a completely arcane art in a single evening , and he is a grandmaster in all chines combat techniques in a very very young age , let alone to make look the Japaneses as complete joke , i don't even want to mention all those. but beside that , the combat sequences and the cryptography was very will done , but i was unable to enjoy most of it because of the insulting plot and story.

Challenge of the Ninja is essentially a story of cultures. From the initial opening credits when Gordon Liu a young Chinese man marries a Japanese girl you can see that they and everything around them will clash as the newlyweds try to find common ground. Their varying attitudes about martial arts to the way they train pits the two lovers on a collision course that ultimately has the proud, stubborn and spoiled bride running back to her family. An ill advised note pits a rival suitor against the young man and his Japanese entourage of fighters who feel slighted by its contents that derides their skill and culture as fighters. When Gordon meets with them head on he not only wins back his wayward wife but gains the respect and admiration of those who would challenge him. This movie is a must see for those who like to see the various styles of martial arts represented by Chinese Kung Fu by one of its finest proponents.