Hero of the Wild (1977)

More bone crunching martial arse hi jinks here, full of bad dubbing, questionable antics, and bad wigs. Grrr. I'll get you! Some champion challenges another champion to a fight on a beach (I'll get you!), causing the other guy to kill himself. This guy's son goes nuts (I'll get you!) but the losing champion makes the winning champion promise that he'll look after his son and also take down some Manchurian spies who also happen to be champion fighters, so now the winning champion has to raise this guy and teach his kung fu in order for the losing champion's son to grow up strong and kill him. Makes sense so far, eh?So the champion guys also gets hired to kill a guy who turns out to be the guy he was going to kill anyway, plus the guy that hired him was wearing a mask so we'll have to wait to find out who he was. He's also training this young guy to kill him, which seems to involve killing a dog (for real? Who knows in these films) because kindness is not allowed or something, and now and again rescuing this girl from a life of prostitution.While story wise this is kind of boring jazz (not to mention confusing, as it seems to me a bunch of innocent people were beaten up and killed), there's plenty of martial arse battles to watch. For some reason the version I watched was split into two separate parts. It's okay, don't sweat it if you don't see it.

Forget all about what some other reviewers say about this being a "decent" or above average Kung Fu film. The picture is simply awesome.. Naturally, the plot has it's flaws.. but it's essentially better than most Kung Fu movies of the time and at times really interesting and somehow riveting. The best thing about the movie is of course the fights.. and I tell you, they are simply top-notch! Sing Chen and Hwang Jang Lee really shine as the best fighters of the nation and Jang Lee proves again why he is the best kicker the world has ever seen. The choreography is absolutely insane, but I guess that's what you'll have to expect when Yuen Biao is credited as the action director (he has a small role as one of Jang Lee's grandsons as well, and honestly.. who do you think was doubling for all the other cast when needed??) I didn't expect that much from this movie.. but it's a fact.. Kung Fu films don't get any better than this.

This is a thoroughly predictable if reasonably well made kung fu quickie, more noticeable for its cast (Lo Lieh and a young Corey Yuen) than for anything else. Of course, it's hard to judge the true merits of this film based on the television print that I recently viewed: a horribly pan and scanned print with typically poor dubbing (boy, that Australian guy was busy back then!)and the commercial breaks left intact--at several points, the screen went blank for thirty seconds, even though this aired on a commercial-free public television station! The story is the same old stuff: young apprentice learns at the hand of the master, young lady arrives mid-picture to kick some ass...you've seen it many times before. The choreography seems a tick above average--though it is, of course, badly compromised by the pan and scan hi-jinks--and there's a bad guy in a red mask who's mildly diverting. All in all, though, not one I would recommend--unless a widescreen DVD arrives on the scene.

In Sweden they sell a cheap box everywhere called "karate classics" with five old kung fu films from the seventies.. This film was the only good film in the box. The cover says "The Fox of Shaolin". The story is quite boring and strange... mostly about honour, challenges, revenge and so on... but hey.. it´s old skool kung fu:)Sing Chen play the lead role. The Kung Fu action by YUEN BIAO and COREY YUEN is very good. They both also play small roles. HWANG JANG LEE and LO LIEH is the bad guys..A quite impressive role list.I was very surprised! Any collector of kung fu films should own this one. It seems to be totally forgotten. I wonder why! I liked it.