Tai ji ba jiao (1977)

User Rating:

5.5/10   

Director:

Ma Wu

Genre:

Action | Drama

Plot:

Eight thieves steal a treasure map and split it into eight pieces, vowing to regroup three years later. But they'll have to deal with a deadly-kicking cop.

Plot Keywords:

Treasure Map | Kicking | Thief | Blind Woman | Blind Mother

Cast

Tao-liang Tan	...	Fong Yee
Lieh Lo	...	Scarred Dragon
Hsieh Wang	...	Chief Dragon (as Hop Wang)
Fei Lung		(as Lung Kuan E)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fu Hung Cheng		(as Cheun Fu Hung)
Kang Chin		(as Kong Kam)
Sai Yu Chin
Chan Wai Lau
Ying Lee
Chung-erh Lung	...	Heroine
Ti Lu
Ming Min		(as Man Man)
Sha-fei Ouyang
Luo Hui Shaw
Hung Tsai
Chiu Tsang
Tie Lang Wang
Jiaxiang Wu

Also Known As:

Deadly Kick
Shaolin Deadly Kicks (International: English title)
The Flash Legs (Hong Kong: English title)

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15

Company:

Wha Tai Motion Picture Co.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Chief Dragon: All right, you two: check around.

Folkloric Martial Arts/Crime Film

Shaolin Deadly Kicks offers a spaghetti western plot nicely adapted to the Martial Arts genre and a lot of well-choreographed and nicely filmed high-kicking action.

A group of hardened criminals have stolen a treasure map in a widely publicized attack on a temple. To prevent their capture, they divide the map into eight pieces and agree to regroup in three years to locate the treasure. However, before they can do this, Tao-liang Tan shows up with other plans. This young man begins methodically taking out each member of the gang, until he meets his own weakness - which ironically turns out to be the Achilles heal of the gang-leader as well.

Despite some of the opinions expressed here on IMDb, Shaolin Deadly Kicks' plot is actually quite strong for the genre. Unlike many martial arts films, SDK does not wander aimlessly and none of the scenes come across as simple excuses for violence. The voice-talent is typically mediocre, but the physical acting and evocation of the pan-southeast Asian cast compensates for it.

Loke many non-American martial arts films, Shaolin Deadly Kicks has a fantastic/folkloric feel. Though it may not appeal to the standard American audience, it will certainly satisfy the martial arts film enthusiast.