Tong San ng foo (1978)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Mar Lo

Writer:

On Szeto (screenplay)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Plot:

Three young martial arts students and their teacher are beaten up badly by a wandering man who proclaims...

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Revenge | Fighting

Cast

Chiu-sing Hau	...	Master Wan Tien-hsin
Tony Leung Siu Hung	...	Chang Tien Shao (as Hsiung Kuang)
Austin Wai	...	Wang Fu-chung (as Tin Chi Wai)
Yuan-chun Wu	...	Chen Liu Chi
Feng Kuan	...	Ma
Mei-Mei Wong	...	Rice Maker / Tien's teacher
Jamie Luk	...	Fisherman / Pu's teacher (as Lu Chien Ming)
Fai Wong Lam	...	Crippled Drunk / Chi's teacher
Fat Wan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Han Chiang
Ping Fong
Kuang Hsiung
Hok Nin Lau

Also Known As:

Five Superfighters (Hong Kong: English title)
Superfighters
Tang shan wu hu (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
The Drunken Fighter

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12

Company:

Shaw Brothers

Quotes:

Tien: As I just taught your students, I shall teach you too if you like!

"Five Superfighters" - classic kung fu

In the world of kung-fu films there were the top budgeted ones (usually from the Shaw studios) with big sets and well rehearsed stars who looked good, could act and do some remarkable fight scenes. Then there were the films from the smaller studios that might have some good martial artists/actors (who sometimes lacked movie star looks) but didn't have the sets and ended up doing a lot of fight scenes in a field somewhere. And the fights were not so well rehearsed. These films sometimes made up for their short comings by having really exaggerated characters and lots of action. Well low and behold, here's one from the Shaw studios! Directed by third tier director Lo Mar and cast with minor actors from the Shaw stable.

A strange black garbed kung fu master wanders around beating up kung fu teachers, "correcting" their bad kung fu. He beats up a master and his three students who he adopted as orphans. The students go their separate ways to find a kung fu teacher who can teach them a style that will defeat the crazy master. Their master hides in an abandoned temple drinking.

That's the plot. The rest of the movie is fight scenes and training scenes. Since that seems to be the bulk of the film that's what I'll comment on. This is another film featuring Tony Leung Siu Hung, here as the beaten master. It's interesting to see him on camera before he became one of the biggest fight choreographers of the past ten years. The fights in this film start out weak but get much better as the film progresses. The choreography is unusual at times but that doesn't mean it always works. Unfortunately, Lo Mar is at the director's helm and that means that the camera angles are not very good. The three students don't come off with any individual personality.

However this is a great example of a classic kung fu film since it has all of the elements of the cheap budgeted film. Fighting in a field, overacted characters, mistimed fight scenes and lots of young men dressed as old men. There's something about this sort of film that is just appealing.