Shaolin Si (1982)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Xinyan Zhang

Release Date:

1982 (China)

Genre:

Action

Plot:

The Tang emperor is betrayed by one of his generals, who installs himself as emperor in the East Capital...

Plot Keywords:

Emperor | Shaolin | Traitor | Betrayed | General

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jet Li	...	Chieh Yuan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yan Di Hua
Lan Ding	...	Bai Wu Xia
Chun Hua Ji
Wang Jue	...	Ban Kong
Sun Jian Kui	...	Se Kong
Liu Huai Liang	...	Liao Kong
Qingfu Pan
Cui Zhi Qiang	...	Xuan Kong
Hu Jian Qiang	...	Wu Kong
Wang Guang Quan
Zhang Jian Wen
Du Chuan Yang	...	Wei Kong
Cheng-Hui Yu
Hai Yu	...	Shi Fu

Also Known As:

The Shaolin Temple (Philippines: English title) (UK)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Shaolin Monastery, Henan, China

Company:

Chung Yuen Motion Picture Company

Trivia:

This is Jet Li's debut film. His salary then was RMB 1 per day of shoot.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Dong fang ju long (1988)

The first of its kind

"The Shaolin Temple" is the first Chinese martial arts film to use gongfu artists instead of actors. Initially, the Japanese investors hired actors, but didn't like the results, so they hired regional and national wushu champions. Although Jet Li is the main character and his wushu is exceptional, don't underestimate the other gongfu artists; they are just as good. The film was two years in the making due to injuries the cast received doing their own stunts. The credits state that the fight choreography was done by Pan Qing Fu, but this is not so. The cast choreographed their own fight scenes and deserve the credit they've been denied.