Iron Fisted Monk (1977) User Reviews

Watch them "Dye"...

[Guardia · 8/10 · 4 September 2006]

Excellently crafted kung-fu film dealing with the conflict between the Manchus and the Shaolin monks. We see the barbaric actions of the Manchus from early on in the film, and the tension builds quite steadily until there is only one option left: fight to the death.

Sammo is brilliant as usual and his directorial talent can be identified in this film clearly. His martial artistry is great and his strength improves as things get more desperate. His use of the spear in the final reel is awesome. Also, watch out for the snake-fist styles towards the end.

That said, this is a pretty challenging film in that it portrays senseless and random abuse towards women and children - well pretty much the whole village really. But I guess it makes the revenge angle all that much sweeter... and righteous: (Buddha be praised).

Good Sammo Hung directed movie, but not as good as his best stuff like Warriors Two, The Victim, Prodigal Son and Knockabout

[gorthu · 7/10 · 18 April 2009]

Sammo stars as a man who is learning kung fu so that he can fight the Manchus. The directing from Sammo is good, the camera-work is brilliant, the story is decent, and the fights are very good for 1977. Fung Hak-on plays the main villain, and Yen Shi Kwan and Chien Yuet San play his top 2 henchmen. Always nice to see those 3 in action. Chen Sing has a small role and unfortunately he doesn't get to show off his handwork as much as he usually does. But he's still a great actor so I liked his role. If you have seen most of Sammo's movies and are looking for something else to feed your Sammo craving, then give this a try.

Picture and sound quality on the 20th century Fox DVD are good.

Hung's 'Iron' Solid Directorial Debut

[kwhuneycutt · 8/10 · 27 March 2006]

The Iron-Fisted Monk (1977) is Sammo Hung's brilliant directorial debut. Though the revenge plot is average for kung fu films of the time, the martial arts action and choreography are extraordinary. Iron-Fisted Monk marked the beginning of Hung's movie making prime. In the late 70's and early 80's Hung stared in and directed some of his best films including: Warriors Two, The Magnificent Butcher, The Prodigal Son, Knockabout and The Victim. The Iron-Fisted Monk was the film that got his directorial career rolling.

In the Iron-Fisted Monk, Sammo Hung plays "Husker," a young civilian who is taken in and trained by Shaolin monks after his uncle was killed by the Manchus. Seeking vengeance he eventually leaves the temple. After a group of Manchu officials make trouble in a small town, Husker teams up with a local man named Liang and the "iron fisted monk" Brother Tak (Chan Sing) to finally bring justice to the evil Manchu officials.

The martial arts action and choreography in this film are unbelievable. The film features some of the "hardest" kung fu you will ever see in a Sammo Hung film. Sammo does a great job playing to his strengths, providing a good mixture of martial arts and acrobatics. When this film was made Sammo was young and very near his physical prime. He is very fast and powerful and gives one of his better physical performances. Chan Sing also gives one of the most inspired physical performances of his career. Along with kung fu, the film features a lot of weapon fighting including: swords, spears, knifes and staffs.

The film was made by Golden Harvest studios, which means high production values and a talented stable of actors to work with. Notable appearances in the film include: James Tien as a Shaolin instructor, Casanova Wong as a young monk and Lam Ching-ying as an extra. Fung Hak-on (Warriors Two, Magnificent Butcher) plays the villain yet again and does a very convincing job.

Unlike many of Hung's films, Iron-Fisted Monk has a very serious tone. There are some comedic touches but they are overpowered by the intense drama. The Iron-Fisted Monk is one of Hung's more violent films, featuring very aggressive fight sequences and lots of bloodshed. The movie also includes a few brutal rape scenes. The rape scenes are very graphic and intense and, in my opinion, should have been toned down or left out completely. There is also a ridiculous nude scene in a brothel featuring Wu Ma. The scene was meant for comic relief but should have been left out also. The rape and nude scenes are the only detractions to this otherwise brilliant martial arts film.

The Iron-Fisted Monk was Sammo Hung's first effort as a filmmaker, but it is hard to tell. The martial arts action in the film is superb and outshines most other films made at the time. There are a few weak spots but overall it is a top notch genre film. The Iron-Fisted Monk is one of Sammo Hung's best works and is definitely in the top 30 best martial arts films of all time. The film is definitely not a family friendly Sammo movie but it is highly recommended for hard core kung fu genre buffs.

Martial Arts Genre Rating: 8/10

• "You're a Shaolin monk. How dare you kill indiscriminately!"

• "We're here to rid this world of a rapist and a murderer!"

Sammo's directorial debut

[abentenjo · 14 April 2002]

Breaking barriers and setting new standards in on-screen fight choreography, Sammo's directorial debut is a must for any chop socky aficionado, and although not his best work (a warm up to Warriors Two), it can easily stand proudly amongst them. It's hodgepodge of a story acts as a boiling pot of escalating annihilation, until exploding in a fury of that unique fast and colourful Sammo choreography that we just love so much. Centring on the real-life legend of 'Miller Six' (Sammo), Iron Fisted Monk is driven by a powerful anti-Manchu narrative that feels relentless in its onslaught (they rape, kill, maim and pillage, not to mention bully little kiddies). Miller Six's uncle is killed, he learns the martial arts at the local Shaolin temple, and then off he goes for vengeance. And it's really as simple as that. This is a great movie - well choreographed (by Sammo), well directed (by Sammo) and with some great performances (especially that scoundrel Fung Hark-on who's simply irresistible as a downright evil Manchu warlord).

Kung Fu Hardcore

[Steamboy · 6/10 · 25 November 2008]

In some ways, it was a memorable film. It wasn't noticeably good or shockingly bad, but it had a few unusual scenes that will certainly surprise and unsettle the viewer. It is not your regular kung fu flick even though it had it all: bad guys, good guys, fights between the two and humour between the fights. For one, it also had descriptive rape scenes. I can't remember a Chinese kung fu film with sex being shown in such a crude way, clothes being ripped off, breasts popping out, lewd smirks on the rapist face and ultimately, the victim's death.

That gave the film a startling and awkward contrast with the lighter scenes. A little after the sister of one of the lead characters died following a tragic chain of events, we see that same man, who seemed to be on a quest for revenge, playing around with the idea of going to a brothel with a monk. As this shows, the characters had little consistency -- and little cohesion too, even though Sammo Hung's character was supposed to be the hero, the perspective was shifting so much eventually that it felt difficult to isolate one character as the subject.

Bad guys received more and more screen time, secondary characters came forth while the lead wandered off. The only appropriate way to clear up this profusion of central characters was to have them all kill each other. And so is what the script did. Confrontations suddenly pick up speed, people die en masse, "patience", which virtually was the only reason holding back everyone to settle the scores is no more, thrusting the remaining characters into the grand finale, a somewhat intimate fight between the toughest and the nastiest characters, whose unrestrained sadism had been cultivated during the infamous rapes.

As if in response to these extreme scenes, the makers chose to end with another extreme, gory violence. Like it or not, it does feel fair, but fair as in a talion. Without these short sadistic bouts that seemed borrowed from American exploitation films of the time, it would have been a pretty unremarkable kung fu story. The fights, well-choreographed and using the classic animal postures dear to a long kung fu tradition, are however terribly choppy, to the point that you could easily time the moves "one-two, one-two" as they are performed. Iron-Fisted Monk is not a good kung fu film to start with, it is an oddity that will be met with greater interest by longtime B-movie amateurs.

The Genesis of Sammo As A Director

[coconutkungfu-30704 · 7/10 · 19 February 2020]

Required viewing for fans of The Fat Dragon, Iron Fisted Monk is Sammo's directorial debut and a film well worth the time for any fan of martial arts cinema. The fights are well-choreographed and both Chen Sing and Sammo kick ass in this film. This film isn't just historically significant for being Sammo's first foray into directing but is also a solid film for kung fu fans

Gritty directorial debut for Sammo

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 14 February 2023]

The directorial debut for Sammo Hung, who over his long career has made some of the most exciting and well choreographed action comedies in Hong Kong's history. He also plays the starring role in this one as a long-haired monk who finds himself battling various Manchu baddies in a sometimes convoluted plot. You know the routine for this one: it starts out as a light knockabout comedy before becoming much darker as time goes on. There are graphic rape scenes (censored in the UK print), massacres and all manner of bad behaviour, but the pace is solid and the action very good, particularly as we move on to the climax. The excellent cast includes a rare good-guy turn from Chen Sing alongside Fung Hark-on's baddie, and bit parts for future greats like Mars, Eric Tsang and Lam Ching-ying.

A morally difficult film to like

[cauwboy · 6/10 · 1 July 2020]

Sammo Hung - an actor, director, producer who already starred in films at the age of nine according to this site, there's no doubt this guy got loads of talent and he would really shine with his future films during the 80s. This film was his first directorial debut and it's really well directed with amazing choreographed fight scenes and quick edits that doesn't let the film feel slow at any time.

However, the biggest problem for me with this film is the plot of the film as well as the message. Sammo's character gets bullied and beaten up in a flashback scene and it's why he joins a temple to train martial art so he can defend himself and others from bullies. However, as soon as he comes upon a bad guy that bullies some kids in the village, Sammo ends up beating him and then sits on him, being just as bad as the bullies himself, somehow I believe that the temple he trained at wouldn't approve of such behavior, but instead defend those in need and nothing else. We do learn that Sammo's character is a bit of a troublemaker, which might be why he's the way he is.

We also experience a very cruel rape scene early on in the film with the leader of the bad guys raping a woman who later takes her own life because of it. The brother of the rape victim promise to revenge her death but... well...

****SPOILERS**** ... towards the end of the film, not only do the bad guys kill the brother's mother, but also rape his wife and kills her. And at the massacre at the dye factory, he, together with all of his co-workers gets more or less butchered and killed - and this is where I lost my motivation with the plot - what's left for Sammo and his monk friend to even fight for when everyone - everything's dead. It felt like the harm was already done so what good was it that they even had the fight at the end with the bad guys. I also think the "Big Brother" from the Imperial Court got the worse punishment than the main bad guy, having his eyes ripped out.

This film was very brutal and there are so many deaths which Sammo later on would slow down with and also let the people he defends in his future films survive until the end. See the film for Sammo's directorial debut as well as the fight scenes - but be aware that it's a bit disappointing story-wise.

Sammo Hung given a chance to shine!

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 8/10 · 8 August 2018]

I always find it a refreshing change to see Sammo Hung cast as the lead, instead of being the sidekick to Jackie Chan all the time. "The Iron Fisted Monk" is an ideal opportunity for Hung to prove not only his worth as a leading man - which he does - but also to demonstrate his ability to give a straight, dramatic performance. The martial arts that's on display is simply impeccable. Various styles of Kung Fu are on display and the Shaolin monk character is the toughest of them all! Keep a look out for James Tien, once a co-star of Bruce Lee. The climax is about 15 minutes in length as Sammo Hung vows vengeance upon those who murdered his fellow martial arts students and friends.

Sammo directs

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 6 November 2023]

The first movie directed by Sammo Hung, The Iron-Fisted Monk begins when the title character (Chan Sing) sends Hawker (Sammo Hung) to the Shaolin temple. He tries to run away, as the master (James Tien) is too rough, but is found and undergoes four tests. While he's continuing to train, he's wrongly accused of assaulting the sister of Llang (Lo Hoi-pang) when, in truth, it's really a Manchurian official (Fung Hak-on) who believes that he is above the law.

By the end, Hawker has redeemed himself by teaching the dye factory workers kung fu, even if they all die at the hands of the Manchu. Man, those guys are horrifying, because they also assault and kill Llang's wife, murder his mother and end up killing him. Can Hawker and the Iron-Fisted Monk get revenge for, well, just about everyone else in this movie?

Sammo Hung always inspires me. Not just because he's a larger individual who is still so graceful, but because his movies always have so much well-filmed and planned action, as well as an actual plot that keeps me watching.

About as good as any other 70s kung fu flick

[MBunge · 5/10 · 10 July 2011]

It's hard to review these 70s kung fu flicks. It's not like anyone watches them for deeply moving portrayals of the human condition, dialog that slices through social pretense or cinematography that makes you look at the world in a whole new way. These movies are a form of adolescently macho ballet where guys pretend to beat the holy heck out of each other in often ludicrously elaborate ways. You can evaluate them, but you've got to use a standard that doesn't apply to another other form of cinema.

To start with, I'm not going to concern myself with how poorly constructed is the plot of The Iron-Fisted Monk. Husker (Sammon Hung Kam-Bo) is a goofy student at a Shao-Lin temple who runs away one day because he's anxious to get revenge on the Manchu clan who killed his uncle. So of course, he really does nothing to seek revenge until he's dragged into it kicking and screaming by Tak (Sing Chen), a villager who has both of his sisters raped and his mother killed by the Manchu. But before either of them go looking for justice, they naturally try and drag Husker's Shao-Lin master (James Tien) to a whore house. In fact, the whole "revenge" thing is almost forgotten until the Manchu slaughter an entire factory full of guys after an attempted business scam involving all the red dye in town goes awry. But, once everyone else is dead, Husker and his master do finally get around to kicking Manchu ass and taking Manchu names.

There's also no point is trying to analyze any of the performances here. As with many other 70s kung fu flicks, the acting in The Iron-Fisted Monk is of a very broad and almost vaudevillian nature. Between that and the ridiculously bad dubbing of the dialog into English, it's impossible to tell if you're watching bad acting or good acting from a different cultural context.

Occasionally, the direction of one of these things can be a bit more interesting than usual. That's not the case here. If you've seen another 70s kung fu flick, you pretty know what this one looks like.

The only thing that ultimately matters with this film and all its brethren is…what are the fight scenes like? And the answer is…they're pretty good. The Iron-Fisted Monk is pre-wire fu, so nobody flies through air and does a triple lutz before landing on the petal of a daffodil and toe-kicking some guy across the room. But the ritualized back and forth of strike and counterstrike is pulled off nicely, with the "fights" following a certain logic and staged in such a way and you can see what each combatant is doing and trying to do. Distinguishing a lot of a action here is the fact that Sammo Hung Kam-Bo is just plain old fat. He's got a double chin and a physique like a pickle barrel, but he moves with surprising grace and power. Watching him do kung fu is like watching a guy with no fingers play the violin. That he can do it at all is impressive. That's he's really good at it is makes it impossible to take your eyes off him.

The Iron-Fisted Monk also has some naked female flesh and a weirdly graphic rape scene. I say weirdly graphic because the tone of the rest of the movie is more slapstick than serious drama, yet the rape of Tak's first sister is pretty explicit and goes on for a while. The effect is almost like someone took a Three Stooges short and spliced in a few minutes from the middle of I Spit On Your Grave. But again, it's hard to know if it's crude and exploitative storytelling or it's some Chinese thing that Caucasians don't understand.

If you want a see a 70s kung fu flick, this one is as good as any other. Beyond that, I'm not sure what to say.

Off To A good start

[Azzy · 8/10 · 6 September 2000]

This movie happens to be the first directorial effort by Sammo Hung. It certainly doesn't do to badly. It starts off decently, and the learning curve is very sharp. Each fight in the movie is more surely Choreographed and is faster than the ones that preceded it. There is a prevelance of armed combat and acrobatics (non-wire) which are all well done. Sammo is as young as you'll see him in any movie except ENTER THE DRAGON. There is however an annoyingly large amount of nudity in this movie. The plot has Sammo training as a civilian in a shaolin temple in order to avenge the death of a neighbor at the hands of some manchu thugs. He has improved to the point of teaching classes to other non-monks at the temple. He decides to head out after the manchus, after his skills have reached a certain level. he is assisted by the brother of another victim of the manchu's, and his instructor, who is the title character. Sammo and the monk are both extremely fast and athletic, doing some impressive back flips and leaps. give it a try if you run across it.

Below average

[sarastro7 · 4/10 · 17 December 2012]

Well. I have to say I am rather amazed that this movie has a 7-star rating at IMDb. I was looking forward to Iron-Fisted Monk, but it strongly disappointed me. The plot and the characters are staggeringly formulaic, and far, far too much time is spent on the bad guys raping and massacring people with impunity (of course, this doesn't mean that there aren't several idiotic comedy scenes in it, also, complete with the worst sound effects in cinema history). There is also far too long between good fight scenes. The last ten minutes are satisfying, but everything else is decidedly below average. A very poor and disappointing effort from Sammo Hung, who has done so many other cool movies. I thought Iron-Fisted Monk would be one of his landmark efforts, but it's more of a landmark failure. It's just not in good taste, and does not deserve a rating above 3 or 4.

Almost as good as it is bad

[kiliansabre · 12 October 2004]

Sammo's directorial debut is a mixed bag with some great fight scenes, decent comedy, and unpleasant scenes of violence. The plot, which rolls along almost painfully a times, centers around Husker (Sammo Hung) seeking revenge against the Machus for killing his uncle. Along the way to actually taking revenge he befriends a man who's daughter is raped by the local Manchu official and ultimately enlists in the aid of his wandering monk friend, Brother Tak, to take on the Manchus. The plot changes direction so many times that one has to wonder if it was made up as they went along. There are a couple rape scenes midway through the movie that are unnecessarily explicit and go on much too long. As the movie progresses though we are treated to some decent martial arts sequence, which are not as elaborate as Sammo's later works, but fast paced and solid none the less. Worth watching for the fight sequences, but sitting through the plot might turn you off of the movie before you get to them.

Sammo's brilliant debut delivers the goods.

[BA_Harrison · 8/10 · 19 December 2006]

Iron Fisted Monk, heavyweight HK superstar Sammo Hung's directorial debut, is a powerful old school kung fu movie which sees the portly one at his physical peak on screen as well as calling the shots behind the camera.

The story is a familiar one of revenge and retribution, but it is told with style and verve and features some truly incredible martial arts sequences.

Husker (Sammo) is a student of the Shaolin monks, learning kung fu so that he can avenge his uncle, who was murdered by the nasty Manchus who control the province. He leaves his training early, desperate to teach the killers a lesson and teams up with a martial artist monk (Chan Sing) who is teaching a group of factory workers how to defend themselves. When the Manchus attack the factory and kill everyone there, Husker and his Buddhist pal decide it's time to even the score.

Sammo directs this polished film with surprising skill and delivers a superb movie that blends humour, action and some moments of shocking violence. The scenes of sexual violence (there a couple of nasty rapes perpetrated by the Manchu baddies) may be hard to take at times, but they do give the viewers a real good reason to want to see the Manchus get their comeuppance.

The final fight scene is a fantastic display of athletic agility, superb choreography and totally mind-blowing action. Sammo's first movie is a brilliant example of late 70s HK movie-making and should be seen by all fans of the genre.

Fairly bland and generic martial arts movie...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 26 January 2021]

Well, given the fact that this was a 1977 Hong Kong martial arts movie and that it had Sammo Hung in it, I assumed that the movie would prove to be an entertaining one. Especially so, since other movies from that same time turned out to be rather enjoyable.

But "The Iron-Fisted Monk" (aka "San De huo shang yu Chong Mi Liu") didn't turn out to be as interesting or entertaining as I had hoped for. Sure, it was still a watchable movie, but the storyline was just way too mundane, almost bordering on being boring actually.

The action and martial arts sequences were good enough, though the fighting definitely felt staged and you could sense the choreography throughout the fights, as the performers took odd breaks in between moves. It made for a less than natural feel to the fighting sequences.

As for this being a director debut for Sammo Hung, well it wasn't really all that great. I am sure, though, that back in 1977 then this was a fantastic movie. But having sat down to watch it for the first time ever now in 2021, it wasn't a movie that had withstood the test of time particularly well or gracefully.

Sure, "The Iron-Fisted Monk" is a movie that has an appeal to hardcore fans of the martial arts genre. But if you look at the movie objectively in terms of entertainment value, then it just didn't stand out.

My rating of "The Iron-Fisted Monk" is a less than mediocre four out of ten stars. While it was watchable, it is hardly a movie that will ever find its way back to my screen.

Sammo Hung's directorial debut, excellent!

[dworldeater · 8/10 · 12 April 2024]

The Iron Fisted Monk is a excellent fast paced kung fu movie, starring and directed by Sammo Hung. Nicely shot with some cool looking sets and looking good on Blu. Sammo plays his normal goofy kind of character and has a little humor sprinkled about. However, there is some serious stuff that happens in the film, a rape that leads to a girl commiting suicide and bad guys relentlessly bullying kids. The baddies are The Manchus and in this film they are treacherous.. The fights are also quite abundant and in high quality. Sammo's action choreography is top tier and if you are a fan of martial arts movies then The Iron Fisted Monk would be a great addition to your collection.

Boobies

[mrdonleone · 3/10 · 21 October 2019]

Iron fisted monk has got a bad beginning, though nice nude women halfway and a wonderful ending. That's all that can. Be said. For the rest, it's really the company you're in which could improve or devalue the movie, which won't be too hard with this flixk