Shaolin Temple (1982)

A young man, hounded by a psychopathic general, learns martial arts at the Shaolin temple to avenge his father's death. To achieve this he forgoes a budding romance with his kungfu master's daughter, a shepherdess.

Director:

Hsin-Yen Chang

Writers:

Hau Sit (screenplay by) (as Shih Hou), Shau-Chang Lu (screenplay by)

Stars:

Jet Li, Hai Yu, Chenghui Yu

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jet Li	...	Jue Yuan (as Lianjie Li)
Hai Yu	...	Tan Zong Shi Fu
Chenghui Yu	...	Wng Renze (as Cheng-Hui Yu)
Lan Ding	...	Bai Wuxia
Jianqiang Hu	...	Wu Kong
Jiankui Sun	...	Se Kong
Huailiang Liu	...	Liao Kong
Chunhua Ji	...	Tu Ying (as Chun Hua Ji)
Jianwen Zhang	...	Fang Zhang
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lichang Bian
Guoan Chen
Szu-Ying Chien
Zhiqiang Cui	...	Xuan Kong
Chuanyang Du	...	Wei Kong
Henry Fong	...	Hui Neng (as Ping Fang)

Storyline

The Tang emperor is betrayed by one of his generals, who installs himself as emperor in the East Capital. The son of one of his slave workers escapes to the Shaolin Temple, learns kung fu, and sets out to kill the traitor, who killed his father. The monks have to help him, and in the process, they save the true emperor, who rewards them greatly. Based on a true story from Shaolin folklore, but highly fictionalized.

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Plot Keywords:

7th century | emperor | shaolin | traitor | temple | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Alternate Versions

UK versions are cut by 8 secs and remove all footage of sheep being stabbed and strangled.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Best Kung Fu Movies of All Time (2020)

User Reviews

Holy cow!

Jet Li's first movie, and it set the stage for his future success. Really good kung fu, really good action, and not too many slow points. Pretty typical storyline; evil warlord kills boys father, boy escapes to Shaolin temple, improves his skill and fights a lot of people. But for a movie this old, the fighting is really done well. I'm sure that this is a pretty hard movie to come across, but if you ever get the opportunity to see it, by all means take advantage of it.

Details

Country:

China Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

21 January 1982 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Shao Lin Si

Filming Locations:

Shaolin Monastery, Henan, China

Box Office

Budget:

CNY1,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Golden Harvest Company, Chung Yuen Motion Picture Company, Towa Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1