Five Superfighters (1983, HK)

Starring: Kuang Hsiung, Hau Chiu-Sing, Austin Wai, Wong Mei-Mei. Directed by: Lo Mar

This is one of the lesser-known movies from Shaw Bros, and one that was filmed on a relatively low budget.

In "Five Superfighters", a wandering kung fu master (Kuang) with a huge ego comes to a Chinese town, goes to the local monkey kung fu school, and gives the sifu (Hau) and his students a pretty bad beating as a way to "correct their bad kung fu."

The sifu, feeling humiliated and worthless, quickly takes to the bottle. One night his students quietly leave him to learn better kung fu skills from other masters and promise to return after six months to defeat the wandering master.

One student goes to a poor crippled old man, the other a widow (Wong), and the third student a fisherman. All three are kung fu experts, but can they teach the young men the skills they will need to restore honor to their school and redeem themselves and their master?

This movie has some awesome, high-octane kung fu action throughout that will blow you away! The scenes with Wong Mei-Mei and Jamie Luk (the fisherman) are particularly amazing to watch and of course, the movie's main protagonist is every bit as good as he says.

If you can find a copy of this movie, this is a minor Shaw Bros. classic that you won't want to miss!

Also known as: Tong San ng foo (original Cantonese title-HK), Tang shan wu hu (original Mandarin title-HK), The Drunken Fighter/Superfighters (unknown English titles), Das Schlitzohr mit dem Dampfhammer (West Germany), Los cinco superluchadores (Spain), Bruce Lee lotta di titani/I maestri del kung-fu (Italy)

The Water Margin (1972, HK)

Starring: David Chiang, Tamba Tetsuro, Ti Lung, Chen Kuan Tai, Toshio Kurosawa. Directed by: Chang Cheh

"The Water Margin" is another big hit from Shaw Bros. in the early days of the kung fu movie craze, as well as a fine entry in the wuxia genre. Largely based on the classical Chinese novel of the same name by Shi Naian, the movie has become a wuxia classic and its official release on DVD in the US by Image Entertainment in 2006 was much anticipated.

In "The Water Margin", a group of 108 men and women living during the Song Dynasty in 11th century China banded together and became a group of anti-government bandits.

When Master Lu (Tetsuro) is falsely imprisoned on charges arranged by a government official having an affair with his wife, the 108 bandits set out to free him and avenge the injustice. They free him from the government prison and are pursued by Song forces, led by Master Lu's former classmate Golden Spear (Toshio).

The action is non-stop and relentless as the bandits fight the government forces pursuing them, and there are a wide variety of weapons and plenty of fight scenes. Also, 40 minutes or so that were cut from the US version of this movie were restored in the American DVD issue and this contributes much more to the viewing of this movie!

If you're a wuxia fan or just want to see something a little different from the usual kung fu movie, you might want to check this out!

Also known as: Shui hu zhuan (original Mandarin title-HK), Sui woo juen (original Cantonese title-HK), Seven Blows of the Dragon (USA title), Die sieben Schläge des gelben Drachen (West Germany), Piedi d'acciaio (Italy), Los siete impactos del dragón (Argentina), Water Margin (English subtitled version-HK), Waterside Story (unknown English title)

Have Sword, Will Travel (1969, HK)

Starring: Lee Ching, Ti Lung, David Chiang. Directed by: Chang Cheh

This is an excellent very entertaining costume piece/swordplay fu movie from Chang Cheh and Shaw Bros.

In this movie, Ying Ke-Fing, a swordsman, is in charge of an escort business that escorts 200,000 taels of silver to the capital every year. Unfortunately, he has come down with an arm afffliction that will force him to take a little time off. Since he doesn't want to close shop, he finds two knights named Yun Piao-Piao and Hsiang Ting (Lee Ching and David Chiang) who are expert swordsmen/women and who he can trust that can do the job for him. As it so happens, these two knights are male and female, and deeply in love.

Their swordfighting skills will be much needed as a group of bandits known as the Flying Tigers is desperate to get their hands on the silver. Also, a lone swordsman named Le I comes along for the journey. But is he helping the bandits? Furthermore, will he steal Piao-Piao's heart?

HSWT is an excellent swordplay and kung fu movie that doesn't use the romance as an unnecessary plot distraction and is one of those rare martial arts movies where the male and female characters are actually sidekicks. Also, there's plenty of action for everyone and a well-written storyline played well by some of Shaw Bros' biggest stars! A must see if you are a fan of martial arts movies, swordplay movies, or Shaw Bros. movies in general.

Also known as: Bao biao (original Mandarin title-HK), Bo biu (original Cantonese title-HK), and others.

Five Deadly Venoms (1978, HK)

Starring: Chiang Sheng, Sun Chien, Phillip Kwok, Lo Mang, Wei Pei, Lu Feng, Wang Lung-wei, Ku Feng. Directed by: Chang Cheh

This is one of the most famous kung fu movies of all time, and one that has appeared in countless all-time favorite kung fu and cult classic movie lists. It is also one of Shaw Bros' most successful films and one that has been referenced many times in the media since it came out.

In "Five Deadly Venoms", the master of the Poison Clan is worried that five of his students (otherwise known as the "Five Deadly Venoms") are using the skills he taught them for sinister purposes. He dispatches his last remaining student Yan Tieh (Chiang) to warn a retired clan member that the clan's fortune is under threat, to locate and identify each of the five warriors, and asses which of the warriors he can trust.

Each one of the 5 Venoms has his own lethal venom style. The 5 Venoms are: Centipede (Lu), Snake (Wei), Scorpion (Sun), Lizard (Kwok), and Toad (Lo). Yan knows a little of each style and can fight them, but can he defeat each one of the 5 Deadly Venoms?

If you are a fan of Shaw Bros. movies, cult classics, or martial arts movies in general, this is one movie you must see. Truly one of the great kung fu classics!

Also known as: 五毒/Ng duk (original Cantonese title-HK), Wu du (original Mandarin title-HK), 五毒 (simplified characters), Five Venoms (international English title), The Five Venoms (original English title-HK, Finland), Die unbesiegbaren Fünf (West Germany), Cinq venins mortels (France), Le furie umane del kung fu (Italy), Los cinco venenos mortales (Argentina), and others.

The Kid With the Golden Arm (1979, HK)

Starring: Kuo Chui, Chiang Sheng, Lu Feng, Lo Mang, Sun Chien, Wei Pei. Directed by: Chang Cheh

This movie is one of the best Shaw Bros. martial arts movies and one of a small few to star "Snake Venom" Wei Pei. "The Kid With the Golden Arm" is also one of the "Venom Mob" movies to star the 5 Deadly Venoms from the Shaw Bros. classic with the same name.

In this movie, government agent Yang Yu Heng (Sun Chien, or Venom "Scorpion") is assigned to escort a shipment of gold to an area that has been stricken by a deadly famine. However, he must defend the shipment of gold from the vicious Chi Sah Gang, who have some of the deadliest kung fu fighters ever known among their ranks. Since Yang cannot fight this gang alone, he must bring a party of soldiers and kung fu fighters of his own along with him. These include his sword-fighting girlfriend (Pan-Pin Chang), Short Axe and Long Axe (Chiang Sheng and "Disciple" Yan Tien from "5 Deadly Venoms"), swordsman Li Chin Ming (Wei Pei, or Venom "Snake"), and the drunken master Hai To (Venom "Lizard/Gecko" Kuo Chui).

Together these government fighters must take on the fighters in the Chi Sah Gang. These fighters include Silver Spear (Venom "Centipede" Lu Feng), iron war fan fighter Iron Robe (the judge from "5 Deadly Venoms"), Brass Head (Yang Hsiung), and their leader Golden Arm (Venom "Toad" Lo Mang). Their martial arts abilities should be obvious from their names alone!

Can this band of government agents and fighters take on the Chi Sah gang and get the gold to the people who need it the most?

There's a wide variety of martial arts used in this movie. You'll get to see swordfighting, kung fu, daggers, head-butting, spear-fighting, war fans, and even poison gas and needles being used in this movie! All in all, this is a classic you won't want to miss!

Also known as: Gam bei tung (original Cantonese title-HK), Jin bei tong (original Mandarin title-HK), Die fünf Kampfmaschinen der Shaolin (West Germany-VHS title), Kid With the Golden Arms (unknown English title)

The Flying Guillotine (1975, HK)

Starring: Chen Kuan Tai, Ku Feng, Wei Hung. Directed by: Ho Meng-hua

There is only one word to describe this movie: awesome! This is the first of the movies the Shaw Brothers made about the infamous flying guillotine, and one that is atypical of the usual Shaw Bros. flick.

In "The Flying Guillotine," the tyrannical Emperor Yung Cheng orders a new weapon devised to excruciatingly kill his enemies and install fear in the heart of his allies. One of his advisors creates the Flying Guillotine: a weapon sort of like a Frisbee on a chain that can be thrown over the head of a person and rip it right off. The Emperor orders his advisor to select a small group of his most elite, trusted soldiers to be trained in the use of the Flying Guillotine and sends them to work.

After several assasinations, some of the soldiers have an attack of conscience over what they're doing and who they're killing for. They decide to flee, but only Chen Kuan Tai makes it out of the Emperor's palace alive. After that, he must do whatever he can to stay alive since the Emperor's armies and assasins will not stop looking for him, and eventually he must also do whatever he can to keep his new family alive. But can he take on all of his former comrades by himself? Also, can he use the Flying Guillotine again to protect himself and his family?

There is a lot of roof-crawling and jumping (a la "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Iron Monkey") in this movie and a bit of regular kung-fu thrown into the mix. This makes the movie a sort of combination of kung-fu and action movie.

All in all this movie is a fairly darker movie than most fu flicks, but it's an excellent one! If you happen to stumble across this one, be sure to check it out!

Also known as: Xue di zi (Mandarin-original title), A Guilhotina Voadora (Brazil), La ghigliottina volante (Italy). Also released in the US in Oct. 1981 and in Germany in Nov. 2009 at the Munich Asia Filmfest.

Killer Constable (1981, HK)

Starring: Chen Kuan-Tai, Jason Pai Piao, Ku Feng. Directed by Chih-Hung Kwei.

Not to be confused with another movie titled "Lightning Kung Fu" starring and directed by Sammo Hung, this movie is a very dark and atmospheric swordplay movie from Shaw Bros. This movie stars Chen Kuan-Tai as Ling Tien Ying, a constable of the Dowager Empress. When two million taels of gold are stolen from the royal vaults, the Empress dispatches Ling to track down the gold and the culprits who stole it. He assembles a team of deputies to accompany him...and together they walk into a trap in which they must use their kung fu and sword-fighting skills to survive.

All in all an excellent movie worth checking out if you like swordplay movies, the Shaw Bros. genre, or kung fu movies in general!

Also known as: Lightning Kung Fu, Karate Exterminators, 萬人斬/Wan Ren Zan (original Mandarin title-HK)