Huo, le roi du kung fu

I had high hopes for this film, especially after watching the vastly superior sequel: Secret Rivals II and had read a lot of good reviews here and elsewhere. Unfortunately, although I think many people disagree with me about this, it was a huge let-down and had little appeal what-so-ever, except for some unintentional hilarious bad English dubbing. The story, although generally non-essential to kung fu-movies of the era, was excruciating at times, with prolonged scenes about some side-plot involving a mutual love interest of our heroes, and the rest isn't much better. This wouldn't have mattered at all if we were treated with a lot of fighting in between the tedious story telling, but WE'RE NOT! I'm a huge fan of Jon Liu and especially Hwang Jang Lee, but they are never allowed to show off their skills properly since they hardly get to fight.

The choreography is really sloppy in the first half of the movie, but doesn't improve nearly as much as I had hoped even for the end fight, which is over really fast. I don't know what other reviewers saw in this movie.. naturally John Liu and Hwang Jang Lee are excellent fighters and their skill somehow manages to bear to movie to some extent, but I was honestly never entertained by any part of it.

If you, like me, are into Chinese classic Kung Fu flicks of the 70's and 80s, you are likely to either have seen this or be about to do so, but I can't recommend it, in spite of it's good reputation. See Secret Rivals II instead, it's a masterpiece, this one isn't.

The Secret Rivals (1976) is a fantastic independent kung fu film by the legendary Ng See Yuen and is perhaps one of the 10 best films of the martial arts genre. It is said that Ng See Yuen wanted to cast talented unknown martial artists in this film and in the process he helped to launch the careers of John Liu, Hwang Jang Lee and Wang Tao. The Secret Rivals is a story about two strangers who come to town with different motives, one is out for justice the other for revenge. While in town they display their kung fu on the locals and vie for the affection of the same woman. Eventually they have to work together to accomplish their secret shared goal.

Filmed in Korea among beautiful pagodas and ancient temples, the Secret Rivals features plenty of the local martial art- Taekwondo. This movie is perhaps the greatest kicking movie of all time. Real life Taekwondo masters and screen kicking legends John Liu and Hwang Jang Lee put on an absolute kicking exhibition with flying kicks, jump spinning kicks and nearly vertical side kicks. John Liu puts on an awesome display of flexibility and kicking ability in this film and proves that he is perhaps one of the most flexible actors in the history of kung fu cinema. Liu also gives a solid acting performance as the "northern leg" Shao Yi-Fei, a man who is a "loner by nature." Wang Tao gives a charismatic performance as "southern fist" Sheng Ying Wei. Wang Tao is in tremendous shape in this film and gives a terrific physical performance, perhaps the best of his career. There are shades of Bruce Lee in his performance, especially with the nunchucks. Secret Rivals was also a breakthrough film for Hwang Jang Lee. Lee brings a powerful presence to the screen as the evil "Silver Fox", one of the greatest villains in the genre's history. As a real life 7th degree black belt of Taekwondo, Lee convincingly holds his own against the talented Liu and Tao. He would go on to star as a villain for much of the rest of his career appearing in such films as "Drunken Master" and "Snake in Eagle's Shadow" with Jackie Chan. Lee and Liu would team up for a few more films including "The Secret Rivals 2," "Invincible Armor" and "the Snuff Bottle Connection."

The Secret Rivals is a bit slow starting as a lot of plot and backstory are introduced but the action heats up big time when the Silver Fox (Lee) drops in. Secret Rivals features a unique "spaghetti western" sound track (The Big Gundown by Ennio Morricone) with pounding drums, twanging electric guitar, blaring brass section and angelic choral singers. The film is really helped out by great supporting performances featuring many talented martial artists in smaller roles. The Secret Rivals does have its old school kung fu movie quirks: some overacting, bad dubbing, theatrical deaths, contrived fights and lots of evil laughing. Li Ming Wen (Tommy Lee) and Chang Chuan do a fantastic job at fight choreography. Many kung fu films around the same time had dance-like, over choreographed fight sequences. The Secret Rivals features a faster, more brutal, and realistic style of fight choreography. (Some of the best you'll ever see)

The Secret Rivals is a fantastic first effort for Seasonal Films and is one of the best independent martial arts films ever made. Solid writing and direction by Ng See Yuen, great physical performances by John Liu, Hwang Jang Lee and Wang Tao plus some nice stunt work by Yuen Baio make the Secret Rivals one of the very best films of the kung fu genre.

Martial Arts Genre Rating: 10/10 (classic)

-"I think you're looking for trouble. I might just oblige. That'll shut you up."

-"I'd be glad to accept."

I've been watching every martial arts movie ever made in chronological order. This movie is a milestone in the history of the genre. This movie stands out as different from every movie before it and affected many movies to come. The director started with the purpose of introducing real martial artists for the fight scenes and he scored three aces in a row with Don Wong, John Liu and Jang Lee Hwang. The difference was simply the kicks. It boggles my mind that is was so simple as kicks but read any review about this movie and count how many times kicks are mentioned. This is a martial arts movie all about the kicks and it's one of the best. The kicks can't be faked, they are real, they are focused, on target, and full of power. Who would have guessed that a kick to the head could be so entertaining? The storyline or plot has often been commented upon. This is a revenge plot but initially the plot appears to be a tournament plot or no plot at all. Let me point out when John Liu asks the little boy why he wants to learn martial arts the boy replies he wants to beat up the bad guys. John asks him how can he tell who is a bad guy? That's what the first part of the movie is all about, figuring out who are the bad guys and who are the good guys. The white eye brows villain had been around for years so Jang Lee Hwang did nothing new by putting on the makeup but once the makeup was on him, he totally owned that part for the rest of his career. Overall this one belongs on the top twenty of all time.

This is one of Hwang Jang Lee's first movies and it was pretty good at that. It concerns two men, played by Wong Tao and John Liu who are both after Hwang but don't realize it. The first half is standard kung fu. Things get good during the second half when John Liu, a great kicker also, and Hwang Jang Lee begin to fight. All leads to an excellent final battle between Wong Tao, John Liu, and Hwang. Hwang proves he's more than a match for the two combined. The kicking, although not as fancy as some other movies, is still impressive.

This was one of the first ever Karate films ive seen and i got it from a video shop about 8 years ago. The film is dubded like most karate films of that time. The plot is good and has a man avenging the death of his family and the other is the son of a genaral and they are both after the same man the notorious "SILVER FOX" hes one of the best fighters around. Both the men have to enter a fighting tournement to get near him and the fights are brilliantly staged plus the two men have to fight the emperors guards who get in the way through the film. At times there are funny parts to the film. In the end the two main leads both like the same girl but she only likes one of them they try to fight each other twice in the film to see which one of them is best but both times they get interupted and then they team up together to take on the mighty "SILVER FOX". This is a good film for karate fans but its a fairly rare film and it would be very hard to get your hands on it.