L'Impitoyable

Jacky Chan's father is killed by an evil Kung Fu master. Chan vows to remain silent until he can get his revenge. He goes to a Shao Lin temple, and gradually becomes a master of the arts. His instructors include Ping-Yu Chang, who teaches him to fight in a tray of grease, and Kang Chin, who is chained up in the basement.

Chan being silent allows the film to focus on the sheer physicality of the young man. The movie seems to be about four-fifths training sequence; the most striking in the final test, in which Chan must make his way past a gantlet of giant wooden dolls controlled by chains. Of course we know it will all come down to a final fight between Chan and the Big Bad. There's no sign of the comic Jacky here, but the variety of fights, as well as a couple of plot twists that seem obvious once they've happened keep this one interesting.

I recently watched Shaolin Wooden Men (1976) on Prime. The story follows a young man who witnesses the brutal death of his father. Traumatized, he escapes to the mountains and discovers a Shaolin temple, where he undergoes rigorous and unique martial arts training-ultimately gaining the skills he needs to seek revenge.

The film is directed by Chi-Hwa Chen (The 36 Crazy Fists) and stars Jackie Chan (Who Am I?), Kang Chin (Master of the Flying Guillotine), Ping-Yu Chang (A Touch of Zen), and Yuen Biao (The Prodigal Son).

The opening credits sequence-featuring Jackie Chan versus Shaolin monks-is an incredible way to kick off this hidden gem. While the storyline is fairly straightforward, the training scenes are the real highlight. The wooden dummies are creative and fun, and the scenes with metal shoes are wild. The choreography throughout is top-notch, with standout fight scenes, including a thrilling restaurant brawl and a fantastic final showdown. It has all the elements you'd want from a classic martial arts film.

In conclusion, Shaolin Wooden Men is a solid entry in the genre, featuring elite training sequences and strong action. I'd give it a 7/10 and strongly recommend it to martial arts fans.

Can you imagine Jackie Chan as the worst student in a martial arts school? I know, it's crazy, but that's the premise of Shaolin Wooden Men. He plays Brother Mute, with a self-explanatory name. He also doesn't smile, so if you find yourself wondering if the sweet, comical fellow from the '90s is actually the same young kid in the mid-'70s, don't feel bad. This is also the last movie he made before getting plastic surgery on his eyes, in case you can't put a finger on exactly what looks so different. Although I completely support self-improvement and self-confidence, it makes me so sad that Jackie felt he wasn't handsome enough and needed "American" eyes. Back in 1976, he was a very good-looking young man, except for the haircut - and everyone had that haircut in the 1970s! There was absolutely nothing wrong with his face.

I'll get off my soapbox. If it made him happy, I'm happy for him. I just hope he didn't have inner pain that plagued him. Back to the actual movie: In Shaolin Wooden Men, Jackie is ridiculed by the other monks-in-training because he's uncoordinated and weak. When he ventures into a forbidden cave, he meets an old prisoner who used to be a great kung fu master; studying from him may be forbidden, but it's the only real chance Jackie has. I love seeing the old-fashioned training sequences ("wax on, wax off") that show intense inner discipline. In one exercise, Jackie transitions from a plank position (on top of wooden posts) to a handstand and does upside down, vertical push-ups. In another, sweat drips off his brow as he balances an enormous boulder on his back while doing (regular, thank goodness) push-ups.

I know old movies from the 1970s aren't everyone's cup of tea. Even if you love Jackie Chan, you might think watching the Police Story series takes you back far enough. But just give one of the oldies a try, either this one or Drunken Master. He's very young and has a completely different style on camera than at the cusp of the millennium. In this movie, you'll get to see the immense treat of watching Jackie battle it out with a dozen wooden men (hence the title) in training. The automatons have weapons and unpredictable flailing limbs, but sticks it out and gives the camera a great show!

A Jackie Chan movie is like pizza, even when it's bad it's still pretty good. First the good, it's a standard revenge plot. There's nothing wrong with seeing that for the millionth time. We're here for the martial arts not the story and the martial art does deliver. Even the hokey part fighting the wooden men (which easily could have failed) was done surprisingly well. The movie never dragged and the funny parts were reasonably funny. There was the expected build up to the big fight at the end and the fight finale could have been better but again, that pizza analogy.

The bad part was making Jackie a mute until the last fight. Whoever's idea that was (did I hear someone mumble Lo Wei?) totally blew it. Really, not that I love to hear his voice or anything and it would have been dubbed by some British guy anyway, but the hero has to say a few syllables. I really think that keeping Jackie silent made the difference between this movie being a miss instead of a hit on it's initial movie theater run. Think of how history would have changed if Jackie came to stardom in 1976 instead of a few years later! The world would be a different place and we all might have our flying cars if Jackie had only spoken up sooner.

Back in July of 2012, I posted the above review here. Today I watched the movie again. I decided to edit my review to compare the two views. I stand by everything written in my original post. Today I would change nothing in the original post and would add as below.

I had a problem with the final fight. Jackie fights Kang Chin first and that is all wrong. Kang Chin's henchmen would certainly intercept Jackie before he could get to their big boss. The fight against Kang Chin must be absolute last.

Also in the Jackie versus Kang Chin fight sequence it looks like Kang Chin is attacking and Jackie defending. Jackie should appear aggressive, attacking with full power and low accuracy. He could even act angry. Instead it looks like Kang chin is leading with his dance moves and Jackie is following.

Despite that I still consider the movie above average for the year and genre. I also recommend this movie to all fans of martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984.

Pure A jackie film with a subplot wrapped into a subplot putting this revenge story with fantastic kungfu sequences on display. Kung fu classic.