Shui hu zhuan

"The Water Margin" is based on a great ancient tale from Chinese literature. HOwever, it's not the entire story--just a small portion of the text "Shuihu Zhuan". I am certainly no expert on it--and that's a serious problem, as I had a lot of trouble understanding the context for the film as well as the sheer number of characters. Keeping track of them was impossible for me though I assume many Chinese viewers would be far more material with the characters and source material. I wish I could have sat and watched this with a Chinese scholar--and it's very likely you'll feel the same way. The story is about revenge and abuse of power--but I did have significant trouble following the story. And, although it's a Shaw Brothers film, martial arts are not that prominent in the movie. My advice is that if you know the story well, watch it. I have no idea how to score it for you. But, for the average fan of martial arts flicks who is NOT familiar with the story, I say skip it--it's just too confusing and the action isn't enough to keep your interest.

By the way, when this film began, my uncle turned to me and asked a very obvious question--'how are those boats moving so fast?'. This is because the ships' sails are not down and there are no oars--yet the ships are going VERY fast across the water! This is supposed to be the Middle Ages--yet the boats appear to be moving as a result of outboard motors. Could the ancient Chinese have been THAT clever? I think not--though they were darned advanced at the time!

By the way, much of the soundtrack for this film was 'borrowed' from the Hollywood film "Hang 'em High". It's pretty weird, as the original film was a western made to look and sound like a spaghetti western--and now it's in a Chinese martial arts film!

Based on historical events of the 12th century, "Water Margin" tells the story of 108 heroes referred to (by their enemies) as the "Liangshan bandits". They want to fight against a corrupt government, and therefore they ask 2 famous fighters to join them. These 2 are reluctant at first, but get into trouble with the so-called law very soon. Thus they don't really have freedom of choice anymore.

"Water Margin" is a fine example of Eastern classics produced by Shaw Brothers who got a cast full of stars together including Tetsuro Tamba as Master Lu. The best role, however, went to David Chiang as his right hand man Yen Ching, the Young Dragon. With irresistible charm, he defeats anybody - from pretty ladies to fierce fighters. The movie begins slow, introducing countless characters, but becomes very powerful and gripping in the second half. One recurring theme of the musical score seems to be inspired by Carlo Rustichelli's music for "I quattro dell'Ave Maria", which reminds the audience once again how often western movies and kung-fu cinema influenced each other. "Water Margin" was later followed by the sequel "All Men Are Brothers".

It would be interesting to find out how the directorial chores were divided on this very enjoyable production. The style is consistent throughout most of the film except for some poorly shot opening scenes. Those who wince at the classic Chang Cheh red paint brutality will be relieved to know that it's limited to the very end of the film. The rest of the film is filled with good action and brisk plotting.

The film is filled with dozens of unique characters, all introduced with title cards even 90 minutes into the film. Readers of the famous book might be interested but most are useless to remember as they barely ever do anything. Fortunately the film has enough merit that you can easily watch without getting confused by the parade of introductions. The two Japanese leads are excellent as is the rest of the ensemble cast while David Chiang carries the majority of the film's personality.

There is a strong spaghetti western influence which is not a bad thing in this case. The music soundtrack seems to be entirely ripped off from other films. But the tracks stolen are mostly good, if unusual, choices.

The martial arts are frequently very good when Chiang's character is fighting. It's a version of Chinese wrestling that is not shown too often. Chuan Chen must have been the wrestling choreographer since his only other film credit is the sequel to this film. The weapon battles are early versions of the classic choreography of Liu Chia Liang and Tang Chia.

Many HK martial art dramas from this era are either too stagy or too brutal for my taste. This film strikes a good balance. Recommended.

This movie was released in the US in the mid-seventies as Seven Blows of the Dragon as there are seven bandit warriors, though barbaric, are considered the heroes. They have names like Young Dragon (David Chiang (the only cast member I recognize), Tigress, Red Devil, etc. There are also a few "old-master" types who provide much of the drama and action.

Seven Blows of the Dragon was one of the biggest budgeted Hong Kong films of the time, and the story is a true epic scale presentation. Unlike most movies of the time inspired by Bruce Lee films, where the lone hero usually battles against bad guys with a revenge style motive, Seven Blows of the Dragon involves the old masters, the mountain outlaw band, and marauding kung fu armies, and the clash in the end features all three parties going at it, until only the old masters make for a satisfying conclusion.

The version of Seven Blows I saw was a pan and scanned cable TV print which had horrible video transfer quality. Perhaps someday the film will get an international release in its widescreen glory. The dubbing is not bad for a movie of this type. The voices are a little cartoonish, but somehow it adds to the larger than life characters portrayed in the film.

Seven Blows of the Dragon is a classic of the genre. The martial arts action is non-stop, and the film captures the flavor of ancient China. I don't believe it's currently available on video, but check your old mom'n pop videostore for a copy from the eighties. Or keep your eyes peeled on late night TV. I saw it on TNT a couple years back at 3 in the morning.

The Water Margin is the Avengers: Infinity War of Shaw Brothers movies, though I'm not sure if any other chapters of the epic story it partially adapted here were necessarily told in other movies. It still feels like getting introduced to a story that's ongoing; maybe like coming to the end of Marvel's third Phase without watching anything from the firsty 10 years of the MCU (I double down on the superhero movie comparison there, making it even more likely that I'm going to annoy someone).

I guess the comparison came to me because there are so many characters here, and even though I've only really scratched the surface of everything made by Shaw Brothers, I still recognized a ton of actors here (the movie probably gets an extra half-star for David Chiang; I just always like seeing him on screen, and he's cool/charming).

Action is okay. Pacing stays fast because of how much is happening and how many characters there are, but those qualities also make things harder to follow. It feels a little more like a drama than an action movie at times, but maybe that's a consequence of watching it a couple of days after John Woo's martial arts film Last Hurrah for Chivalry, which was probably more than 50% action; just relentless stuff.