Bei pan shi men

By 1980, the entire genre of Chinese martial arts movies--which, in my estimation, had always benefited from its rough-edged quality--was being formalized into something comparable to American soap operas or even Italian Mannerist painting. Better production values are fine, but not when the end result is a film so slick and shiny that it's painful to look at. In technical terms, "The Master" (which aired on cable TV in the mid-1980s as "Three Evil Masters") is a product of its time, but has enough heart to work. Yuen Tak convincingly portrays a bullied, low-ranking student at an unethical kung-fu school who gives refuge to an injured martial arts master (Chen Kuan-tai, who's always worth watching). Chen was wounded in a fight with three bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside, and in exchange for food and shelter he teaches Yuen some valuable moves. Gradually, Yuen becomes a better fighter and must singlehandedly confront the bandits--led by fearsome, white-haired Wang Lung-wei--when they decide to take over the kung-fu school. Terrific fight choreography by Hsu Hsia, and a maddeningly catchy opening theme (which plays beautifully over Chen Kuan-tai's first brawl with the villains) by Eddie Wang. Seven and a half stars.

Chen Kuan-Tai is challenged at the tea house by Wang Lung-Wei and two other thugs. The waiter deceives him with a knife in his side so he must flee. Cut to the kung fu school. Yuen Tak is bullied by the others including the jerk of a master. That night, Chen Kuan-Tai arrives at his home, wounded. Our guy heals him up and learns real martial arts from him.

The three evil masters are Wang Lung-Wei and company. They take over our guy's school. After failing in his waiter career and much more training on his own he returns to the school. It was taken over by the bad guys. One by one he outwits and fights the bad guys to their death.

Yuen Tak is the true star of this movie. The martial arts he demonstrates are comparable to the greatest of this era. This is another example of the bottomless pit of incredible talent at Shaw Brothers. I believe this is his only starring role. He continued in the movie business for about another twenty years in supporting roles but mostly off camera as action choreographer, designer, or director.

I rate this movie as one of the best of 1980 based totally on the fighting scenes with Yuen Tak.

THE MASTER (1980) was made at Shaw Bros., but displays a look and feel much closer to the indie kung fu films of 1980 than it does to other Shaw martial arts films of the time such as Chang Cheh's Five Venoms spectacles. It has a few Shaw trademarks, including some large sets and several dependable Shaw character actors, but its story is simpler and less wide-ranging, with an emphasis on training, and the main cast is much smaller, with only five major characters participating in the important fight scenes. It packs a lot of fighting (staged by Hsu Hsia) into a concise structure that serves as a showcase for the considerable talents of young Yuen Tak (billed as Yuan Te), one of Jackie Chan's classmates at the Peking Opera school in Hong Kong that spawned so many kung fu movie greats.

Yuen plays Gao Jian, a hapless student being taught at a school run by a vain, not-so-skilled teacher (Lin Ho Nien). One night he encounters a wounded kung fu master, Jin Tianyun (Chen Kuan Tai), a legendary warrior fleeing from a fight in which he was stabbed in a sneak attack and now has to hide from his pursuers, the Three Devils. Gao tends to Master Jin and hides him in his shack and, in return, Master Jin teaches Gao some essential kung fu. After a tragic turn of events, Gao goes off for a year to practice and then comes back to find his teacher's school taken over by the Three Devils, who are seeking to create a haven for other outlaws. This leads to a series of exciting final bouts between Gao and each of the Devils, the leader of whom is played by the great Wang Lung Wei.

Yuen Tak was the ever-patient fiancé in the delightful AMBITIOUS KUNG FU GIRL (also reviewed on this site), the first film in which he fully registered with me. I found his performance here quite a revelation. He incorporates a lot of acrobatics into his moves and certainly compares well with all the other young stars playing eager, put-upon kung fu students at the same time in non-Shaw films (e.g. Meng Fei, Lee Yi Min, Meng Yuan Man, Cliff Lok, etc.). Yuen went on to become a prominent fight choreographer in Hong Kong and even in Hollywood, where he worked on "Martial Law" and Jet Li's THE ONE.

Kung fu great Chen Kuan Tai (THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG) has a relatively small part. He's got a great fight scene at the beginning, but its impact is diminished by the decision to keep freezing the frame all through it in order to show the credits. Candy Wen Hsueh-erh, the only female in the film, plays the daughter of Gao's teacher, but she doesn't get much to do.

Overall, it was a pleasant surprise to find a Shaw Bros. kung fu film I hadn't seen before that was so direct, straightforward and free of the studio's usual frills.

ALL TIME KUNG FU CULT CLASSIC

shaw brothers -a young kungfu student helps save the life of a stranger who he later finds out is a great kungfu and sword master. in return for his good deed the man agrees to teach him. unfortunately his current master doesn't like the competition and kicks him out of the school. the master gets a small group of men to slay the 3 evil masters but they don't have much luck and the only person left alive is the master. the 3 evil masters also take over the school as there new headquarters. the student which got kicked out of the school hears about the situation and goes to reclaim the school.

Another Shaw Brothers kung fu classic. Nice story, good acting, and the most impressive, the wushu skills of the actors. I really recommend this movie for thoses of you who enjoy real traditional kung fu.

The principal actor in this movie is stunning !!

If you practice traditional martial arts you will see and understand some moves, it is really nice !!

Once again, very good movie, worth watching.

This film is like all of the other Kung-Fu movies, high tempo, good fight scenes and good plot. Nice Kung-Fu styles and it was very entertaining for me, hope it is for you too. I just expected a little better ending. Enjoy the movie.