Le Héros magnifique

A great film. Sure it's a 70's kung fu film, but this one seems somehow to rise above many of its ilk. It starts quickly and from there, it feels like there's never 10 minutes go by without a cracking fight scene. And that's just the thing - ALL the fight scenes are cracking... even the ones you would expect to be minor throw-away scuffles are awesomely executed, filmed and edited! As a 70s Hong Kong Kung Fu film, it still has some fairly broad humour, but it feels more hit than miss. The pantomime style farcical elements here don't seem as forced or as protracted as in many movies of this type. It has some genuinely moving moments and the plot, although straightforward and formulaic, is also refreshing in that it doesn't deviate too much with irrelevances. Nor does it get too tied up in itself. However, there is enough plot there to keep interest in the brief bits between fights.

And this film IS about the fights. There is some awesome kung fu with just the right mix of reality-grounded martial arts, and odd touches wire-assisted flair. Sammo, as with many of the main players, is clearly at his peak, and with his input, the fights can be pretty brutal at times. They are fast, lengthy, hard, and fast and are just starting to move away from the stilted nature of the 70s films. Yuen Biao gets a great showcase fight too - one that shows his martial arts ability more than his acrobatic prowess. This is a film about the martial arts - there are some impressive acrobatics but they are kind of the run of the mill stuff of these films, rather than the jaw-dropping acrobatics of say Wheels on Meals or Dragons Forever. Sammo pulls out some impressive flips though. As does Beggar So's character.

This is my new favourite 70s kung-fuer... and I found it more enjoyable, even, than... dare I say it... Drunken Master!!! Yes - it's that good!

The best place to start signing the praises of this truly "magnificent" film is to look at the names of all those involved with the movie. A venerable who's who of Kun Fu movies past and present rounds out this film.

The film is directed by Yuen Woo Ping, who would later become the master of fight scenes in such movies as The Matrix, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The Once Upon a Time in China series, Kung Fu Hustle, oh and he also directed some great films such as this film and The Buddhist Fist.

The film's screenplay is by Wong Jing, who's notorious for his hit or miss HK films. The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk and Meltdown stand out in my mind as his best films, and from the humor shown throughout this movie it's obvious that Wong Jing had a hand in it, he is definitely "on" in this movie.

The Magnificent Butcher stars Sammo Hung, who unless you were living under a rock in the 1970s and 1980s you should know as one of the more competent kung fu movie stars of his era. Sammo plays the title character "Butcher Wing" (Lam Sai-Wing) one of the more notable of the real life disciples of Kung Fu hero, patriot, and Chinese healer Wong Fe-Hung. Butcher Wing getting his niickname as he was a butcher by trade in his day job, which often leads to many funny butcher jargon jokes during kung fu scenes in movies in which Buther Wing is a character. While not as funny as some of the double entendre fight dialouge in Once Upon a Time in China 5, there is a humorous scene in Magnificent Butcher where Sammo gets a lesson in cooking, mistakenly thinking he's getting a kung fu lesson. Sammo holds his own as Butcher Wing he has the build and demeanor for the part, and quite honestly as this is the only movie I know of featuring Butcher Wing as the main character, Sammo Hung as a big name actor was a good choice for the Role.

Tak-Hing Kwan makes a brief but memorable appearance in his typical role at the time of Master Wong Fei-Hung. This was THE guy, this is who Chinese movie-goers associated as Wong Fei-Hung before Jet Li revived the role in the Once Upon a Time in China series. Tak-Hing Kwan plays and older, queue-less Wong Fei-Hung, but a Wong Fei-Hung who is still a master physician and martial artist nonetheless. Yes this is the movie with the famous scene of Wong Fei-Hung demonstrating calligraphy as a self defense technique. The movie is worth seeing for this scene alone, even if you're not a fan of Sammo Hung you will get a kick out of Tak-Hing Kwan's defensive calligraphy style.

Yuen Biao is also in this gem of a film, one I highly recommend seeing if only to see what Wong Fei-Hung films were like prior to Jet Li. The 1970s and 80s were filled with low budget pure crap films, and rest assured this film is not one of them. This is a rare gem from that era, one that any kung fu fanatic must see.

For the fan of the classic Hong Kong kung fu movie, this one is just plain fun. Sammo Hung is comic, fierce, expressive, and a joy to watch in action. Yuen Biao is conniving, devious, and mean. The action is wild, the kung fu is fast and furious, the stunts are convincing, all in all a great chop-sockey type movie. If you enjoy this sort of thing, give it a try!

This a great Kung Fu film based on legendary historical figure Butcher Wing, played by Sammo Hung. The choreography is brilliant and powerful - the action sequences are full of energy and ferocity. The amount of talent within this film is phenomenal. You have Sammo, Yuen Biao, Hoi San Lee, Wei Pei, and the awesome Lam Ching-Ying.

The drama in this film swiftly elevates as particular gruesome events take place within Butcher Wing's own house, thus drawing attention from a rival Kung Fu School led by Hoi San Lee's character - armed with the deadly and quite hilarious "Cosmic Palm" style.

The clash between the two schools is cataclysmic, with some of the best choreography ever recorded on film. Yuen Biao vs. Lam Ching-Ying is of particular quality. Also, the drunken beggar character adds some welcome comic relief as well as some of the funniest action sequences I have seen. This character (resembling legendary Master So Hai, and to originally be played by Simon Yuen), acts as a catalyst for the film.

This is one of the best Sammo Hung projects that is available to see. His Kung Fu seems to be at it's peak, and the choreography really is ground-breaking - at least check out the calligraphy scene!

I really like this movie for a number of reasons. Way back in my early teens this was the first time I found the legend that it Samo Hung, and his magnificent brand of kung fu comedy. This film holds up well today probably because of the stellar crew behind the scenes including the legend Woo-Ping Yuen. Hung here plays Butcher Wing' the apprentice in a dojo who constantly finds himself caught up in mischief. Wing gets caught up in a series of events that conspire to make him enemy no.1 and lead to some truly amazing fight sequences that truly have to be seen to be believed. Where this film is a departure from the traditional historic kung fu movie is there are no grand themes or sense of the epic just a nice tight small story and some incredible scenes all laced with some incredible physicality both of the violent and comedic nature. A true kung fu classic. Enjoy it again and again.