Des Mandchous en fureur

I've seen many many kungfu films and IMHO this is one of the best in the genre. It is fantastic and surreal. The sword fighting and regular fighting is of an unusually high caliber. Because of its date there is a fantastic fuzz-wah guitar soundtrack. Yes, the plot is stereo-typical, but so is Rocky or Starwars, or a million other stories. Jimmy Wang Yu is a visiting Rogue sword fighter. After being beat by the local Animal Chin looking guy he disappears for a long while, but returning vengefully to beat the master and regain their honor. The highpoint of this movie has to be the scene where the brother, sister, and Yip Tin Sin (Jimmy's character) approach the cliff where the final battle is to be set. A) it has some of the GREATEST movie soundtrack music you've ever heard in any drama, B) the three of them jump 250 ft. to the top of the cliff. Its a hillariously bad special effect, but a riot to watch. Then they proceed to fight on rooftops of a pavilion and the use wagon carts to fight. It is very inventive.

This movie has stuck with me a long time. and I still enjoy watching it. You've got to have a taste for kungfu cheese though. Even if you don't, I think that this is the movie that confirmed mine.

I suppose when you buy a film for £2.00 in a charity shop you can't really expect some long lost masterpiece, and Shogun Saints is definitely no classic.

A textbook example of the word "generic" this film (at least in the version I saw, which is the UK release VHS from the 80s) is dull, predictable and often incoherently edited - though this may be a result of both the pan & scanned picture and possible distributor cuts. The amount of thought that's been put into the western release of this title is probably best summed up by the fact that it's a Hong Kong film that's had the word "Shogun" put in the title.

The plot is the usual "you killed my father, now I'll kill you... blah blah blah" scenario, which it follows through from A to B without much in the way of twists or surprises to spice things up. The fight scenes, though numerous, aren't particularly well executed though, and the odd moment of spurting blood doesn't quite make up for the lethargic nature of many of the show downs.

There are some highlights for the die-hard martial arts fans: a strong female sword fighter character, a comedy fat man being decapitated (and I know there's a niche audience for that out there...), the frequent use of "you bastard!" that's so inexplicably popular in kung fu movie dubbing, and a surprisingly good climax which features the fairly astonishing "spinning cart attack" which I can honestly say is unlike any other fight scene I ever watched.

Not that any of these things should come as much of a recommendation. It's a pretty dull film, and only obsessive fans of Jimmy Wang Yu, or people who really just can't get enough kung fu action should bother with it.

Jimmy is on horseback on a beach as a man carrying a small coffin laments the death of his son. They talk a bit then the credits roll as a narrator explains the back story. It starts with Jimmy fighting a gang of soldiers or guards and proceeds to fight his way into the stronghold. He has killed the son of his enemy and is there to deliver the head to the man who killed his father. Chen Hui-Lou, an excellent character actor with over 100 credits, is that man.

Eventually Jimmy loses the fight and Got Siu-Bo rescues him. The story develops with the relationships between Got Siu-Bo, his sister, the general's favorite call girl and her mom are all filled in. It seems the writer of this movie liked the story line of Jimmy fighting then needing to be rescued. It was repeated two more times.

I watched this movie for the third time to write this review. Each time it was a different copy. My first copy was so bad that I couldn't even see the fights because of darkness. Then I found it on You Tube and I could actually see the fights. All of these copies were a bit different in the video edit also. That is the nature of these movies as releases are changed for censorship (usually do to violence but can be any cultural difference) in different countries. Just for actually being able to watch the movie in adequate video resolution my latest copy is the best out there. It is 1984 L&T films and has "Shogun Saints" as the title and is dubbed in English. As usual the title has nothing to do with the story. The story is a simple "You killed my father, prepare to die" plot.

Overall this movie would only draw the attention of hard core fans of martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984 or fans wanting to watch every Jimmy Wang Yu movie. Those fans will find a not too dull movie with just an adequate amount of action meeting the standards of 1972 fight choreography. Just be sure you get a copy you can actually see first.

My version is also ironically entitled "Shogun's Saints." I taped it off the USA Newtork's Kung Fu Theater back in 1986, which used to come on every Sunday afternoon when the USA Network was new and needed cheap programming. One of my famous lines is when the "evil general" says to his top dog, "Since I've dealt with the father, I'm sure I can also deal with the son. I'll leave YOU to handle it!" You gotta admire that kind of confidence. Perhaps the most memorable scene from this Yimmy Wang Yu classic is when the evil general composes an impromptu poem reminiscent of Chairman Mao:

"Tears, Tears. Always weeping tears. I've got other things to worry about. Tell me, Why are you always so tearful? You're upset!"

Damn that's good.