Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang/Review
From The Grindhouse Cinema Database
< Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang
Chow (Gordon Liu) and Fung Wu (Adam Cheng) are best friends, but they also belong to different clans. Chow belongs to the Shaolin school of Kung Fu and Fung Wu is a rival Wu Tang student. This doesn't matter to them, they still hang together. One night they both go out to a local bar and while there they have a small fight to impress all the women. A Manchu prince is interested in learning the Wu Tang styles and at a dinner he explains this to Fung Wu's Wu Tang master. They tell him that they don't reveal any of their secrets to just anyone and the Manchu prince is angered at this.
After Fung Wu and Chow leave, the Manchu prince asks Fung Wu's master to join him in a game of chess. Then he poisons Fung's master wine because he wants to get the Wu Tang's kung fu instruction book so he can learn the secrets of their Kung Fu styles. In return for the Wu Tang book, he will give him the antedote. Fung Wu comes back and witnesses his master's death and he tries to stop it, but instead his master instructs him to show the Manchu prince the Wu Tangs sword technique so he can get the antidote to the poison he was given. But, in a strange twist Fung stabs his master with the sword and kills him.
The evil prince arrests Fung Wu for murder and throws him in jail with a group of women. On the outside, Chow finds out about Fung and asks a local policeman, who's a friend of his, for a favor. Chow shows up in the jail in disguise as a police guard and he hands out the rice for the inmates' meal. But instead when the guards aren't looking, he trains the women to do Kung Fu moves and he shows "the crazy woman" how to do a special style to help reinvigorate Fung Wu (who has been beaten and is sickly). She does the special Shaolin style on Fung, and after a few minutes he comes back. She also gives him a special spice Chow gave her to help Fung Wu feel better.
There is a jailbreak and Fung Wu and the women escape. Fung, Chow and his sister Yan Ling go to the countryside to hide from the Ching rebels who are looking for them. Note: I noticed that in this part of the film, Bernard Herrmann's score from Taxi Driver was used (That's when you know you're watching a genuine Grindhouse era film!) While at their hut in the country, Fung Wu accuses Chow of poisoning his master, but Chow tells Fung Wu it's a lie. The Manchu prince was the one who did it. As they are arguing, The Ching forces show up and they surround Fung, Chow, Yan Ling and another woman.
Fung and Chow try to escape, but the Ching are too many. So in an incredible sequence they use their respective Shaolin and Wu Tang skills to protect themselves. Sadly, Yan Ling is stabbed by one of the Ching's spears and she dies. Chow declares that he will avenge her death and then leaves to go train at the Shaolin temple. He is not accepted at first, but finally he proves himself and is let in. Meanwhile, Fung Wu is back at the Wu Tang school talking with an old master about what he should do. Chow trains at the Shaolin school and learns special skills, one exercise is to hold a bucket at the end of a long stick with one hand.
The Manchu prince sets up a fight between the Wu Tang and Shaolin schools to see which one is better. Fung Wu and Chow are picked to battle each other and they arrive and have a stunning spear fight. The Manchu prince suspects something isn't right between them and he accuses them both of not really doing their best. Fung Wu and Chow then fight the Manchu prince and use both their styles on him.
As in most classic Martial Arts films of the 1970s and early 80s, the Kung Fu/Wushu battles are amazingly well done and so much more appealing then the kinds of fighting we see in modern action/martial arts films. There was a certain explosive aspect to these fights that are just special. Gordon Liu's work in this (his directorial debut) is excellent. The choreography is wonderful and the characters are portrayed as good as it can get. A highly entertaining old school Kung Fu film.
Peter Roberts is the co-founder/editor-in-chief of the Grindhouse Cinema Database (GCDb) and contributor to the GCDb's sister site Furious Cinema. A Massachusetts native, he is an avid film fan that has been immersed in the world of entertainment and pop culture his entire life. He is a professional digital media designer and educator.
