Executioners From Shaolin

Executioners From Shaolin (Hong Xi Guan)(1977)

Runtime: 101 minutes

Directed by: Chia-Liang Liu

Starring: Kuan Tai Chen, Lily Li, Lieh Lo, Yue Wong, Chia-Hui Liu

From: Shaw Brothers

This was the Shaw Brothers Studio film I picked out to watch after the passing away of Sir Run Run Shaw; mainly it is because it was one of four movies in a DVD set I got real cheap from the mostly used DVD/Blu-Ray movie store known as MovieStop, which is a tremendous place to find films for a sweet price. I have heard this is a pretty famous film among the many that they did. Tarantino loved it so much that he borrowed the character of Pai Mei (the villain who is noteworthy for his skills and his white hair) from this for Kill Bill Vol. 2, who is played by another person from this movie as Lieh Lo (who played him here) passed away before the Tarantino film was filmed.

To copy the plot description from the IMDb: “A couple unite - she is fluent in the crane style of kung fu, he in tiger style. They have a son, but the boy's father is killed by the evil eunuch Pai Mei. Disguised as a girl, his mom trains him in crane style while he secretly learns tiger style from his father's training manual.” This is true although it simplifies things. The first part of the story covers how the boy's father wants revenge against Pai Mei for killing his master. Dad meets up with his wife to be and soon they have a kid, named Wending. When Wending is 10, his dad fights Pai Mei but does poorly; however he finds out that you have to strike his vital points between 1 and 3 PM. Why, I am not sure but go with it. Then, you see Wending as an adult and it's finally time for dad to get revenge... only it goes awry and it's time for the son to fight.

This was quite entertaining and I am glad I finally watched it after wanting to for a few days. Things are choreographed so well. There are great fighting scenes, creative stuff involving various props, and definitely some wackiness. The groom has to literally try to spread the bride's legs apart to consummate the marriage, which he has problems with. His buddies want to listen to them have sex. Like I said, wacky. That helps add some levity to what is a serious story about family and revenge.

I don't know if it was an issue with this version of the movie or if it's in all versions, but it ends rather abruptly and that was disappointing. Other than that, I enjoyed this movie as besides the action and the story, all the sets look very nice and the actual locations they filmed at were pretty. If you enjoy the genre then you should check this out.

I will return Monday night.