When I use the term "devoted" I mean it in the truest sense. Lau Kar-Leung, the director, was intent to show the Chinese people in their real environment and to explain how some events came to pass that affected so very many. The movie grabs you right from the beginning. The credits are not even through when you are swept up in a frenzy of battle. The Shaolin Temple has been attacked yet again as the Ching rulers determined to finally kill all Shaolin and their sympathizers! Pai Mei is a treacherous killer supported by the Manchurians. He is a highly advanced fighter who fights with the aged last priest and kills him. Pai Mei's forces continue the slaughter as a very few Shaolin followers left try to escape. When they find Tung he is mortally wounded and insists the others, including his best friend Hung Hze-Kwan (Chen Kwan Tai) save themselves. Even Pai Mei admits Tung has died a hero. Hung is one of the few survivors and with the others that escape they realize they have no chance of survival and so seek out opera and entertainment shows that travel by boat, red boats to be more specific. In that way they can recognize supporters and be able to escape the soldiers always hunting them.

The red ships go to Canton and that is where Hung meets a spirited martial artist Yung Chun (Lily Li-li) he falls in love with upon seeing her beautiful face. They marry and she and her father join the troupe. But Bak Mei has no intention of letting a single "rebel" escape. He is informed the Shaolin escapees travel on the red boats. He sends his army to destroy them all. Fortunately they discover the plan and scatter across the land, pledging to meet again to kill Pai Mei. Life begins to seem somewhat safe again and he is ecstatic when Yung Chun delivers a baby boy they name Wen-Ding. Although Hung loves his family he finds himself obsessed by revenge upon Pai Mei. For more than a decade Hze Kwan trains hard using in the Tiger Claw form. Even as he trains he is haunted by those that have died, especially his friend Tung. Feeling as powerful as he can be with all those years of training he sets off for the old Shaolin Temple and the final battle with Pai Mei. Unfortunately it doesn't take long before he realizes he not only will lose the match but his life as well! He is the only one who arrives as agreed and is near death when his old friend Hu sacrifices his life to save Hung. But he is in bad shape physically and mentally for the loss of his great friend. With his wife nursing him back to health he is even more determined to have revenge. Amongst the vicious blows and strikes Hung is able to observe some of the characteristics and learns that you must hit certain areas, at specific times in order to best him. His whole focus now is training. He virtually ignores his son and is always talking about techniques and how to avoid them. Hung practices on a device, a human torso sized metal replica that contains ball bearings. He works constantly on improving his speed in catching the balls as they fall through the device. (I have never seen such a training device before this movie nor after.) Hung knows this will be his last chance to defeat his enemy. He is confident but also a bit sad because he knows he may not escape this time. But he is resigned to that as long as he completes his mission successfully.

His family waits but he does not return and his wife explains to their son he will not be coming back and why. Wen-Ding vows vengeance but he has only been trained by his mother in the Crane Form. He knows it alone will not be enough for the task and finds his father's book teaching the Tiger Claw style and begins to practice that as well. But part of the training book is missing, forcing him to combine the Crane and Tiger Claw style as one form, which came to be known as the Hung Gar form. Wen-Ding at last feels ready and sets off for the temple and the final showdown.

[SPOILERS] Wen-Ding is nimble and agile, managing to evade most of the strikes. But since he had perfected a skill unknown to his enemy he is at last able to kill him and bring about long awaited revenge. [END SPOILERS]

There are a couple of notes about this epic. Lau Kar Leung is passionate about representing the people, not only in fighting but in daily life as well. In every movie he directs he makes certain to show the bravery and heroism of "simple" people. One reason he takes such steps in movies about the end of Shaolin is because the Hung Gar form is his own family's form, the Hung Fist. It is said that Lau Kar Leung's father was taught by the real life Wong Fei-Hung.

[SPOILERS] There are two different versions of this film. They are virtually identical from each other except in the very last moments of the fight between Wen-Ding and Pai Mei. The first version I saw many years ago shows Wen-Ding with crane hold on Pai Mei, legs wrapped around his shoulders as he gouges out the eyes and near rips off his face and head. However newer releases stop short of any viciousness or blood by having a subtitle that says something about the hero is courageous (I really don't recall) but the point is that somewhere along the way someone chopped off the ending which I find an injustice. The movie should be seen as it was made! [END SPOILERS]

But let's face it, the comedy here sucks, about 90% of it anyway. A few things that our protagonists do and think are so absurd they feel infuriating, and on top of it all Yue Wong as cross-dressing, gender-bending kung fu expert brat Hung Weng-Ding is WAY too lightweight for being a worthy opponent for Pai Mei.

All in all, perhaps my judgement is a bit undeservingly harsh, being so due to my high expectations; but classic or not, I must admit I've seen better ones from Shaw. Still well worth viewing and owing for any old school kung fu enthusiast, and who knows, perhaps repeated viewings shed some new light on it. At least the story moves differently than your basic revenge plot.

1. A trivial reason, but the concept. How many times and how many ways are these people gonna' tell the tragic story of the benevolent Shaolin Temple being burnt down by the malevolent Ching Dynasty? Though the story is primarily based around the concept of Tiger/Crane style and the Tiger Claw guy seeking revenge against Pei Mei, it agitates me to no end to see this retardation. Urgh!

2. Kung fu action. Though Lar Kar-Leung has made great films like "Eight Diagram Pole Fighter", "Heroes Of The East", and "Legendary Weapons Of China", the fights in this film are weak. I only like the fights between Pei Mei and Tiger Claw man (I forgot his name, SORRY!).

3. The utter insignificance of Wang Yu. Now, he has done some good films, however his characterization ruined this film. Obnoxious and stupid.

4. The final fight scene. It wasn't even a fight scene, just Wang Yu acting like a tool. But somehow he gets the upper hand on Pei Mei because he combined Tiger with Crane. Whoopie-doo!

The only reason I like this film is Lo Lieh as Pei Mei, and my dire obsession with the salacious Lily Li, which of course was good enough to give this film three stars. Other than that this film is a horrible waste of my butt. If you like it, fine, I don't care. This is just my cynicism speaking after all.

Aside from the absolutely remarkable fight scene involving Gordon Liu near the very beginning of "Executioners from Shaolin", there is little else to recommend in this boring film. Even its greatest asset, Lo Lieh, is given scant few minutes of screen time.

The flaws in this film are numerous. The film is so dominated by scenes of Chen Kuan-Tai's extremely mundane domestic life it almost makes the revenge scenario against Pei Mei feel like an afterthought. What little fight action that does occur is slow and uninspired. Moreover, Chen Kuan-tai is never even remotely Lo Lieh's match, even after 17 years of training. The sheer one-sidedness of the fights makes them more tedious than exciting; I won't even go into the absurdity of Pei Mei's kung fu style. And to make matters worse, the training sequences that occur prior to the Hong Xiguan-Pei Mei showdowns are boring, consisting mostly of Chen Kuan-tai banging away on an immobile bronze dummy, when he isn't busy ripping the bark off trees.

But far and away the biggest flaw of the whole movie is the character of Hong Wending, played by the perpetually annoying Young Wang Yu. Regardless of the film, whenever Liu Chia-liang used Young Wang Yu as his comedy relief, it always produced the same annoying-as-hell slapstick result, and this film is no exception. The fact he is portrayed as an exremely effiminate, almost girlish, buffoon with a pronounced lack of kung fu skill does not help matters. That he is able to beat Lo Lieh at the end, after his father had failed twice at the same task even after two decades of training, is an insult to the intelligence of the viewer. This movie is utterly disappointing and completely forgettable.

I have only seen the old VHS version of this movie. However, the reason that i've decided to post a review is because of the reviews i've read, each one states that the final scene ends abruptly. Unless i'm mistaken, the DVD doesn't show what happens to Bai Mei. Please e-mail me if i'm not correct! What's strange to me about that, from what i remember of the the original movie, is that the final scene does conclude:

The young man finds Bai Mei's weak spot on top of his head! Using the crane's stregth in the legs, the young man latches onto Bai Mei's shoulders and squeezes him so that he does not fall (the way he used to when he was a kid!) Finally, he uses both beak hands to poke out Bai Mei's eyes. Blood gushes everywhere, Bai Mei spins around dramatically, and collapses dead...

Is that not in this DVD??? If not, how disappointing! Perhaps the scene was too gory? (i highly doubt it - i've seen worse).

Strange...