AKA Return of the Five Deadly Venoms
Hong Kong premiere: December 21, 1978
Director: Chang Cheh
Stars: Chen Kuan-Tai, Philip Kwok, Lo Meng, Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng, Sun Chien, Johnny Wang, Cheng Miu, Yu Tai-Ping, Tony Tam, Yeung Hung, Wang Han-Chen, Dick Wei
Story Overview: Enemies murder the wife of Master Du Tian-Dao and cut off the hands of his young son Chang. Years later Chang has become a master himself, armed with iron hands, and he and his father take revenge on the world, maiming anyone who dares disrespect them. Four men who have been wounded by the family (one blinded, one made a deaf-mute, one whose legs were cut off, and one who was made an “idiot”) band together for revenge.
My Nutshell Review: Essentially a straight-faced comedy, with the Venom Mob at their peak in terms of unique, unrestrained action. Some of the things they do in this will leave you shaking your head in wonder, but they’ll also provide plenty of laughs. Despite a few ridiculous narrative contrivances, one of Shaw Brothers’ best and most entertaining films.
My Flickchart Score: 94% (What’s This?)
Watch it free on Amazon Prime here.
Hong Kong premiere: December 21, 1978
Director: Chang Cheh
Stars: Chen Kuan-Tai, Philip Kwok, Lo Meng, Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng, Sun Chien, Johnny Wang, Cheng Miu, Yu Tai-Ping, Tony Tam, Yeung Hung, Wang Han-Chen, Dick Wei
Story Overview: Enemies murder the wife of Master Du Tian-Dao and cut off the hands of his young son Chang. Years later Chang has become a master himself, armed with iron hands, and he and his father take revenge on the world, maiming anyone who dares disrespect them. Four men who have been wounded by the family (one blinded, one made a deaf-mute, one whose legs were cut off, and one who was made an “idiot”) band together for revenge.
My Nutshell Review: Essentially a straight-faced comedy, with the Venom Mob at their peak in terms of unique, unrestrained action. Some of the things they do in this will leave you shaking your head in wonder, but they’ll also provide plenty of laughs. Despite a few ridiculous narrative contrivances, one of Shaw Brothers’ best and most entertaining films.
My Flickchart Score: 94% (What’s This?)
Watch it free on Amazon Prime here.
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In-Depth Synopsis
In-Depth Synopsis
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Three armed men approach the gates of Tian Dao Mansion, home of the great warrior Du Tian-Dao. These are the Tian Nan Tigers, played by Dick Wei, Jamie Luk, and Stewart Tam. They kick down the gate, slaughter the guards, and then rush the house, where Du’s wife (Helen Poon) is teaching poetry to their young son, Du Chang. Wei, playing the Tigers’ leader, says that he doesn’t like the idea of killing women and children, so the men decide to maim them instead. They cut the wife’s legs off at the knees, and the son’s hands off at the elbows.
Just then, Du (Chen Kuan-Tai) arrives, just a few seconds too late, along with his bodyguard and major domo, Wan (Johnny Wang). Du says, “You bastards only know how to hurt women and children. I will use the Tiger’s Strike to kill you all!” The Black Tiger attack (grabbing and crushing the windpipe) kills the Stewart Tam character. Wind Tiger kills the Dick Wei character. Finally, Big Windmill kills the Jamie Luk character. Once all three are down, Du rushes to his wife’s side, but Wan shakes his head; she’s already dead.
The son is still alive, though.
Cut to the present. Chang, all grown up (and played by master baddie Lu Feng) is trying out a new set of iron hands, his seventh and the best. They shoot tiny darts, and can extend to make his arms eight feet long! Du has insisted that Chang will learn his Tiger Style kung fu, and the young man shows off his skills, and his new hands, by beating the living daylights out of a small bamboo forest under the opening credits. I admit this sequence looks kinda silly.
Once the credits are over, we cut to the courtyard of Tian Dao Mansion, where we see four young men tied up and surrounded by Du’s guards. Du introduces them to his son: “These are the sons of the Tian Nan Tigers. I waited until they grew up and then I captured them. My son, Du Chang,” he says to the three prisoners. “It was your fathers who cut off both his hands. Now you’ve learned kung fu. I shall set you free if you beat him, and I promise I will not interfere.” Then, again to his son, “Chang, I killed all the Tian Nan Tigers to avenge your mother. They didn’t kill you, so you just try to cripple them.”
His guards untie the first prisoner, and Chang quickly breaks his arm. The second, who very clearly doesn’t want to do this, gets both arms broken. Neither ever lays a hand on Chang. Then a pair of brothers are released together. They rush Chang, who simply ducks their blows and then kneecaps both with his iron hands.
Du is clearly pleased, and later we see him getting drunk in the mansion’s dining room. “The Tigers of Tian Nan crippled my son,” he laughs to himself, “and for revenge I’ve done the same to them. Although my poor son has lost both his hands, he’s still very good at kung fu. He’s a born martial artist. Even crippled, he’s a great deal better than most men.” We see that Chang is hiding in the background listening to his father, but I don’t know why. He doesn’t react, and none of this sounds very inflammatory. Maybe there are translation troubles here?
Now we cut to some time later, in the dining room of the “Friendly Inn.” A hawker of trinkets (Philip Kwok), enters. A waiter (I know this actor, but can’t figure out his name...there will be a proper link here some day) leads him to a table, where he orders some wine, as we see Du, Chang, and Wan arrive (along with an escort). The whole place falls silent and everyone rises to show respect; the waiter indicates that the hawker should, as well.
As the entourage begins to ascend the stairs to their tables on the balcony, two armed men notice Chang’s hands. They drop their swords in surprise, which clatter among the dishes on their table, and Du turns to look at them. They look at their own hands, then hide them behind their backs and grin at him. “Are you mocking my son?” he asks. Chang fells one of them with a single blow from his iron fist, and Wan slaps the other around a few times before sending him flying across the room. As this happens, the local blacksmith (Lo Meng) walks in. The sight makes him angry. He walks over and helps the injured men up, as the waiter explains to the hawker the whole situation, and that the two victims are lucky to be alive. They shout, “We apologize, it was all our fault!” as they run away, shaking off the blacksmith’s helping hand.
The blacksmith shouts to the room, “What kind of world is this? Everyone sees them as ghosts.” The landlord (Wang Han-Chen), fearing trouble in his establishment, tries to convince him to sit down, but he’s determined to have his say. “You will be cursed if you keep up this dominant attitude! He hates the world because his wife was killed and his son was crippled. That’s why he’s mean to everybody. What kind of hero are you?” The three men seem to ignore him as the waiter pours their wine, his hands shaking. Chang reaches out to steady them, which of course only frightens him more. The blacksmith continues, “All scared? I’m not! Landlord, give me some wine!” The landlord is of course too frightened to do any such thing, so the blacksmith gets up, grabs a jug for himself, and walks out, nodding dismissively at the entourage as he goes. Chang wants to follow him, but Wan stops him, There will be time to teach him proper manners later.
Unfortunately, just at this moment, the hawker pipes up. “God knows he’s right. What he said is true!” At this further insult, Du leaps to his feet, and Chang knocks the banister clear off the balcony. “God doesn’t know what’s right,” says Du. Chang jumps down and confronts the hawker, who stares at him.
Now we’re at Wei’s Iron Shop, so we learn that the blacksmith’s name is Wei. He’s sitting on the stoop, telling stories about standing up to the Du family, when Wan comes walking up the street with four guards. Everyone else scatters, but Wei stands his ground. Wan extends an invitation to the mansion. Wei says he might come, if he’s asked politely, and walks back into his shop. The four guards rush him, but he swings his sledgehammer around and they back off.
“Mr. Wei,” Wan asks, “you think you can match him?”
“I’m willing to try.”
“He doesn’t want a fight. He wants to drink with you. Didn’t you say you’re not afraid of him?”
“Of course I’m not. Let’s go!” says the blacksmith, but he brings his hammer along.
He walks into the mansion, where he finds Du sitting at a table, eating and drinking. Wei swaggers up, hammer across his shoulders, scowling at the guards and servants. To Du he says, “Well, I’m here. What do you want?”
“You like swearing at people,” his host answers.
“That’s not true. I only curse bastards.”
Wan picks up a cup that’s sitting on the table and brings it to Wei. “What’s this?”
“A drug, to make you mute and stop your cursing.” At this, the guards rush Wei from behind and pin his arms, as Wan pours the poison down his throat. Then the guards try to throw him out, but he breaks free and rushes the table, shouting the last words he’ll ever say: “Du Tian Dao, you’re a monster! One day you will pay for this...” and he continues shouting but no sound comes out. Du smiles at him.
“Still cursing, eh?” he says. Wei dips his finger in the poison and writes EVERYONE IS CURSING YOU on the table. So, presumably to stop Wei from hearing all these curses, Du suddenly rises and slams his hands over Wei’s ears, bursting his eardrums. As he writhes in pain, the guards are easily able to cast him out into the street. He runs back to his shop, where his neighbors crowd around, pelting him with questions he can neither hear nor answer.
Meanwhile, back at the Friendly Inn, the hawker is being helped out into the street by the landlord and waiter. Just so I don’t have to keep typing “the hawker,” I’ll go ahead and tell you that his name is Chen Shuen, because it’ll be a while ‘til the movie gets around to it. Chen’s box of trinkets is still on his back, and there’s a bandage across his eyes. “Listen, I wish you could stay here,” the landlord says, “but you’ve made enemies. I’m too old, I’m afraid...” The hawker nods his understanding, then asks where the blacksmith lives. “You’d better just go away,” the landlord answers. “They punished him too. He’s deaf and dumb now.” The hawker thanks them and walks away, tapping his cane to find his way.
Wei sits on the stoop of his shop drinking. When he finishes the jug he smashes it, listening for the sound of it breaking, but can’t hear it. He snaps, flying into the street, flailing his massive arms in rage...and accidentally knocks down Chen. He immediately apologizes, but of course makes no sound, and the hawker can’t see his mimed apology. He manages to make it clear that he is deaf and dumb, and in return Chen mimes the question, “Are you the blacksmith?” Wei happily slaps him on the shoulder, indicating yes, and picks up his belongings, guiding him into the shop.
The next day, a potter (Lui Tat) is berating a laborer, Wu Gui (Sun Chien). He fires him and throws him out of the shop, and Wu stumbles into the street, cursing his former boss. While doing this, and not paying attention to where he’s going, he runs right into Chang. Too angry to apologize, he instead says that Chang should have gotten out of his way. Chang attacks him but is called off by his father. “This garbage isn’t worth it,” says Du, but Chang wants him punished. He doesn’t watch where he’s walking, so Wan offers to chop his feet off, and then the guards do, right there in the street.
Now there are three wounded men in the blacksmith’s shop. Wei is hard at work, and Chen is operating the bellows to keep the furnace hot. Wu, who apparently is as lazy as his old boss accused him of being, sits near them looking kind of mopey. Wei mimes that they needn’t worry, that his business is good and he’ll make enough to feed them all, but just then Mr. Wan arrives. He asks, sarcastically, if they’re all doing well, then turns and makes an announcement to the crowd in the street. “Now listen! Anyone who uses this blacksmith answers to me!”
A few days later, the forge is cold and the wounded men are out of money when a young knight (Chiang Sheng) comes to the shop. A neighbor tells him that the blacksmith is not in business, and there are no other blacksmiths nearby. The knight notes that everyone seems to get nervous when he asks these questions, and the neighbor explains what’s happened. The knight turns to the shop to find a gang of local toughs pushing the wounded around as the neighborhood children laugh. The knight tells the wounded that his name is Wang Yi, and that he’ll avenge them. We see him arrive at Tian Dao Mansion and fight his way through the guards at the entrance. In the courtyard, he demands that Du come and face him, but instead Wan walks out, bearing his signature weapon: a heavy iron weight on the end of a length of chain. He tells Wang that not just anyone can have an audience with Du Tian Dao, but soon after Du and his son do appear. Du asks if Wang is with the Tian Nan Tigers, but of course Wang has never heard of them. He’s simply heard that Du has been doing cruel and vicious things, and has come to stop him. Wan orders the guards to take “this idiot,” but Wang handles them easily, so Wan himself attacks. His sword against Wan’s ball-and-chain (plus Johnny Wang’s skill and Chiang Sheng’s athleticism) make for an interesting fight until Chang jumps in, finally knocking Wang’s sword away while Wan binds his feet with the chain.
Now he’s chained in the dining room as the three villains have a bite to eat. Wang dares them to kill him, saying that he will be avenged, but of course the Du family has no intention of killing him. They’re just trying to find a fitting punishment. Finally Du asks his name.
“I’ve already told you once, it’s Wang Yi.”
“So you can remember it?”
“Of course I can. I’m not an idiot.”
“Not yet...”
A servant has brought out a strange device of wood and steel, which they fit around Wang’s head and tighten until his brain is damaged. Later, after dark, we see the three wounded sitting outside the mansion waiting for him as he’s thrown out of the place at last. They gather him up and ask if he’s alright, but of course he isn’t. The torture has left him an “idiot,” which in this film actually means that he behaves half like a very young child, and half like a drunk. Oddly, he has retained his kung fu skills.
Back at the blacksmith’s shop, they find it impossible to learn anything about who Wang is or what happened to him. He just keeps bouncing around, giggling and repeating everything that’s said to him. Finally Wu thinks of checking to see if he carries anything that might identify him, and finds a letter inside his robe. By this means they learn that he is from Eagle Mansion, and since whatever happened to him was a result of his trying to act on behalf of the wounded, they decide they must at least take him home.
The blacksmith pushes a cart down a forest path. On it are propped Wu and Chen, as Wang jogs alongside. Wang continues to act like a child, upsetting the cart and spilling its occupants and driving Wei nuts. They arrive at a little roadside tavern and stop to rest, but the local children once again think it’ll be fun to pick on the cripples, laughing at them and throwing rocks. Wang, of course, thinks that looks like a ton of fun and starts throwing rocks at the kids, who run off crying. The wounded leave before the angry mob of parents arrive and finally make it to Eagle Mansion. Wang recognizes the place as home, and jumps over the wall to open the door and act as host.
They meet the master of the house, Li Jing Ying (Cheng Miu), who tells them how Du Tian Dao used to be a great hero with his Tiger boxing style. It’s a shame that he’s become a monster. He says that he will find a way to teach them kung fu, so that they can stop Du and have their revenge. Now we get a training montage, which is fairly short compared to some other films of the genre, but still takes a lot longer to watch than to read about, since there isn’t a whole lot to say about it.
Chen is trained to fight with a staff (an inconspicuous weapon in the hands of a blind man) and with small wooden darts, and to strike by hearing movement, to the point that he can knock falling leaves out of the air. This training we see almost nothing of; we only see him after he has mastered these skills. Master Li also improves his reflexes by having him catch large metal rings that are thrown to him and then do crazy acrobatic things with them before tossing them aside.
Wei’s inability to communicate is overcome by teaching his friends to trace letters on his palm, and he receives training to improve his eyesight and lateral vision. Physically, his training focuses on speed and accuracy, memorably by punching between the spokes of a spinning wheel to break pottery on the other side of it. He also stands amidst a shitload of sandbags that are swung at him as he looks in a mirror to see what’s happening behind him.
Wu has legs forged for him (by Wei, of course) made of iron. It takes him some time merely to learn to stand and walk with them, but once he does he is trained in the normal way. Eventually he utterly destroys a whole troop of wooden sparring dummies.
Wang doesn’t need training, since he has retained his old skills; his role during all this is mostly to annoy his new brothers. In this he actually assists in their training. He constantly knocks Wu down while he’s still unsteady on his new legs, making Wu angry enough to kick him and thus get plenty of practice using his new legs as weapons. He’s fascinated by Chen’s “play” with the metal rings and is willing to work with him for hours at a time. Eventually they start sort of dancing together with the rings. This will pay off in the film’s best scene later.
Cut to three years later. Master Li is satisfied with the progress his students have made. Physical handicaps can be overcome, he says, but not moral ones. “Du Tian-Dao is physically perfect, but when it comes to his mind he’s hopelessly crippled.” He believes that the four Avengers can handle Du now. And it’s important to get started, because apparently Du and his son are getting worse, hiring ruffians to help him rule the city. The Avengers must find out if these stories are true before taking their revenge, so that they know whether it’s just to kill him or not. With this admonition, the four Avengers set out.
At Tian Dao Mansion, preparations are being made for Du’s 45th birthday celebration. Wan is at the inn, picking up supplies he’s ordered for the party, when Chen walks in with his staff (bearing a flag reading “fortune teller”) and ringing a bell. The waiter and innkeeper recognize him, but Wan doesn’t. The waiter warns Chen that Wan is present, hoping to stop him getting hurt, but Chen just smiles, takes his staff, and walks over to the table where Wan and his mooks are sitting (incidentally, one of the mooks is played by Lau Fong-Sai). He offers to read Wan’s future. As he goes to sit, the Lau-mook tries to pull the stool from under him, but Chen simply perches is a crouch and pulls the stool back into position. Wan offers him a broken teacup, but he grabs a good one and fills it. At this point all the mooks take potshots at him, but he dodges every attack. He sits casually atop Wan’s table, announces who he is, and says that Wan hasn't changed at all. “You’re still Du’s running dog.” At this a proper free-for-all breaks out, but Chen takes out all of the mooks and fights Wan to a stand-still. He and his entourage storm out as the innkeeper worries that bad times are coming.
Back at the mansion, visitors are showing off their skills to Wan and the guards. Luo (Tony Tam) is a master of light style, and walks across a row of lit candles without snuffing them out. At least, I think that’s what’s going on there. Wan says that he has a problem, and asks for Luo’s help. With his light style, Luo can move in complete silence, leaving the blind Chen helpless against him. Meanwhile, Lin (Yu Tai-Ping) is giving a demonstration of his slingshot, with which he fires tiny metal balls into a series of small medals that hang from a tree. Wan says that Lin will accompany Luo, along with a team of mooks, to take on Chen the next day. Although he’s confident that Luo can handle the job on his own, he wants to be over-cautious; the master’s birthday is coming up and Wan wants no unpleasant news to mar the occasion for him.
The following day, Wei arrives at the inn and is immediately recognized by the innkeeper, who asks if he’s looking for Chen. Wei, of course, can’t understand what the innkeeper is saying, but the waiter does successfully ask if he would like a drink, and leads him to a table on the balcony, away from everyone else. This turns out to be convenient, as Wan and his ruffians enter soon after and throw everyone out, to prepare a trap for Chen, but Wei is able to stay behind, hidden. Wan’s plan is simple: when Chen enters, everyone will remain perfectly still and silent until he reaches his room at the back of the inn. At that point Lin, stationed outside, will shoot him through the window. If that fails, the mooks will surround him, making a racket, which will create cover for Luo’s silent attack. Wei can’t hear any of this, but can clearly see that evil doings are afoot.
At the mansion, Du and his son receive another guest, Ju Gao-Feng (Yeung Hung), the last student of Du’s own master. They meet him at the gate and are accosted by Chen, acting as a beggar. They give him a few coins, and a random mook played by Siao Yuk steals some of them. Then we’re back at the inn, and I have no idea why they decided to intersperse that scene here. Anyway, Chen enters the inn, unaware of his danger. Wei attempts to warn him, but can’t shout, and Luo becomes aware of him. He attacks Wei and they have a short, silent scuffle as Chen makes his way across the room. Just as Lin fires a bullet at him, Wei kicks a table off the balcony, blocking the deadly missiles and obviously making a lot of noise, alerting Chen to the trap. The mooks attack as Chen swings the table around, keeping them at bay. Wei jumps into the melee, fighting the silent Luo as Chen takes on Wan. After a moment of this, Wan once again orders his men to leave. Why doesn’t this guy ever finish a fight?
Wan introduces Lin to Ju, and the latter mocks Lin’s slingshot as unmanly. A real kung fu artist doesn’t need such tricks. Lin asks him to show off his skills, offering to attack him with two long knives that he also carries, but Wan prevents this fight. These two are guests, and Wan as host has the right to spar with them. Wan takes his ball-and-chain from a mook, and Ju compliments him on the weapon’s strangeness. “Don’t worry about me,” he says. “Go as hard as you like.” Here we see that Ju is a practitioner of hard Qigong. Wan strikes, wrapping the heavy chain around Ju, who then simply flexes his muscles and snaps it. “Sorry,” he says, and walks away. Lin and Wan discuss how much they dislike the guy, but suddenly Wan notices that Luo is not around. Lin says that Luo was annoyed when Wan made him stop fighting earlier, and may have gone looking for Chen and Wei on his own. Wan sends Siao Yuk to go find him and bring him back.
Wang plays some sort of game that looks like marbles with a group of children outside the old blacksmith’s shop as Wu looks on disdainfully. When the children tire of the game and run off Wang goes with them, and Wu follows to bring him back. So, when Wei walks through and is attacked from behind by Luo, there is no-one to warn him. Fortunately, he wears the mirror given to him by Master Li and sees Luo coming. After Luo gets slapped around a little he grabs an old hammer from the shop and uses it as a weapon, but is still no match for Wei, who finally kills him with a tool from the shop that looks like a giant pair of bolt-cutters. This is witnessed by Siao Yuk, hiding around the corner. After Wei leaves, Wan and Lin arrive, and Siao Yuk tells them what happened. Wan realizes that he’ll have to give up his plan to keep all of this from Du. Wei and Chen must be killed before the birthday party. But Wan has a problem: his weapon was broken by Ju and hasn’t been mended yet. He gives Siao Yuk instructions that we don’t hear and then returns to the mansion.
Ju learns about the two enemies at the inn, and that Wan couldn’t fight them without his weapon, and so he sets off to handle the problem himself. Since he’s virtually invincible, he assumes there will be no problem. Meanwhile, at the inn, we find out what Siao Yuk’s job was: to steal Wei’s mirror. I’m not sure why this was a secret. Anyway, he manages to break the lanyard the mirror hangs from around Wei’s neck, but Wei gets the mirror back and sends Siao on his way with a few slaps to the head. As Wei complains about this to Chen, via the writing-on-his-palm method (distracting both men’s attention), Lin appears at the door. Unseen, he takes aim with his slingshot, but just in time Wei spots him in his reflective wristbands and thwarts the attack by throwing a chair at him. Wan enters and he and Wei fight for a moment. Just as Chen prepares to join the battle, a bunch of mooks rush in with gongs, which they clash to create a wall of noise, rendering Chen defenseless. They encircle him as he blindly swings his staff, but so quickly and powerfully that no-one can get close to him. Wei manages to fight free of Wan and disperses the mooks, and the two stand ready to face the enemy. Lin leads the next wave of mooks, brandishing his twin knives, but they prove no match for our Avengers.
Wan orders Lin to douse the lights, and he begins to shoot out the candles in the room, but just then Ju arrives and tells him to stop. Although darkness would leave Wei helpless, it would make Chen unbeatable; he would easily destroy every villain in the place. Ju tells everyone to leave, and he’ll handle the Avengers himself. Then he turns to them. “It’s a shame to fight with cripples. Just doesn’t seem fair. So I will make a concession, just so you won’t think I’m taking advantage of you. I’ll just stand here and you can have three kicks and punches at me, and then it will be my turn to hit you. If you are able to knock me down, I promise that Tian Dao Mansion will give you no more troubles. But if you can’t stand my blows, and I’ll limit myself to three, well...that’s just your bad luck.”
Chen and Wei agree. Wei goes first, and begins to look afraid as his punches can’t even make Ju wince (for the final shot, he does a comical Little Rascals-style windup). He follows up with three kicks, including a flying finale, that are just as useless. Then Chen steps up, and likewise does no damage at all, even though he closes with a great, running jump kick/flip. Ju sneers at them. “My turn. Who’s first?” Just then, Wu enters. “Hold it,” he says. “We three are all in this together. So let me get my three shots in, and then you can start on us.” Ju agrees, but Wang comes in and tries to warn him. “Don’t be tricked by him. He’s got iron feet!” Thinking fast, Chen says, “Right. He just survived the blacksmith’s iron fists, so he might as well try Wu’s iron feet.”
The tactic works. Ju says, “Iron feet, these fancy names. It doesn’t mean a thing. Come on!” And then he learns that it isn’t merely a metaphor as Wu’s first kick disembowels him. Wu and Wang hide in the back room as Wan enters to find his invincible champion dead. Chen says that Ju was a brave man and a great fighter, and for his sake he’ll allow the ruffians to carry the body away, which they do.
Wan and his men lay Ju’s body before Du at the mansion. “You’ve worked for me for many years,” Du says. “You never screwed up like this before.” He says that he will handle the Avengers himself, before the party. Cut to the next day, as Wei warns the others that Du and his people are coming. Chen tells Wu and Wang to sneak out the back and meet them later at the blacksmith’s shop. Now that they’ve learned kung fu, Chen has come to realize just how good Du and his son are. Chen and Wei can’t match them, so they’ll need a surprise attack, and Wu is that surprise. Wu leaves, but Wang, busily eating a vase of flowers, won’t go. Chen and Wei hide, but Wang starts doing handstands as the enemy enters the inn. They recognize him, and ask where the other two are, but he says he won’t tell. Du tells his mooks to grab Wang, but of course they can’t, and he has a lot of fun flipping around and making them look silly. Chang steps up and deals a heavy blow with his iron hands, at which point Chen and Wei have to jump in to save him. “I hear you have a big reputation,” says Chen, “but I’ve never seen you fight, so I don’t know. That’s why we three are here, to try you out.”
Du handles Chen and Wei pretty easily, as Chen had predicted, and the two are forced to escape through the windows. Wang, after a little more playful bouncing about, follows them. Chang wants to chase them, but Du says that his guests will be arriving soon and he must be there to greet them. The Avengers will be back, he knows.
The Avengers regroup at the blacksmith’s shop, but Chen says it’s no good hiding there. Du knows they have nowhere else to go and will come for them when he’s ready. But he won’t bother them that day, because of the party. He wants to impress all of his friends, hoping to become the leader of the martial world, and he knows it won’t look good if he has to fight a bunch of cripples in front of them. And Du expects them to be cowed by the show of superiority he put on at the inn. The one thing he won’t expect is for them to attack, so they will, as soon as the party’s over.
They burst into the mansion to find that preparations have been made. There are drums lining the path into the mansion, the beating of which ruins Chen’s hearing. Also, several mirrors are set up to shine bright light into Wei’s eyes, blinding him. But they hadn’t been able to plan for Wang, who rushes in and starts knocking all these contrivances over. He and Wei quickly take out a bunch of mooks as Chen fights Lin and Wan, and soon all the mooks who aren’t dead are frightened off.
Wei fights Wan, dodging his ball-and-chain until he’s finally able to grab the ball away and fight hand-to-hand. Finally he knocks Wen down and strangles him with the chain. Chen defeats Lin by knocking him down and then flipping over him, using his staff (planted in Lin’s belly) as a pole vault, so that his weight pushes it right through him. Wang watches all this, laughing and clapping. Now the three are ready to attack the family itself...or at least two of them are. Wang has found a set of iron rings like the ones Chen trained with, and starts happily playing with them.
Chen and Wei rush into the inner courtyard, where Du and Chang are waiting for them, along with eight final mooks. Chen tells Wei to take Du, while Chen himself will fight Chang. This is, of course, what all Venoms movies must eventually come down to, Philip Kwok vs. Lu Feng, and it does not disappoint. The two men fly all over the screen, Chen spinning his staff like a madman until Chang manages to break it. By this time, though, Wang has gotten bored playing alone with the rings, and so brings them along as he searches for Chen in hopes of a play date. When he sees Chang, he decides that maybe he’d like to play instead. From this point on, this fight (the highlight of the film) gets crazier and crazier. I remember watching this for the first time and just thinking, “What the hell are they doing?” as the three great acrobats flip, roll, and dive around each other, rings flying everywhere. It’s less a fight than a tumbling routine, but no less exciting for that reason, and a lot of fun to look at. Or at least it’s fun until Chang finally gets fed up and shoots Wang in the chest with his darts, then extends his arms to punch through Wang’s stomach. Wang lives long enough for he and Chen to use two rings to strangle Chang, but then he collapses into Chen’s arms. “His iron hands hurt me real bad,” he says, and dies, which always breaks my heart a little bit.
Now Chen rushes to aid Wei against Du. The old master fights the two heroes to a standstill, but when Wu enters the fray it proves too much for him. After a short battle, Chen manages to hold Du’s arms and Wei his legs as Wu crushes his chest with a pair of kicks. The three walk out of the mansion in triumph, though shamefully without even bothering to mourn Wang, much less carrying his body off for a decent burial. ANOTHER SHAW PRODUCTION.
 |
These
are not the good guys, is what I’m saying.
|
Just then, Du (Chen Kuan-Tai) arrives, just a few seconds too late, along with his bodyguard and major domo, Wan (Johnny Wang). Du says, “You bastards only know how to hurt women and children. I will use the Tiger’s Strike to kill you all!” The Black Tiger attack (grabbing and crushing the windpipe) kills the Stewart Tam character. Wind Tiger kills the Dick Wei character. Finally, Big Windmill kills the Jamie Luk character. Once all three are down, Du rushes to his wife’s side, but Wan shakes his head; she’s already dead.
 |
Chen
Kuan-Tai as Du Tian-Dao, Johnny Wang as Wan.
These
also are not the good guys.
|
The son is still alive, though.
 |
Ah,
a parent’s comforting words.
|
Cut to the present. Chang, all grown up (and played by master baddie Lu Feng) is trying out a new set of iron hands, his seventh and the best. They shoot tiny darts, and can extend to make his arms eight feet long! Du has insisted that Chang will learn his Tiger Style kung fu, and the young man shows off his skills, and his new hands, by beating the living daylights out of a small bamboo forest under the opening credits. I admit this sequence looks kinda silly.
 |
Lu
Feng as Du Chang.
|
Once the credits are over, we cut to the courtyard of Tian Dao Mansion, where we see four young men tied up and surrounded by Du’s guards. Du introduces them to his son: “These are the sons of the Tian Nan Tigers. I waited until they grew up and then I captured them. My son, Du Chang,” he says to the three prisoners. “It was your fathers who cut off both his hands. Now you’ve learned kung fu. I shall set you free if you beat him, and I promise I will not interfere.” Then, again to his son, “Chang, I killed all the Tian Nan Tigers to avenge your mother. They didn’t kill you, so you just try to cripple them.”
 |
See?
Not the good guys.
|
 |
Kid,
you’d better cut that out. You may get to like it.
|
Du is clearly pleased, and later we see him getting drunk in the mansion’s dining room. “The Tigers of Tian Nan crippled my son,” he laughs to himself, “and for revenge I’ve done the same to them. Although my poor son has lost both his hands, he’s still very good at kung fu. He’s a born martial artist. Even crippled, he’s a great deal better than most men.” We see that Chang is hiding in the background listening to his father, but I don’t know why. He doesn’t react, and none of this sounds very inflammatory. Maybe there are translation troubles here?
 |
Yikes.
|
Now we cut to some time later, in the dining room of the “Friendly Inn.” A hawker of trinkets (Philip Kwok), enters. A waiter (I know this actor, but can’t figure out his name...there will be a proper link here some day) leads him to a table, where he orders some wine, as we see Du, Chang, and Wan arrive (along with an escort). The whole place falls silent and everyone rises to show respect; the waiter indicates that the hawker should, as well.
 |
Philip
Kwok on the right, and on the left...
seriously,
though, what’s that guy’s name?
It’s
driving me nuts.
|
 |
Lo
Meng (R), as usual refusing to wear a shirt.
Would
you, if you looked like that?
|
The blacksmith shouts to the room, “What kind of world is this? Everyone sees them as ghosts.” The landlord (Wang Han-Chen), fearing trouble in his establishment, tries to convince him to sit down, but he’s determined to have his say. “You will be cursed if you keep up this dominant attitude! He hates the world because his wife was killed and his son was crippled. That’s why he’s mean to everybody. What kind of hero are you?” The three men seem to ignore him as the waiter pours their wine, his hands shaking. Chang reaches out to steady them, which of course only frightens him more. The blacksmith continues, “All scared? I’m not! Landlord, give me some wine!” The landlord is of course too frightened to do any such thing, so the blacksmith gets up, grabs a jug for himself, and walks out, nodding dismissively at the entourage as he goes. Chang wants to follow him, but Wan stops him, There will be time to teach him proper manners later.
Unfortunately, just at this moment, the hawker pipes up. “God knows he’s right. What he said is true!” At this further insult, Du leaps to his feet, and Chang knocks the banister clear off the balcony. “God doesn’t know what’s right,” says Du. Chang jumps down and confronts the hawker, who stares at him.
Now we’re at Wei’s Iron Shop, so we learn that the blacksmith’s name is Wei. He’s sitting on the stoop, telling stories about standing up to the Du family, when Wan comes walking up the street with four guards. Everyone else scatters, but Wei stands his ground. Wan extends an invitation to the mansion. Wei says he might come, if he’s asked politely, and walks back into his shop. The four guards rush him, but he swings his sledgehammer around and they back off.
“Mr. Wei,” Wan asks, “you think you can match him?”
“I’m willing to try.”
“He doesn’t want a fight. He wants to drink with you. Didn’t you say you’re not afraid of him?”
“Of course I’m not. Let’s go!” says the blacksmith, but he brings his hammer along.
He walks into the mansion, where he finds Du sitting at a table, eating and drinking. Wei swaggers up, hammer across his shoulders, scowling at the guards and servants. To Du he says, “Well, I’m here. What do you want?”
“You like swearing at people,” his host answers.
“That’s not true. I only curse bastards.”
Wan picks up a cup that’s sitting on the table and brings it to Wei. “What’s this?”
“A drug, to make you mute and stop your cursing.” At this, the guards rush Wei from behind and pin his arms, as Wan pours the poison down his throat. Then the guards try to throw him out, but he breaks free and rushes the table, shouting the last words he’ll ever say: “Du Tian Dao, you’re a monster! One day you will pay for this...” and he continues shouting but no sound comes out. Du smiles at him.
“Still cursing, eh?” he says. Wei dips his finger in the poison and writes EVERYONE IS CURSING YOU on the table. So, presumably to stop Wei from hearing all these curses, Du suddenly rises and slams his hands over Wei’s ears, bursting his eardrums. As he writhes in pain, the guards are easily able to cast him out into the street. He runs back to his shop, where his neighbors crowd around, pelting him with questions he can neither hear nor answer.
Meanwhile, back at the Friendly Inn, the hawker is being helped out into the street by the landlord and waiter. Just so I don’t have to keep typing “the hawker,” I’ll go ahead and tell you that his name is Chen Shuen, because it’ll be a while ‘til the movie gets around to it. Chen’s box of trinkets is still on his back, and there’s a bandage across his eyes. “Listen, I wish you could stay here,” the landlord says, “but you’ve made enemies. I’m too old, I’m afraid...” The hawker nods his understanding, then asks where the blacksmith lives. “You’d better just go away,” the landlord answers. “They punished him too. He’s deaf and dumb now.” The hawker thanks them and walks away, tapping his cane to find his way.
Wei sits on the stoop of his shop drinking. When he finishes the jug he smashes it, listening for the sound of it breaking, but can’t hear it. He snaps, flying into the street, flailing his massive arms in rage...and accidentally knocks down Chen. He immediately apologizes, but of course makes no sound, and the hawker can’t see his mimed apology. He manages to make it clear that he is deaf and dumb, and in return Chen mimes the question, “Are you the blacksmith?” Wei happily slaps him on the shoulder, indicating yes, and picks up his belongings, guiding him into the shop.
The next day, a potter (Lui Tat) is berating a laborer, Wu Gui (Sun Chien). He fires him and throws him out of the shop, and Wu stumbles into the street, cursing his former boss. While doing this, and not paying attention to where he’s going, he runs right into Chang. Too angry to apologize, he instead says that Chang should have gotten out of his way. Chang attacks him but is called off by his father. “This garbage isn’t worth it,” says Du, but Chang wants him punished. He doesn’t watch where he’s walking, so Wan offers to chop his feet off, and then the guards do, right there in the street.
Now there are three wounded men in the blacksmith’s shop. Wei is hard at work, and Chen is operating the bellows to keep the furnace hot. Wu, who apparently is as lazy as his old boss accused him of being, sits near them looking kind of mopey. Wei mimes that they needn’t worry, that his business is good and he’ll make enough to feed them all, but just then Mr. Wan arrives. He asks, sarcastically, if they’re all doing well, then turns and makes an announcement to the crowd in the street. “Now listen! Anyone who uses this blacksmith answers to me!”
A few days later, the forge is cold and the wounded men are out of money when a young knight (Chiang Sheng) comes to the shop. A neighbor tells him that the blacksmith is not in business, and there are no other blacksmiths nearby. The knight notes that everyone seems to get nervous when he asks these questions, and the neighbor explains what’s happened. The knight turns to the shop to find a gang of local toughs pushing the wounded around as the neighborhood children laugh. The knight tells the wounded that his name is Wang Yi, and that he’ll avenge them. We see him arrive at Tian Dao Mansion and fight his way through the guards at the entrance. In the courtyard, he demands that Du come and face him, but instead Wan walks out, bearing his signature weapon: a heavy iron weight on the end of a length of chain. He tells Wang that not just anyone can have an audience with Du Tian Dao, but soon after Du and his son do appear. Du asks if Wang is with the Tian Nan Tigers, but of course Wang has never heard of them. He’s simply heard that Du has been doing cruel and vicious things, and has come to stop him. Wan orders the guards to take “this idiot,” but Wang handles them easily, so Wan himself attacks. His sword against Wan’s ball-and-chain (plus Johnny Wang’s skill and Chiang Sheng’s athleticism) make for an interesting fight until Chang jumps in, finally knocking Wang’s sword away while Wan binds his feet with the chain.
Now he’s chained in the dining room as the three villains have a bite to eat. Wang dares them to kill him, saying that he will be avenged, but of course the Du family has no intention of killing him. They’re just trying to find a fitting punishment. Finally Du asks his name.
“I’ve already told you once, it’s Wang Yi.”
“So you can remember it?”
“Of course I can. I’m not an idiot.”
“Not yet...”
A servant has brought out a strange device of wood and steel, which they fit around Wang’s head and tighten until his brain is damaged. Later, after dark, we see the three wounded sitting outside the mansion waiting for him as he’s thrown out of the place at last. They gather him up and ask if he’s alright, but of course he isn’t. The torture has left him an “idiot,” which in this film actually means that he behaves half like a very young child, and half like a drunk. Oddly, he has retained his kung fu skills.
Back at the blacksmith’s shop, they find it impossible to learn anything about who Wang is or what happened to him. He just keeps bouncing around, giggling and repeating everything that’s said to him. Finally Wu thinks of checking to see if he carries anything that might identify him, and finds a letter inside his robe. By this means they learn that he is from Eagle Mansion, and since whatever happened to him was a result of his trying to act on behalf of the wounded, they decide they must at least take him home.
The blacksmith pushes a cart down a forest path. On it are propped Wu and Chen, as Wang jogs alongside. Wang continues to act like a child, upsetting the cart and spilling its occupants and driving Wei nuts. They arrive at a little roadside tavern and stop to rest, but the local children once again think it’ll be fun to pick on the cripples, laughing at them and throwing rocks. Wang, of course, thinks that looks like a ton of fun and starts throwing rocks at the kids, who run off crying. The wounded leave before the angry mob of parents arrive and finally make it to Eagle Mansion. Wang recognizes the place as home, and jumps over the wall to open the door and act as host.
They meet the master of the house, Li Jing Ying (Cheng Miu), who tells them how Du Tian Dao used to be a great hero with his Tiger boxing style. It’s a shame that he’s become a monster. He says that he will find a way to teach them kung fu, so that they can stop Du and have their revenge. Now we get a training montage, which is fairly short compared to some other films of the genre, but still takes a lot longer to watch than to read about, since there isn’t a whole lot to say about it.
Chen is trained to fight with a staff (an inconspicuous weapon in the hands of a blind man) and with small wooden darts, and to strike by hearing movement, to the point that he can knock falling leaves out of the air. This training we see almost nothing of; we only see him after he has mastered these skills. Master Li also improves his reflexes by having him catch large metal rings that are thrown to him and then do crazy acrobatic things with them before tossing them aside.
Wei’s inability to communicate is overcome by teaching his friends to trace letters on his palm, and he receives training to improve his eyesight and lateral vision. Physically, his training focuses on speed and accuracy, memorably by punching between the spokes of a spinning wheel to break pottery on the other side of it. He also stands amidst a shitload of sandbags that are swung at him as he looks in a mirror to see what’s happening behind him.
Wu has legs forged for him (by Wei, of course) made of iron. It takes him some time merely to learn to stand and walk with them, but once he does he is trained in the normal way. Eventually he utterly destroys a whole troop of wooden sparring dummies.
Wang doesn’t need training, since he has retained his old skills; his role during all this is mostly to annoy his new brothers. In this he actually assists in their training. He constantly knocks Wu down while he’s still unsteady on his new legs, making Wu angry enough to kick him and thus get plenty of practice using his new legs as weapons. He’s fascinated by Chen’s “play” with the metal rings and is willing to work with him for hours at a time. Eventually they start sort of dancing together with the rings. This will pay off in the film’s best scene later.
Cut to three years later. Master Li is satisfied with the progress his students have made. Physical handicaps can be overcome, he says, but not moral ones. “Du Tian-Dao is physically perfect, but when it comes to his mind he’s hopelessly crippled.” He believes that the four Avengers can handle Du now. And it’s important to get started, because apparently Du and his son are getting worse, hiring ruffians to help him rule the city. The Avengers must find out if these stories are true before taking their revenge, so that they know whether it’s just to kill him or not. With this admonition, the four Avengers set out.
At Tian Dao Mansion, preparations are being made for Du’s 45th birthday celebration. Wan is at the inn, picking up supplies he’s ordered for the party, when Chen walks in with his staff (bearing a flag reading “fortune teller”) and ringing a bell. The waiter and innkeeper recognize him, but Wan doesn’t. The waiter warns Chen that Wan is present, hoping to stop him getting hurt, but Chen just smiles, takes his staff, and walks over to the table where Wan and his mooks are sitting (incidentally, one of the mooks is played by Lau Fong-Sai). He offers to read Wan’s future. As he goes to sit, the Lau-mook tries to pull the stool from under him, but Chen simply perches is a crouch and pulls the stool back into position. Wan offers him a broken teacup, but he grabs a good one and fills it. At this point all the mooks take potshots at him, but he dodges every attack. He sits casually atop Wan’s table, announces who he is, and says that Wan hasn't changed at all. “You’re still Du’s running dog.” At this a proper free-for-all breaks out, but Chen takes out all of the mooks and fights Wan to a stand-still. He and his entourage storm out as the innkeeper worries that bad times are coming.
Back at the mansion, visitors are showing off their skills to Wan and the guards. Luo (Tony Tam) is a master of light style, and walks across a row of lit candles without snuffing them out. At least, I think that’s what’s going on there. Wan says that he has a problem, and asks for Luo’s help. With his light style, Luo can move in complete silence, leaving the blind Chen helpless against him. Meanwhile, Lin (Yu Tai-Ping) is giving a demonstration of his slingshot, with which he fires tiny metal balls into a series of small medals that hang from a tree. Wan says that Lin will accompany Luo, along with a team of mooks, to take on Chen the next day. Although he’s confident that Luo can handle the job on his own, he wants to be over-cautious; the master’s birthday is coming up and Wan wants no unpleasant news to mar the occasion for him.
The following day, Wei arrives at the inn and is immediately recognized by the innkeeper, who asks if he’s looking for Chen. Wei, of course, can’t understand what the innkeeper is saying, but the waiter does successfully ask if he would like a drink, and leads him to a table on the balcony, away from everyone else. This turns out to be convenient, as Wan and his ruffians enter soon after and throw everyone out, to prepare a trap for Chen, but Wei is able to stay behind, hidden. Wan’s plan is simple: when Chen enters, everyone will remain perfectly still and silent until he reaches his room at the back of the inn. At that point Lin, stationed outside, will shoot him through the window. If that fails, the mooks will surround him, making a racket, which will create cover for Luo’s silent attack. Wei can’t hear any of this, but can clearly see that evil doings are afoot.
At the mansion, Du and his son receive another guest, Ju Gao-Feng (Yeung Hung), the last student of Du’s own master. They meet him at the gate and are accosted by Chen, acting as a beggar. They give him a few coins, and a random mook played by Siao Yuk steals some of them. Then we’re back at the inn, and I have no idea why they decided to intersperse that scene here. Anyway, Chen enters the inn, unaware of his danger. Wei attempts to warn him, but can’t shout, and Luo becomes aware of him. He attacks Wei and they have a short, silent scuffle as Chen makes his way across the room. Just as Lin fires a bullet at him, Wei kicks a table off the balcony, blocking the deadly missiles and obviously making a lot of noise, alerting Chen to the trap. The mooks attack as Chen swings the table around, keeping them at bay. Wei jumps into the melee, fighting the silent Luo as Chen takes on Wan. After a moment of this, Wan once again orders his men to leave. Why doesn’t this guy ever finish a fight?
Wan introduces Lin to Ju, and the latter mocks Lin’s slingshot as unmanly. A real kung fu artist doesn’t need such tricks. Lin asks him to show off his skills, offering to attack him with two long knives that he also carries, but Wan prevents this fight. These two are guests, and Wan as host has the right to spar with them. Wan takes his ball-and-chain from a mook, and Ju compliments him on the weapon’s strangeness. “Don’t worry about me,” he says. “Go as hard as you like.” Here we see that Ju is a practitioner of hard Qigong. Wan strikes, wrapping the heavy chain around Ju, who then simply flexes his muscles and snaps it. “Sorry,” he says, and walks away. Lin and Wan discuss how much they dislike the guy, but suddenly Wan notices that Luo is not around. Lin says that Luo was annoyed when Wan made him stop fighting earlier, and may have gone looking for Chen and Wei on his own. Wan sends Siao Yuk to go find him and bring him back.
Wang plays some sort of game that looks like marbles with a group of children outside the old blacksmith’s shop as Wu looks on disdainfully. When the children tire of the game and run off Wang goes with them, and Wu follows to bring him back. So, when Wei walks through and is attacked from behind by Luo, there is no-one to warn him. Fortunately, he wears the mirror given to him by Master Li and sees Luo coming. After Luo gets slapped around a little he grabs an old hammer from the shop and uses it as a weapon, but is still no match for Wei, who finally kills him with a tool from the shop that looks like a giant pair of bolt-cutters. This is witnessed by Siao Yuk, hiding around the corner. After Wei leaves, Wan and Lin arrive, and Siao Yuk tells them what happened. Wan realizes that he’ll have to give up his plan to keep all of this from Du. Wei and Chen must be killed before the birthday party. But Wan has a problem: his weapon was broken by Ju and hasn’t been mended yet. He gives Siao Yuk instructions that we don’t hear and then returns to the mansion.
Ju learns about the two enemies at the inn, and that Wan couldn’t fight them without his weapon, and so he sets off to handle the problem himself. Since he’s virtually invincible, he assumes there will be no problem. Meanwhile, at the inn, we find out what Siao Yuk’s job was: to steal Wei’s mirror. I’m not sure why this was a secret. Anyway, he manages to break the lanyard the mirror hangs from around Wei’s neck, but Wei gets the mirror back and sends Siao on his way with a few slaps to the head. As Wei complains about this to Chen, via the writing-on-his-palm method (distracting both men’s attention), Lin appears at the door. Unseen, he takes aim with his slingshot, but just in time Wei spots him in his reflective wristbands and thwarts the attack by throwing a chair at him. Wan enters and he and Wei fight for a moment. Just as Chen prepares to join the battle, a bunch of mooks rush in with gongs, which they clash to create a wall of noise, rendering Chen defenseless. They encircle him as he blindly swings his staff, but so quickly and powerfully that no-one can get close to him. Wei manages to fight free of Wan and disperses the mooks, and the two stand ready to face the enemy. Lin leads the next wave of mooks, brandishing his twin knives, but they prove no match for our Avengers.
Wan orders Lin to douse the lights, and he begins to shoot out the candles in the room, but just then Ju arrives and tells him to stop. Although darkness would leave Wei helpless, it would make Chen unbeatable; he would easily destroy every villain in the place. Ju tells everyone to leave, and he’ll handle the Avengers himself. Then he turns to them. “It’s a shame to fight with cripples. Just doesn’t seem fair. So I will make a concession, just so you won’t think I’m taking advantage of you. I’ll just stand here and you can have three kicks and punches at me, and then it will be my turn to hit you. If you are able to knock me down, I promise that Tian Dao Mansion will give you no more troubles. But if you can’t stand my blows, and I’ll limit myself to three, well...that’s just your bad luck.”
Chen and Wei agree. Wei goes first, and begins to look afraid as his punches can’t even make Ju wince (for the final shot, he does a comical Little Rascals-style windup). He follows up with three kicks, including a flying finale, that are just as useless. Then Chen steps up, and likewise does no damage at all, even though he closes with a great, running jump kick/flip. Ju sneers at them. “My turn. Who’s first?” Just then, Wu enters. “Hold it,” he says. “We three are all in this together. So let me get my three shots in, and then you can start on us.” Ju agrees, but Wang comes in and tries to warn him. “Don’t be tricked by him. He’s got iron feet!” Thinking fast, Chen says, “Right. He just survived the blacksmith’s iron fists, so he might as well try Wu’s iron feet.”
The tactic works. Ju says, “Iron feet, these fancy names. It doesn’t mean a thing. Come on!” And then he learns that it isn’t merely a metaphor as Wu’s first kick disembowels him. Wu and Wang hide in the back room as Wan enters to find his invincible champion dead. Chen says that Ju was a brave man and a great fighter, and for his sake he’ll allow the ruffians to carry the body away, which they do.
Wan and his men lay Ju’s body before Du at the mansion. “You’ve worked for me for many years,” Du says. “You never screwed up like this before.” He says that he will handle the Avengers himself, before the party. Cut to the next day, as Wei warns the others that Du and his people are coming. Chen tells Wu and Wang to sneak out the back and meet them later at the blacksmith’s shop. Now that they’ve learned kung fu, Chen has come to realize just how good Du and his son are. Chen and Wei can’t match them, so they’ll need a surprise attack, and Wu is that surprise. Wu leaves, but Wang, busily eating a vase of flowers, won’t go. Chen and Wei hide, but Wang starts doing handstands as the enemy enters the inn. They recognize him, and ask where the other two are, but he says he won’t tell. Du tells his mooks to grab Wang, but of course they can’t, and he has a lot of fun flipping around and making them look silly. Chang steps up and deals a heavy blow with his iron hands, at which point Chen and Wei have to jump in to save him. “I hear you have a big reputation,” says Chen, “but I’ve never seen you fight, so I don’t know. That’s why we three are here, to try you out.”
Du handles Chen and Wei pretty easily, as Chen had predicted, and the two are forced to escape through the windows. Wang, after a little more playful bouncing about, follows them. Chang wants to chase them, but Du says that his guests will be arriving soon and he must be there to greet them. The Avengers will be back, he knows.
The Avengers regroup at the blacksmith’s shop, but Chen says it’s no good hiding there. Du knows they have nowhere else to go and will come for them when he’s ready. But he won’t bother them that day, because of the party. He wants to impress all of his friends, hoping to become the leader of the martial world, and he knows it won’t look good if he has to fight a bunch of cripples in front of them. And Du expects them to be cowed by the show of superiority he put on at the inn. The one thing he won’t expect is for them to attack, so they will, as soon as the party’s over.
They burst into the mansion to find that preparations have been made. There are drums lining the path into the mansion, the beating of which ruins Chen’s hearing. Also, several mirrors are set up to shine bright light into Wei’s eyes, blinding him. But they hadn’t been able to plan for Wang, who rushes in and starts knocking all these contrivances over. He and Wei quickly take out a bunch of mooks as Chen fights Lin and Wan, and soon all the mooks who aren’t dead are frightened off.
Wei fights Wan, dodging his ball-and-chain until he’s finally able to grab the ball away and fight hand-to-hand. Finally he knocks Wen down and strangles him with the chain. Chen defeats Lin by knocking him down and then flipping over him, using his staff (planted in Lin’s belly) as a pole vault, so that his weight pushes it right through him. Wang watches all this, laughing and clapping. Now the three are ready to attack the family itself...or at least two of them are. Wang has found a set of iron rings like the ones Chen trained with, and starts happily playing with them.
Chen and Wei rush into the inner courtyard, where Du and Chang are waiting for them, along with eight final mooks. Chen tells Wei to take Du, while Chen himself will fight Chang. This is, of course, what all Venoms movies must eventually come down to, Philip Kwok vs. Lu Feng, and it does not disappoint. The two men fly all over the screen, Chen spinning his staff like a madman until Chang manages to break it. By this time, though, Wang has gotten bored playing alone with the rings, and so brings them along as he searches for Chen in hopes of a play date. When he sees Chang, he decides that maybe he’d like to play instead. From this point on, this fight (the highlight of the film) gets crazier and crazier. I remember watching this for the first time and just thinking, “What the hell are they doing?” as the three great acrobats flip, roll, and dive around each other, rings flying everywhere. It’s less a fight than a tumbling routine, but no less exciting for that reason, and a lot of fun to look at. Or at least it’s fun until Chang finally gets fed up and shoots Wang in the chest with his darts, then extends his arms to punch through Wang’s stomach. Wang lives long enough for he and Chen to use two rings to strangle Chang, but then he collapses into Chen’s arms. “His iron hands hurt me real bad,” he says, and dies, which always breaks my heart a little bit.
Now Chen rushes to aid Wei against Du. The old master fights the two heroes to a standstill, but when Wu enters the fray it proves too much for him. After a short battle, Chen manages to hold Du’s arms and Wei his legs as Wu crushes his chest with a pair of kicks. The three walk out of the mansion in triumph, though shamefully without even bothering to mourn Wang, much less carrying his body off for a decent burial. ANOTHER SHAW PRODUCTION.
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BEST THING ABOUT THE FILM:
The same thing that’s best about all Venom Mob movies: Venom-on-Venom action! In the last ten years or so that the studio made these movies, the action they centered on reached its peak, or rather its peaks: on one side you have the authentic(ish) kung fu of Lau Kar-Leung and Gordon Liu, and on the other side you have the wild, athletic enthusiasm of the Venoms. I love both, but the Venoms at their best really did jaw-dropping things to each other. For the best bit, I have to go with the fight between Kwok, Chiang, and Lu, where Lu is trying to have a straight-forward kung fu battle but is foiled by Chiang’s determination to play with those iron rings, and Kwok’s realization that this unexpected line of attack might indeed give them a better chance to defeat the clearly flustered Lu than the more traditional battle he had anticipated. The first time I saw this I laughed all through that bit, occasionally shouting “What on Earth are they doing?” And that’s what’s fun about the Venoms. They’ve always got something up their sleeves that you weren’t expecting.
WORST THING ABOUT THE FILM: I am deeply offended by the fact that, after the big battle is over, the three surviving Avengers just walk cheerfully out of the mansion, leaving Wang to lie where he fell. They should take his body off for proper burial! And their sense of victory ought to be tempered by mourning the loss of one of their brothers! It's such a weird note, right at the end of a very satisfying film, and that’s why I moved it here, instead of including it in the “nitpicking” section. It isn’t really a nit pick. This is a serious flaw in the movie that reflects badly on the character of the survivors.
SHAWISMS:
NITPICKING: xxx
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Do you suppose that they settled on Philip Kwok playing the blind character because he could wiggle his ears like that?
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Speaking of Philip Kwok: I don’t know why they didn’t keep his eyes bandaged. It doesn’t work that we can see his eyes, even if we are prepared to assume they don’t work. Lu Feng didn’t just damage them, he plucked them out! His eyes ought to be empty sockets. I realize that, in 1978, there was no way really to fake that, but why not wrap them in gauze he can see through or something?
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I’m thinking that it must be nearly impossible for Wu to pull those tight leather boots on over those iron feet (which, of course, do not bend at the ankle).
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They don’t use Mr. Luo, the light-style expert, well at all. He would be really dangerous against the blind man, but he barely faces him in the inn brawl, and then gets killed fighting the deaf blacksmith, the one guy against whom his skills are useless. I wish they had put a little more thought into that character.
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They really should have gotten more out of Sun Chien in this. I don’t know why it was so important to the Avengers to keep his iron feet a secret, but the result is that he gets to kill one villain with a free shot, and then step in at the very end of the ultimate battle to disembowel a restrained villain with a pair of kicks. I mention on Sun’s actor page that he was very much The Fifth Venom, and this movie is evidence of that. He was very much a fifth wheel here.
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Speaking of Sun Chien: man, those tight leather boots must have been hell to put on over those iron feet, which don’t bend at the ankle. They definitely should have made him some softer shoes.
THOUGHTS:
So...revenge is bad? Is that what we’re saying here? Or it’s good when practiced within certain limits? Few would argue that Du Tian-Dao was in the wrong to kill the Tigers, standing in his home over the body of his murdered wife and mutilated son. But extending that revenge to cover the children of the Tigers strikes Westerners, at least, as deeply wrong: it is unjust to punish one person for what another person does. In ancient China, of course, this wasn’t the case, and entire families would be wiped out for the sins of one member. Confucianism demands this, and in a largely pre-legal society every man has to take justice into his own hands if there is to be any justice at all. Du crossed the line when he started maiming bystanders, would be the logic of this. Blinding a peddler or deafening a blacksmith because of insults is going too far in this particular moral system, but frankly to me it’s a crime identical in kind and less serious in degree than the maiming of his enemies’ sons (after all, at least the blacksmith had actually cursed him). It isn’t clear that the movie agrees with me on this, but it also isn’t clear that it doesn’t. In fact, what does seem clear is that the movie isn’t interested in the idea at all.THOUGHTS:
This is not a deep film. I suppose one could mine it for deep truths about the human condition or whatever, as I did (in a shallow way) just now. Certainly it allows questions to be asked about the destructiveness of the desire for revenge or to illustrate differences in moral codes from one era or region to another, if one likes. However, insofar as Crippled Avengers raises any of these questions, it absolutely doesn’t have answers or even express opinions on them. Those issues and others are more fully developed in many other Shaw Brothers films, including some that we’ll eventually get to on this blog, and it would be silly to waste time on them now, because at its heart this is a silly picture, meant only to entertain. And entertain it does, to an extraordinary degree (in my opinion, at least). I have to assume that most serious kung fu fans will already have seen it; it does have a reputation. To anyone who hasn’t, I recommend it highly.
