Iron Fisted Monk (1977)

The Iron Fisted Monk is Sammo Hung Kam-Bo's directorial debut. 

block that chop!

it's a pretty good movie.  there's lots of action and some rather surprising adult content (the rape scene does last a bit longer than needed) and it's got a bloody final battle.  the story is a pretty generic revenge against the Manchus plot, but Sammo's performance and action are what we are watching, right?

it's based on the real life Miller Six folk hero, which I know nothing about, really.  his uncle gets killed and he goes to Shaolin to learn kung fu for revenge.  there's none of the Buddhist discussion over taking a life (well, perhaps a little, but it certainly doesn't stop the monk Tak from helping Husker in the final battle.

approach, Sammo Grubermann...

James Tien has a cameo as Husker's teacher.  he's billed pretty highly for such a small role, but he does it well.

the DVD looks and sounds great.

except for the lame new English track.  several movies of Jackie's and Sammo's have been redubbed, and they have been uniformly awful sounding.  the original English dubs couldn't be unusable, could they?  I am making the assumption that the movie was dubbed back in the 70s for foreign markets to enjoy (thank goodness, or there would be no fans outside of Asia) but I don't know.