The Tigress of Shaolin by Lo Chi (1979)
13 May 2008I am a huge fan of Shaw brothers Martial arts films, but this one just felt like it fell fell a little flap. It has enjoyable action set pieces, but the story is really flat, and there is so little character development that many characters aren’t even named (at least in the English subtitles). I just never got into the characters, and I though that beautiful Hui Ying-hung would be in the film more, especially since she is so featured on the cover, and the film is called The Tigress of Shaolin, but she is only in a few scenes. The film also veers wildly form comedy to drama, and doesn’t really find a great balance ever. This film is mediocre at best, and I don’t recommend it.
Xiao San (Liu Chia-yung) practices martial arts, and when his father dies, he gives him a letter recommending to a martial arts master to receive training. On the way he runs into a drunken old man named Drunken Shrimp who tries to force him to drink, and ends up fighting him, and getting him beet up by his lovely goddaughter (Hui Ying-hung). Xiao San shows up some street hustlers selling fake medicine and has a run in with Uncle Jin who is running a protection racket. When he shows up Master Meng’s place, it turns out Uncle Ji works for him, as well as Blind Man (A man dressed as a cross between a hippy and a native American with round sunglasses) who run an evil martial arts school and also sell fake medicines, and beating up people so they have to come to them for medicine. They beat up Xiao San, but when he shows his letter, they give him a menial job. While cleaning up though, he overhears a big drug deal between Meng and an evil government official called Ling, so he must run.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILER…
Xiao San runs and ends up getting help from Drunken Shrimp and his Leprous wife and their beautiful goddaughter, and he gets a job at a grocery store, and decides to take the girl to a tea house for lunch. All the customers are throwing their plates out, so they don’t have to pay, but they catch Xiao San who did nothing but catch a plate, and he fights with the waiter named Little Rat and they end up trashing the place, and run with Little Rat who goes to work with Xiao San at the grocery.
Uncle Ji and Blind Man learn where Xiao San is working, and they replace their cart with drugs, and the shopkeeper is killed, and again they must run.
Xiao San and Blind Man start street performing for money, but are attacked by Blind Man and his men and are saved by the Monk Master Hai Zhang. The Monk takes Xiao San away and teaches him Eight Diagram Pole Fighting.
Uncle Ji and his men come to the monastary to find Xiao Sun, and end fighting the Leprous woman. Xiao San wants to learn her leprous martial arts, but she tells him to go to her husband Drunken Shrimp. He goes, but the old man only teaches him bullshit, so the Leprous woman starts to train him by having him catch fish with his hands.
Xiao San and Little Rat then go to the bad guys doing a lion dance to avenge the grocer who was killed, and little Rat is killed, and XIao San is hurt.
He goes back for more training and is put into Leper Valley to learn to fight, and he does, and then the Leprous Woman teaches him the 11th technique.
Xiao is then attacked by Meng, Uncle Ji and Blind, and the girl shows up to help, and they fight. Finally Xiao creates his own 12th style, and he defeats Meng, but having reached the pinacle of Leprous Kung Fu, has gone completely insane.
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Honestly pretty stupid and overall pretty forgetable.
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