Action director Leung Ting talks ‘Five Venoms’

  • Print this article!
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • MySpace
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter
News | Film News | by Mark Pollard

Leung Ting

During a recent interview with Crescent Street Films, WingTsun Grandmaster Leung Ting spoke briefly about choreographing action for Chang Cheh’s widely popular kung fu classic THE FIVE VENOMS, AKA THE 5 DEADLY VENOMS (1978), which coincidently is arriving on DVD in the U.S. courtesy of Dragon Dynasty on August 18.

The interview took place during the production of an electronics press kit for a leading WingTsun school in New York.

Leung studied martial arts under Wing Chun Master Yip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee and whose life is portrayed in Wilson Yip’s feature film IP MAN, starring Donnie Yen. In the late 1970s, Leung was hired by Hong Kong filmmaker Chang Cheh as a replacement for action director Lau Kar-leung who split with Chang while on the set of MARCO POLO (1975).

As a Wing Chun expert, Leung choreographed martial arts action alongside Venoms Mob actor Lu Feng and action director Robert Tai for a handful of Chang Cheh’s kung fu films between 1977 and 1980. His most notable contribution was for THE FIVE VENOMS. While not much of a hit in Hong Kong, the film quickly gained a widespread cult following in America and is generally considered today to be one of the most popular kung fu movies ever made next to Bruce Lee’s ENTER THE DRAGON.

In the following video, Leung talks about inventing the Venoms’ distinctive kung fu styles.

Update: As a reader rightly points out in the comments below, some of Leung’s facts are not consistent with the actual film.

Tags: , , , ,

  • Print this article!
  • Digg
  • Facebook
  • MySpace
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter

  • Yes, my Si-Kung may have forgotten some details on the actual film as he mixes up a lot of the movies that he did back in those days. It's really funny sometimes because he says I remember more about those movies than he does (and I was born in 1977). As for Philip Kwok and Robert Tai, I also have my stories about those two (and Lo Mang) as well that I will not disclose to the public. This should be a discussion about the film "Five Deadly Venoms" and not some secret way to snipe someone who has contributed more to the martial arts than any Internet monger could ever dare. There are people who get written about, and people who write about others. Those who get written about are always under constant criticism from those who actually don't contribute much themselves.

    All the best!
  • darrinkemp
    jujitsu77: It seems as if everyone in Wing Chun is controversial or has there lineage questioned.Bruce Lee himself depending on who's story you believe studied with either William Cheung,Wong Shun Leung or Yip Man himself. Wing Chun seems to be more than any other style plaqued with self promoters.As a teenager in highschool at the time I hated 5 deadly venoms. I would come to school on monday morning after it played on tv and all these assholes that knew I practiced kung fu would ask where they could learn centipede. When I tried to explain that it wasn't a real style they kept insisting it was real and that I was the one who didn't know real kung fu. I'm always going to be biased against this movie. :)
  • playtaji
    William Cheung, and Bruce Lee were classmates, they both studied with Yip Man. . They tended to hang out together as their skills were at about the same level; and get in gang fights to test out their kung fu. He was a bit wild as a teen. It was because of all the gang fights that Bruce's parents finally sent him to the USA. There used to be a lot of material around about both William Cheung, and Bruce Lee. I imagine its hard to find much these days.
  • jiujitsu77
    Leung Ting is a pretty controversial figure in the traditional martial arts world. there has been much debate in regards to his martial lineage and so on. i have also seen and heard that he is very big on hurting his students during demonstrations, especially when cameras are around.

    There have also been conflicting accounts in regards to how good leung ting actually is. i won't talk trash here, but i can say that despite internet rumors, his WT looks pretty good....but then again, anything can look good in front of a camera when choreographed.

    in regards to the five deadly venoms, i know that leung ting has trained many of the top HK actors in WT, but i don't see it in the venoms. i don't know why, but it seems (much like in robert tai's interview) that tai and kuo chue had MUCH more to do with the film's fight scenes. tai suggested that his movie fighting was very limited. that does not, however, take away the man's KF abilities off the screen.

    now.....does anyone on this board remember the "REAL kung fu" comic books that leung ting had in the late eighties? yeah.....he did about 4. one was called radioactive mutant ninja hamsters or some shit (no lie), the others were ninja and swordplay knockoffs. some are in 3D and actually worth seeking out. however, jademan comics these are not.
  • mistermjones2000
    I found the interview I mentioned below. It is called A Chat With Robert Tai and is actually on www.kfccinema.com but the fastest way to get to the interview is to google "Interview with Robert Tai" and it will come up. Sadly I just learned that kfccinema.com will be shutting down. One less soldier in the army for asian cinema that will be missed. There has also been no updates on monkeypeaches.com either.
  • mistermjones2000
    Okay, first let me say I respect Master Ting because it is proper to do so. However what movie was he talking about? Maybe he is talking about the planning stages of the 5 Venom movie. Because in the finished version there was no spider, no eagle and no scorpion kick from behind and over the head. Philip Kwok and Robert Tai have their own take on Master Ting's contribution to the 5 Venom movie. Since it was less than flattering I am too chicken to quote it, I just don't need that kind of grief. I believe I read it in an interview of Robert Tai on HKcinemagic. In Master Ting's defense maybe it was just too long ago for him to remember what happened exactly and he was going strictly from his memory.
blog comments powered by Disqus