REVIEW: Heroic Ones, The (1970)

This mammoth production loosely depicts the era of Mongol dominance in China as a barbarian king and his 13 warrior sons fall victim to infighting while attempting to keep bandits at bay and quell threats from rival factions.

The Heroic Ones finds Shaw Brothers in all their monolithic, bloody glory with their greatest director at the helm, collaborating with legendary choreographers and stars whose shadows still envelop martial arts film to this day.

Superstars David Chiang and Ti Lung headline an impressive cast in this jaw-dropping spectacle of martial arts action that begins appropriately with a duel between Chiang and Bolo Yeung as a bandit general. Chiang and Ti are two of 13 Mongol sons known as the 13 Generals. Their king and father is Guk Fung (AKA Ku Feng), who finds himself at odds with an official, played by the burly Chan Sing in an uncharacteristically “wormy” role. Sing bets Chiang that he’ll lose a fight with a buffed up Bolo and is humiliated when Chiang wins after a very nicely choreographed fight.

The action kicks up a notch when the brothers are sent to capture or kill a rival leader in an effort to prevent further attacks on their territories. The sheer scale of the film becomes apparent as they sneak through a camp and into the enemy fortress, only to engage hundreds of spearmen. An assassination attempt fails, but more importantly, the 4th and 11th brothers show signs of rebellion when they abandon their brothers after Chiang stops them from sexually assaulting Lily Li. This leads to the film’s real plot when the two wayward brothers are later swayed by Chan Sing into leading Chiang to his death. Sing sets a trap for Guk Fung by inviting him to a gathering and setting the entire house on fire as hundreds of spearmen attack, while blue clad ninja assassins and gold-emblazoned master swordsmen wait at the ready. In a last ditch stand, Ti Lung alone defends his father against the massive onslaught until Chiang and reinforcements arrive.

In one of the bloodiest deaths in Hong Kong cinema, Chiang is eventually tricked into being drawn and quartered by 4th and 11th brother, leaving him in gory pieces. Cheh brilliantly uses the destructive rending of the tent Chiang is in at the time to represent the tearing of limbs, partially in order to spare the viewer from witnessing the actual deed, but it also works well on an artistic level. The pair’s plan of splitting their father’s forces fails when their soldiers refuse to join them. Once Fung learns of this brutal act, he sends his remaining sons, led by Chin Han to impart justice on the two villains in a final, family showdown.

If the extent of your experience with Chang Cheh’s movies has been the likes of The Five Venoms (1978) or Five Element Ninjas (1982), then you’re in for a surprise. Imagine a Chang Cheh film with all of the brilliantly bloody combat and sweaty male bonding of his Venoms-era films, only with a cast of hundreds with horsemen clashing amid lush, large-scale sets. This is Shaw Brothers at their greatest period and this film is one of the best examples of the emerging face of Hong Kong action cinema. Although Jimmy Wang Yu had already established the prototype action hero that performed real martial arts versus the effects-heavy swordplay that had been prevalent, this film along with Vengeance!, which came out the same year, established a new and bloodier film style that became the Shaw Brothers standard.

Its hard to really describe the battle sequences in order to do them justice. Having recently seen Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), I can safely compare a memorable scene in that film where the heroes rode out into a thronging mass of Orcs brandishing pikes with a scene in The Heroic Ones where David Chiang charges down a staircase to engage a mass of spearmen. There is one big difference – the 2002 scene was mostly, if not completely generated on a computer whereas hundreds of stuntmen with the likes of Yuen Wo Ping and Yuen Shun Yi were actually twirling spears, flipping through the air, or suspended by thin wires. Legendary director and choreographer Lau Kar Leung brought his expertise in real martial arts weapon technique to bear while the equally talented Tong Gaai orchestrated the massive melees. The combination is stunning.

Anyone who can appreciate the talent involved with this production should not be surprised by it’s quality. That’s why its a bit disappointing to see the ending fail to meet or exceed the expectations set earlier. Oh, its increasingly bloody and heroically tragic in the style that Chang Cheh excelled at throughout his career, but with our two leads dead and the story focused on the betrayal of the two wicked brothers, the final battle is an almost intimate affair lacking any charismatic performances in contrast with the previous engagements. It seems as though the production was cut short, especially since Chan Sing never received the justice he deserved. For a historical production, a lot of creative license is taken, but this has no effect on the overall entertainment factor if you are willing to dispense with highbrow notions of cultural or geographic accuracy. These detractors are all a small price to pay for a period, action film that is otherwise outstanding.