Ten Tigers of Kwangtung (1979)

The righteous Ten Tigers of Kwangtung kill a vicious fighter in order to protect a Ching loyalist. Years later, their enemies plot to kill the remaining fighters and their sons in retaliation.

The Ten Tigers of Kwangtung is a Shaw Brothers all-star event with roles filled by most of the studio’s top performers from the late seventies including Ti Lung and all the members of the “Venoms” crew. While the story is a bit choppy, the presence of so many entertaining stars showcasing their credible martial arts skills is a treat too rare to miss out on.

Tung Chi and his nephew Chow Hu enter a gambling hall intending to kill the Ten Tigers from Kwangtung beginning with their pupils as revenge for the death of Chow Hu’s father, a Ching official named Liang. As explanation for this hatred, a series of flashbacks tell of an anti-Ching leader who is being sought by Liang who ends up under the protection of Li Chen-chau, a pawnbroker and several of his associates. Mistakenly believing that Chu is a criminal, Ti Chow San, a righteous fighter and his friends trade blows with the pawnbroker and his partners until the misunderstanding is cleared up and they all finally face Liang as The Ten Tigers. Returning to the present, Tung Chi and Chow Hu manage to kill three of the pupils before the remaining two trick Hu and finish Tung Chi with the aid of their mentors.

While not a major hindrance, the least desirable feature of the film is the fact that two separate stories, albeit related to one another are told by jumping back and forth between the two. The film starts out in the present with Tung Chi and Chow Hu killing one of the Ten Tiger’s students in a gambling hall scene. With little explanation, this introduction then gives way to a flashback as the remaining Ten Tigers students discuss why these two killers are out to get them. This is where the second plot begins with the Ten Tigers, a group of gifted martial artists slowly banding together to save a Ming rebel from the hands of Liang, a Ching official. Yet before the final confrontation between the Ten Tigers and Liang, the narrative is cut as the killer’s continued campaign against the Ten Tigers is played out.

With so many people and such a broad story, little time is spent developing each character but several memorable ones stick out. Ti Lung, who headlines the cast is the very picture of stoic resolve who gets his fair share of fighting time. Alex Fu Sheng plays the mischievous hothead of the Ten Tigers who is constantly getting into fights, much to the dismay of Li (Ti Lung). Philip Kwok, a Venoms fan favorite proves it by playing the gregarious and incredibly acrobatic Beggar Su, similar to his entertaining role as another fighting drunk in Kid with the Golden Arm. The other members of the Venoms cadre make a notable contribution to the film as well.

Much of the film’s success comes from director Chang Cheh’s use of nearly an endless assortment of engaging fights from start to finish. While some of them are hardly outstanding by later Hong Kong standards, the shear energy and creativity is ever present. Unlike many of Jackie Chan’s mammoth fights from the same era, Cheh’s are much shorter with an emphasis on unusual weapons and deaths. While the gore factor is pretty low on this one by Cheh’s standard with the exception of some bloodletting and a single decapitation, a number of fights are still loads of fun to behold. Perhaps the best is a encounter in a food stall between Tung Chi (Wang Li) and one of the Tiger’s students. Tung pulls out all sorts of weapons from uniform including a flexible sword concealed as a belt wrapped about his waist while the student, a master of turning anything into a weapon quickly deflects these assaults with a tea bench, umbrella and even a rice bowl.

This film is surely a classic of the genre although not quite a masterpiece. The kung fu action is plentiful and entertaining. The addition of a large cast of stars and an engaging if not entirely comprehensible plot will doubtless give old school kung fu fans something to cheer about. By any measure, this film is a rare piece of kung fu cinema and should be seen.