Executioners from Shaolin

After the Shaolin Temple is burned, Hung Hei-kwun escapes among the surviving students. To defeat Pai Mei, who killed his master, he gives years to learning the tiger style; he repeats the same movements every morning and raises his son the same way. His wife Yung-chun is a master of the crane style and tells him one style will not be enough. Hung does not listen. Years later he faces Pai Mei. Lau Kar-leung made the film at the Shaw Brothers studio. The narrative is less a revenge story than an argument about technique: which style works against what, and where hardness and flexibility meet. Its most original feature is that the solution comes not from the hero but from what his wife and son do. Chen Kuan-tai plays Hung and Lo Lieh plays Pai Mei. Lau Kar-leung draws on his own traditional training in the choreography and the movements rest on real styles. Who it's for: Viewers who like Shaw Brothers films, martial arts technique, and 1970s Hong Kong cinema. Who it's not for: The narrative moves very slowly in the first half and the training scenes repeat. The wife being proved right also comes late.