Peace & Blessings everyone.....another late review......busy weekend....my sincerest apologies....I went to my DVD Connect and was going to cop something new to review, but didn't see anything worth getting. So I decided to go back to the classics.
Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (also known as Invincible Pole Fighter) is a classic Shaw Brothers film (directed by Liu Chia-Lang) starring Gordon Liu (of Enter the 36 Chambers fame). In this film Liu plays the 5th of 8 brothers in Yang family, a group of well trained soldiers who are known for their service to the government. They are soon betrayed by Pan Mei, a government official who is conspiring with the Mongolian Army. Peep the first scene right here, with the action starting up around the 2:20 mark.
In this epic battle scene 4 of the 7 brothers are brutally murdered as well as their father. The 4th brother is taken prisoner (and strangely never mentioned again), the 6th brother (played by Alexander Fu Sheng, who tragically died during filming) returns home and goes insane, while the 5th brother takes refuge in the Ching Ling Temple.
The monks at the Temple refuse to take in the 5th brother at first, due to his anger and blood soaked past as a solider. After seeing his martial arts skills (particularly with the quarterstaff), the monks decide to let him stay. Here is a scene where 5th Brother begins his training with the monks. The training starts around the 2:57 mark.
The elder monk does a superb job of showing 5th brother how to to take out the wolves, a skill that comes in very handy later in the film.
As the traitor Pan Mei and the Mongols search for 2 Yang Brothers that they failed to murder, they wind up killing a senior monk from the temple and taking a Yang sister hostage. This leads to 5th brother wanting to leave the temple to get revenge. In this scene, 5th Brother proves to the Abbot that he must leave the temple to save his sister.
5th Brother finds Pan Mei and the Mongols, which leads to a gruesome final fight scene. 5th brother and his sister are severely outnumbered, but the monks from the temple (along with the Abbot) come to their aid. When 5th brother questions Abbot coming to fight and breaking the temple's rules, he replies with the classic line "We're driving away wolves." The monks proceed to take out the Mongols like the wooden wolves they trained on.
After the traitor Pan Mei is dealt with accordingly, 5th Brother bounces from his family and the Ching Ling Temple, stating "I have no home now."
Great fucking movie!!! I give Eight Diagram Pole Fighter 5 Fists. It is a grim and angry film that avoids any humorous elements that were common in many of director Lui Chia-Lang's offerings. The fight scenes are well choreographed and quite bloody, especially the brutal finale. Gordon Liu plays one of his most memorable roles, and Alexander Fu Sheng is missed in the final scene. If not for his tragic death, he would have been side by side w Liu in the classic final fight! Eight Diagram Pole Fighter is a must see for all true Martial Arts film lovers.
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