Five Shaolin Masters

I will always be a fan of the old school martial arts movies. I used to watch them on Saturdays.

The maestro Chang Cheh made this Shaolin versus Manchu classic "Five Shaolin Masters" in 1975 for his independent Chang Ho Film company (which was affiliated with Shaw Brothers). First, the movie itself is classic Chang Cheh, right down to his themes of brotherhood, patriotism and honor.The Shaolin heroes are comprised of his "first team" ~ Ti Lung as Tsai Te-Chung, the late Fu Sheng as Ma Chao-Hsing, Chi Kuan-Chun as Li Shih-Kai, David Chiang as Hu Te-Ti & an odd choice in Meng Fei as Fang Ta-Hung. Odd because it's Meng's only appearance in a Chang Cheh film to my knowledge. Billy Tang & Gordon Liu both make cameos, I don't know why he didn't use one of them. Anyhoo, Chang rounds out the film with great "villains";(shown with their own music) Tsai Hung as Pao Yu-Lung, Liang Chia-Jen a.k.a. Beardie as Chien San, Feng Ko-An as Chiang Chin-Chiu, Chiang Tao as Chen Wen-Yao & Johnny Wang Lung-Wei as Ma Fu-Yi. The story is simple; Manchus attack and destroy Shaolin with the help of a spy (explained in the prologue), each Shaolin hero gets matched up with their Manchu adversary, the heroes get beaten, they regroup, spend a year brushing up on their fu in the Shaolin ruins and have a 15 minute finale with our "improved" heroes taking on their Manchu enemies. However, Chang Cheh executes the narrative like no other. The Liu brothers, one of whom makes a cameo, deliver the goods in the choreography department, especially the end fight between Chi Kuan-Chun using the Cross Fist style against Feng Ko-An's Mantis Fist & Eagle Claw styles. Awesome stuff here and great stock music.Now for the DVD; digitally restored & remastered blemish-free print. Widescreen, uncut, and it includes the original Chinese/English credits. One complaint though. Even though I would prefer subtitles and original Chinese audio track, I didn't mind the English dubbing here because it was those familiar "Drive-In Movie" voices that I grew up listening to. But here's the problem, the English track this DVD company had wasn't in the greatest shape. It was audible and all, but there were synch glitches left and right (probably because of the different region origins of the video and audio), and the audio track kept switching between two different audio tracks. It wasn't that bad, I'm being a little nitpicky I know, but it was slightly distracting, but the picture quality is top-notch.Bonzai Distribution, who did this one, are hit and miss. Sometimes they do a fantastic job like "Ten Tigers of Kwangtung", "The Weird Man" and "House of Traps", sometimes they do a real crappy job like "Magnificent Ruffians". "Five Shaolin Masters" a.k.a. "Five Masters of Death" falls in between - excellent picture, so-so audio, no special features. Well, there's my opinion for what it's worth. Hope it helps.

This is my new favorite kung-fu flick. It had all of my favorite Shaw Bros actors in it, Ti Lung, Alexander Fu Sheng, David Chiang, and even a cameo by Gordon Lu. I hate all the negative (1 star) reviews by people who dont understand the genre. Someone wrote use weapons, it was about 5 fighters who escaped from Shaolin and were on the run. They had to figure out how to beat their enemies after losing to them once and then all the action began. I admit that their was a couple of scenes that dragged the storyline but it was an awesome ending. I definitely recommend watching if your a fan of any of the cast.

First off, the quality of the DVD was excellent. I'm so used to seeing poor quality on some of my VHS tapes (obviously recorded at 6 hour mode), that a real DVD transfer looks fantastic. No complaints on the DVD itself.Though this movie has gotten some good reviews, I was not thrilled with it. The overall story was pretty good about the Shaolin temple being burned down and there being 5 survivors to continue the teachings. Though really there are 7 (at least mentioned at beginning) but you never hear about the other 2. Not sure why. The fighting skills of the survivors are not that good and the story follows them through recruiting fighters and training themselves further.The training sequences were weak. The people they recruited did not play into the final fight storyline at all. And the fight sequences themselves just were not that great. I expected better based on some of the actors in this movie.If you are expecting Venom quality fights, you will be disappointed. And even considering the actors involved, I found Fu Sheng much better in Chinatown Kid (for example).Overall, just an average Kung Fu flick.

As a boy I grew up on Kung-Fu Theater, where films much like this one were showcased every glorious Saturday. I guess I've never grown out of that young boy's love for kung-fu movies. So it's impossible for me to be even remotely impartial in this review. Simply put, kung-fu = awesome!!!!Sure, as an adult I can see where the poorly synched voice-overs, the over-the-top sound effects, and the hilariously bad overacting in death scenes might be off-putting to some folks, but to me that just adds to the charm of the film. It also contains amazing fight choregraphy, minimal dialog or character development, nearly non-stop ACTION, and not a single epiphany, or 'growth-moment' for any of the characters! Who could ask for more than that????

Okay, so I bought this as a replacement for an earlier version, I will say that I am absolutely pleased with this. The copy is absolutely flawless. The sound and picture clarity are excellent. I'ts too bad more of the old movies aren't done this well. As for the movie it self, it has always been one of my favorites, David Chang and Fu Sheng as Hu Te Ti and Ma Chao Hsing give excellent performances and Wang Lung Wei as the traitorous Ma Fu-Yi really brought the villainous nature of the character to life.

Directed by Chang Cheh, choreographed by Liu Chia-Liang, and starring the trio of David Chiang, Ti Lung, and Alexander Fu Sheng -- I've been watching a lot of movies from these folks, and for good reason. They're the best at what they do. Which is why this movie would be good no matter what. The film builds to a big finale of five heroes against five villains, and I really liked those villains too, but I was definitely feeling like there was nothing new here. It's about the few survivors from the burning of the Shaolin temple... yet again. A good movie but nothing original. Well, swinging an axe blade around on a rope is a good idea.

I liked the movie

Brought back memories. My kids loved it too.Recommended!

The greatest martial arts movie of all time. This movie has everything from action to good store line. This movie is one if the greatest movies of all time

a really nice action packed movie

loved the movie and the story line.great scenes.

Disciples fleeing a burning shaolin temple (see my review of Shaolin Temple) are chased down and slaughtered by the ruthless Manchu. The Manchu hunt and kill all Shaolin sympathisers they find, but five highly skilled fighters just manage to make it to safety by the skin of their teeth. They find sanctuary in different places and begin to rally more supporters of the Shaolin teachings. With these clandestine rallies a success, they then regroup and attempt to smash the Manchu...With an amazing cast of martial arts athletes and pretty much non~stop, tough kung fu action, viewers certainly get their money's worth here. Cheh Chang directs and Lau Kar Leung provides the prolific fight action. There's next to no budget, which no one in their right mind would care about, because it doesn't need one! The plot although very basic is a tried and tested formula of vengeance in which our fives heroes are not good enough to beat the five Manchu experts, until they go away and retrain. Which allows them sufficient time to get better and return to beat up everyone on the Manchu's Christmas card list!!The bad guys really kick arse too in this though, With Fung Hark On, Ka Yan Leung (Thundering Mantis) and Luis Suarez (Tsai Hung), with a deadly whirling vorpal blade!! Ti Lung goes up against that guy. Fu Sheng inevitably gets Wei Lung Wang (reprising his dastardly role as Manchu traitor Ma Fu Yi from Shaolin Temple), and David Chiang gets the coolest weapon in the mix, when he takes up a shaolin chain whip.In the end the heroes don't get it all their own way, so rest assured there's a few slow~motion dying fly moments, which when added to the bloody showdowns, just qualifies this films late night movie madness credentials even further!The score is very memorable too.I rate this highly, if you're new to the Shaw Brothers stuff, this is one you'll want. If not and you're already a fan, then you probably have it, because if you like the whole Shaw Brothers's Shaolin versus Manchu movie series, this is unmissable.The disc by Dragon Dynasty is a very clear, widescreen print with both English Subs and dubbed audio.4.75/5 rounded up.