Opening Chase/Fights: 2.5/5
Tea House Fight: 2.75/5
Cai/Rebels vs Bao/Manchus: 3/5
Li/Rebels vs Zhang/Manchus: 3/5
Jiang/Fang vs Shan/Manchus: 3/5
Ma Chao-Hsing vs 2 Manchus: 2.75/5
Ma Chao Sing/Rebel vs Ma Fu Yi: 2.5/5
Prison Break: 3.25/5
Ma/Li Sparring: 2.25/5
End Fight: 4/5
I really dug this movie. It shows its age in parts, but there is some screen fighting in this that holds up to this day. Also, I was very invested in the stakes of the film. It follows a very simple structure, but executes it well. We see a lot of younger guys here that would go on to become stars in the 80's, like Leung Kar Yan (Beardy), Fung Hak On, and even a cameo by Gordon Liu. Of the 5 leads, Sheng Fu steals the show as Ma Chao Sing, he's got a Jackie Chan-like charisma to him. Admittedly I'm not as well versed in knowledge of martial arts actors in the 70's, besides Bruce Lee, so although these men were all top stars in this period they were new to me.
Anyway, there were no blow away fights but the final fight is great and satisfying when watched in context of the film. If you watched it as a standalone clip on youtube it wouldn't hold the same weight. There have been faster and more fluid fight scenes since then, but the finale carries emotional weight and displays various martial arts styles as a 5 part set piece that later films would adopt and follow.
Recommended.
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