7cb1d79195 Ma Yung Cheng leaves Shantung, trying to find better fortune in Shanghai, trusting his youth and physical valour. He meets friendship with Hsiai Chiang Pei, and love (CHING LI), and fate has him meet, and find employment with a local gangster. He defeats an undefeatable Foreign Champion, then three champions at once, only to fall into a trap set up by gangster arch-rival Yang Shuang… Leaving the poverty of his life in Shantung to seek fortune in Shanghai, The Boxer is instead drawn into a world of corruption, gang warfare and evil… Where his only protection is his famed fighting technique. One of those films that you find in a "Everything here $1…" bin at your video store. It's dated, the video and sound quality are poor, the acting is typically sh*thouse and the storyline has been done 100 times before. But being somewhat of a fan of kung-fu films, I try to see anything no matter how bad it looks. The Boxer From Shantung is no classic of the genre, but it does provide some excitement, some innovative concepts and some of your standard Shaw Brothers kick ass action, so it can't be a complete waste. One thing that came straight to mind when I saw the 'House of Blue Leaves' chapter in Kill Bill vol. 1 was this film. The Boxer From Shantung inspired the sequence where the crazy 88s come rushing into the club through any entrance available. Admittedly though, Tarantino did it better. Also, the lead actor Kuan Tai Chen kept reminding me of Charles Bronson, he looks like him but it's mostly his mannerisms. He went on to star in many more Shaw Brothers films (see: The Flying Guillotine). 7/10 – but only because I'm partial to kung-fu films. Pre-Venom Mob martial arts film from director Cheh Chang finds the film's hero working his way out of poverty by traveling to Shanghai, only to find himself drawn into the criminal underworld. The Shanghai underworld looks pretty much like every other Shaw Brothers backlot set and the story and characters are not particularly compelling, but the fight sequences are excellent, particularly a wildly bloody finale, where the hero battles the main villain's minions with a hatchet lodged in his side!
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