Ninja Over the Great Wall

Last updated

Ninja Over the Great Wall
Directed by Bruce Le
Kim Hui-lim
Written byFock Da-lin
Starring Bruce Le
Lily Young
Shi Kamura
Li Ning
CinematographyYue Ke
Chen Sing-hoi
Distributed byEsplanade Filmverleih (West Germany)
Release date
Running time
82 minutes
Country Hong Kong
LanguageCantonese

Ninja Over the Great Wall (Long hyo chang cheng), also known as Fire on the Great Wall and Shaolin Fist of Fury, is a 1987 martial arts film starring Bruce Lee clone, Bruce Le.

Contents

The Region 1 DVD from Ground Zero Entertainment is retitled Shaolin Fist of Fury. The box claims that Hwang Jang-Lee is in the film, but he is not. Most sources list this as a 1987 film, although the Hong Kong Movie DataBase gives the year as being 1990. [1]

Plot

The film takes place during the 1930s, during Japanese occupation of China. Chi Keung's (Bruce Le) mother is killed during the occupation. Chi himself is presumed dead, but is later saved by his friend Yip.

They travel to Beijing, where Yip stays with his aunt along with Chi. Unfortunately, a Japanese fighter, Shojiro, comes to town with the intent of showing off his martial arts expertise by brawling with Chi's master. The master wins the fight, but Shojiro's father has the master killed. An angry Chi punches and kicks his way to Shojiro, and finds that Shojiro did not want the master to die; the murder was merely a way for his father to save face. Chi spares Shojiro and requests that he never steps foot in China gain. This agreement only temporarily lasted, causing Shojiro (trained in the ways of Bushido) and Chi (trained in kung fu) to meet for one final confrontation on the Great Wall of China.

Reception

On the website Bruceploitation, "Keith" writes:

"While liberally borrowing from the Bruce Lee classic Fist of Fury , this Bruce Le vehicle is still quite entertaining. The fight scenes are lots of fun with Bruce taking on hordes of ninjas literally everywhere. Viewers should get a kick out of a scene where Bruce fights a ninja who is on fire. Talk about having control of your mind and body. Also, there is the requisite "You killed my teacher" Japanese dojo attack required by Bruceploitation Law. The end fight scene (shot on location at the Great Wall) is mighty impressive and brutal. What surprised me the most about this film is the pessimistic storyline. Pretty much everyone dies. Using the Japanese occupation of China as a backdrop, the filmmakers also inject a bit of political commentary (not saying the Fist of Fury was subtle though). If only Bruce Le had made more movies like this." [2] [3]

The review on Kung Fu Cinema by Rudolph Pretorius:

"The film’s major flaw lies in the fact that it’s played straight-faced throughout. No intentional jokes are to be found. Some humor could definitely have helped. The film is relatively new in terms of genre, yet it uses the same old story about the Chinese versus the Japanese...There’s not much about the film to recommend even if you like these Chinese versus the Japanese plots. The production values aren’t bad, but they should rather have employed better actors than have good-looking sets and locations. Stay away!" [4]

Trivia

The film's final fight can be briefly seen in Ang Lee's directorial debut film Pushing Hands (1991).

Related Research Articles

<i>Fist of Fury</i> 1972 martial arts film

Fist of Fury, also known as The Chinese Connection, is a 1972 Hong Kong action martial arts film written and directed by Lo Wei, produced by Raymond Chow, and starring Bruce Lee in his second major role after The Big Boss (1971). Lee, who was also the film's action choreographer, plays Chen Zhen, a student of Huo Yuanjia, who fights to defend the honor of the Chinese in the face of foreign aggression, and to bring to justice those responsible for his master's death.

Chopsocky is a colloquial term for martial arts films and kung fu films made primarily by Hong Kong action cinema between the late 1960s and early 1980s. The term was coined by the American motion picture trade magazine Variety following the explosion of films in the genre released in 1973 in the U.S. after the success of Five Fingers of Death. The word is a play on chop suey, combining "chop" and "sock".

Bruce Li is a Taiwanese martial artist and actor who starred in martial arts films from the Bruceploitation movement.

Bruceploitation is an exploitation film subgenre that emerged after the death of martial arts film star Bruce Lee in 1973, during which time filmmakers from Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea cast Bruce Lee look-alike actors ("Lee-alikes") to star in imitation martial arts films, in order to exploit Lee's sudden international popularity. Bruce Lee look-alike characters also commonly appear in other media, including anime, comic books, manga, and video games.

Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese and Hong Kong cultures including Chinese opera, storytelling and aesthetic traditions, which Hong Kong filmmakers combined with elements from Hollywood and Japanese cinema along with new action choreography and filmmaking techniques, to create a culturally distinctive form that went on to have wide transcultural appeal. In turn, Hollywood action films have been heavily influenced by Hong Kong genre conventions, from the 1970s onwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lo Lieh</span> Chinese actor and martial artist

Wang Lap Tat, better known by his stage name Lo Lieh, was an Indonesian-born Hong Kong martial artist and film actor. Lo was perhaps best known as Chao Chih-Hao in the 1972 martial arts film King Boxer, Priest Pai Mei in Executioners from Shaolin and Clan of the White Lotus, Miyamoto in the 1977 film Fist of Fury II, and General Tien Ta in the 1978 film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.

<i>Heroes of the East</i> 1978 Hong Kong film

Heroes of the East, also known as Challenge of the Ninja, Shaolin vs. Ninja and Shaolin Challenges Ninja is a martial arts film produced in 1978. It starred Gordon Liu and was directed by Lau Kar-Leung. Lau Kar-Leung has a cameo role as So Chan, a master of Zui Quan. It's notable for portraying Japanese martial arts alongside the more typical kung fu used in most Hong Kong martial arts films.

Dragon Lee is an actor and practitioner of Taekwondo and Hapkido. He made a name for himself as a martial arts film star in the 1970s and 80s. His birth name is Moon Kyung-seok, but he has also been called Keo Ryong in South Korea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Leung</span> Hong Kong martial artist and actor

Bruce Liang is a Hong Kong martial artist and actor who has appeared in many Hong Kong martial arts movies. He often appeared billed as "Bruce Leung", "Bruce Liang", "Bruce Leong", or "Bruce Leung Siu-lung", and is thus generally grouped among the Bruce Lee clones that sprang up after Lee's death in the subgenre known as Bruceploitation.

<i>Fist of Fury II</i> 1977 Hong Kong film

Fist of Fury II, is a 1977 Hong Kong kung fu film directed by Iksan Lahardi and Tso-nam Lee, and starring Bruce Li and Lo Lieh. It is the sequel to Bruce Lee’s 1972's Fist of Fury.

Fist of Fury III is a martial arts Bruceploitation sequel. It was originally released in Hong Kong as Jie quan yingzhua gong, and has been informally called Chinese Connection III. It continues the story of Chen Shen from Fist of Fury II, the brother of the Bruce Lee character in Fist of Fury.

Bruce Le is a martial artist and actor known for his martial arts film of the 1970s and 1980s. Most of these were inexpensively produced and were made to capitalise on the martial arts phenomenon started by Bruce Lee, whose death in 1973 left a large box office void.

<i>Enter the Game of Death</i> 1978 South Korean film

Enter the Game of Death was directed by Lee Tso-nam, who helmed previous Bruceploitation films Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger and Fist of Fury II. Bolo Yeung also appears as a protagonist beaten first at 15.02 in 'Enter the Game of Death'

<i>Bruces Fist of Vengeance</i> 1980 Filipino film

Bruce's Fist of Vengeance is a 1980 Bruceploitation martial arts movie from the Philippines starring notorious Bruce Lee imitator Bruce Le.

Casanova Wong, is a Korean film actor and martial artist born in 1945 Gimje, South Korea. An expert in tae kwon do, he is a leg-fighter, and is well known for his spin kicks and was nicknamed "The Human Tornado" in the Republic of Korea Army. He made many appearances in martial arts movies but is most remembered for his role as Cashier Hua in Warriors Two, where he starred alongside Sammo Hung, with whom he worked several times. Other films included Story of Drunken Master and Rivals of the Silver Fox. One of Wong's last notable movie appearances was as Kang-ho in the 1994 Korean movie Bloody Mafia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Lee filmography</span>

This article details the filmography of actor and martial artist Bruce Lee.

Bruce Lai, real name Chang Yi-tao, was a Hong Kong actor who starred in many Godfrey Ho films.

Carter Wong is a Hong Kong actor and martial artist, who is mainly known for roles in Kung Fu action movies. The biggest movies he was featured in are Big Trouble in Little China (1986), and Yong zheng ming zhang Shao Lin men (1977). As an actor, he contributed to more than seventy martial arts films. He also worked as a stuntman in films, and was the fighting instructor for the movie Rambo III. Wong is still active in martial arts.

Eagle Han-ying was a Korean actor and martial artist, who rose his fame in South Korea through various Korean drama series from the 90. Outside of Korea, he is best known with his appearance with many kung fu films from the range of Korean, Hong Kong and Taiwanese production.

Chui Chung-San was a Hong Kong actor, director, choreographer, martial artist and stuntman. He was known for being an action director and stuntman. Chui was known for films such as The Rebellious Reign, Kung Fu Vs. Yoga, Two Fists Against the Law and 7 Grandmasters; as well as other various Taiwanese television shows.

References

  1. ↑ "Fire On The Great Wall (1990)". Archived from the original on 14 November 2003.
  2. ↑ "Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009.
  3. ↑ "Bruceploitation is a crime". www.geocities.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  4. ↑ "Kung Fu Cinema". Archived from the original on 3 March 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2006.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.