Heroes of the East
Director: Lau Kar-leung
Year: 1978
Rating: 7.5
Resembling a kung
fu couple out of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe, this unhappily married
duo are out for each others blood. Of course, while the English couple from
the Albee play limited their attacks to verbal stabs in the back, this couple
doesn’t hesitate to use swords, knives, spears, stars and darts to get the
better of one another. This is marriage as a contact sport – where the chop
sticks at dinner time are as likely to be used as deadly throwing instruments
as eating utensils. This exploration of marriage and culture clashes is all
quite fun though and this 1978 film directed by Lau Kar Leung (aka Liu Chia
Liang) and starring his favorite actor (Gordon) Liu Chia Hui is considered
a classic for good reasons.
Unlike many of the films produced by the Shaw Brothers in which Lau had a
hand in as either director or choreographer, this film has no big glorious
heart beating action scenes full of death and mayhem. Instead it is in many
ways a very polite film – everyone generally follows the rules of honor and
decorum – and no one is badly hurt with the exception of their pride. Every
fight is a simple one on one duel with cheap looking sets in the background
– but within this set up there is an astonishing variety and some incredibly
enjoyable choreography. It has a purist feel to it. In particular this is
a fabulous showcase for Liu Chia Hui who is given the opportunity to show
his skills with a host of weapons from sword to spear to knives to staff
to the three section staff. It is a remarkable individual performance and
he overlays these physical skills with a charming and pleasant acting performance
as well.
As the film begins, his father announces to him that his Japanese bride has
arrived and Liu Chia Hui grumbles over this arranged marriage until he sees
his lovely wife (Mizuno Yoko) demurely smiling at him in her kimono. All
seems heavenly between this cross-cultural couple until she starts breaking
nearly everything in the house while practicing different forms of Japanese
martial arts. He patiently puts up with this bit of home wreckage and counts
up the cost, but when she starts clearing out his Chinese weapons to make
room for her own and then makes pronouncements on the superiority of Japanese
weaponry and their martial arts, it is more than he can take. His challenge
to show her the superiority of Chinese martial arts is accepted and the marriage
soon turns into an on going rumble – even to having her outfit herself as
a Ninja and attacking him with stealth and darts.
She soon runs home to Japan and cries on the handsome shoulder of her instructor,
Yasuaki Kurata, but her husband is intent on having her back – because when
she wasn’t trying to maim him for life she was rather fun – quite cute (especially
in her ninja outfit) - and had a habit of accidentally letting her judo robe
fall open. So he writes her a letter that knocks her style of fighting thinking
it will bring her back but instead it falls into the hands of Yasuaki and
he sees it as an insult to Japan – this being the 1920s or 30’s and Japan’s
period of militarism. So he decides to bring over a group of Japanese martial
artists to teach this upstart Chinese fellow a lesson or two.
The Japanese all have specialized fighting skills and challenge Liu to individual
one a day contests - all leading to one excellent fight after another
– all quite civilized of course – but leaving no doubt as to which country
has the superior fighting skills. The final one in particular against ninja
Yasuaki is excellent. As his estranged wife witnesses one bout after another
she gets weak in the knees and is soon falling into her more traditional
wifely role. It’s a terrific film that certainly shows it’s nationalistic
side – but is still fairly gentle in nature and contains some lovely intricate
choreography. Appearing also are Simon Yuen as Liu’s sifu, Lau Kar Leung
in a cameo as the tramp that Liu learns drunken kung fu from and Norman Tsui
as Liu’s friend.