I apologize, but my knowledge of martial arts and samauri movies doesn’t extend past Kurosawa and Bruce Lee. All this talk of the Shaw Brothers has me wanting to find out more about them. What are some of their best flicks to check out?
Edited title
HungFist
Invincible pole Fighter
Executioners from Shaolin
Fists of the White Lotus
Shaolin Master Killer
um, 5 deadly venoms? one of the most recognizable series in all of ma cinema.
Five Fingers of Death
Master Killer (Aka 36th Chamber of Shaolin…Stars Gordon Liu)
Five Deadly Venoms
New One-Armed Swordsman
Flying Guillotine
Executioners from Shaolin (Features “Pei Mei”)
thanks alot, i ordered master killer and five deadly venoms on dvd
For your information,
KILL BILL did in-jokes of these Kung-Fu movies:
FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH
THE MASTER OF FLYING GUILLOTINE
SHAOLIN MASTER KILLER
CHINISE BOXER
But the last one is very hard to find :’(
Is there something in particular they referenced from those films Busta? I’ve seen all except Chinese Boxer (would that be a Jimmy Wang-Yu film? I have a film by him called Return of the Chinese Boxer, a possible sequel perhaps), but I’m not sure if I picked up on the references. I’m not really good at stuff like that. I read the script back when it first hit the net and I think I only picked up on like five or six direct references 
I really need to check out that Executioners of Shaolin. I believe I read Fists of the White Lotus was very similar in story. It too features Pei Mei, but he dies early on in the film and is replaced by White Lotus who looks exactly the same.
It also features the 100 Pace Palm Technique which seemed very similar to something in Kill Bill. That’s for those who have read the script
To add to the list I’ll go through some titles:
Chinese Super Ninjas, Crippled Avengers, Avenging Eagle, Five Deadly Venoms, Five Shaolin Masters, Flag of Iron, Master Killer, Heroic Ones, Fists of the White Lotus, Kid With the Golden Arm, Shaolin and Wu Tang
There are others, some not even ‘true’ Kung Fu that were produced by the Shaws. Come Drink With Me, The Teahouse, etc.
[quote]
I really need to check out that Executioners of Shaolin. I believe I read Fists of the White Lotus was very similar in story. It too features Pei Mei, but he dies early on in the film and is replaced by White Lotus who looks exactly the same.
It also features the 100 Pace Palm Technique which seemed very similar to something in Kill Bill. That’s for those who have read the script
[/quote]
It was a lot like a remake of Executioners. I prefer Executioners though, as I cant fucking stand the comedic brother in Fists of the White Lotus.
Ever since watching Fists of the White Lotus I’ve figured that if there was one thing that might cause someone to really dislike it, it would be that brother guy ;D He’s a bit agitating, but he didn’t bother me too much. Got to love that ratty haircut.
On a somewhat related note: Does anyone know if the One-Armed Boxer films (including Flying Guillotine) are really Shaw Bros? Been a while since I watched the two so I’m not sure, but I’m a bit hesitant to list it as Shaw. I think it might have been an independent thing, but I don’t really know.
[quote]thanks alot, i ordered master killer and five deadly venoms on dvd[/quote]
The ‘Master Killer’ DVD available in the USA (at amazon.com) ist pretty much crap. you should order the ShawBrothers Collection DVD from Celestial from a store like hkflix.com, the movie is better known as “The 36th Chamber of shaolin”. awesome movie by the way.
so…
are they producers, writers or directors (in can’t find them as directors ) …
would be cool, if you guys could write personal stuff about them.
thanks
When people say “The Shaw Brothers”, theyre talking about the Shaw Brothers Studios in China. Just like when people say “Hammer Horror films” Thats the name of the studios where the films were made.
The Shaw Brothers were 2 guys that produced all the classic Mandarin old school kung fu films by guys like Chang Cheh, Lau Kar Leung and many others.
(Later on Run Run Shaw went on to produce Blade Runner and some other films).
My favorite SB films that I have in my collection:
The Blood Brothers
The Heroic Ones
Five Deadly Venoms
Executioner of Shaolin
Fist of the White Lotus
Five Fingers of Death
The Golden Swallow
Heroes Two
I think I already created a post about Shaw Brothers way back when. If you look around you’ll find some more history on the brothers.
thanks a lot,
[quote]
On a somewhat related note: Does anyone know if the One-Armed Boxer films (including Flying Guillotine) are really Shaw Bros? Been a while since I watched the two so I’m not sure, but I’m a bit hesitant to list it as Shaw. I think it might have been an independent thing, but I don’t really know.[/quote]
According to IMDB, the Shaws were producers of the 1st One-Armed Swordsman sequel. But there’s several movies in my collection (Which have the SB logo) that didn’t appear on their resume at Imdb, like (The Original) Flying Guillotine and Ten Tigers from KwangTung, to name a few.
And you could always spot a SHAW BROS flick if any kung fu movie from the mid-late 70’s featured:
Meng Fei
Alexander Fu Sheng
Ti Lung
David Chiang
Chi Kuan Chun
Kuo Chui (aka Phillip Kwok)
Chiang Sheng
Sun Chien
Lo Mang
Lu Feng
keep in mind that the Shaw Studios were the major asian producing studio. they didnt only do these kung fu movies that are famous today, they did thousands of tv movies and shows, some of them made Chow Yun Fat a star.
comedies, operas, soaps… and so on. everything that would make some dollars…
not only Deadly Venoms and other cult stuff… don’t forget that. if you wanna know more, I think there are some pretty good websites out there.
Thanks for your reply,
Chinise Boxer just inspires KILL BILL’s climax where hero fights against 100 enemies.
So, you don’t have to see it.
However, before see KILL BILL, you have to watch
FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH, SHAOLIN MASTER KILLER, and MASTER OF TEH FLYING GUILLOTINE.
AND KEEP THEIR BGM IN YOUR MIND!
If you take my words and go see KILL BILL, you will have 100 times more fun than other audience.
I donnot want spoil anything but guarantee. 
Sorry, BGM is stupid Japanese English. :-[
I mean music they use for the movies.
Celestial as has been mentioned here, has been releasing Shaw Brothers movie on reg. 3 ntsc dvd restored/uncut since dec. 2003.
http://www.celestialpictures.com
Right off the bat I’d recommend “Vengeance” (1970) which you can see hugely influences the fight scene between Uma and Fox.
Outside that you should see Gordon Liu Shaw Brothers movies (he is a star in Kill Bill vol. 1 & 2) afterall… seek out for this:
- The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
- Return to the 36th Chamber
- Disciples of the 36th Chamber
past this check out (a couple that come to mind):
- All Men Are Brothers
- Blood Brothers
- Budda’s Palm
- Clans of Intrigue
- Come Drink With Me
- Death Duel
- Deliquent
- Golden Swallow
- Have Sword, Will Travel
- Heaven & Hell
- Heroes Shed No Tears
- Heroic Ones
- Human Lanterns
- Intimate Conessions of a Chinese Courtesan
- Jade Tiger
- Killer Clans
- Kiss of Death
- Magic Blade
- Mighty Peking Man (released - Rolling Thunder)
- Shaolin Temple
- Trail of the Broken Blade
- Water Margin (which Tarantino owns a print of and screened at one of his film fests)
I just found out that all in all we have 4 topics about the Shaw brothers.
I let 2 open. This here, cuz there are some many interessting information and the one in the DVD section:
<LINK_TEXT text=“http://tarantino.webds.de/cgi-bin/taran … 1041608364”>http://tarantino.webds.de/cgi-bin/tarantino/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=media;action=display;num=1041608364</LINK_TEXT>
The other ones are closed.
There Absolute wrote November 2003:
Greetings!
I am working in ShawBrothers(HK) doing restoration on the old movies.
Just finished restoring “Chinese Boxer”. ÂÂ
Its got colour like never seen before on the big screen.
And yes…I saw Yuan Wo Ping’s dad in there…but you know what?..Yuan Wo Ping himself is in there too…he was the first disciple to die in the dojo fight with the karate dudes (Lo Lieh) from japan. Lo Lieh died in ShenZhen China…so sad when we heard it… ÂÂ
And also…Gordan Liu’s “Challenge of the Master” is a MUST SEE!..Its such an old film…even Gordan Liu looked funny…no double eyelids…
But its a good film.
I like Gordan Liu…but I find it such a shame that nobody ever mentions about his older brother (Ka-leong ,Liu)
He is the true master behind many Gordan Liu’s movies…
he’s got moves that NEO (Matrix) would want to upload …and super fast too.
and
There DvD releases. But many selected titles will be printed back to film and run in cinemas again.
36th Chambers of Shaolin is one of those.
5 venoms, Executioners of Shaolin, Chinese Boxers, Flying GUillotine 1 and Disciples of 36th Chambers to mention a few.
About the region question…i will get back to you on that. Have to check with CP (Celestial Picture).
Invincible Pole Fighter??..well…maybe they changed the title over there. Actual title is “8 Diagram Pole Fighter”. Excellent movie. Maybe its another movie movie 
There is 760 titles…and I have only finished 200++ titles. Well…me and 43 other collegues
and
not sure about theatrical release outside Hong Kong…but i can’t see the reason to just show them in HK where there are more fans outside HK.
And Celestial Pictures is the company that bought ShawBrother’s films lock stock.
I LOVE the Shaw Brothers movies. Great Martial Arts flicks. My personal favorite is “Executioners from Shaolin” because of Pai Mei as a leading character. But “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” is of course a must see and there are many other brilliant flicks Tarantino is remembering in “Kill Bill: Vol. 1”.