Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

GetPapa Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

kowalski37 Decent plot and good classical 80s Kung Fu make this a worth seeing film. Contains some quotes used in GZAs 1995 album Liquid Swords, and as a general rule of thumb, any film that the Wu Tang quote is worth seeing. I would put this on a par with 5 Deadly Venoms. Classic plot line of - young student with potential is studying under a poor Kung Fu master and is bullied by fellow students. He looks after a real master who is wounded by the 3 evil masters and who teaches him an old, powerful form of Kung Fu to eventually defeat the 3 evil masters. "The Sword. It's the best weapon of all. Two sharp edges and a long spine. The blade is very thin and it's easily damaged you'll remember that. The vital thing is the point. Pay special attention to it, your life could depend on it".

Brian Camp THE MASTER (1980) was made at Shaw Bros., but displays a look and feel much closer to the indie kung fu films of 1980 than it does to other Shaw martial arts films of the time such as Chang Cheh's Five Venoms spectacles. It has a few Shaw trademarks, including some large sets and several dependable Shaw character actors, but its story is simpler and less wide-ranging, with an emphasis on training, and the main cast is much smaller, with only five major characters participating in the important fight scenes. It packs a lot of fighting (staged by Hsu Hsia) into a concise structure that serves as a showcase for the considerable talents of young Yuen Tak (billed as Yuan Te), one of Jackie Chan's classmates at the Peking Opera school in Hong Kong that spawned so many kung fu movie greats.Yuen plays Gao Jian, a hapless student being taught at a school run by a vain, not-so-skilled teacher (Lin Ho Nien). One night he encounters a wounded kung fu master, Jin Tianyun (Chen Kuan Tai), a legendary warrior fleeing from a fight in which he was stabbed in a sneak attack and now has to hide from his pursuers, the Three Devils. Gao tends to Master Jin and hides him in his shack and, in return, Master Jin teaches Gao some essential kung fu. After a tragic turn of events, Gao goes off for a year to practice and then comes back to find his teacher's school taken over by the Three Devils, who are seeking to create a haven for other outlaws. This leads to a series of exciting final bouts between Gao and each of the Devils, the leader of whom is played by the great Wang Lung Wei.Yuen Tak was the ever-patient fiancé in the delightful AMBITIOUS KUNG FU GIRL (also reviewed on this site), the first film in which he fully registered with me. I found his performance here quite a revelation. He incorporates a lot of acrobatics into his moves and certainly compares well with all the other young stars playing eager, put-upon kung fu students at the same time in non-Shaw films (e.g. Meng Fei, Lee Yi Min, Meng Yuan Man, Cliff Lok, etc.). Yuen went on to become a prominent fight choreographer in Hong Kong and even in Hollywood, where he worked on "Martial Law" and Jet Li's THE ONE.Kung fu great Chen Kuan Tai (THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG) has a relatively small part. He's got a great fight scene at the beginning, but its impact is diminished by the decision to keep freezing the frame all through it in order to show the credits. Candy Wen Hsueh-erh, the only female in the film, plays the daughter of Gao's teacher, but she doesn't get much to do.Overall, it was a pleasant surprise to find a Shaw Bros. kung fu film I hadn't seen before that was so direct, straightforward and free of the studio's usual frills.

wanderingstar "The Master" begins like an old Western. A gang (gunslingers) of three known as The 3 Devils enter a tea house (saloon), looking for a man dressed all in white named Jin Tianyun. The film opens with a great fight, where The 3 Devils come at Jin Tianyun with fists & feet, throwing darts, tonfa, and knives.Meanwhile Gao Jian, a kung fu wanna-be, is practicing at a nearby martial arts school. His skills are pitiful and he's always being bullied by classmates. Jin Tianyun shows up injured at Gao Jian's door, and Gao takes him in and helps nurse him to health. Jin Tianyun takes a liking to the hapless Gao Jian and agrees to teach him kung fu behind his master's back.All the while, The 3 Devils continue to hunt for Jin Tianyun. The three finally catch up with "Brother Jin" at the school, and by this time Gao Jian's skills are honed like a razor's edge. He must rise to the challenge to defend his school and avenge his new "Master"."The Master" is well paced, has lots of the cheesy slapstick of this genre & era, and has some great fights, especially the final one where Gao Jian battles the best of The 3 Devils. I very much recommend this movie to fans of the genre.An interesting note: the actor who plays Jin Tianyun was in the recent Donnie Yen film "Dragon Tiger Gate".

fred THE MASTER is a very entertaining kung fu comedy from the last days of the Shaw Brothers. After the success of Drunken Master and Snake in the eagle shadow, the studio release this one, showing the great capacities of Chen Kuan Tai as "the master". The humor is a bit irritating but there are some good gags and the action is fast-paced. Kung fu choregraphies are good, like in the Jackie Chan movies of this era. This movies is not a masterpiece but it's really fun to watch: the plot is simple, there is a slightly erotic sequence, some violence and plenty of fights. If you like shaw brothers movies that go straight in your face like Monkey Kung Fu or Crippled Avenger, you will surly like this one! Worth catching for all kung fu fan, like the other Tony Liu movies, especially the crazy Holy Flame of the Martial World.