Shaolin Prince (1981)

[Drunk Monk]

I may have seen this one before. Parts felt really familiar, but I'm not sure. It stars one of my fav SB stars Ti Lung. It begins with a gaggle of Kung Fu masters, each with a baby strapped to their chest, fleeing a falling dynastic house. Only one has the real prince; the rest are decoys. It's a great concept, but that's just the beginning. The real prince is taken in by three Shaolin outcasts - the three holy fools - who are not permitted to leave a dilapidated temple next to Shaolin. One of the fools is the ever-cross-eyed Yue Tau Wan. They basically torture Ti Lung with surprise attacks and traps to teach him Kung Fu. Great traps, like logs swinging from the ceiling, stuff that would take serious effort to set up for real and would kill a normal person if they fell for it, but then again, most stuff in Kung Fu flicks would kill a normal person. There's another brother that survives, and two hysterical villains, waterman and fireman, who have superhero garb and fight with crazy elemental weapons. Shot on the same outrageous set that all of the SB flicks were shot on, the set pieces are stunning. Lots of sword fights. No bollywood dances or dogs.

Another Flying Five Finger One Armed Eight Pole Shaolin Exploding Death Touch Thursday feature on El Rey.