Man of Iron (1972)

[Drunk Monk]

Chen Kuan Tai is da man! He wears kick ass threads including a high-collar leather jacket, some wide-collar sports jacket and slacks combos and some classy Chinese clothes. He rides a kick ass motorcycle which he uses both to run down villains with and to crash through the window of the film's hottie in a gesture of courtship. But mostly, he kicks ass - a lot of ass is kicked. Set in one of China's most romantic period, post WWII Shanghai, Chen is a gang leader looking to take on the aging triad heads. He takes on dozens of villains at a time, over and over, all by himself. Much ass is kicked. He even makes short work of Bolo. Chen's fight scenes aren't dazzling on the surface, but the sheer amount of single scene fights where he takes on dozens of villains is impressive. There's an odd choreographic theme of bitch slapping in the beginning too. This is like one of those semi-sequel/redux/attempt-2-$-in-on-an-earlier-success with one of Chen's most popular films, The Boxer From Shantung. No swordfights, but there's a big fight where Chen takes on dozens of gangsters wielding 2-foot-long knives that are like over-sized Filipino butterfly knives. No dancing, but some awkward romancing. Sets are okay - shows a little of the Shaw lot but not enough to be that impressive - it literally looks like the back alley of the lot. No dogs.

I kept thinking 'dayum! I spent a weekend with Master Chen. He was really nice and I was very honored to share several meals, drinks and rides with him. But back in the day - WOW! What an ass kicker!'

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