good back-story, and good acting

A Disappointing Continuation

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

With so many of Chang Cheh's stalwarts on hand, it's impossible not to like TEN TIGERS OF KWANGTUNG. The always reliable Ti Lung (the backbone of so many martial arts epics over the years) plays Li, a pawn shop owner whose pawn shop has a hidden room for hiding anything and anyONE of value. It's not long before the masked revolutionary Cai, on the run from Qing minions, turns up needing "any port in a storm." Lung naturally puts him up. Enter Lo Meng as "Iron Finger" Chen, and things start to get still more interesting. It isn't long before The Lucky Gambling House becomes a battleground. (At one point, a villain dangling by his heels from the ceiling is literally decapitated by a drop kick...) Among the few extras on the DVD I have is a 2001 poem by Chang Cheh. The last two lines are interesting: "What does opulence amount to? Only a dream across the silver screen!"

There is an art to fight choreography, and this movies fights are technically "clean" but lack drama and build up. This movie is an example of why Shaw's popularity fell and golden harvest rose. As the years went on, there was a focus on a sort of Chinese opera style of dance acrobatics and the fights lost the umph of earlier movies such a Heroes Two and Shaolin Martial Arts. Also, the plot is a disjointed mess, and despite the fact that it has a "ton of stars" they are given very little to do. They are better films in the same genre, so I would give this one a pass. You would be better off seeking out Avenging Eagle, Shaolin Temple or Disciples of Shaolin. I read somewhere that Disciples was Fu Sheng's favorite film. Another worthy flick is 5 shaolin masters.

1st watched 8/17/2003 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Cheh Chang) Kung Fu fighting from start to finish in this Hong Kong film. So I guess if you enjoy this, then you may like the movie, but I personally couldn't follow who was fighting for who from one scene to the next. From what I could tell this movie was about a couple of rival tribes battle over bragging rights for something(I'm not sure what). There was a lot of interesting props used in the fighting sequences which made it interesting to watch at times with a few bloody surprises thrown in for free. But all-in-all as a movie, this was not that exciting. It was kind of like watching a Kung Fu match with different costumes and in a way and was more like watching a sporting event instead of a movie. With that said, bypass this one if you can.

Ti Lung. Alexander Fu Sheng. Chiang Sheng. Kuo Chui aka Phillip Kwok. Lu Feng. Wei Pai. Sun Chien. Lo Meng. Li Wang. Dick Wei. They make up ten of the most popular stars of 1970's Martial Arts Films. Add villain favorite Wang Lung Wei, and you got a blockbuster movie. With a cast so hot, who needs David Chiang, Chi Kwan Chun or Gordon Liu Chia Hui?The Ten Tigers of Kwangtung was a spectacular showcase of kung fu. The brilliant styles of natural talent these stars had were spectacular. Each and every one of these guys can do anything, by golly. The story is kinda cool; two Ching Dynasty mercenaries are out to kill the students of the Legendary Ten Tigers as payback for Wang's demise at the hands of Ti...which was explained in a flashback.Ti, Alex, Wei, Lu and Sun gather together to protect a hero of the Rebellion against the Manchus while Phil, Chiang and Lo goof off and stir a hornet's nest in their squabbles with Alex.These heroes are great. Wang is in rare form as a villain who thinks he's the hero. The action is vicious and no nonsense. No villain gets charted off to jail saying, "I would have gotten away with nabbing that rebel if it hadn't been for those meddling Tigers!" here. The dubbing and FX are lame and jive. The perfect SHAW Brothers film.I'm gonna miss Alex and Chiang. They were funny, talented and great heroes. They're up there in the pearly gates driving Bruce and Brandon up the clouds!