36 Deadly Styles (1980)

Did not meet wig-spectations

36 Deadly Styles was two different movies consolidated into one which was odd enough, then the costume department apparently must have run out of money and raided a high school drama department and janitor closet to find enough wigs for everyone.

Wai Chi and his uncle are being chased by a red-nosed bad guy and his henchmen. They escape into a shaolin temple and are aided by Huang who fights off the bad guys. The uncle dies and Wai Chi is allowed to stay as long as he does menial tasks. Wai Chi meets Yu Ti the soy milk provider for the temple. She is also adept at kung fu as she demonstrates by taking him on when he has no money for the milk he ordered. Eventually, Wai’s belligerent attitude gets him kicked out of the temple just as the villainous brothers hunt him and the mysterious Huang down.

Wai Chi and Yu Ti ended up being the two halves of the “8 Gods Fist” style of kung fu. For some reason Hwang Jang Lee had killed Wai’s dad and other relatives years ago and was still after Wai. Another completely unrelated story, but gave the movie its title were two old kung fu masters with a 10 year old grudge. Kwong Wu Chan had possession of the “36 Deadly Styles” manual, something Yuen Ching Tien was willing to kill to have. Given that Hwang Jang Lee only appeared in the last 15 minutes of the film with a stuntman doubling for him in earlier fights they could have combined the two stories.

The fights were standard early 1970s kung fu posing. Mark and Jack’s fight was slower than I would have anticipated from them. I watched this film for Hwang Jang Lee and his Thunderleg but there was precious little of it. Even when he was showing off his kicks, the camera was so close you couldn’t see the full effect. Another problem with the fights were the terrible wigs. Poor Bolo had the worst wig I have ever seen in anything. It looked like someone took a mop and did macramé with it. Lau Kwok Shing was stuck with a burned-out blonde wig not matching his beard and eyebrows. Hwang had a fried gray wig. All three men could be seen adjusting the monstrosities during fight scenes. Nick Cheung Lik seemed to have his own hair but was relegated to a Jackie Chan light role. All the men had great fighting chops but the choreography by Max Lee did not measure up to their skills.

Like many kung fu comedies the body count was quite high. I truly have no idea why director/writer Joseph Kuo shoehorned the secret book and old masters’ story parallel to the revenge tale, especially since he didn’t establish a strong enough reason for the blood feud with Wai and the abominable wig villains. Graded on a curve, and only for Joseph Kuo fans (maybe) or Bolo fans though why see the poor guy with that embarrassing mop hanging off his head.

19 March 2025
Trigger warning: a rather gruesome snake skinning and eating.

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I really liked the characters and the story for the most part. The FL and both ML really good. It's an average film with your standard revenge plot. I loved actor Wang Yung Sheng. He's the villian here but I like him in everything he plays in. His skills and charisma, always awesome.

I didn't think the fight scenes were all that spectacular but there were two that were well choreographed. The fight scene between Jeanie Chang (FL) and Chan Lau (4th Brother) was excellent and the work with the pot was fantastic. The other was a fight scene between 2 older gentlemen; one of whom is the villain. Even though i don’t remember these 2 characters they were apparently part of the subplot. Fight was great with the 2 veteran martial arts actors. That was better than all the fights between any main characters. I really didnt even reacall the subplot while watching and was flabbergasted when the 2 showed up to fight over the 36 Deadly Styles book.

Bolo Yuen is here and for some inexplicable reason he is wearing a redheaded, braided wig. I literally, need someone to explain to me as to why the hell that wig was used. It looked like a black woman's wig from the 1970's disco era.

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