Heroes of the East (1978)

Anything you can do, I can do better!

Heroes of the East aka Shaolin Challenges Ninja was a lighthearted Shaw Brothers production directed by Lau Kar Leung and starred Gordon Liu. The movie started out as a battle of the sexes over whose martial arts was better between a newly married couple and graduated to an understanding and respect for the different styles and weapons of martial arts in China and Japan.

Ho To resented his father for forcing an arranged marriage on him. His wealthy father who often worked in Japan arranged the marriage with a Japanese business partner. Once Ho saw how beautiful Kung Zi had become, he had a rapid change of heart. The way of love was not smooth as Kung Zi was dedicated to her martial arts practice and looked down on kung fu. Ho To believed karate was inferior to kung fu. The garden and furnishings took a beaten when the two quarreled with the servant Shou often literally stuck in the middle. When Kung Zi angrily returned to Japan, Ho To issued her a challenge. If she could beat him in any form of martial arts, he would admit he was wrong. Kung Zi’s life long friend, Takeno, saw the challenge and took it as an affront. His sensei gathered different masters and off to China they went in order to take up Ho To’s challenge!

Lau Kar Leung is one of, if not my favorite, martial arts director from this time period. His love for martial arts shown through in this film. Instead of stereotyping the Japanese as evil and painting the screen in blood, he respectfully showcased different skills from both countries. No one died, and there was only one tiny trickle of blood. The fights were quick, complex, and thoroughly entertaining whether using fists and kicks, swords, spears, or nunchaku. Lau also acted in the film as Beggar So, demonstrating the drunken style, magnificently I might add, to the young martial arts students.

Gordon Liu was his usual competent, fast self, even while wearing a horrible wig that must have been glued to his head. Kurata Yasuaki played the Japanese ninja who was in love with Ho’s wife. Due to their real life skills, he and Gordon were able to fight believably with Crane vs Crab techniques. The purple smoke and disguises weren’t really needed but were fun. I was happy to see Japanese actors and fighters cast instead of Chinese actors playing the Japanese roles. The only reason I wasn’t able to rate this an 8.0 was due to the character of Kung Zi. She was ridiculously destructive and entitled in the first hour of the film. She became more sympathetic in the second half and then pulled a ninja move by disappearing.

Despite proclaiming respect for each other’s skills, the film was a Chinese film so kung fu was shown as more elegant and effective. Ho was also accomplished with numerous weapons and different fight styles while the Japanese were relegated to only one form each. The Japanese also bent the rules to give themselves advantages. Nearly half of the film focused on fighting whether between husband and wife or Ho and the Japanese masters. Each of the fights was unique instead of regurgitating the same moves over and over as some films do. Gordon and Kurata in the same film with Lau’s choreography made this a must see film for me. I wish they’d done a better job writing for Mizuno Yuka in her Taming of the Shrew role, but she sold her fight scenes well. The movie has been restored and looked beautiful. For fans of the genre, it’s one to check out.

26 March 2025

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