Review: Gang Master (1982)

GANG MASTER, 1982
Directed by Tsui Siu Ming
Starring Chen Kuan-tai, Hui Tien-sze, Liang Hsiao-lung, Pai Piao, Tai Liang-chun

According to Celestial: “This is no street gang or gang of mobsters. It’s a Yuan Dynasty army, out to destroy the Hsien Lung ‘gang’ of anti-Yuan revolutionaries. Their leader is the redoubtable Chen Kuan-tai, the real-life South-East Asian Chinese Martial Arts Tournament champion and master of ‘Monkey-King Split and Deflecting Arm’ kung-fu, who must face paternal murder, brother against brother plots, and shocking discoveries that could change the course of history.” [IVL]

Our Spoiler-Free Synopsis: Austin Wai as the new leader of an anti-Yuan triad versus Chen Kuan Tai as a Yuan general. People die, accusations fly, plots are framed up, fisticuffs and hijinks ensue. Also, Yuen Tak dabbles in “yellow peril”-face and is suitably punished.

Austin Wai is close to the edge in Gang Master.

What Do We Have to Say? [Spoilers Abound]

MB: This is a unique Shaw movie in many respects—not only for the unusual detail elaborated on the anti-Yuan triads, but also as the only movie directed by Tsui for the studio, one of precious few leading roles for Austin Wai, and possibly the only visible role played by Beast (aka Bruce Leung aka Liang Hsiao-lung).

There’s a thematic similarity with Dragon Missile. Like Lo Lieh’s character in Ho Meng Hua’s earlier movie, Austin Wai’s character here is essentially a dedicated and capable captain who is beset at every turn by incompetent bunglers and jealous saboteurs. He walks into a set-up in nearly every scene, and despite surviving by his own formidable fighting skills, ends up getting a flying sword for his trouble as he sacrifices himself to save the evil Mongol general. “He’s my father after all,” indeed.

There’s a lot to love about this movie—including some of the sharpest choreography you’re likely to see in the transitional times of the early ‘80s. The full-on “wire fu” was just a few years away, but the fight direction in this movie—although not realistic—still has the impact of the Golden Era approach, splitting the difference between Lau and the Venoms, yet adds some tasteful and restrained wire-work to good effect.

CKT’s relatively sparse screen time is balanced out successfully by Austin Wai’s charismatic and physically accomplished presence. The biggest treat for me, though, is Bruce Leung’s appearance. His character is oddly compelling, and his screen fighting is pretty amazing to see. He definitely steals the show in the last mile of this gem.

Tsui Siu Ming apparently did some choreography of his own in a few other joints, but leaves the heavy lifting to Yuen Cheung Yan this time around. The result is great (we can’t say enough good things about this damn movie), and it’s a shame this is the director’s sole Shaw movie.

Beast takes off his belt and gets down to whoopin' some ass.

WRR: Gang Master may have been a movie we picked up simply based on the fact Chen Kuan Tai was in it. But this movie turned out to offer so much more and captured our hearts. Lots of interesting Triad rituals are performed and there is some interesting fight choreography too. The fight against Yuen Tak and his carpentry style is one of the coolest fights in any Shaw movie.

It features Austin Wai fighting against his own gang buddies and elves, err … Mongols. Twists and turns are abound as poor Austin gets cock blocked and railroaded left and right. Eventually everything gets straightened out and we see whose allegiance lay where.

Chen Kuan Tai gets ready to wrap some Christmas presents.

Supporting Roles: Ku Feng is great (as always) as the tortured father-figure with an impossible decision to make. He probably choreographed the triad rituals, too. Lam Fai Wong in a typically wacky Lam role: a clueless low-level member of the gang who fails to correctly recognize the grand leader, which provides an opportunity for his surprisingly skilled comical physicality.

Did Anyone Do or Say the Thing? Nobody said the thing, and it’s actually kind of misleading because the whole conflict in the movie is precisely because the gang doesn’t have a master (or leader or chief or whatever). That said, there are a ton of cool and rarely-seen triad rituals including teacup Jenga, call and response verse with accompanying bad ass posturing to show affiliation, dragon rods complete with hidden membership rosters and prescribed gang punishments (Pai Piao always seems to find a way to get hung up and tortured).

Did the Chinese Invent Anything? Throwing gang signs. Pouring one out for your dead homies. Well, your dead ancestors, at least.

Innkeeper Count: 4 or 5. We may have lost count.

Pai Piao and gang signs, guh-guh-guh-gang signs.

Behind the Scenes: Dirty Ho Preview from 1978 Hong Kong Movie News

We've been keeping an eye on Shaolin Chamber 36's archive of the Southern Screen, Hong Kong Movie News and Cinemart magazines recently released in digital form by the Linn Haynes Memorial Collection. There's a ton of great pictures in these magazines, primarily production shots, movie stills, and best of all (for their rarity), the candid shots. It's beyond surreal to see screen greats like Chen Kuan Tai sitting on the hood of his '77 Mercedes wearing bell-bottoms, aviator sunglasses and rockin' some tragically hip hair.

There's a wealth of articles, too. For readers of Chinese, at least. We're stuck with the few English tidbits that grace these antique periodicals, bad translations and all. Still, where else can you find this kind of background information? So we thought it'd be fun to repost some of that content as we go.

‘The Guy with a Contused Head’ (Tentative)

This is a Chinese Kung Fu comedy performed by two main characters. In this movie, the audiences may enjoy boxing and kicking scenes and our national gymnastics. The first character is Wang Chian Chyn (Liu Chia Hui) whose Kung Fu is excellent. He cams from a noble family but because forced by circumstances to live outside the palace under a new name.

The other main character is a robber. He is called Ho Chun (Huang Yu) and was wounded in the head by Wang. He did not know Wang has an esoteric ability and always stimulate him in order to have a fight. Wang Chian Chyn knows rat Ho Chun is a robber but he wants to tame him and teach him his esoteric ability. Ho Chun is not an obedient guy and thus Wang wounded his head.

Ho Chun escaped with his wounded head and tired to get cure everywhere but the injure got worse. Ho therefore begged Wang to cure his head and Wang made Ho call him teacher ten times a day until his head is cured. Ho has no alternative but to accept it.

The above plot is accompanied by boxing and kicking scenes with humurous touches which make the audiences burst into laughter.

Dirty Ho: Cam for the national gymnastics, stay for the humurous touches.