5 Essential Chang-Cheh By Joshua Uy

From wuxia to gangsters to kung fu, from Jimmy Wang Yu to Ti Lung to Philip Kwok, Chang Cheh’s career was massive, and arguably the most prolific director Shaw Brothers ever had. Arrow’s recent Shawscope release includes only 5 films from the director’s oeuvre, but this is such a small portrait of an extensive filmography (with 94 credits as director on HKMDB). Listed below are a selection of my favorites from one of the best directors Hong Kong had.

THE DUEL (1971)

One Armed Swordsman may have been my introduction, but The Duel was when I fell in love with his work. Immediately from the opening cards, hearing the theme to Costa Gavras’ Z being played over them plastered a smile on my face that did not leave at all. It introduced me to the Iron Triangle, collaborations between actors David Chiang and Ti Lung with Chang Cheh, and since then those films have been my favorite of Chang’s. Ti Lung is Tien Ren, who must go into exile after the murder of his master and father figure, but he soon learns he’s at the center of a betrayal plot. David Chiang is Jian Nan or “the Rambler,” and he acts as a sword for hire who ends up killing Tien Ren’s master. Tien Ren then swears to kill Jian Nan after he kills the bosses that betrayed him, but Jian Nan saves him time and time again due to a sense of duty (Tien Ren had saved him in the film’s opening knife fight). It’s this sense of honor that defines The Duel and Chang Cheh’s work as a whole: Tien’s loyalty to his master and Jian’s to Tien. Both of these men are knight-errants in a cruel world where gangster

bosses engage in an increasingly confusing maze of betrayals and can’t wait for the chance to tear each other apart. Ultimately, the film ends on an image of honor: David Chiang and Ti Lung severely wounded, falling back down and helping each other get back up over and over in their dying moments. The body is temporary, but honor is eternal.

FIVE ELEMENT NINJAS (1984)

Ensemble work, lack of recognizable faces, and perseverance in the face of an uncaring world define Chang Cheh’s later venom mob era. There’s no real effort to turn any of the mobs into stars, though Philip Kwok would go on to be the eyepatched assassin in Hard-Boiled. This represents the best of these elements. Excellent martial art and gorgeous costumes offset the more static camera work compared to his earlier, more dynamic fight scenes. There’s little sense of loyalty here, just bodies waiting to be killed and an intense focus on tools for killing. Any time a new gadget appears on screen, a subtitle appears explaining what it is. Focused, thoroughly entertaining, and relentlessly bloody all perfectly describe Five Element Ninjas, Chang Cheh’s last masterpiece.

THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG (1972)

One of Chang Cheh’s definitive pictures. Chen Kuan Tai gives a gravitating performance as Ma Young Zhen, a young, hungry wolf looking to become wealthy after moving into Shanghai from the country. Here, he meets Tan Tze, portrayed by David Chiang, and this meeting becomes the catalyst for Ma’s involvement in Shanghai’s gang scene. Ma feels a sense of debt to Tan for encouraging him to gain his own foothold in Shanghai, so when Tan later gets killed by the other gang leaders, Ma sets off to perform his revenge. In his preface to Chang Cheh’s memoir, Sek Kei describes a key element of his films: the danse macabre or dance of death, the mortally wounded hero’s last stand and an element inspired by Peking opera. Few exemplify this better than the finale of Boxer from Shantung which has Chen Kuan Tai caked in the blood of his enemies, with an ax embedded in his abdomen. Once Ma slays the gang leaders that betrayed Tan, one enemy stands. Ma is about to deliver the last strike, but he finds himself overcome with a wicked laughter. The enemy takes his chance and delivers the killing blow on Ma, causing him to twirl in slow motion. A dance to the death. “Never just be satisfied with what you have or you’ll never keep it” is something that Ma tells his men earlier in a teahouse. In the moment, he may have just been talking about turf, but in the grand scheme of things, these tangible qualities of wealth and land were never enough for Ma. Ma’s hunger for more and more glory only leads to the doomed road that many Chang Cheh heroes inevitably go down: the dance of death.

Chen Kuan-Tai in The Boxer From Shangtung (1972)

THE NEW ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN (1971)

One of the very best Iron Triangle films, New One Armed Swordsman is a reworking of the old Jimmy Wang Yu picture that put Chang Cheh on the map. David Chiang’s Lei Li is far more reckless than Wang Yu’s stoic warrior. In the opening credits alone, Lei Li mercilessly mows down a large group of bodies. However, Lei Li gets put in his place by a master of a martial arts school and must cut off his arm as a result of losing the duel. At the very core of this picture is, as usual, the male bond between David Chiang and Ti Lung, Fung Junjie, a wandering swordsman that saves Lei’s love interest. This is easily the most homoerotic of the Ti/Chiang films; there’s a moment where Lei and Fung just stare into each others eyes whilst the love interest just waits in the background. The New One Armed Swordsman also presents a far crueler world, where Fung dies in a shocking manner and Lei’s ensuing revenge results in a staggering body count.

DISCIPLES OF SHAOLIN (1974)

The best of the Shaolin Cycle films, a series dedicated to the burning of the Shaolin Temple and the affairs of its students both before and after. This one doesn’t feel like the other Shaolin films in that it shares more in common with The Boxer From Shantung, a wanderer rolling into town and gaining immense power, a golden watch as a central symbol for wealth, and The Big Boss in dealing with exploited workers. Disciples of Shaolin pairs Fu Sheng and Chi Kuan Chun, and, like Ti/Chiang, complement each other immensely. Fu Sheng’s naive, carefree nature goes hand in hand with Chi Kuan Chun’s more mature, serious demeanor. John Woo once wrote that

“Chang Cheh was not just a star maker - he could draw the best from every actor” and this exemplifies that. Fu’s star persona which predicts Jackie Chan takes center stage here and adds to a sense of melancholy, as he never loses sight of his youthfulness in encountering more and more of the real world’s cruelty. He continues to gain more power and rise the ranks of the textile factory, while Chi Kuan Chun, aware of the back stabbing nature of the bosses, simply relents to a life of peace as a worker. His inevitable demise feels far more tragic then, especially considering Fu Sheng’s early death in 84.Ultimately, Chi, who had decided to leave his kung fu days behind, takes up the mantle one more time to avenge Fu Sheng in an epic finale set in black and white.

Ti Lung and David Chiang in The Duel (1971)

SOURCES

John Woo, Remembering Chang Cheh—A Preface by John Woo https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/HKFA/en_US/web/hkfa/rp-tv-film-veterans-20-1.html

Sek Kei, Chang Cheh’s Revolution in Masculine Violence https://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/CulturalService/HKFA/en_US/web/hkfa/rp-tv-film-veterans-20-2.html