Tonight's review is an early martial gem from elder Liu, who directs and co-stars here alongside twenty-one year old protege' Hsiao Ho, an acrobatic Shaw contracted performer who'd go on to feature prominently in Liu's later offerings like My Young Auntie(1981) and Legendary Weapons of China(1982); one of two HK films to center around the monkey fist style in 1979, the other being Yuen Biao's excellent Knockabout.I can't really say which of the two is my favorite, but I will say that, combined, they'd make a double feature par excellence on any given night.Mad Monkey is a showcase of traditional kung fu comedy with gravity-defying performances by Ho, who somersaults so much here, I got a nosebleed just watching him, but even more so from Liu himself, who shows on multiple occasions just why he's the gold standard in martial choreography and direction, serving up no less than a solid half hour of dizzying training sequences and lengthy, intricate fights displaying the rolling and flipping of the comedic-rooted monkey style, often paired off in groups.Flying evil's black banner of badness here is Lo Lieh, who shined brightly in Liu's ground-breaking Executioners from Shaolin(1977) as the white-brow priest, Pai Mei.Lieh never looks as impressive as he does when he's choreographed by Liu and tonight's entry, which was coincidentally released on my tenth birthday(though it's taken thirty years for me to finally score a good copy), is no different.Kara Hui Ying Hung is also on board, but puzzlingly not given a whole helluva lot to do for some reason.Liu expertly offsets the broad physical comedy with sorrow and tragedy to make for essential pugilistic viewing, an underrated classic of the genre that somehow gets passed over in the maddening volume of movies released during the era.
Uncle Chan(Liu Chia Liang) puts away toasts and challengers with ease.
Uncle Chan(Liu Chia Liang) and his sister Miss Chen(Kara Hui Ying Hung) are travelling stage performers in an opera troupe who are obliged to attend a dinner in their honour at the estate of the wealthy Mister Tuan(Lo Lieh) on their final night in town, unaware Tuan's loins secretly burn for Chen, and he's planning to frame Chan in order to turn her out as a personal concubine in his stable of otherwise unscrupulous bitches.Chan gets panzerknackered on wine while making fools of all of Tuan's henchmen in a dazzling display of his monkey fist, while Tuan's wife keeps Chen occupied with womenfolk matters in another room.When the monkey king finally passes out, Tuan's wife lies with him momentarily, while in a state of undress, long enough for her husband to discover the pair together.To make matters worse, Tuan's men cripple Chan's hands with boards, so that he might never drink again, before sending him back into the world without his sister.Some time later, after Chan has taken up as the resident childrens' entertainer with a pet monkey and tray of candy, he's pressured by more of Tuan's goons into paying protection money with disruptive violence, much to the dismay of a young street urchin named Little Monkey(Hsiao Ho), who's tried to befriend him during this low period.When the thugs beat Chan's monkey off of a wall(big-time downer, be forewarned), Monkey volunteers his own services, dressing like his namesake animal and displaying acrobatic prowess and skill with a bo.When Chan grows weary of seeing the goons beating on his young friend, he begins to train him in the basic techniques of monkey fist, but the hothead protege' decides to exact revenge himself before completing the training, with disastrous results...
"More comfortable than a futon..." remarks Uncle Chan.
After using his newly learned skills to treat most of Tuan's entry-level bullies like props in a Chinese Harold Lloyd skit, Monkey descends upon Tuan's brothel, where Miss Chen has just overheard how her sugar daddy once tricked her brother some years ago.Tuan makes short work of Chan's student, and is about to bash his skull in, monkey brain brunch-style, when Miss Chen de-skirtifies Tuan's wife as a diversion long enough for him to escape the evil boss' clutches.Back with his sifu, Monkey trains hard, toughening his knuckles on tree bark, rotating fluidly while suspended from vines around all his limbs, and somersaulting endlessly against the intricate Shaw Bros backdrops with his vengeful master.Back at Tuan's crib, Chan busts in on the baddies as they've netted his pupil, learning his sister has perished under his black hand.Combining skills, the duo takes out Tuan's small army with flips, kicks, and punches before focusing on the main antagonist, who ironically ends up with busted mitts full o' glass shards before getting chucked off the top balcony to his bloody, broken death, in the same way he sealed Miss Chen's fate.With whores and johns cowering in fear, Monkey feigns a jump that Uncle Chan preemptively catches in his arms.The student assumes a familiar monkey position before vacating the carnage-covered premises with his sifu in a trademark Shaw Bros freezeframe.
"Whooooa, careful around my beanbag, fellas!"
Though I'm always well entertained by elder Liu's efforts, this one is representative of some of his finest period work ever, I'd surmise.After watching tonight's review, follow it up with an American action picture and see the difference in speed and technical prowess for those of you with any doubt to the director's contribution to the genre.It's downright tragic that Hsiao Ho didn't enjoy more starring roles in Liu's films and beyond, as he's definitely one of Shaw's brightest stars, having scored himself some sixteen film credits as an action director and double that in front of the camera.Definitely in my top ten martial arts movies, and one you should check out right away if you dig 'em as much as I do.On the scale, Mad Monkey merits the perfect four Wops, coming with my highest recommendation.A must-see!
Peter Gabriel'd have a hard time shocking this Monkey(Hsiao Ho).
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