Chi Kuan-Chun is a temple worker who is an easy target to be pushed around. It escalates when Cliff Ching Ching comes to the temple and pushes everyone around. Up until now all monks in these movies were good guys and the only bad monks were traitors. Also good guys would come to the temple to escape wrongful persecution. In this twist our evil monk is a bad guy using the temple as a place to escape lawful persecution. He is done up with face make up that seems to have been too much trouble to fully apply every day. Chi Kuan-Chun is sent away by his temple teacher for his own safety. He ends up with Leung Kar- Yan's kung fu family. At first he has no interest in learning martial arts but then he has an epiphany in the marketplace thanks to Wu Ma and Pang San the noodle maker. The training sequence became a staple of martial arts movies in 1978. I have been watching every martial arts movie ever made in chronological order. The first training sequence was in 1972 with Prodigal Boxer and Mang Fei. It was a poor attempt and is the first by definition only. Oddly enough, Mang Fei again, came back in 1977 with "Secret of the Shaolin Poles" for the second and much better training sequence. I'll get back to you and let you know the best of all training sequences when I complete my mission. So far this is the fourth and best but it won't hold up. Another unique thing about this movie is the sequence with the noodle maker. There is a strong message here promoting exercise, in any form you enjoy doing, to achieve good health and the primary purpose of kung fu is good health, not fighting as it should only be used in self- defense. Those two things plus the overall good fights account for my high ranking of this movie. The fights were not just stand alone good but went the extra step and were choreographed to fit the characters and the motives for fighting. Somebody please explain to me the pay toilet sequence. You pay to buy a plank to squat over a water hole to have a bowel movement? Is this historically accurate? There was also a similar sequence in a Shaw Brothers movie. Personally behind a tree has worked for me outdoors.
