Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Old School Kung Fu
Review: This was definitely an attempt to duplicate the success of Shaw Brothers films popular in Hong Kong at the time (1978), and it's quite successful. Like many SB films, this starts out with 3 guys doing forms against a white background, and then moves on to two guys sparring against that backgound, while a narrator tells about the techniques and history of Eagle Claw kung fu. I found the opening music to be really cool, too---and the score throughout the film makes good use of traditional Chinese music. Being dubbed, the diaologue is a source of unintentional comedy, but if you're an old school fan this just adds to the charm. The fight scenes in this movie are plentiful, and extremely well choreographed and filmed. The actors may not be quite as fast and agile as the top players of Shaw Brothers movies, but the intricate choreography makes up for that. Although the heroes fight without weapons, the villains make use of spear, short spear, double knives, and staff, as well as empty hand techniques. Also, a bit unusual for many old school movies, 2 women feature prominently in all the fight scenes, and their skill level is quite good. The production values are fairly high, with some nice period interiors and costumes, although the villain's outfit is a tad cheesy. And, as mentioned this is a reasonably well-written story, considering the genre, and it is a quite serious story--devoid of any lame comedy. One thing I found very interesting about this movie is that in the final fight, they use some super slo-mo, and some grainy flashbacks--very artsy and effective, and it seemed to be an early view of some of the camera and editing techniques popular in the 90's new wave Hong Kong kung fu boom.And, last, but certainly not least--this is a nice, clear WIDESCREEN print! Maybe this film is a tad below the best of Shaw Brothers films, but overall this is a very strong old-school kung fu movie. If you like SB movies, I don't think you'd be disappointed in this one.
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