10 Magnificent Killers (1977)

If you want it, come and get it!

The title 10 Magnificent Killers pretty much sums up the story for this Hong Kong kung fu flick. Two young fighters are trained by two different masters, one a constable and one a criminal with a dark secret. The movie features numerous B level kung fu actors and stuntmen. With four different martial arts directors the numerous fights all looked a little different. Fong Yau who normally plays the bad guy, wrote, directed, produced, and did work as a martial arts director which might explain why he actually played a good guy in this movie!

Hsia Chuan (Nick Cheung Lik) was raised by Tu Shu (San Kuai), a cagey master who cons Hsia into signing a contract giving him 50% of his earnings for life. The resident Big Bad, Leng Chieh (Bolo!), begins sending his top ten killers against Tu Shu. Hsia is not afraid of using poison against his enemies, including Hsiao Li's master Lee Yu Wei (Fong Yau). Lee survives and continues training the young Hsiao (Chu Chi Ming) to become a constable. Tu Shu and Hsia are more concerned with collecting the bounty on the killers' heads and how they are going to split it. A beggar uses his stick of doom, a coffin maker shows up literally in a coffin before beginning to fight, and Addy Sung appears as a kung fu fortune teller among the other assortment of killers doomed to die. Tu Shu and Hsia find out where the killers are and begin taking them out one by one until only Bolo is left. Somewhere else in the wooded area, Lee continues to train the marshmallow looking Hsiao. Eventually, all the secrets are revealed and the story comes to a head with the two young fighters meeting and then a rushed ending given the revelations at stake.

Because there were four martial arts directors-Bolo, Cheung, Fong, and San, there wasn't a cohesive fight experience but that might have been a good thing for some fights were better than others. A variety of styles were used such as Snake, Bolo's "I'm not looking at you" style, and a kick-fest for the finale. Nick Cheung Lik and San Kuai were featured in nearly all the fights, some serious, others comedic, and held their own. Chu Chi Ming was a lackluster hero who had little screen time which was no loss.

While the fights came fast and often, the flimsy story doomed the movie to forgettable. Bolo and his terrible mustache couldn't even save this movie. For a short kung fu film it was below average but watchable with nothing terribly offensive. No spurting blood, no nudity (although there was a lead up to an intimate scene), but also no memorable fights. The story could be confusing diluting the big reveal at the end. The main focus of the film was the two guys who poisoned and killed their way through a vicious gang, who weren't much better themselves. I was happy to see Fong Yau play a good guy and I'm a Bolo fan, but I'm not sure that's a recommendation for watching.


3/28/23

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