''Shaolin Wooden Men'' () (Shao Lin mu ren xiang) is a 1976
Hong Kong action film
Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese and Hong Kong cultures including Chinese opera, storytelling and aesthetic traditions, which Hong Kon ...
directed by Chen Chi-Hwa and starring
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
. It was made at
Lo Wei's studio at
Golden Harvest, during the post-
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (; born Lee Jun-fan, ; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was a Hong Kong and American martial artist and actor. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines th ...
era.
The film was also released internationally under several alternative titles, including:
* "36 Wooden Men"
* "Shaolin Chamber of Death" (initial UK releases)
* "Shaolin Wooden Men - Young Tiger's Revenge" (USA)
* "Wooden Man" (Germany)
Plot
Little Mute (
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
) is a new
Shaolin student who is mute. He struggles to keep up with the other students and to complete the grueling tasks assigned to him by his instructor. He is haunted by the memory of his father's murder at the hands of a masked bandit who was skilled in
martial arts.
One night, a drunken monk leads Little Mute to a secret cave behind a waterfall. A man is imprisoned there. Over time, Little Mute befriends the violent prisoner by bringing him food and wine that he steals from the monastery. He learns that the prisoner is a deadly martial artist who is developing a technique called the Lion’s Roar, which he will use to escape his captivity. Little Mute convinces the prisoner to train him. The prisoner's style aims to kill the opponent as fast as possible. A Shaolin nun sees Little Mute practicing these killing techniques. She tells him that martial arts are not for killing; rather, they are for self-development, with self-defense employed only when necessary and with minimal violence. She trains him in the Gliding Snake style, the ideals of which clash with those of the prisoner's killing style. Nevertheless, Little Mute continues to study both styles. Finally the prisoner judges that Little Mute is ready to attempt to pass the test of the Shaolin Wooden Men Alley, a narrow hallway containing thirty-six Shaolin Wooden Men, which are mechanical
wooden dummies that attack anyone who enters the hallway. Little Mute successfully fights his way through the Wooden Men Alley.
Shortly after Little Mute's triumph, the prisoner perfects his Lion's Roar technique and uses it to escape. He resumes his former role as the leader of the infamous Green Dragon Gang, murdering the men who were responsible for his imprisonment. It is revealed that he was a Shaolin student who went renegade, and was then captured and imprisoned. The head abbot of Shaolin felt responsible for the student's misdeeds, so the abbot blinded himself and left the
Shaolin Monastery
Shaolin Monastery (少林寺 ''Shàolínsì''), also known as Shaolin Temple, is a renowned monastic institution recognized as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and the cradle of Shaolin Kung Fu. It is located at the foot of Wuru Peak of the So ...
to live as a hermit, appointing a new abbot in his place. However, he promised to help Shaolin in the future if it was needed.
Little Mute and the current head abbot of Shaolin seek out the hermit monk. The escaped prisoner has killed all those responsible for his imprisonment except the monks of Shaolin, and he is now on his way to destroy the monastery. The hermitic monk hands over a book containing the "ultimate" martial arts style, and Little Mute masters this style under the guidance of the current head abbot. When the escaped prisoner comes to destroy Shaolin, Little Mute stands ready to defend it against his former instructor. It is also revealed that the escaped prisoner was the murderer of Little Mute's father. Little Mute reveals that he is not mute, but he swore never to speak until he had found his father's killer.
Little Mute counters his opponent's killing techniques, since he knows all of them. He creates multiple openings, but fails to exploit them due to the Shaolin nun's teachings, which said never to kill his opponent. Despite this, he manages to win. He offers to spare his former instructor on the condition that he returns to Shaolin for the remainder of his life. The escaped prisoner says that he is beyond salvation, but that it makes him proud that his student has learned so well. However, he then makes a final attempt to kill Little Mute. He grabs Little Mute from behind and attempts to crush his throat, but Little Mute moves out of the way, and the villain's strike hits his own throat, causing him to kill himself. Deprived of its leader, the Green Dragon Gang flees.
Little Mute returns to the Shaolin monastery and is ordained as a monk.
Cast
*
Jackie Chan
Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...
*Doris Lung Chun-Erh
*Chiang Kam
*Kam Kong
*
Yuen Biao
Yuen Biao (born Ha Lingchun; 26 July 1957) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist and stuntman. He specialises in acrobatics and Chinese martial arts and has also worked on over 80 films as actor, stuntman and action choreographer. He was one of t ...
*Kong Kim
*Tu Wei Ho
*
Tien Miao
Miao Tien (, 6 December 1925 – 19 February 2005) was a Chinese film actor mostly active in Hong Kong and Taiwan.Lee, Daw-ming (2012). Historical Dictionary of Taiwan Cinema'. Scarecrow Press. pp. 281–282.
Biography
Miao graduated at the Teach ...
*
Lo Wei
1976/1980 versions
Two differently edited versions of the film may have been made - a Mandarin version (1976), and a slightly shortened version featuring a Cantonese dub in 1980 (the cut used for all known releases to date). In terms of the score, the English dub on all available releases matches the Cantonese version. However, it is not known if an English dub was ever recorded to sync to the Mandarin version.
When playing the Mandarin audio on existing (Cantonese version) releases, during a scene after Little Mute has tattooed his arms, the music jumps ahead to another part of the track. When played with the Cantonese soundtrack, the music plays without problem (revealing the segment of the music cut in the Mandarin soundtrack).
During the final fight scene, there are some abrupt
jump cuts and as a result, the sound effects drop out of sync. It is possible that the film's action was tightened up in preparation for release (or the 1980 re-release) as it appears rather slowly executed by the actors.
Box office
In Hong Kong, the film grossed 476,950.70 (). Upon its 1982 release in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, it sold 223,207 tickets in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...
, equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately (). This adds up to an estimated total of approximately in
East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...
, equivalent to adjusted for inflation.
In France, the film sold 152,277 tickets upon release in 1983. This adds up to tickets sold overseas in Seoul and France.
Home media
* Winners Video released a DVD containing both Cantonese and Mandarin soundtracks and English subtitles. However, it is missing roughly 30 seconds, has very poor image quality and the
aspect ratio is cropped from 2.35:1 to 1.33:1.
* On 15 February 2001, Seven 7 released the French-language theatrical version on DVD entitled ''L'impitoyable''. It contains no Chinese or English options, but it was the first release to contain the full 2.35:1 image.
* On 27 December 2001, Eastern Heroes released an uncut version of the film on DVD under the title ''Shaolin Chamber Of Death''. However, it was cropped from 2.35:1 to 1.78:1 and only contained an English dub. The first reel of the English-dubbed version was reportedly found to be damaged, so the first two scenes contain the original Mandarin soundtrack with English subtitles.
* On 17 September 2002,
Columbia Tri-Star released the first Western DVD in its original Mandarin language, with newly translated English subtitles. However, the ratio was cropped from 2.35:1 to 1.78:1, the first 10 minutes was missing, and featured very poor video quality.
* On 24 February 2006,
Universal Japan released the first uncut DVD in 2.35:1 (using newly restored materials from
Fortune Star). However, this release contains the Cantonese dub, rather than the original Mandarin soundtrack.
* On 23 April 2007,
Hong Kong Legends released an uncut DVD (again using newly restored materials from
Fortune Star). However, despite the 2.35:1 video and newly translated subtitles, it contained the Cantonese dub (mono option also downmixed from the remix) in place of the original audio, and the English dub uses new voice artists for the first two scenes on account of the film's damaged first reel.
*
Dragon Dynasty intended to release a Region 1 DVD of the film, originally scheduled for release on 30 October 2008, but the release has been postponed indefinitely.
* A
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of s ...
release from 88 Films was released on November 9, 2020 in the United Kingdom. It features a new
2K restoration of the film.
Influence
* The training dummies in this film are the inspiration for the character
Mokujin in the ''
Tekken
is a Japanese Media mix, media franchise centered on a series of fighting game, fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment (formerly Namco). The franchise also includes film and print adaptations.
The ...
'' series. They also make an appearance in the manga of ''
Negima
''Negima! Magister Negi Magi'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ken Akamatsu. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from February 2003 to March 2012, with its chapters co ...
''.
* At least three ''
Kill Bill
''Kill Bill: Volume 1'' is a 2003 American martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a team of assassins ( Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, and Vivica A. ...
'' references originate with this film: Pai Mai's introduction scene references the stairway and water training scene; Pai Mai himself though in white in ''Kill Bill'' is the blind orange master monk (who in ''Kill Bill'' blinds Elle); and, finally, the five point finger exploding hand technique comes from the end battle scene of Shaolin Wooden Men where the villain uses a special punch technique on the protagonists but is only able to deliver 4 of the 5 blows (with the protagonist holding his heart, as Bill does, right before dying).
See also
*
Jackie Chan filmography
Jackie Chan began his film career as an extra child actor in the 1962 film '' Big and Little Wong Tin Bar''. Ten years later, he was a stuntman opposite Bruce Lee in 1972's '' Fist of Fury'' and 1973's ''Enter the Dragon''. He then had starring ...
*
List of Hong Kong films
This is a list of films produced in Hong Kong ordered by decade and year of release in separate pages. For film set in Hong Kong and produced elsewhere see '' List of films set in Hong Kong''.
1909–1949
* List of Hong Kong films before 1950 ...
*
List of martial arts films
References
External links
*
* {{Amg movie, 44117, Shaolin Wooden Men
1976 films
1976 martial arts films
1970s action films
1970s martial arts films
1970s Cantonese-language films
Hong Kong action films
Hong Kong martial arts films
Kung fu films
Shaolin Temple in film
Wushu films
Films directed by Chen Chi-hwa
1970s Hong Kong films