<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2w7tUx_0wKxPvBo00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2w7tUx_0wKxPvBo00" width="1140" height="570" ><figcaption>Image via Shaw Brothers Studio</figcaption></figure>If a martial-arts fan were asked to define when the genre’s golden age was, there’s a good chance they’d say something other than the 1980s. After all, the 1970s was when Shaw Brothers Studio was at its peak and when Bruce Lee made his mark on the genre, while the late 1990s and early years of the 21st century saw martial-arts cinema spreading globally like never before, thanks to titles like The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Kill Bill, and The Raid. But the 1980s shouldn’t be overlooked, especially because at the mid-point of that decade, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter was released.Those who’ve taken the plunge into classic kung fu movies might be familiar with it, but when viewed as an action film, generally speaking, it’s underrated. The whole movie is great, but the climax delivers more than just about any other fight scene of the film’s era and indeed rivals the best of what most modern-day action movies can muster. Plot isn't too important in most martial arts movies, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter arguably included, but some context is necessary to best illustrate why the finale delivers so impressively.<h2>The Story of 'The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter' </h2><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4Pf6E2_0wKxPvBo00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4Pf6E2_0wKxPvBo00" width="1650" height="825" ><figcaption>Image via&nbsp;Shaw Brothers Studio</figcaption></figure>Though The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, which was produced by the Shaw Brothers and directed by Lau Kar-leung, ends in a rather spectacular way, the opening scenes aren’t lacking in gutsiness either. The film shows a general named Yeung Yip and his seven sons being ambushed right from the get-go, with all but two sons dying or getting captured. One son goes mad and is out of the picture, partly owing to the character’s actor, Alexander Fu, tragically passing away while the film was in production. Rewrites put the focus on the fifth son, played by martial-arts movie legend Gordon Liu, whose character goes into hiding.From there, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter becomes a movie about revenge, becoming a stronger warrior, and exploring a clash of philosophies/martial arts styles — all familiar territory for the genre. Rather than being shown taking part in extensive training montages (like he did in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin), Liu’s character, Ng-long, hides out at a Buddhist monastery, with his volatile personality making him clash with the monks there. Ng-long fights to kill, while the Buddhist monks believe in fighting only when necessary and doing so without killing. But that doesn’t mean they're unwilling to inflict damage.<h2>What Goes Down in 'The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter's Climax </h2>During its slower sequences, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter depicts the monk’s outlook on fighting through their training, principally against wolf-shaped dummies with metallic teeth, meant to represent actual wolves that sometimes target the monastery's food sources. The outlook the monks hold is that de-fanging a wolf is preferable to killing it, as knocking out its teeth will mean it survives while teaching it to no longer prowl around the monastery. Ng-long reluctantly and slowly learns to appreciate this, but the need for a good old-fashioned showdown comes around by the film’s end, when his younger sister, Baat-mui, is kidnapped by the film’s villains.Ng-long goes all out as he takes on the various villains on his quest to save his sister and simultaneously get revenge, even with the knowledge that he’s walking into a trap. It’s the whole showdown this finale entails that helps push The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter out of "merely good" territory and into the realm of all-time great martial arts flicks. There are so many people involved across a nearly 10-minute skirmish, all of it perfectly choreographed, shot, and edited. It also likely holds the record for "most teeth knocked out in a single movie scene."<h2>Why the Action in 'The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter' is So Intense </h2>The monks come in at the last minute to help save the day and put their fighting style to good use. They don’t de-fang any wolves here, instead opting to “de-fang” the film’s villains. Weapons are jammed into mouths and jostled around, teeth become embedded on poles, and one particularly gnarly moment sees a headbutt into someone's mouth knocking out their teeth, which then remain stuck in the monk’s scalp. Ng-long and his sister fight to kill, though. At one point, a pole is jammed through one of the bad guys. Ng-long hits it with his own weapon with such force that it flies through that guy and impales yet another bad guy to a wall.The fight is over-the-top, but it also looks surprisingly real and ensures The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter’s climax might be hard to watch for some. Still, the level of carnage is admirably wild and packs a punch to this day. So long as you’re okay with a bit of the old ultra-violence, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter is a must-watch and a good showcase for how great classic martial-arts cinema can be.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0mQbDc_0wKxPvBo00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0mQbDc_0wKxPvBo00" width="480" height="720" ></figure>The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter can be streamed on MUBI in the U.S.</div></body>

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This '80s Kung Fu Classic Has a Climax That Needs To Be Seen To Be Believed

If a martial-arts fan were asked to define when the genre’s golden age was, there’s a good chance they’d say something other than the 1980s. After all, the 1970s was when Shaw Brothers Studio was at its peak and when Bruce Lee made his mark on the genre, while the late 1990s and early years of the 21st century saw martial-arts cinema spreading globally like never before, thanks to titles like The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Kill Bill, and The Raid. But the 1980s shouldn’t be overlooked, especially because at the mid-point of that decade, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter was released.