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Hero of the Wild
(aka Heroes of Shaolin)
1977; directed by William Cheung

Hero of the Wild (aka Heroes of Shaolin) manages to stand apart from many of its' old-school brethren by having a story that you might actually end up giving a damn about. And the fact that it has a lot of fight scenes (which are helmed by Corey Yuen and Yuen Biao) that deliver a bucketful of hard-hitting kung fu action doesn't hurt matters, either.

The movie starts with two kung fu masters, Lui (Lo Lieh) and Hsiao (Ting Wa-Chung), having a duel. Lui is defeated in the battle, but still manages to convince Hsiao to take care of his son, Tu (Chan Sing), and to go after a Manchu rebel named Tien (Hwang Jang-Lee). Due to his code of honor, Hsiao agrees and takes Tu under his wing. Though Tu takes every opportunity at first to try and get revenge for his father, eventually he and Hsiao become reluctant partners and band together to take out Tien.

A major factor as to why Hero of the Wild becomes something other than just another run of the mill chop-socky picture is the chemistry between the leads. Even though the circumstances that draw them together are a bit incredulous, Ting Wa-Chung and Chan Sing create a believable relationship that makes the viewer actually become interested in the story, instead of just wanting to fast-forward to the next fight scene. When you do get to the fight scenes here, the emotional investment put into the exposition makes the payoff of fisticuffs bring all that much more impact.

There are still plenty of faults to be found with Hero of the Wild, namely its' obvious low budget, sloppiness at points in the realms of filming and editing, a bit of poor pacing, and some ill-advised and clumsy attempts at comedy. But overall, if you're a fan of the classic fists of fury style that's not too picky about what's presented on-screen, Hero of the Wild is a solid movie that will provide you with a night of good old-fashioned entertainment.

RATING: 6.5

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