The 7 Grandmasters (1977)
Reviewed by: SBates on 2001-02-23
Summary: Kuo's best???
many people consider this to be j. juo's best film. it is very good. my only complaint is that for once, the insistence on plot twists that are prominent in Kuo's films hurts the story. the final plot twist of this film bears similarity to another Kuo film, the sparsely plotted classic of kung fu melancholia, "World of drunken master".
as the other reviewers said, this film has one good action setpiece after another. for about an hour this is quite a flawless film. Then the story and pace begins to wander, as in most of Kuo's films.
one great job by Jack Long as the upright kung-fu master, whose good manners, I think, mask an air of arrogance. even in dubbed version, his acting shines. Yuen Kuei was one of the action designers in this film, and he plays the "Weapons Master" that Long defeats, because, as he says "He knew a lot of styles, but never mastered one..."
BTW: Does anyone know the name of the "secret villain" actor???
Is it Alan Hsu???