Sahyeongsaje (1982) Online

Masters of Tiger Crane (1982) aka "Raging Masters' Tiger Crane" is one of Hwang Jang Lee's many cheap independent efforts. The film "borrows" heavily from Lee's most successful films "Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and "Drunken Master." Some of the ripoffs include: playing keep away, cheating someone out of a free meal at a restaurant, an old man helping a young guy in a fight by moving his arms and legs and a guy filling buckets of water while hanging upside down.

The film is about a young monk who finds the high priest murdered and his brother kidnapped. The murderer (Lee) accidentally left a necklace at the scene of the crime. The young man goes on a quest to find his kidnapped brother while the murderer looks for the person with his incriminating necklace.

Hwang Jang Lee' physical performance in the film is impressive as always. He puts on another brilliant kicking exhibition and proves he is the best screen kicker of all time. Billy Chan is quite a talented martial artist also. He gives a really excellent physical performance in the last act of the film. The fight choreography in Masters of Tiger Crane is above average for an independent film made in the 80's. There is no dance like fighting, it is all very tight, fast and aggressive. There is also an awesome amount of flying triple kicks in this movie, which is a big plus.

There is a lot silliness and humor in the movie that falls flat. I think they tried to make Billy Chan into Jackie Chan but he certainly is no Jackie Chan. There is some wire work in the film and heavy use of camera tricks. The film also showed some of the same scenes several times, they just showed different takes of the same thing. Also, a scene where Lee fights with a monk was thrown in for no reason. It belonged in a totally different movie! It was just one of the many continuity problems that plagues this film.

Masters of Tiger Crane is one of Hwang Jang Lee's lesser works. He was still a great performer but the rest of the film does not equal him. The movie is fairly entertaining with a standard plot, some humor and a few nice fight sequences. The final fight is impressive and satisfyingly violent. For a classic Hwang Jang Lee film check out "Drunken Master" or "the Secret Rivals." Masters of Tiger Crane is not a great film but I recommend it for huge fans of the martial arts genre and for fans of Hwang Jang Lee.

Martial Arts Action: 6.5/10

Martial Arts Genre Rating: 6/10

• "The gods will not allow you to get away with something like this! You're making them very angry!"

• "We don't care about your gods!"

MASTERS OF TIGER CRANE is one in a handful of kung fu movies that master kicker Hwang Jang Lee shot in South Korea at the beginning of the 1980s. The ones I seen always copy the likes of DRUNKEN MASTER and SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW, always featuring a bewigged grey-haired old master training the main character in some intensive moments, and so it proves here.

Although Lee remains good value he has very little screen time in this movie and his character is a routine villain. The hero is even worse, a goon who gets involved in lots of silly comedy routines involving petty theft and the like; all of this slows the story down. The production values are low and the gaudy costumes never convince for a moment, while the action is anything but electrifying. I rate it down.

That's not Billy Chong in the lead role of this South Korean Movie from 1982. The name is Benny Tsui. Consider that a warning. He was also in "Incredible Shaolin Thunderkick", and "7 Star Grand Mantis." They are two truly craptacular movies. This movie, however, has Hwang Jang-Lee as the villain and hooray for that. He shows off his triple side kick in the first fight.

Benny is there for the comedy. To be fair, it's not that Benny isn't funny it's just that it isn't funny at all. The big questions remain - who is this guy and how did he ever end up as a lead in a kung fu movie? It makes no sense but he starred in four films. In fact he is not even needed in this movie. All his scenes could be deleted and the Hwang Jang-Lee parts would be fine. The movie only runs 77 minutes though so maybe that explains Benny Tsui's career - filler material.

This movie, in my opinion, is GREAT! For starters it has Hwang Jang Lee as one of the main characters(Villain, of course). He reprises his role as "Silver Fox"...A role he's quite familiar with, and boy is he good at it!?! The hero is perhaps the greatest portrayed fool ever in the history of martial arts...Billy Chan's desperate trying to play the role serious, only adds to the enjoyment and laughter. For about 80 percent of the movie, he gets beaten up...I love it! Then at the final fight: Billy vs. Hwang, he receives so many kicks and punches, before he mounts a comeback, that it makes Rocky IV look like a boxing documentary. All in all, a fantastic movie, well choreographed with fluid camera-work. 80 minutes of SOLID ENTERTAINMENT! I'll give it 8 OUT OF 10 ********.