BEHIND THE 36th CHAMBER: Some notes on the creation of a martial arts masterpiece (part three)
36th Chamber Of Shaolin was Hong Kong’s fifth highest grossing film of 1978, with the year’s most successful release being the Michael Hui comedy The Contract. It made a bona fide kung fu movie superstar out of Gordon Liu. The film was released in the US under the title Master Killer, and many American fans know Liu by this nickname. In the UK, he is called ‘Santa’, a corruption of ‘San Te’ (‘Three Virtues’), his character name in 36th Chamber. The film was also a smash hit in Japan, and Gordon was flown in for several press tours to promote 36th Chamber and his subsequent releases.
Though Liu went on to play non-monastic roles, most memorably in Heroes Of The East (1978), Dirty Ho (1979), Clan Of The White Lotus (1980) and Martial Club (1981), he remains best known for playing Shaolin monks, as he did in Fists And Guts (1980), The Treasure Hunters (1982), Legendary Weapons Of China (1982) and Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1983). Lau Kar-leung showed commendable creativity with an official ‘sequel’, ‘Return to the 36th Chamber’ (1980), in which he riffed on the original film by having Gordon Liu plays a young conman who pretends to be the real San Te.
As the golden era of Shaw Brothers ended, Gordon faced the challenge of finding fresh roles to play. He made an effective villain in Lau Kar-leung’s Tiger On The Beat (1988), executing a lively chainsaw kung fu duel with star Conan Lee in the final reel. He went on to play bad guys in most of his films of the 90s, including an evil monk in Jet Li’s Last Hero China (1993), while continuing to play heroic roles in various TV series.
In the early 90s, I brought Gordon Liu to England for a ‘Master’s Tour’ which saw him travel to London, Reading and Birmingham to give kung fu seminars. The trip coincided with the worst snowstorms England had seen for ten years. Undaunted, our team drove through the snow from London to Reading, and watched in horror as the car in front of us swerved off the road and turned over on the road’s hard shoulder. Gordon and I jumped out of our vehicle and ran to help. All the passengers seemed fine, except the driver, an African American man who had been knocked unconscious. He woke, looked up at Gordon in disbelief, pointed a shaking finger and, apparently believing himself to be in the Shaolin version of heaven, whispered “Master Killer…?” (The driver recovered, and we continued our journey without further incident.)
During his UK tour, Gordon would finish each leg of the seminar by demonstrating his love for music, something he perhaps takes as much pleasure from as he does martial arts, playing guitar and singing the Cliff Richard song Daddy’s Home.
Gordon Liu’s career was given a new lease of life when he was sought out by Quentin Tarantino to play the role of Japanese gangster Johnny Mo in Kill Bill (2003). Initially, Quentin himself was going to play the iconic role of Pai Mei in Kill Bill 2 (2004). This was the signature role of the late, great Lo Lieh, who played the lethal, white-haired Taoist master in ‘Executioners From Shaolin’ and ‘Clan Of The White Lotus’. In the end decided to offer the role to Gordon. This was ironic, given that Liu’s character in the Shaw Brothers films had always been opposed to Pai Mei.
Though we had both been active in the Hong Kong industry, I had lost track of Gordon until I ran into him again at the local premiere of Kill Bill. We got to work together for the first time when we shot a brief cameo for Dragon Heat. Gordon lives just down the street from me, on Caine Road, just up from Soho on Hong Kong island. We rarely see him in the neighbourhood, though, as he remains very active, working mainly on kung fu television series like Yuen Biao’s Real Kung Fu (2005) and Sammo Hung’s Wing Chun (2006). It’s always a pleasure when we do meet up to go and sing at my favourite hole in the wall, The Fifties in Lan Kwai Fong, and the original San Te belts out hits like Soldier Of Fortune.
36th Chamber Of Shaolin saw its director Lau Kar-leung move beyond the stereotypical ‘kung fu director’ label, and establish himself at the front rank of Shaw Brothers film-makers. Compared to his mentor, Chang Cheh, Lau was not especially prolific, but most of his Shaw Brothers films are now considered masterpieces of the martial arts genre.
36th Chamber is definitely a classic, as it redefined the way audiences viewed the legendary Shaolin. Ironically, in demystifying kung fu training, the film only added to its mystique. We at Dragon Dynasty are proud to be able to unlock the temple gates for a whole new generation of fans with our DVD release of this masterwork.
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- Jeremy Gau, Ohio | 2007-07-04 18:30:12
- nikydragon, italy | 2007-07-05 08:27:38
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