Chang Cheh's Five Shaolin Masters suffers from too slow a place initially (can't the characters speak... more... quickly...?), but manages to deliver some strong action scenes in the later half. After the burning of the Shaolin Temple, five disciples escape and seek the help of other Han rebels, while avoiding the traitor that sold them out to the Manchus. The long set-up introduces us to the five, as well as five evil masters which will have to be defeated. After the required training montage, it's 5 vs. 5 in the ultimate showdown. It's Chang Cheh, so yes, some brutal violence. Homoeroticism too? Well, not much, but there isn't a single female character in the film (not even sure there were any female extras). That's par for the course for director Chang's Shaw Brothers work, which at least benefited from lots of location work, innovative choreography by, among others, Lau-Kar Leung, a cameo by my man Gordon Liu, and a sympathetic performance by a hounddogged Fu Sheng.
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Siskoid
Chang Cheh's Five Shaolin Masters suffers from too slow a place initially (can't the characters speak... more... quickly...?), but manages to deliver some strong action scenes in the later half. After the burning of the Shaolin Temple, five disciples escape and seek the help of other Han rebels, while avoiding the traitor that sold them out to the Manchus. The long set-up introduces us to the five, as well as five evil masters which will have to be defeated. After the required training montage, it's 5 vs. 5 in the ultimate showdown. It's Chang Cheh, so yes, some brutal violence. Homoeroticism too? Well, not much, but there isn't a single female character in the film (not even sure there were any female extras). That's par for the course for director Chang's Shaw Brothers work, which at least benefited from lots of location work, innovative choreography by, among others, Lau-Kar Leung, a cameo by my man Gordon Liu, and a sympathetic performance by a hounddogged Fu Sheng.