Heroes of the East
By Chris Hyde
April 5, 2005
A brotherly team collaborates on yet another martial arts gem from the legendary Shaw Brothers studio.
In the history of the Hong Kong martial arts cinema, there’s one particular team that truly stands out: that of director Liu Chia-liang (aka Lau Kar-leung) and actor Gordon Liu. Adopted brothers in the real world, this pair also joined each other many times on the silver screen—turning in 21 films together, among them some of the finest kung fu movies of all time. Picking a favorite from their brilliant tandem career would be an agonizing decision for most genre fans, with brilliant action pieces like Dirty Ho, Eight Diagram Pole Fighter, 36th Chamber of Shaolin and the like all vying for the top spot. Also in the mix might be their 1979 effort Heroes of the East, which has just now hit the shelves in a sparkling new region 3 DVD from Celestial Pictures.
The story opens on our erstwhile hero Ho To (staunchly played by Gordon Liu) as his rich father puts together the last touches on a long-arranged wedding that will help the old man cement his ties to some Japanese businessmen. Ho To is extremely reluctant at first to enter into this union, but when he gets a look at his bride-to-be Kung Zi (Yuka Mizuno) he changes his mind rather rapidly. Once they have been joined in what should be connubial bliss, however, trouble quickly begins to arise between the couple as their differing cultural ways cause an open rift between the newlyweds.
The beautiful Kung Zi is in many ways the typical Liu Chia-liang heroine, being bullishly headstrong, smart as any man and quite capable of holding her own in hand-to-hand combat. In this latter department she very ably showcases the skills of Japanese martial arts, and it is in fact her over exuberant practice of this style that eventually leads to the crux of the plot. For Kung Zi is so proud of her country’s heritage that she flatly refuses Ho To’s entreaties to instead practice a more demure form of Chinese kung fu, setting up a my-country-is-better-than-your-country interaction that eventually culminates in Ho To’s lovely wife skipping town to return to the Land of the Rising Sun.
Baffled as to how to get his wife to come back after this squabble, Ho To and his man servant then hatch a scheme in which they send Kung Zi a challenge letter deriding the inferiority of the ways of Japan. Unfortunately for them, however, when the wayward wife receives this missive she is studying with her ninja pal Takeno (Yasuaki Kurata) and the note is then taken as an insult to the entire country’s traditions. Next thing you know, there’s a crack team of experts in everything from kendo to karate headed to Ho To’s place to defend the honor of their island nation.
As you might easily imagine, from this point on the film becomes a series of epic battles that display the varying styles of the Chinese and Japanese fighting traditions. It opens with a sword fight in which Ho To inadvertently offends a gruff samurai and then moves on through a series of amazing one on one confrontations featuring nunchuks, spears, double swords and judo respectively. The final showdown of course comes when our hero must take on the sneaky black clad (and contender for Kung Zi’s attention) Takeno in a lengthy clash that ranges from stealthy knife throwing to a weaponless tussle between the crane and crab styles to determine the ultimate champion.
While the nationalistic underpinnings of Heroes of the East are obvious and certainly skew towards the Chinese audiences for whom the film was made, Liu Chia-liang is not at all the sort of director to overplay the more jingoistic elements of his plot. To be sure, the Japanese are not portrayed in the most sympathetic light here, but while the film might intimate some slight Chinese superiority, in the main the filmmaker uses the central feud as a way to depict the various styles and mindsets that mark the two competing countries. Additionally, the interaction between the husband and wife is used by the director in delineating the differing cultural mores China and Japan, as in their dealings with each other they point up variations not just in martial arts but also in broader traditions involving marriage and food.
It’s very much in the style of Liu Chia-liang that while his film might be jam-packed with brawls and weaponry that the story is actually driven far more by character than anything else. This is a director whose cinema is in general more concerned with the people whose tales he tells than with its flying fisticuffs, a thoughtful approach that lends the action sequences so much more depth than in your average kung fu movie. But this should in no way be read as a denigration of his ability to concoct a battle sequence - in fact, even though his main thrust often is story there are in reality few directors in the history of the martial arts cinema who can put together a breathtaking fight the way this man does. It also certainly doesn’t hurt to have Gordon Liu as the main man working these scenes, as his immense and dazzling skill remains a constant source of entertainment as the altercations ratchet up on their way to the final run-in.
If you’re at all familiar with Celestial’s R3 releases of the Shaw Brothers back catalog (and if you’re not by now, what is the problem???) you’ll already know most of what the disk offers: a shiny anamorphic 2:35 to 1 widescreen transfer, a trailer or two, the film’s original poster, some bios and filmographies and a selection of production stills and behind the scenes photos. This one also comes with a short fluff piece on star Gordon Liu, in which he talks a bit about his life, his working relationship with collaborator Liu Chia-liang and displays his musical skills in a brief snippet featuring his rock band.
Overall, then, Heroes of the East exists simply as another fine example of the tandem cinema of a pair of Hong Kong’s greatest martial arts figures in a pristine edition that’s a no-brainer purchase for the genre fan. While the essential Celestial releases these days are coming so fast that it’s difficult for even the dedicated aficionado to get them all (witness the recent Invincible Fist and Finger of Doom disks with Clan of the White Lotus just a couple weeks off!), there’s really no good reason for any self-respecting kung fu enthusiast to overlook this solid entry in the Gordon Liu/Liu Chia-liang canon. Especially since they sure don’t make ‘em like this anymore.
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