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The Spiritual Boxer
The Spiritual Boxer (Chinese: 神打; pinyin: Shen da; lit. 'Divine Strike') is a 1975 Mandarin-language Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by Lau Kar-leung in his directorial debut.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, fighters known as spiritual boxers are believed to be able to gain martial arts powers such as invincibility from Taoist blessings. When his master Chi Keung is too drunk to perform a demonstration for some customers, conman Hsiao Chien is forced to perform the demonstration himself, pretending to be possessed by various gods and performing their martial arts styles. Though some see through his act at first, when he pretends to be a god and jumps into a canal it coincidentally suddenly begins raining, causing many to believe that he is truly a spiritual boxer with magic powers.
Hsiao Chien helps poor locals when they are preyed upon by local gangs and gains help in his actions from orphan girl Jin Lian, whom he teaches the tricks of his trade. She does not approve of using tricks to earn money, but helps him with other schemes such as helping Ah Jin get approval to marry Peony. When loanshark Liu Deruei takes advantage of the poor locals with predatory loans, Hsiao Chen confronts him and scares him using his tricks. Hsiao Chien teaches the locals kung fu and they defeat Liu Deruei's gang in a confrontation. Liu Deruei calls in his friends, wanted criminals Shum and Jiu, and Shum shows Liu Deruei how Hsiao Chien's tricks were performed. Unafraid of Hsiao Chien's tricks, Liu Deruei brings Shum and Jiu to fight Hsiao Chien. They overpower him and chase him outside of town, where Master Chi Keung is drinking. Master Chi Keung guides Hsiao Chien in the right kung fu techniques to use against Shum and Jiu, helping him withstand them. Ah Jin brings the police, who arrest Shum and Jiu for robbery.
The director's brother Lau Kar-wing plays a small role as one of Chien's disciples and the director's nephew (son of his older sister) Lau Kar-Yung plays a bun/noodle stall assistant.
The film was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 28 November 1975.
The film has also been released under the title Fists from the Spirit World. A dubbed version was released in the United States under the title Naked Fists of Terror.
The film was followed by a thematic sequel, The Spiritual Boxer Part II (1979), also known as The Shadow Boxing.
Reviewer David Brook of blueprintreview.co.uk called the film "an episodic affair that feels like a series of skits more than a fleshed out story" yet "an important and groundbreaking title in the genre and deserves better recognition." The review concludes, "Overall then, being one of the earliest successful true fusions of kung-fu and comedy, it's an important and influential entry into the martial arts movie genre. Some later films may have improved the formula and Chia-Liang Liu bettered this himself in his illustrious career which followed. However, this still holds its own. Fun and action-packed from start to finish, it’s well worth a watch."
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The Spiritual Boxer
The Spiritual Boxer (Chinese: 神打; pinyin: Shen da; lit. 'Divine Strike') is a 1975 Mandarin-language Hong Kong martial arts comedy film directed by Lau Kar-leung in his directorial debut.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, fighters known as spiritual boxers are believed to be able to gain martial arts powers such as invincibility from Taoist blessings. When his master Chi Keung is too drunk to perform a demonstration for some customers, conman Hsiao Chien is forced to perform the demonstration himself, pretending to be possessed by various gods and performing their martial arts styles. Though some see through his act at first, when he pretends to be a god and jumps into a canal it coincidentally suddenly begins raining, causing many to believe that he is truly a spiritual boxer with magic powers.
Hsiao Chien helps poor locals when they are preyed upon by local gangs and gains help in his actions from orphan girl Jin Lian, whom he teaches the tricks of his trade. She does not approve of using tricks to earn money, but helps him with other schemes such as helping Ah Jin get approval to marry Peony. When loanshark Liu Deruei takes advantage of the poor locals with predatory loans, Hsiao Chen confronts him and scares him using his tricks. Hsiao Chien teaches the locals kung fu and they defeat Liu Deruei's gang in a confrontation. Liu Deruei calls in his friends, wanted criminals Shum and Jiu, and Shum shows Liu Deruei how Hsiao Chien's tricks were performed. Unafraid of Hsiao Chien's tricks, Liu Deruei brings Shum and Jiu to fight Hsiao Chien. They overpower him and chase him outside of town, where Master Chi Keung is drinking. Master Chi Keung guides Hsiao Chien in the right kung fu techniques to use against Shum and Jiu, helping him withstand them. Ah Jin brings the police, who arrest Shum and Jiu for robbery.
The director's brother Lau Kar-wing plays a small role as one of Chien's disciples and the director's nephew (son of his older sister) Lau Kar-Yung plays a bun/noodle stall assistant.
The film was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 28 November 1975.
The film has also been released under the title Fists from the Spirit World. A dubbed version was released in the United States under the title Naked Fists of Terror.
The film was followed by a thematic sequel, The Spiritual Boxer Part II (1979), also known as The Shadow Boxing.
Reviewer David Brook of blueprintreview.co.uk called the film "an episodic affair that feels like a series of skits more than a fleshed out story" yet "an important and groundbreaking title in the genre and deserves better recognition." The review concludes, "Overall then, being one of the earliest successful true fusions of kung-fu and comedy, it's an important and influential entry into the martial arts movie genre. Some later films may have improved the formula and Chia-Liang Liu bettered this himself in his illustrious career which followed. However, this still holds its own. Fun and action-packed from start to finish, it’s well worth a watch."