Three Films With Sammo Hung: The Iron-Fisted Monk/The Magnificent Butcher/Eastern Condors – Eureka Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: Hong Kong, 1977 (The Iron-Fisted Monk), Hong Kong, 1979 (The Magnificent Butcher), Hong Kong, 1987 (Eastern Condors)
Directors: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung (The Iron-Fisted Monk, Eastern Condors), Yuen Woo-Ping (The Magnificent Butcher)
Cast: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Sing Chen, James Tien, Hark-On Fung, Dean Shek, Shi-Kwan Yen, Casanova Wong (The Iron-Fisted Monk), Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Tak-Hing Kwan, Yuen Biao, Pai Wei, Mei Sheng Fan, Fat Chung, Hoi Sang Lee, Hark-On Fung (The Magnificent Butcher), Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Yuen Biao, Haing S. Ngor, Joyce Godenzi, Chi Jan Ha, Ching-Ying Lam, Melvin Wong, Charlie Chin, Kwok Keung Cheung, Billy Lau, Woo-Ping Yuen, Corey Yuen (Eastern Condors)

Release Date: October 9th, 2019
Approximate running times: 93 Minutes 6 Seconds (The Iron-Fisted Monk), 109 Minutes 2 Seconds (The Magnificent Butcher), 98 Minutes 24 Seconds (Eastern Condors)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (All Films)
Rating: 18 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Cantonese, LPCM Mono Classic English Dub, LPCM Stereo English (The Iron-Fisted Monk), LPCM Mono Cantonese, LPCM Mono Alternate Cantonese, LPCM Mono Classic English Dub, LPCM Mono Modern English Dub (The Magnificent Butcher), LPCM Mono Cantonese, LPCM Mono Alternate Cantonese, LPCM Mono Classic English Dub, LPCM Stereo Modern English Dub (Eastern Condors)
Subtitles: English (All Films)
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: £26.99 (UK)

"The Iron-Fisted Monk [1977] – Sammo Hung’s directorial debut, The Iron-Fisted Monk introduced many of the choreographic and editing techniques that would become commonplace in modern action cinema.

The Magnificent Butcher [1979] – When Lam is framed for murder by a rival clan, he must track down the real murderer and fight to clear his name. To be strong enough to have a chance of winning, he must train under the original Drunken Master, Beggar So!

Eastern Condors [1987] – ten convicts offered amnesty if the undertake a deadly mission behind enemy lines in Vietnam to destroy a top-secret munitions dump." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (The Magnificent Butcher, Eastern Condors), 4.25/5 (The Iron-Fisted Monk)

Here’s the information provided about The Iron-Fisted Monk's transfer, "brand new 2K restoration."

The Iron-Fisted Monk comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 30.4 GB

Feature: 27.8 GB

Here’s the information provided about The Magnificent Butcher's transfer, "brand new 2K restoration."

The Magnificent Butcher comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 38.4 GB

Feature: 34.1 GB

Here’s the information provided about Eastern Condors' transfer, "brand new 2K restoration."

Eastern Condors comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45 GB

Feature: 30.4 GB (Eastern Condors 98 Minute Version), 11.9 GB (Eastern Condors Export Version)

The sources for all three films are in great shape, and quality-wise, they are comparable. Colors and flesh tones look correct, contrast and black levels look strong throughout, details look crisp and there are no issues with compression.

Audio: 4.25/5

The Iron-Fisted Monk comes with three audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Cantonese, a LPCM mono mix track titled Classic English Dub, and a LPCM stereo mix in English. All three audio mixes are in great shape; dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and the fight scenes sound robust. Range-wise, the Cantonese and English mono tracks sound similar, while the English stereo track sounds more robust than its mono counterparts. Included with this release are removable English subtitles.

The Magnificent Butcher comes with four audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Cantonese, a LPCM mono mix titled Alternate Cantonese, a LPCM mono mix titled Classic English Dub, and a LPCM mono mix titled Modern English Dub. All four audio mixes are in great shape, dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced and the fight scenes sound robust. Range wise the mono Cantonese and mono Classic English Dub tracks sound similar, while the stereo English track English stereo track is the most robust of these four tracks and the alternate mono Cantonese track is the weakest of the four tracks. Included with this release are removable English subtitles.

Eastern Condors comes with four audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Cantonese, a LPCM mono mix titled "Alternate Cantonese," a LPCM mono mix titled "Classic English Dub," and a LPCM stereo mix titled "Modern English Dub." All four audio mixes are in great shape; dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and the fight scenes sound robust. Range-wise, the three mono tracks sound similar, while the English stereo track sounds more robust than its mono counterparts. Included with this release are removable English subtitles.

Extras:

Extras for The Iron-Fisted Monk include Hong Kong theatrical trailer  (4 minutes 16 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with actor/director Sammo Kam-Bo Hung (9 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with Sammo Kam-Bo Hung (4 minutes 52 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival).

Extras for The Magnificent Butcher include Hong Kong theatrical trailer (4 minutes 23 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), archival interview with actor Sammo Kam-Bo Hung (12 minutes 51 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), archival interview with Sammo Kam-Bo Hung (7 minutes 20 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles archival interview with director Yuen Woo-Ping (20 minutes 14 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), and an audio commentary with martial-arts cinema authority Mike Leeder and filmmaker Arne Venema.

Extras for Eastern Condors include a theatrical teaser (2 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), Japanese theatrical trailer (3 minutes 47 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), English language opening and closing credits (3 minutes 59 seconds, Dolby Digital mono), an archival interview with actor/director Sammo Kam-Bo Hung (16 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with Sammo Kam-Bo Hung (6 minutes 4 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with stuntman/actor Wah Yuen (7 minutes 54 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Chinese with removable English subtitles), footage from a theater adaption of Eastern Condors titled Eastern Condors Live! (13 minutes 46 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Chinese, no subtitles), an audio commentary with martial-arts cinema authority Mike Leeder and filmmaker Arne Venema for the theatrical version, and an audio commentary is with Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) for the theatrical version.

Other extras include, an Export version of Eastern Condors (94 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital Mono English, no subtitles).

Rounding out the extras is a O-Card slipcase (First 2000 copies only) and a thirty-six-page booklet (First 2000 copies only) with cast & crew credits for each film, an essay titled Holy Disorders written by James Oliver, an essay titled Old Masters, Young Turks written by James Oliver, an essay titled Missing in Action written by James Oliver and information about the transfer titled Notes on Viewing.

Summary:

The Iron-Fisted Monk: Though Sammo Kam-Bo Hung had established himself by the late 1970s as a stuntman and action choreographer, most of his roles at this point in his career were as supporting characters. With The Iron-Fisted Monk, he was able to prove himself as a director and a leading man.

Content-wise, though, The Iron-Fisted Monk bears many similarities to the style of films made by The Shaw Brothers. And yet the result is a film that, in many ways, can be seen as a precursor to the martial arts comedies that dominated 1980’s Hong Kong cinema.

That said, though comedy plays a large role in The Iron-Fisted Monk, throughout the film there are some noticeably darker moments that you rarely see in Hong Kong martial arts comedies. Most notably, the scene where a Manchurian official rapes a woman This in-your-face scene is in direct contrast to the humor that dominates most of the film. It should be noted that for this release from Eureka Entertainment, there’s a brief moment where the image censors the raped woman’s pubic hair. Previous releases of The Iron-Fisted Monk did not censor this moment.

Front and center in The Iron-Fisted Monk is Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, who delivers another charismatic performance that steals every scene he’s in. Even at this stage of his career, his fighting skills were impeccable, and his comedic timing was flawless. Other notable performances include James Tien (The Bedeviled) in the role of Husker’s master and Hark-On Fung’s (Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow) menacing portrayal of the Manchurian official who rapes women.

Though there’s predictability to most martial arts films from this era because they tend to be overly formulaic, fortunately, this is not an issue with the Iron-Fisted Monk. The revenge-themed premise is well executed, and the action set pieces are second to none. Ultimately, The Iron-Fisted Monk is a finely tuned film that fans of martial arts cinema should thoroughly enjoy.

The Magnificent Butcher: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung and Yuen Woo-Ping would reverse roles eight years later for the Eastern Condors. The Magnificent Butcher is the only time Yuen Woo-Ping directed Sammo Kam-Bo Hung. And the result is arguably one of martial arts cinema’s greatest films.

At this point in Hong Kong martial arts films, humor was playing a larger role. And though there’s a fine line that many films cross when it comes to mixing action and humor, Ultimately, it’s the films that balance action and humor that are most remembered. Case in point: The Magnificent Butcher, a textbook example of how to mix action and humor,

The Magnificent Butcher is overflowing with dynamic action set pieces that are lightning fast in their execution, and once again, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung performs acrobatic moves that should be impossible for someone his size. Not to be overlooked when discussing the action set pieces are the fight scenes with Mei Sheng Fan’s drunken beggar named Beggar So.

Though action is front and center in The Magnificent Butcher, one must not overlook the moments of comic relief, like a scene where a blind man pisses into a pot while Butcher Wing holds the pot. With that being said, though there’s so much breath-taking martial arts in The Magnificent Butcher, The one scene that stands out more than the rest is the scene where Ko Tai-Hoi and his thugs get into a fight with Beggar So inside of a wine shop. Outnumbered and drunk, Beggar So uses the wine and his surroundings to help him win the fight.

Besides Sammo, Kam-Bo Hung’s tour de force performance. The Magnificent Butcher has an A-List cast that features Ching-Ying Lam (Mr. Vampire) in the role of Killer with Fan; Tak-Hing Kwan in the role of Wong Fei-Hong, a character that he portrayed in fifty-nine films; and my personal favorite martial arts actor, Yuen Biao (The Prodigal Son) in the role of an opportunist named Leung Foon.

Eastern Condors: Hong Kong cinema, more than any other country or region, they’re insulated from the rest of the world. Where just about every country/region is influenced by what was popular in Hollywood. Hong Kong cinema's influence over cinema beyond its borders is greater than Hollywood’s influence over Hong Kong cinema. With that being said, because examples of Hollywood influencing Hong Kong cinema are so rare, That’s what makes a film like Eastern Condors so special.

However, Eastern Condors is a war film that takes place in Vietnam during a time when there was an influx of Vietnam war films in Hollywood. The result is a film that distances itself from other Vietnam War films by putting an inventive twist on the reason why the soldiers are in Vietnam. In many ways, Eastern Condors is more akin to films like Dirty Dozen and The Inglorious Bastards than to films like Platoon and Full Metal Jacket.

The bombastic action films that were coming out of Hollywood in the 1980’s from companies like Cannon Films clearly influenced Eastern Condors. With the bulk of the action set pieces revolving around gun battles and explosions, Having said that, while there are martial arts sequences in Eastern Condors, martial arts takes a back seat until the breathtaking finale.

Without a doubt, the Eastern Condors' greatest assets are their colorful characters. And, in terms of performance, the cast is all excellent in their respective roles. Eastern Condors’ most memorable performance was by Wah Yuen (Mr. Vampire) in the role of a Vietnamese general who has a maniacal laugh. Other notable performances include Joyce Godenzi (License to Steal) in the role of an underground resistance fighter and Yuen Biao (On the Run) in the familiar role of a trouble maker who provides comic relief. Ultimately, Eastern Condors is an exceptional action film and one of the high water marks of 1980s Hong Kong action cinema.

Eureka Video gives three Sammo Kam-Bo Hung an exceptional release that comes with solid/video presentations and a wealth of extra content, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer