THE BEST KUNG-FU MOVIE STARRING GORDON LIU

The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter五郎八卦棍 is my favorite kung-fu movie starring Gordon Liu劉家輝and directed by Liu Chi-liang劉家良. That’s a fact. I can even say, If I have to watch only one kung-fu movie on a desert island for the rest of my life, It'll be The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter.

Gordon Liu劉家輝, on the set ofThe 8 Diagram Pole FighterActually, it's not only a martial arts movie with the most skillful, original, ferocious and spectacular action choreography ever made, it’s also a very strong historical drama set during the Song dynasty, about the legendary and patriotic warriors of the Yang family. Betrayed by a corrupted official, almost all the male members are killed by the Tartars.

  The Yang BrothersOnly two of them survive : The 6 th brother (Alexander Fu Sheng 傅聲)  succeeds to go back home to his mother (Lily Li李麗麗) and sisters (Kara Hui惠英紅 and Yeung Jing-Jing楊菁菁) but, traumatized by the experience, he’s falling into madness.

  Kara Hui惠英紅(left) is the Yang#8The 5 th brother ( Gordon Liu) takes refuge in a Taoist temple and tries to become a monk. But the abbots don’t want to, because they think (and they’re right)  that his spirit is still full of vengeance...

  Gordon Liu劉家輝: The Warrior ad The MonkThe 8 Diagram Pole Fighterstory – which is a prequel to another Shaw Brothers production masterpiece : The Fourteen Amazons十四女英豪 - is quite sad and touching, and unhopefully, the behind-the-scenes story of the movie was tragic as well.

  Alexander Fu Sheng 傅聲The shooting, which started in 1981, was interrupted in July 1983, because of Fu Sheng, who died in a car accident. Finally, the story was changed and the movie was released in Hong Kong seven months later.

  The 8 Diagram Cast & Crew on the set (June 1981)

In France, The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter was never released in theathers like The New One-Armed Sworsdsman新獨臂刀or King Boxer天下第一拳, and it was not as popular as The 36 th Chamber of Shaolin少林卅六房, but I’m glad that allowed me to do a “big” documentary, Au Coeur des 8 Diagrammes (It’s 26 minutes only, but features several people who worked on the movie, not just one or two interviews) for the French DVD release.

So, between 2003 and 2004, I succeeded  (with the help of of Celestial Pictures, Patty Keung, File Ip, Hester Yip, Mabel Wong) to find and interview in Hong Kong and France, most of the main 8 Diagram cast, like Gordon Liu, Kara Hui, Lily Li, Yeung Jing-jing and also Hsiao Hou小侯and Robert Mak麥德羅, who got killed in the impressive opening scene. Kara Hui惠英紅 Lily Li李麗麗 Yeung Jing-Jing楊菁菁 Hsiao Hou小侯Robert Mak麥德羅I’ve even had producer Lawrence Wong Ka-yee黃家禧, who's rarely accepting interviews from what I've heard.

  Lawrence Wong Ka-yee黃家禧I also included an interview excerpt of wuxia movie queen Cheng Pei-pei鄭佩佩, who’s not  in The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, but plays the same character of Lily Li (Mother Yang) in the 2004 TV series Legendary Fighter Yang heroine.

  Cheng Pei-pei鄭佩佩

Here is an excerpt of the documentary with an opening where I could enjoy making my own trailer + an interview excerpt with Gordon Liu. Gordon Liu劉家輝in Deauville (2004)  This interview was done in France  during  the Asian Deauville Film Festival, and we only had an interpreter who speaks Mandarin (otherwise, it would be in Cantonese like the other interviews of the documentary). Enjoy...

Frédéric Ambroisine (July 20th, 2008)