A good movie to introduce new viewers to the genre
The movie starts with murder and robbery. Chin Kang (Kam Kong) has a criminal record as a thief but has served his time and now earns an honest living as a blacksmith. He is the dumb ox in the title and this role was made for him. Leung Siu-Chung (Bruce Leung's father) is one of the action directors. His strength is making the fights solid and realistic. The story is a twist on the revenge plot with Chin Kang being falsely accused. There is quite a bit of drama in this movie but it is all done well and serves to spice up and not drag down the action.
This movie has a few titles depending on country of release. In 2015 I watched a German version based on the title screen "Shaolin - Der Todesschrei des Panthers" (Return of the Panther). This copy was dubbed into English. The movie is also known as "The Dumb Ox" or "Kung Fu Strongman" or "Chinese Kung Fu". "The Dumb Ox" is considered the original title. That copy played as 4:3 video with both sides of the picture cut off. (Back in the VHS days that was how it was done. Chop!) Since then I came across a wide screen version. Wide screen versions of these movies from the 1980s and earlier are hard to find. It was dubbed in English but overdubbed in Russian. I suspect this to be a fan edit. Thank you, Russian fan, but I don't speak Russian and cannot remove that audio.
I originally reviewed the movie and rated it 8/10 and ranked it as one of the best martial arts movies of 1974. I also recommended it for viewers beginning to get into this movie genre.
This year I watched the movie again. I played the muted video of the wide screen and synchronized it with the audio of the English dubbed 4:3 version. It's always interesting to watch a movie again after many years to see if I feel the same way about it.
Kam Kong or Chin Kang was a student of the Korean martial artist Dorian Tan (Tan Tao-liang). His first movie lead was alongside the great Kurata Yasuaki in 1973 "One by One" which I also reviewed here. Other than his birthdate of August 26, 1936 and his movie credits I have not been able to find information about his life. I have watched almost all of his 61 movies and rate most of them above average for the year and genre. "One-armed Boxer vs. the Flying Guillotine" with Kimmy Wang Yu is my favorite. Chin Kang's fighting skills are supreme in this movie. He does twelve or more moves without a cut and versus multiple opponents in many fights. He demonstrates power and accuracy with his strikes and parries. His posture and all the small details of fighting are spot on. Plus, he has concurrent facial expressions in his fights that match the choreography and add to the visual experience.
I totally enjoyed my second viewing of this movie. My opinion, rating, and recommendation of this movie is the same as it was four years ago. I rate this movie as one of the best martial arts movie made in 1974 with a score of 8 out of 10.Only the Shaw Brothers series of Shaolin Temple movies rate higher.
Typically I only recommend these movies to other fans of the genre. This time, in addition to that, I also recommend this movie to anyone who is thinking about watching a movie of this genre to see if you like it. It is a fine movie to introduce new viewers to the genre.
Shaolin - Der Todesschrei des Panthers (1974)
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