36 Deadly Styles (1980)

36 Deadly Styles 1980 / 迷拳三十六招 1980 / The 36 Deadly Styles , Mi Quan San Shi Liu Zhao , Mai Kyun Saam Sap Luk Jiu , 迷拳36招

The pace and tone of the film is immediately made clear with an opening fight in the woods as Wah Jee and his uncle attempt to flee from ruthless fighters led by Mien Tsu Mun. The pair make it to a Buddhist temple, but the uncle dies after Tsu Mun and his thugs break in. A fighter turned monk named Huang manages to kill most of them. Once recovered from his wounds, Wah Jee is put to work at the temple, making soy milk runs into town and cleaning out the smoke-filled oven. He spends time with two junior monks and trades friendly kung fu blows with Tsui Jee, the attractive soy milk seller. Tsu Mun returns to the area with two martial brothers (including Bolo Leung). Fed up with the torturous regimen of chores at the temple, Wah Jee survives only after he is forcibly pulled away by Tsui Jee's father. At this point, Wah Jee learns that his own father died at the hands of a silver-haired fighter who belongs to the same group as Tsu Mun. Three martial brothers initially escaped Jang Lee's attack, but now only Tsui Jee's father remains. Wah Jee, Tsui Jee and her father go into hiding where Wah Jee begins to master the 36 Deadly Styles just in time to face Jang Lee. There is also a smaller parallel plot interwoven with the previous one involving a brother of Jang Lee who heads off to a Tibetan temple to seek out a kung fu master named Kaung Wu Chun in order to get the manual of 36 Deadly Styles. (Source: Wikipedia)