The Crippled Masters review by Bobby Blakey
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I love martial arts films and grew up watching Black Belt Theater and Kung-Fu theater every weekend with some of my personal favorites being Five Element Ninjas and The Kid With the Golden Arm. There have been some interesting directions in this old school genre that have infused martial arts in ways you wouldn’t expect, but few like the 1979 (released in the US in 1982) film The Crippled Masters. The film features Sung-Chuan Shen aka Jackie Conn and Chao-Ming Kang aka Frankie Shum who in real-life are martial arts artists with disabilities alongside Li Chung Keng, Chen Mu Chuan and Ho Chiu.
The Crippled Masters follows the story of two martial arts artists, one who has lost both arms and the other who has lost both legs, as they seek revenge against the villainous master who disabled them. To prepare they endure rigorous training, forming a deep bond as they rely on resourcefulness and determination to master their unique fighting styles … and to avoid challenges from other martial artists and the master’s henchman.
Every time I think I have seen just about every one of these old martial arts flicks another comes along that surprises me. This is one of those films that is baffling in its existence, but also intrigued me to see what they tried to accomplish. Could it be just another exploitation film, or will it actually offer up some martial arts action that makes it worthy to be in the genre? The answer is both and it is something all its own.
Much like others of the time, this film kicks things off with a demo of sorts in the credits showing all the cripples masters involved. I was both weirded out and impressed with the executions as I wasn’t sure what to expect. I didn’t
initially pa attention going in that this was real crippled people doping the action and not like they did in the One-Armed Swordsman with his arm strapped behind his back. To say they are both impressive is an understatement. Both men bring the action and showcase outstanding martial arts skills with plenty of fun fight scenes to behold.
At the same time the film is leaning so much on the niche of these guys’ disability that it failed to bring all that much plot or believability to the mix. They had a great idea about this insane criminal maiming and torturing these guys but it kind of ends there. You must suspend disbelief when the first guy gets his arms chopped off and then instead of bleeding to near death, he wanders the town looking for something to eat and seems to be fine, just missing limbs. It’s the kind of thing you must let go and accept the ridiculousness of it all and let it happen.
In the end it’s a strange flick that stands on the shoulders of these two remarkable men who pull off some great martial arts choreography despite their disabilities. They use it to infuse a new style and it just works. After further research this is just one of an apparent series of films these guys made and would love to see more of them get this treatment.
In addition to the newly remastered film this collection offers up plenty of bonus content including trailers, commentary, documentary on martial arts films and more. Grab your copy of The Crippled Masters when it hits Blu-ray and DVD on July 23rd from Film Masters.