Secret Rivals I II III

Secret Rivals (Chinese: 南拳北腿) a.k.a. Northern Leg, Southern Fist a.k.a. Silver Fox Rivals is a 1976 kung fu film directed by James Nam and Ng See-yuen and starring Hwang Jang-lee, John Liu and Wong Tao. The film was shot on location in South Korea and Hong Kong. Plot Northern Leg (John Liu) travels across China thru Seoul to find the man responsible for the death of his parents. The culprit is none other than the Silver Fox (Hwang Jang-lee), a feared martial arts expert and bandit. Silver Fox has also caught the attention of Southern Fist (Wong Tao), a government agent. While Southern Fist and Northern Leg are both after the same man, they discover that alone they are no match for Silver Fox. The two heroes must combine their skills, knowing that it is the only way to gain success against their awesome adversary. In the course of finding and defeating the Silver Fox, both Northern Leg and Southern Fist fall for the same woman, the daughter of the owner of the inn they stay at for the duration of the movie. Throughout the movie they both vie for her attention, asking the butler questions at the inn, as well as a child who follows Southern Fist throughout the film. Cast Hwang Jang-lee – Silver FoxJohn Liu (actor) – Northern Leg Shao Yi-feiWong Tao – Southern Fist Shang Yi-weiLee Ye-min - PrinceNam Seok-hoon - Lung YiElton Chong - Black Fox (Silver Fox's Student)Yeo Su-jin - Ching Chin-chinPark Dong-young - Prince's BodyguardKim Wang-kuk - Prince's BodyguardMa Do-sik - Prince's BodyguardTo Wai-wo - Russian's studentTong Kam-tong - thugYuen Biao - Russian's studentYuen Wah - thugSecret Rivals 2 (Chinese: 南拳北腿鬥金狐), a.k.a. Silver Fox Rivals II, is a 1977 Hong Kong martial arts-action film starring Hwang Jang Lee, John Liu and Tino Wong. Plot The film picks up almost exactly where the original Secret Rivals ended, namely with the death of the dreaded Silver Fox. Mourning the death of Silver Fox is his brother, Gold Fox (again played by Hwang Jang Lee), who vows revenge against Northern Leg and Southern Fist. But Gold Fox is unable to find Southern Fist and must instead fight his brother (Tino Wong), who is saved in the nick of time by Northern Leg. After escaping, the two once again need to combine to defeat their dreaded enemy. But Gold Fox has taken precautions—he's brought backup: four expert kickers and four expert boxers. Cast Hwang Jang Lee – Chin Hu / "Gold Fox"John Liu – Northern Leg Hsiao Yi FeiTino Wong – Southern Fist Jr. Shen Ying WuCorey Yuen – Yen Kwai (as Yuen Kwai)Hsu Hsia - Tang LangYuen Biao - unknown roleSham Tsim Po - Ying YangPhillip KoBlackie KoYuen Wah - extraYuen Woo Ping - extraLu Feng - extra The Secret Rivals 3 (1981) 06/18/1981 (HK) Action 1h 30mOverview John Liu stars as Shao Yu Pai, master of the "northern kick" kung-fu, still seeking revenge for the death of his brother. Evidence mounts that Lu Tung Chung (Alexander Lo), master of the "southern fist" kung-fu, is the culprit. What Shao doesn't realize, however, is that the true villain is subtly manipulating both the martial artists behind the scenes, hoping to force them into a confrontation and have the dirty work done for him. John LiuAlexander Lo ReiChin LungRobert TaiChu KoRicky Cheng Tien-ChiWang Chi-ShengWang QuenThis was originally a film called The New South Hand Blows and North Kick Blows. I know, right? Why would anyone change a perfectly good title like that? But they did. It was redubbed and renamed Challenge of the Masters for the UK market and Secret Rivals 3 in the US, to capitalise on the success of the Secret Rivals films. But it'll always be The New South Hand Blows and North Kick Blows to me. John Liu stars as Shao Yu Pai (pronounced weirdly like "Cherry Pie" in the so-so English dub), a kung fu master who rocks up in town seeking vengeance for his recently murdered brother. A knife belonging to Lu Tung Chung (Alexander Lo) was found sticking out of said brother's corpse so Shao reckons he's found his suspect. But of course, there's intrigue afoot and eventually the two must team up to defeat the REAL villain. Absolutely no prizes, even just from scanning down the cast list, for working out who this is. There's a comedy subplot with a woodcutter (Chin Lung) in search of a master but this has little real bearing on things and I think is only there to try and appeal to the audience who, at the time, were insatiable for Jackie Chan style kung fu slapstick. This certainly isn't a bad film but it's quite workaday as these types of thing go. The fighting - choregraphed by Robert Tai - is certainly presentable and there's a LOT of it. Almost every other scene is a fight (and they even somehow found a bonus "extra fight" from somewhere to stick on the DVD) but if anything, that drags it down a little by the end. I was a bit like "oh God, not another fight? What are they even fighting over now!?" There's not quite enough plot to keep it interesting and what plot there is feels a little tired, like nothing we've not seen before. Liu is a solid lead and Lo is fantastic as always, but both can be seen doing far better things elsewhere. Still, the music's nice, the scenery's nice and if you just want to murder 90 minutes of your life with some utterly unchallenging martial arts, The New South Hand Blows and North Kick Blows will sort you out. Even if it won't... Blow you away.

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