Brothers Five (1970)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The first must-see film of the year.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

BROTHERS FIVE is another eventful and action-packed movie from the Shaw Brothers stable. This one has an ensemble cast, an absolute ton of action sequences, and a solid director in the form of Lo Wei, the man best known for his collaborations with Bruce Lee and later Jackie Chan. The story is about Cheng Pei-Pei's swordswoman who gathers together and reunites five disparate brothers in order to bring them to the Flying Dragon villa, where a bunch of ruthless bandits are about to pay for their misdeeds.Each of the characters is introduced in turn through various action spectacles. The fights are bloody and engaging, with Sammo Hung (who has a small role) contributing to the fight choreography. They're not top-tier, as in a Chang Cheh film, but they're getting there. Actors playing the brothers include the familiar likes of Lo Lieh and Yueh Hua, both big stars for the studio, along with some others I didn't recognise. The larger-than-life villains are played by the likes of James Tien, Ku Feng, and Tien Peng. The action gets more gripping as it progresses, with Lieh showing up late on and excelling in a joker role, and the climax is as frenetic and gruesome as you could hope for. Altogether, it's a thumbs up from me.

To me this movie serves as a demonstration of how the lowly often uncredited stuntman made films like this possible. Now Chang Yi, Yueh Hua and Cheng Pei Pei certainly do some impressive 12-16 without a cut series of moves throughout the film. That's Chang Yi and not a stuntman going through the wall and leaping unassisted atop the table. Focus on the fight when the three first attack Flying Dragon headquarters. Initially Tien Feng comes out to fight each one. These are all one or two moves then cut. That's because it's actor against actor. Next all you see is Tien Feng's back because it's a stuntman. Now the cuts with Pei Pei and the rest are 12-16 moves again. I really believe a good stuntman and fight choreographer could make my grandma look as good as any of the Five Venoms. Back to the movie - I encourage all fans of this genre if you have not already seen it to go buy a legitimate copy because you will enjoy it and enjoy it again. Read the other reviews here too - all excellent reviews unlike my humble attempt.

BROTHERS FIVE (1970) is a well-made Shaw Bros. swordplay mini-epic with top-ranked action performers on both the hero and villain sides and a steady stream of large-scale fight scenes. The plot is a simple straightforward affair of five brothers being reunited for the first time since childhood and then schooled for a mission of revenge against the villain who killed their father and took over his property. If you're looking for deep emotional subtext and fraternal conflict and tension, there are plenty of Chang Cheh films to choose from (VENGEANCE, THE HEROIC ONES, THE DUEL, BLOOD BROTHERS, etc.). If you just want one solid weapons battle after another, with clearly marked good guys and bad buys, then this is the one for you.Cheng Pei Pei (COME DRINK WITH ME, GOLDEN SWALLOW, THE SHADOW WHIP) plays Miss Yan, the swordswoman whose father was an ally of the brothers' father and has now made it her life's work to find the brothers, bring them together and prepare them for their mission by teaching techniques from the "Five Tigers with One Heart" kung fu manual, the only copy of which is in her possession. Three of the brothers are played by genre stalwarts Yueh Hua (COME DRINK WITH ME), Chang Yi (BELLS OF DEATH), and Lo Lieh (FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH), while the other two are played by Chin Han (LADY GENERAL HUA MULAN), and Kao Yuan (THE JADE FACED ASSASSIN). Each uses a different weapon in battle, with Yueh Hua favoring a metal ring with sharp edges that doubles as a hat, Lo Lieh wielding a black whip, and Chin Han swinging a blacksmith's hammer, to name three. The villains, led by the formidable trio of Tien Feng, Wang Hsieh, and Ku Feng, also have unusual weapons.What makes this film stand out from so many similar Shaw Bros. swordplay adventures, including several from the same director (Lo Wei), is the high quality of the action staging, which is credited to Hsu Erh Niu (aka Simon Hsu, aka Simon Chui) and Chu Yuan Lung (aka Sammo Hung). The fight scenes are generally shot in long, unbroken takes in medium long shot, with the camera following the performers as they move so we can see the action in full frame for an extended period. This means the actors have to work a lot harder than usual and master a succession of intricate moves to complete one shot. Most of these scenes are shot outdoors in bright daylight with the others shot in large, well-lit interior sets. On the Blu-ray edition of this film, released by Well Go USA, these scenes are quite beautiful to behold. This is the way martial arts action should be shot.Simon Hsu did action scenes for quite a number of Shaw films from 1969-1976, including some others I've reviewed here: HEADS FOR SALE, THE YOUNG AVENGER, BLACK TAVERN, AMBUSH and THE DRAGON MISSILE. Sammo Hung had worked with Hsu on MAD, MAD SWORD at Cathay and staged action scenes for a couple of other films at Shaw before moving on to Golden Harvest, where he devoted the bulk of his efforts in the '70s, and becoming a major star and director of kung fu films in his own right by the end of the decade. In BROTHERS FIVE, Hung appears in one extended fight scene as a security officer guarding a shipment of money for one of the brothers and gets to show how agile and athletic he was for a man his size. It's just one of the many distinct pleasures this film has to offer.

If you have seen Shadow Whip, then get ready for more of the same. Long fight scenes, and lots of them. Directed by Lo Wei, once again the story is about as simple as it gets. The beautiful Cheng Pei Pei is on a quest for revenge. She wants to gather the 5 Gao brothers so that they can take revenge on the all powerful villain played by Tien Feng. The Gao brothers are played by Lo Lieh, Yueh Hua, Chang Yi, Chin Han and Kao Yuen. So the story is simple, and boring at times. But, the action is pretty awesome, especially for 1970. There are sooooo many fight scenes. And on top of that, some of the fights go on for so long that you actually begin to wonder if they are ever going to end. If there is one thing I didn't like about the fights it's that some of them go on too long. And I thought the final fight was a bit disappointing, but that's only because I like some of the other fights so much. So why are some of the fights so good? The first thing that struck me is how long they go without cutting. And the cinematography is as good as it gets and makes the fights way better than they would be in most low budget movies. The Shaw Brothers really went all out on this to please fight fans. And Chang Yi is magnificent in this movie, and you can tell that he is way more skilled than the other 4 Gao brothers. He has some amazing fights. And I have to mention Cheng Pei Pei. I love the scene where Lo Lieh rescues Kao Yuen and Cheng Pei Pei steps in front of like 50 guys so that they can get away and she slices them up like butter.One more note on the action. The undercranking is distracting at times, but for the most part I thought it was well done and helped the fight scenes. And in case you are wondering, the action was done by Simon Chui and Sammo Hung. Sammo has a cameo as an escort (he's a bit hard to spot). The minute or so of fighting that he does is pretty decent, and he gets a great death scene. And Ku Feng, Wong Hap and Lee Ka Ting star as villains. And look for a cameo by Unicorn Chan at the start of the movie. He uses this huge gold flying fork thing as a weapon.Picture quality on the Well Go USA DVD is great. The audio is a problem though. They decided to use the Celestial 5.1 remixed audio instead of the original mono. The sound effects are horrible. I almost turned the movie off because of the sound effects, but the worst of it seems to occur in the first few fights, and it isn't as bad the rest of the movie.