Crippled Avengers (1978)

This movie doesn't have complicated any complicated plot, but I think this is one of the best kungfu movies ever made. I enjoyed watching it very much.

Three men who called themselves '3 Tigers' came to Dao Tian Du's house, but as Dao was going out, they only met his wife and little boy. To give him a 'surprise', they cut off his wife's legs and his son's arms. [Lots of limbs were cut off in this movie.] A couple of minutes later, Dao arrived and he killed the 3 Tigers.

The son, Dao Chang, grew. Dao Tian Du gave him a pair of iron hands and taught him martial arts. Dao Tian Du also captured 3 Tigers' sons dan taught them kungfu. They must fight with Dao Chang and if they lost, Dao Chang would make them crippled. They lost. In martial arts world, revenge is common. If the Daos stopped here, perhaps people would still respect them.

Dao Chang, Dao Tian Du and Keeper Wan

The terrors from Dao's family didn't end there. Everyone in the little town was afraid. A blacksmith who dared to criticized the Daos was made deaf and mute. A salesman from out-of-town was made blind. A local worker who accidentally bumped into Dao Chang was cut off his legs. A swordsman, Wang Yi, passed through the town and heard the injustice towards the blacksmith, the salesman, and the worker. He promised to revenge them, but lost the fight and the Daos made him an idiot.

The worker, The salesman, the idiot and the blacksmith

The blacksmith, the salesman and the worker took Wang Yi to his teacher. The teacher taught the 3 men martial arts. Three years later they went back to deliver the town from the Daos' evil grasp.

There is a long fight scene, among Lu Feng, Kuo Chui and Chiang Sheng, which I think is great. The choreography is extremely good. I just realized that fighting (in a kungfu movie, at least) is similar to dancing, the fighters cannot miss a beat or a step, or he/they will get hit. In this scene, Dao Chang [Lu Feng] was having a fight with the blind salesman [Kuo Chui]. Wang Yi, the idiot, [Chiang Sheng] wanted to play with them. Perhaps he was helping the blind salesman? During the 3 years training, Wang Yi often disturbed them, but among the 3 men, he found that the blind salesman was the most enjoyable friend to play with. Tricks with rope are often used in kungfu movies, but in this particular scene I [almost] believe they didn't use any rope. I wonder if Kuo Chui really could jump that high.

It's hard to make a decent still from this scene. The actors kept moving.