When Hand of Death came out in 1976, it was seen as just a normal Kung Fu flick about the Shaolin Temple from Golden Harvest. Leading actor Tan Tao-liang hadn’t done too much at this point. James Tien had played Bruce Lee’s cousin in The Big Boss and also appeared in Fist of Fury. But he was the bad guy and not the hero in this film. Audiences in the ’70s could have easily written off the film as completely lacking star power. But as the years went by, Hand of Death grew in stature and star power. How can this be? First is Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao becoming major names in the ’80s. They had smaller parts here and used their early stage names in the credits. Jackie was a sidekick. Sammo played the main henchman. Yuen Biao has a small character role, but performed as a stunt man throughout including doubling for the leads. This was the first time the trio appeared in a movie together. Even more impressive is how director John Woo became the man who changed action cinema with A Better Tomorrow in 1986 and kept impressing with The Killer and Hard Boiled. All of this makes Hand of Death a much more impressive film in 2023 than in 1976.
During the Quing Dynasty, the Shaolin Temple finds itself under attack from Shih Shao-Feng (The Big Boss’ James Tien) and his warriors led by Officer Tu Ching (Sammo Hung). He wants to rid China of the monks and their students. But quite a few survive and set up a training camp to keep their techniques active and spread. Student Yun Fei (Shaolin Deadly Kicks‘ Tan Tao-liang) has such fine fighting style that he’s selected to take out Shih. His first battle goes horribly wrong when Shih busts out the “Extended Eagle’s Claw” move. Fei gets busted up and is left to deal with Shih’s elite eight bodyguards. He would have been dead meat if it wasn’t for the help of blacksmith Tan Feng (Jackie Chan). He realizes that his only chance to defeat this man who is ravaging the nearby villages is to create a move that will take out the Extended Eagle’s Claw and put together a team to handle Shih’s goons. Among his crew is a swordsman who hasn’t drawn his sword since he accidentally killed a prostitute. There’s also Scholar Cheng played by director John Woo and a few less familiar, but eager to attack allies. But there’s a sense that one of his new friends is a spy for Shih. Will Yun Fei succeed or will the students of the Shaolin Temple and their supporters be wiped off the map?
Hand of Death is an exciting film packed with lots of action. This is a John Woo film minus the bullets flying all over the place. Leading man Tan Tao-liang doesn’t make you wish one of his not-famous-yet co-stars had snagged his role. He’s rather badass as the student who must stop the carnage against the Shaolin Temple survivors. You root for him to create a return attack for those Extended Eagle’s Claw. James Tien comes off as brutal and heartless as the bad guy who wants to wipe out the true believers. But what about the future stars? It’s interesting a jolt to witness Sammo Hung as the bad guy who has no problem chopping down Shaolin monks. He’s not good natured or goofy even if he’s wearing fake front teeth. Jackie Chan has the best role in the film as the noble blacksmith. He’s willing to do anything to help Yun Fei and stop Shih. He gets the second-best fight scenes after the lead. This really announced that Jackie Chan was ready to be a leading actor with a bit of depth to his characters. John Woo as an actor, director and writer pulls off all these gigs. His character doesn’t try to steal the limelight from the fighters around him. The story is fresh as it gets into the Shaolin Temple legends. The fight scenes give a hint that Woo understood how to make put the action upfront. He also gives us a taste of his heroic characters that would appear in his later modern Hong Kong films. What’s amazing is that this is the only time that Jackie Chan and John Woo would work together. If there’s two filmmakers that should have teamed up a few more times, it’s Chan and Woo. At least we have a fine film in Hand of Death to see them clicking in their early years along with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao.
By the way, there was one other future superstar in the film. Kien is played by Carter Wong. The actor would go on to play Thunder in John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The transfer is a 2K restoration from original film elements by Fortune Star. It looks good and clean. The Audio has the original lossless Mandarin and English in DTS-Mono. There is also the Cantonese in DTS-HD MA stereo and DTS-HD MA 5.1 remixes in Mandarin and English (DVD Dub). The original English sounds more “authentic.” The movie is subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary by martial arts cinema experts Frank Djeng & Michael Worth. Frank explains that this is near the end of Golden Harvest and The Shaw Brothers releasing their films in Mandarin. They’d swap over to Cantonese. They give a bit of backstory on the Shaolin Temple and the Qing Dynasty. They also break down the style of Martial Arts in the fight scenes. The film was shot in South Korea.
From Hong Kong to Hollywood, an archive featurette on John Woo’s early career (22:52) includes interviews with Woo, Chow Yun-fat and Peter Lau. We get to see his production office. It goes in from how he started at Shaw Brothers and became an international success for his treatment of action. Hand of Death is part of the discussion.
Never-before-seen archive interview with star Tan Tao-Liang (29:50) filmed by his former student Michael Worth in the late ’90s. Tao-Liang goes into his career and how he first met John Woo.
Archive interview with co-star Sammo Hung (5:44) has him talk about him going from stuntman to stunt coordinator. He talks about working with John Woo on the film.
Alternate credits sequence, as Countdown to Kung Fu (5:03) has the name on a red title card.
Trailer gallery has Theatrical Trailer in Mandarin (4:00) gives the history of the Shaolin Temple and how the Qing Dynasty attacked it. The English Trailer (3:40) has all the fighting techniques shown in the film.
Image Gallery has 43 press photos, lobby cards and posters. One poster has a re-issue of the film when Jackie Chan was a star.
Double-sided fold-out poster has original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Colin Murdoch
Illustrated collectors’ booklet with an essay by film programmer William Blaik.
Arrow Video presents Hand of Death. Directed by John Woo. Screenplay by John Woo. Starring Tan Tao-liang, James Tien, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and John Woo. Rating: Unrated. Running Time: 97 minutes. Release Date: May 9, 2023.
