THE FOUR ASSASSINS (aka MARCO POLO)

[Xenorama ™]

gotta love this Shaw Classic! Gordon Liu plays one of his rare villainous roles as a Tartar swordsman, led by Ghengis Khan.

Fu Sheng leads our four heroes, with an assist by Marco Polo himself (played by Richard Harrison, on loan from Italian peplums). Sheng and his four pals go into hiding and learn "pugilism" which involves a ton of training (no surprise there). the trick is that it's Mongolians they are fighting and not the Manchu.

sure, there's not much accuracy in history, but man, it's a cool movie. here's hoping a nicer widescreen version shows up soon.

[RedKing]

That sounds awesome! Here's another one I have to see!I love Shaw Brothers movies, their martial arts films of the 70s were just so much better than everyone else's and watching them you can see where the wilder wire-fu stuff of today originated.

[Xenorama ™]

easily remedied! another plus is the er, borrowed Ifukube music, possibly from MAJIN, tho i am definately not sure. it's there tho, and makes the movie very somber, even the lighter comedy moments.

[Xenorama ™]

Sheng Fu
Kuan-Chun Chi
Philip Kwok
Richard Harrison ... Marco Polo
Chia Hui Liu
Lung Wei Wang
Ka-Yan Leung (as John Liang)
Szu Shih

not much to go on, but i see that there is now a letterboxed copy out there. i may pick it up soon.

[RoadWarriorYajuta]

I think the hokeyness and quirkiness are some of what made Shaw Bros. flicks so great. Awesome film for sure.

[Xenorama ™]

i really enjoy this movie, since it's not quite in the same story mode as many other kf movies. the training scenes are just intense, but the humor is quite well placed. good stuff!