By 1980, the entire genre of Chinese martial arts movies--which, in my estimation, had always benefited from its rough-edged quality--was being formalized into something comparable to American soap operas or even Italian Mannerist painting. Better production values are fine, but not when the end result is a film so slick and shiny that it's painful to look at. In technical terms, "The Master" (which aired on cable TV in the mid-1980s as "Three Evil Masters") is a product of its time, but has enough heart to work. Yuen Tak convincingly portrays a bullied, low-ranking student at an unethical kung-fu school who gives refuge to an injured martial arts master (Chen Kuan-tai, who's always worth watching). Chen was wounded in a fight with three bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside, and in exchange for food and shelter he teaches Yuen some valuable moves. Gradually, Yuen becomes a better fighter and must singlehandedly confront the bandits--led by fearsome, white-haired Wang Lung-wei--when they decide to take over the kung-fu school. Terrific fight choreography by Hsu Hsia, and a maddeningly catchy opening theme (which plays beautifully over Chen Kuan-tai's first brawl with the villains) by Eddie Wang. Seven and a half stars.

THE MASTER gets off to a great start, with Jin Tianyun (Chen Kuan Tai) being attacked in a tea house. The fight scene is great, with a little twist of its own: Jin thinks he's up against three opponents- The Three Devils-, but he's nearly fatally wounded by a fourth attacker- the owner of the tea house himself. Jin escapes by diving through a window- with the treacherous owner's knife still in him. Meanwhile, Gao (Yuen) is being mercilessly bullied at "The Decent School of Martial Arts." Gao gets reprimanded when he fights back and his suffering is compounded. When he returns home that night, Jin arrives, nearly dead, and Gao takes him in. As Jin secretly recovers (Gao would be in even deeper **** if Jin's presence were known), Gao discovers that Jin had once beaten Gao's master, Shi. Jin muses that he'll live to be 90. "How can a blind man see the future?" Gao wonders. To get money to buy medicine to help Jin, Gao goes undercover in a brothel and steals it. He is "outed" and beats a hasty retreat. When Jin has recovered enough, he confronts the pretentious Shi, but is injured again. When he flees Shi's school, he's ambushed once again by The Three Devils and killed. The 3 then decimate Shi's school and take up permanent residence. Gao becomes a waiter in a tea house. There is plenty of solid action throughout THE MASTER and it's beautifully choreographed and shot. The one and only flaw is a single reverse-action shot that stands out in my mind because it's the ONLY real flaw in the entire film. That's why I rate it a solid ten.

ALL TIME KUNG FU CULT CLASSICshaw brothers -a young kungfu student helps save the life of a stranger who he later finds out is a great kungfu and sword master. in return for his good deed the man agrees to teach him. unfortunately his current master doesn't like the competition and kicks him out of the school. the master gets a small group of men to slay the 3 evil masters but they don't have much luck and the only person left alive is the master. the 3 evil masters also take over the school as there new headquarters. the student which got kicked out of the school hears about the situation and goes to reclaim the school.Another Shaw Brothers kung fu classic. Nice story, good acting, and the most impressive, the wushu skills of the actors. I really recommend this movie for thoses of you who enjoy real traditional kung fu.The principal actor in this movie is stunning !!If you practice traditional martial arts you will see and understand some moves, it is really nice !!Once again, very good movie, worth watching.

This film is like all of the other Kung-Fu movies, high tempo, good fight scenes and good plot. Nice Kung-Fu styles and it was very entertaining for me, hope it is for you too. I just expected a little better ending. Enjoy the movie.