THE TREASURE HUNTERS is a knockabout comedy kung fu film made by the Shaw Brothers studio, who bring their typically professional production values to the picture. It's an ensemble piece featuring no less than three lead performances. Gordon Liu is on hand as a typically righteous, kung fu-fighting monk, although he disappears for long stretches of the running time. Alexander Fu Sheng is the main draw here in a likable comedic role, and he's given support by his own younger brother, Chang Chan-Peng, in an attempt to give him a career that never really took off.The main guys play the usual roguish treasure hunters searching for a valuable treasure; they may be bad guys, but they're good at heart. The real villain of the piece is Wang Lung Wei's remorseless murderer who goes around killing all the other treasure seekers, thus setting him on a collision course with our heroes. I would describe THE TREASURE HUNTERS as a comedy more than anything else, with lots of broad, knockabout set-pieces involving the main guys goofing off and trying to evade the clutches of a cross-eyed police chief. It's not bad and is quite funny in places, as long as you have a high tolerance level for Chinese comedy. Thankfully things pick up for a fresh and inventive climax, which brings together some hilariously unusual elements like a squad of wooden training dummies and even some timber glue for fantastic effect.

Depending on your tolerance for HK style cross-eye humor and a very vapid plot this film can be a test of endurance (build your bad movie kung fu!). If these problems mean nothing to you you can sit back and enjoy the wild kung-fu scenes that populate this film. Alexander Fu Sheng is at his best, especially towards the end. Wang Lung Wei plays his usual nasty villain. Liu Chia Hui is a monk, again. Chang Chen-Peng is very good in what might be his only feature role in his five film career. Yeung Ching-Ching is dazzling with her double swords as she plays an evil mute henchwoman to Wang Lung Wei.But this is not a "classic". The comedy is hard to take depending on your tastes. I happen to like really stupid comedy, so scenes such as the fight with an assassin disguised as a walking bookcase are funny in a laughing "at" the movie way not "with" it. The plot does not stand up to 30 seconds of contemplation. The film has a good energy that makes up for some of the problems. The fight scenes, however, are very inventive and the climatic fight lasts about 15 minutes so it might be worth putting up with the "bad" points. Liu Chia Yung has a wilder choreography style then his brother, Liu Chia Liang. I enjoyed the film better then some of Liang's.

First of all to appreciate anything you have to be a Shaw Bros. fan. This movie is good even if you are not a Shaw bros fan at all. The comedy was good as well as the action. Gordon Liu didn't do much be it didn't take anything from the film. The story starts with people looking for this particular treasure, and ends up with a lot of butt kicking and mayhem.Fu Shen does his job in bringing the laughs and the action. For those of you whom don't know what a good kung fu movie is, this is one right here. Liu Chia Yung is an on par choreographer.Sometimes you can't tell if it was him or Woo Ping that did the action. Anyway Treasure Hunters is a great movie for anyone looking for something fun and exciting. Check it out!!!!!!!!!!!

MASTER OF DISASTER (aka THE TREASURE HUNTERS, 1982) offers a top-ranked kung fu cast, a steady stream of superb fight sequences and some high-quality production values. Anything that stars both Alexander Fu Sheng and Gordon Liu is automatically a must-see for any kung fu fan, especially when the chief villain turns out to be Wang Lung Wei, a regular heavy who had fought both stars several times before their co-starring turn here. However, fans must be willing to put up with two major drawbacks: a very slim plot and a heavy dose of slapstick comedy on the part of two of the stars and several supporting players.The plot has to do with a search for some kind of hidden treasure and a trail of bodies left behind by someone also on the search. Fu Sheng plays a gambler and thief who hooks up with an idle rich kid played by Chang Chan Peng (who was "introduced" in this film but seems to have had a very short career thereafter), who sells Fu Sheng on the idea of seeking out the lost treasure of the late Chang Po Chu. At one point they break into the home of an elderly antiques dealer (played by the film's director, Liu Chia Yung) who knows kung fu and fights them before they make off with a stack of letters from the deceased with which to look for clues. The two "heroes" are criminals and thieves and highly dishonorable, yet we're supposed to find their antics funny.Gordon Liu plays a traveling Buddhist monk with a five-man entourage of kung fu-fighting student monks. Wang Lung-Wei plays the nobleman, Lord Mo, who's also seeking the treasure and kills anyone else on the search, while placing blame for the killings on the gentle monk. Lord Mo has a very pretty female sidekick (Yang Ching Ching), who wields a mean sword and delivers a high kick of her own. Why any of these characters, aside from the monks, feels entitled to the treasure or feels they have a clear lead to its whereabouts is never adequately explained.A goofy cross-eyed police chief (To Siu Ming) is constantly interfering with the efforts of Fu Sheng and his partner and he brings into the fray a force of sword-wielding constables. There is lots of action, including several sprawling melées involving multiple kung fu fighting combatants, all staged on lavish Shaw Bros. sets by Liu Chia Yung (aka Lau Kar Wing, brother of famed Shaw Bros. director Liu Chia Liang, aka Lau Kar Leung). One sequence involves a very clever maneuver dubbed the "five-monk array." However, the film is padded with comic scenes that often go on too long, most notably a sequence in a library where the two heroes are looking for a clue while under attack by an assassin disguised as a shelf of books, all while the cross-eyed captain and his men decide to search the place. The film was directed by Liu Chia Yung (Lau Kar Wing) and suffers from the distinct lack of a moral edge that the director's brother would have given the proceedings. Lau Kar Leung knew how to introduce comic elements into a serious plot without one undermining the other (see DIRTY HO and LEGENDARY WEAPONS OF KUNG FU, to name two). Unfortunately, the normally competent Wing (who also directed HE HAS NOTHING BUT KUNG FU and ODD COUPLE), did not have a light enough hand and he lays on the comedic bits too thickly here. The film often descends into a free-for-all, fun to watch for the performances, but not one to take seriously. The tape available for review features a letter-boxed transfer, a welcome feature that enables us to see all of the action rather than have it cut off on the sides by a full-frame transfer.