Friday, October 17, 2008

Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter

Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter is a Shaw Brothers kung fu film directed by Lau Kar-leung, and starring Gordon Liu and Alexander Fu Sheng. It is released as The Invicible Pole Fighters outside of Hong Kong and Invincible Pole Fighter in North America.

The film is based on the true story of a man who, after his father and brothers are killed, develops the Yang Ga Ng Long Baht Gwa Kwun style.

Plot


The Yangs are a well-known family of soldiers in the service of the government but are betrayed by a government official conspiring with the Mongols. All of the Yang family males except the 4th, 5th, and 6th brothers are killed . 4th brother is captured by the Liao and is not mentioned again . loses his mind after the death of his family, while the other brother , takes refuge in a temple to put his anger and past behind him. Liu's superb martial arts skill, particularly with the , impress the temple's senior monks. After refusing to leave the temple at first, Liu later fights for the right to depart after he learns that his sister has been captured by the conspirators and a senior monk is killed by the Mongols. Liu confronts the Mongols and during the ensuing battle to free his sister, the monks from the temple arrive to lend support and help him to defeat the Mongols.

Production


Fu Sheng died during filming and does not appear in the final showdown as originally written in the script. After Fu Sheng's death, the story was changed to center on Gordon Liu.

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