THE CRIPPLED MASTERS 1980 aka THE CRIPPLED HEAVEN (Chinese title: HEAVENLY CRIPPLE, EARTHLY DISABLED)
Shun Chung Chuen (Li Ho), Hong Chiu Ming (Tang Su Ting), Lin Chang Kueng (Li Chung Chien), Chen Mu Chuan (Ah Po)
Directed by Joe Law (Lo Chi, Luo Chi)
The Short Version: One of Kung Fu cinema's strangest motion pictures is this uniquely shocking, independently made martial arts movie about people with deformities beating the hell out of one another. Arguably
the most exploitative Kung Fu flick of the 1970s is little more than an
armless and legless man being trained by a contortionist to defeat a
disfigured madman with a humpback of death. The plot is basic, but you're coming for the sideshow atmosphere.
Lin Chang Kuen runs an escort business transporting goods. He has a top reputation around town but is actually a villainous person who robs his clients. Anyone who disobeys him is killed. One of his workers, Li Ho, has his arms cut off. Later, the man who ordered Li's double-arm amputation has his legs destroyed with acid. Lin, himself a disfigured man, eventually takes over the town and forces all the businesses to pay him protection money. Meanwhile, the two cripples learn to fight in spite of their deficiencies. They eventually meet an undercover officer looking to reclaim eight jade horses stolen by Lin, and together, they all take on Lin Chang Kuen and his lethal humpback style of Kung Fu.
Hong Kong martial arts movies went through multiple changes throughout the 1970s. Swordplay pictures were exceedingly popular from the mid 1960s till they were replaced by empty-handed, Karate-style action in 1972. Action films about actual Chinese Kung Fu styles, particularly those of the Shaolin Temple, took center stage in 1974, and excelled rapidly by 1976. Wuxia cinema came back in a big way in 1976, popularizing novelists Ku Lung and Jin Yong. Movies with actors pretending to be Bruce Lee surfaced in 1974 and hit a peak in 1976. These Bruce flicks were mostly poorly received in Hong Kong, but were made primarily for export where they were hugely successful. Then in 1978, the most budget-deprived trend yet, the Kung Fu comedy or, 'Bumpkin Kung Fu', took the genre by storm for roughly two years before being replaced theatrically by modern day crime films, gambling pictures and stunt-action comedies.
In the middle of that two-year period in 1979, filmmakers were seeking new ways to make the cheaply made, impoverished independent productions fresh again. The last gasp trend was Kung Fu flicks about fighters who were cripples, mentally ill, or had physical deformities. Virtually all of these were normal actors and martial artists who were made up to look disabled or were playing characters who were physically encumbered in some way. Joe Law's THE CRIPPLED MASTERS (1980) set itself apart by featuring real life cripples as its leading actors.The following is both a review of THE CRIPPLED MASTERS and an article about its making; and its place in the genre during a period where these outdoor style of Kung Fu movies made for peanuts were about to lose their theatrical vitality.
THE CRIPPLED MASTERS touches all the bases of the Bumpkin Kung Fu movie template of the late 1970s while arguably being the most unorthodox film of its day. It was a risky endeavor for producer Shuai Yue Feng who had only been in the business for a little over a year and had already produced five films when this unusual picture was nearing completion.
Director Law Chi wasn't a stranger to tackling new ideas; such as in MONKEY KUNG FU (1980), aka MONKEY FIST, FLOATING SNAKE. In that one, it's the villain who must go and train to defeat the hero. The CRIPPLED co-star, Chen Mu Chuan, was the headliner, channeling Jackie Chan's bumpkin kid from SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW (1978); that being the film that birthed the final phase of the Kung Fu film before they became home video staples. They were replaced theatrically by romantic comedies and modern day crime pictures in the early 80s. Law Chi isn't a widely known filmmaker, but he was certainly not afraid to alter genre conventions to varying degrees.
The plot of THE CRIPPLED MASTERS is the standard revenge narrative. As is often the case in many of the indy KF features, there are major holes in the storyline. For example, we never know exactly what it is that Li Ho has done to have his arms severed from his body; it just happens. We also never know what problem Tang Su Ting had with Li Ho to gleefully order Li's maiming; it just happens. This is the nature of Hong Kong and Taiwan action cinema, and especially the lower budgeted, independent variety. The film's Chinese title, HEAVENLY CRIPPLE, EARTHLY DISABLED, is a reference to the two main leads. Li Ho is the Heavenly Cripple with Tang being the Earthly Disabled.
Director Joe Law (who is sometimes listed as Lo Chi), and whose real name is Lo Zu, came from a filmmaking family. One of his younger cousins, Law Kei, or Luo Qi, or Lo Chi Shi, was also a director. He helmed a handful of movies with bizarre characters and peculiar subject matter that--adding to the similarities in their names--could easily give one the impression both men were the same person. Joe Law directed films primarily in Taiwan whereas Law Kei did a lot of acting and directing work in Hong Kong. Law the younger appeared in numerous Shaw Brothers productions as an extra like THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (1967) and GOLDEN SWALLOW (1968). His work as an extra extended to his older cousin's films like THE KILLER SWORD (1968) and the troubled THUNDERBOLT (1973) for Golden Harvest. 
Moreover, both men were friends with actor and martial artist Chen Kuan Tai, going back as far as Joe Law's WONG FEI HUNG: BRAVELY CRUSHING THE FIRE FORMATION (1970). Adding to the confusion, Law Kei was invited by Chen Kuan Tai and actor and comedian James Yi Lei, to direct the first film for their independent company, Tai Shen, founded in 1974; that film being THE CRAZY INSTRUCTOR (1974). The following year, Law Kei's THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE was released; not to be confused with the other THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE (1975), a Hong Kong-Thailand co-production starring Lo Lieh. 
To further distinguish the two relatives, Law Kei, Joe Law's younger cousin, was behind one of the wackiest and most creative Bruce Lee clone movies, THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN (1977). Then there was BRUCE LEE THE INVINCIBLE (1978) that had nothing to do with Bruce Lee, but did have kung fu fighting gorillas. Law the younger then went back to Shaw Brothers to be a director on the bizarre, and outright terrible kung fu comedy, THE TIGRESS OF SHAOLIN (1979); or, as it's known in Chinese, THE LEPROSY FIST. This film, that starred Hui Ying Hung, Liu Chia Yung and Liu Chia Liang's sister, Liu Jui Yi, was one of a handful of deformity-cripple kung fu flicks that were in-production between 1978-1979; THE CRIPPLED MASTERS, directed by Joe Law, being among them.
Going back over a decade, Chang Cheh's THE ONE ARMED-SWORDSMAN (1967) initiated and popularized the disabled action hero wherein Jimmy Wang Yu lost an arm, had to overcome his handicap, avenge himself, and rescue his master's school from destruction by a rival gang of fighters. It was the first action film in Hong Kong to gross HK$1 million at the box office. Additional, similar pictures followed, like the 1969 South Korean imitation THE ARMLESS SWORDSMAN, and 1972s THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSWOMAN. 
Throughout the 70s, Jimmy Wang Yu was the sole proprietor of this style of action picture, playing single-digit swordsmen and boxers battling an assortment of bad guys. After 1975s THE ONE-ARMED BOXER VS. THE FLYING GUILLOTINE, audiences were tired of Wang Yu waving his arm around against a slew of opponents. After a few more of them, Wang Yu himself either got tired of tying one arm behind his back, or the continuing bad box office.
When Chang Cheh returned to Grand Guignol Kung Fu cinema with the 1978 hit, CRIPPLED AVENGERS, more cripple-fests followed like THE FOUR INVINCIBLES (1979) and SIX KUNG FU HEROES (1980). Director Chang Cheh began the amputee trend in 1967; no sooner had Chang revisited stories of heroes with disabilities in 1978, enterprising film producers took notice and ran with it. A year into its new Jackie Chan-influenced platform, the Kung Fu flick was already suffering from over-saturation and needed a new look.The
reason for the volume of mangled martial artists was only partially due
to filmmakers jumping on a bandwagon; it was also the changing mood of
the HK viewing audience--a side effect due to the exhaustive number of
movies being produced in Hong Kong; there were so many of them.
1978s
SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW and especially DRUNKEN MASTER, rejuvenated
the Kung Fu genre, but wore it out again several months later.
Filmmakers had to once more find some new angle to spark interest and
produce a new hit trendsetter. Coming up with weird fighting styles was
no longer enough. Jackie Chan had captivated audiences with his comedy
Kung Fu action that resulted in record-breaking box office. This also
led to his health-endangering obsession with topping himself each time.CRIPPLED AVENGERS was one of 48 Hong Kong films to gross over HK$1 million in 1978, becoming a top 20 hit. A group of disabled martial artists taking revenge was a novel concept, so why not mix that with the Kung Fu comedy?
1979 was the year bodily disfigurements became a major selling point in Kung Fu movies. In DRUNKEN ARTS AND CRIPPLED FISTS, Simon Yuen Siu Tien played a hunchbacked Kung Fu master teaching Li Yi Min what is essentially Arthritis Fist to defeat one his students gone rogue played by Lung Tien Sheng (FLAG OF IRON). Then there's CRIPPLED KUNG FU BOXER that showcased a hunchbacked main villain and a deformed kung fu style; there's even a swordsman with one arm. Back to Shaw Brothers again, there was the aforementioned LEPROSY FIST, aka TIGRESS OF SHAOLIN; and ROTTEN HEAD HO, aka DIRTY HO (1979); both films featuring disease-ridden, sideshow style characterizations.
One of the most bizarre, but entertainingly so, was 1979s KUNG FU VS YOGA. This one featured Dunpar Singh, an Indian contortionist possessing almost inhuman abilities to bend and stretch his body in the most jaw-dropping ways imaginable. This was produced by former Shaw Brothers superstar Paul Chang Chung for his indy production company, Chang Brothers. Much like Joe Law with THE CRIPPLED MASTERS, Paul Chang wanted to do a movie unlike the typical Kung Fu feature that had become so prominent; the only thing differentiating one from another was the new face leading the acting roster. One ambitious producer was taking movies about fighters with physical ailments or deformities a step further...
In old magazine articles of the time period, Taiwanese Producer Shuai Yue Feng was being hailed as a hot new film producer, noting his founding of Golden Tower Film Company in August of 1978 (SNAKE came out in March of '78). He was a savvy, and moderately successful movie producer in an industry where it was commonplace for an indy company to go out of business after a single feature. Another young producer, Cheng Lan Rong (Chen Lang Jung), co-produced the cripple cult classic with Shuai Yue Feng alongside Li Ying Jan. 
The idea of making a Kung Fu picture starring real life cripples was the brainchild of producer Shuai. For his main protagonists, Shuai wanted to cast non-actors. Chang Cheh had success with this industry model when he formed his 4th Generation of film stars, known outside HK as The Five Venoms. Director Sun Chung tried the same thing with TO KILL A MASTERMIND (1979). But instead of expending resources finding a multitude of new faces, Shuai Yue Feng settled on three.
The two leading actors chosen had never been in front of a camera before. Shun Chung Chuen (Shen Song Cun) was born without his arms while his co-star, Hong Chiu Ming (Kang Zhao Ming) was born with a bone disease that made him incapable of walking. The two men knew each other and, despite their disabilities, taught themselves Kung Fu. Both men ran the Han Ming Martial Arts Academy in Taiwan. At the time they were recruited to star in THE CRIPPLED MASTERS, they reportedly had 40 students.
Starring as the Kung Fu master of the two cripples was a well known contortionist named He Jiu (also billed as Ho Chiu); a 75 year old martial artist whose performance at the Japan World Expo was part of the film's promotion. Nicknamed 'King of Soft Bones', this was the only film appearance of He Jiu.
According to articles from 1979, producer Shuai "spared no expense" on this production. Indy Kung Fu films seldom had much money behind them; few if any actual sets, meager film crews, and sometimes there was no money to pay a scriptwriter. THE CRIPPLED MASTERS didn't have one. In cases like this, an outline is written with pages of dialog that are oftentimes written on the set each day. What script there was contained elements of Chang Cheh's CRIPPLED AVENGERS (1978) and THE MAGNIFICENT RUFFIANS (1979). For this production, producer Shuai allowed director Joe Law to shoot a lot of footage over the course of 80 working days, which was a long time for a film with little to no actual production values. A reported 80,000 feet of film was amassed, amounting to over 14 hours of footage.
With so much random footage, the filmmakers still couldn't decide how to end the movie. As things play out, the two cripples and Ah Po (played by one of the choreographers Chen Mu Chuan) march to Li Chung Chien's home to take revenge. Po arrives with two coffins in tow with Li and Tang hidden inside of them. Po, wearing a blue jacket, engages Li Chung first. The cripples emerge from the coffins and begin fighting Li so Po runs off after Li's subordinate who earlier had tortured him; only now, Po isn't wearing the blue jacket and the scene plays out like it was meant for earlier in the movie. Then suddenly, the fight between the humpbacked villain and the crippled avengers has switched to their master's training ground out in the woods.This continuity error is noticeable but not detrimental to the flow of the film; just that both the old master and Chen's character aren't seen again.
Chen Mu Chuan was a monkey Kung Fu specialist and had the same monkey master as Chen Kuan Tai. When Chen Kuan Tai broke his contract with Shaw Brothers to make IRON MONKEY (1977), Liu Chia Liang was supposed to have designed the action for what was to have been the inaugural film for their newly founded independent company. When Liu bailed, Chen Mu Chuan stepped in to choreograph the action sequences. Filming for CRIPPLED MASTERS ended in November of 1979. The director and producer assembled what was described as an "uncut version" for a test screening. A distributor who ran one of the biggest theater chains in Taiwan liked what he saw and bought the license for that territory. Taiwanese filmgoers got to see this strange new curio in January of 1980.
Critics in Hong Kong weren't kind to this style of Kung Fu flick, referring to them as the "Terminal Disease Kung Fu films". They found them to be in almost as poor taste as the Bruce Lee clone pictures. They blamed Shaw Brothers for birthing the short-lived movement, going so far as to mock them by stating films like 'Hemorrhoid Girl vs Syphilis Hero', 'Butt Punch', and 'Abortion Fist Against Athletes Foot' would surely be the next big moneymakers. THE CRIPPLED MASTERS must've been a moderate success at least in Taiwan considering the few, unrelated sequels that followed.New Line Cinema acquired US rights, and released it in America as THE CRIPPLED MASTERS. As often happened in those days, the two leads were given Americanized names. Shun Chung Chuen was called Frankie Shum while his co-star, Hong Chiu Ming, was renamed as Jack Conn.
Producer Shuai Yue Feng felt he had something special; so he immediately began preparations for a sequel titled 'The Three Crippled Wanderers'. This followup was to have added a blind Kung Fu fighter to the mix. The actual sequel didn't surface till a year later and was titled FIGHTING LIFE (1981) wherein Shun Chung Chuen and Hong Chiu Ming take off to find a job in the big city. Shuai Yue Feng co-directed this unrelated sequel, but had no involvement in the next two films starring Shun and Hong.
Their time in the industry was brief, but they did two more movies together; starring again in TWO CRIPPLED HEROES (1982), which was another story-centered movie for the two men. Here, they protect a blind girl from a gang of local thugs. This film was released on VHS in the late 80s by Video Treasures, so it was the introduction to these crippled masters for a number of fans.They appeared one final time in 24 SHAOLIN MOVES (1983), aka RAIDERS OF SHAOLIN TEMPLE and in Chinese as 24 SHAOLIN HORSEMEN. Shun Chung Chuen (who passed away in 2014) and Hong Chiu Ming are no longer the leads, but in cameo appearances as the teachers to Sonny Yu, a real life martial arts master who still possesses an amazing degree of agility in his old age. RAIDERS was a First Films Production.
As for the Two Crippled Heroes, their debut outing is the best of the quartet. It's a novelty film with a high degree of exploitation and entertainment value. To the Drive-in and 42nd Street crowd, it delivers plenty of cheap, even grotesque thrills. Sometimes you'll see so-called academics read things into these films that aren't there. Most of these movies were never intending for anything other than to grab an audiences attention and their money in the process. The filmmakers responsible for THE CRIPPLED MASTERS were aiming for something uniquely different, and succeeded, despite any technical handicaps.This review is representative of the Film Masters blu-ray. Specs and extras: new 2K HD scan, 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen; English and mandarin language tracks; Kings of Kung Fu: Releasing the Legends documentary; commentary track; Kung Fu movie trailers; original 1982 trailer; new, re-cut trailer; before/after restoration; booklet; running time: 01:31:28
