THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN (1978) Four stars
Wu Tang Clan founder RZA said that he’s probably watched THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN more than 300 times, beginning with a dub on TV (called THE MASTER KILLER) and then continuing through many, many viewings in seedy urban theaters.

RZA has shown the movie the same devotion that its central character Liu Yude / Monk San Te (Gordon Liu) shows in THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN.

THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN truly takes off into the stratosphere of the highest level of martial arts entertainment when our protagonist arrives at the Shoalin Temple around the 31st minute.

Training sequences have long been a staple of action movies, in everything from THE DIRTY DOZEN and FULL METAL JACKET to ROCKY, DRUNKEN MASTER, and THE KARATE KID, just a few prominent examples.

However, I’ve never seen anything quite like the training sequences in THE 36TH CHAMBER. They’re on another level, taken far more seriously than usual.

Training sequences in a lot of movies seem to end up being consolidated into a couple montages and topped off with an uplifting song along the lines of Bill Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now” (ROCKY). We’ve seen it time and time again, a standard of the action movie relentlessly satirized in TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE.

THE 36TH CHAMBER gives us a good 45 minutes of training, helped out by the fact there’s 35 chambers in the Shaolin Temple. San Te advances more rapidly than any student ever before, six years that, through the magic of movies, goes by quickly. I could have gone for the entire movie being nothing but training sequences, though.

It all leaves you with an unbelievably giddy feeling as he cracks every level, bests every challenge. The challenges are not merely physical, and there’s a rigorous attention to detail rare for any genre.

San Te wants to create a 36th chamber to teach the common man the basics of Kung Fu. He’s rebuffed and sent back out into the larger world.

San Te sought sanctuary at the temple because, as a young student named Liu Yude, he took part in an uprising against the Manchu government.

Now, back in the world, equipped with his three section staff invention, San Te’s ready for combat against those heartless Manchu oppressors.

After vanquishing his foes, San Te eventually returns to the temple and establishes that 36th chamber.

Of course, he becomes a folk legend.

Beyond the usual suspects Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, Gordon Liu is one of my absolute favorite martial arts stars. In addition to THE 36TH CHAMBER, notable titles in his filmography include CLAN OF THE WHITE LOTUS, RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER, and EIGHT DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER.

Western audiences likely know Liu best from his role in Quentin Tarantino’s KILL BILL movies, where he played Johnny Mo and Pai Mei in the two parts, respectively. Pai Mei in EXECUTIONERS FROM SHAOLIN and Priest White Lotus in CLAN OF THE WHITE LOTUS, both villains, inspired Tarantino’s Pai Mei.

(Please watch CLAN OF THE WHITE LOTUS if you want another screw loose entertainment. Liu defeats Priest White Lotus in one memorable final fight that incorporates the fine art of needlepoint.)

Liu had the necessary movie star charisma and joy of performing to carry viewers from one end of the picture to the next or stay interested through 35 chambers, to be more precise. Riveting is the word for it.

Liu’s at his best in THE 36TH CHAMBER and the movie does not waste any time in showcasing him, with an opening credits sequence that previews the final hour of the film when it kicks into a high level.

Lo Lieh played the villain General Tien Ta in THE 36TH CHAMBER and he also played both Pai Mei and Priest White Lotus. He played the heavy in a lot of Shaw Brothers films, but one should remember that he played the protagonist in FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH, a film (along with ENTER THE DRAGON) that broke martial arts films in the Western world. Lieh also directed himself as Priest White Lotus.

This is not his best villain, but that’s alright because the training sequences and Liu’s starmaking performance alone make THE 36TH CHAMBER one for the ages.

We know what RZA has to say on that.

“Me and Dirty (Ol’ Dirty Bastard) were probably the most fanatical about it,” RZA said in Rolling Stone. “36TH CHAMBER to me has had a strong spiritual connection that set me and Dirty on the path.

“It’s one film I’ve never gotten sick of. I’ve probably seen this movie more than any other, especially now that it’s something I perform with, but I don’t get tired of it. More than anything, I love watching people discover it. When I was in California doing it at the Egyptian Theater, that was the first time my son, 10 years old, watched the movie. And he loved it. Turning somebody onto a film that’s so dear to you is, to me, for me, the coolest thing.”

RZA provided a live score to THE 36TH CHAMBER at various Alamo Drafthouse Cinema screenings.