Made in 1979, this tells the story of Butcher Wing. He’s a student at the Po Chi Lam Clinic, home of the legendary Wong Fei-Hung (played here by Tak-Hing Kwan who made the role famous since the 1940’s, later played by Jet Li in Once Upon a Time in China), who is forever having to chastise and punish Wing for his rash behaviour. After a misunderstanding, Wing gets himself and his school in trouble with the Five Dragons school led the dangerous Master Ko – exponent of the Five Elements Kung Fu forms, and the ominous Palm of Death which he uses in a demonstration to easily smash through what looked like a paving slab. Angry at Wing for screwing up once again, Wong Fei-Hung demands he stays out of trouble while he’s out of town, and to keep away from the Five Dragons at all costs. However Wing is soon deceived by Ko’s returning deadbeat of a son, Tai-Hoi, who even fools Wing into not only beating up his own long-lost brother who had come to visit. To help even things out comes a drunken vagabond who decides to help Wing’s brother when Tai-Hoi kidnaps his wife, and also happens to be a master of the Iron Arm technique and a great fighter in his own right. Soon Tai-Hoi's deception is revealed and after a series of tragic events, Wing must fight not only Tai-Hoi, but also his Master Ko attempt to combat his Five Element styles with his Five Animals styles.

I’d go into more detail, but I’d be here all day, the plot is surprisingly convoluted, as the writers do everything they can to make Tai-Hoi as big a bastard as possible, to the point of being a tad excessive. He really is a dastardly villain as he plays both sides off each other (shockingly though, he doesn’t have any facial hair – I thought that was a prerequisite for this sort of HK role?), and sets the events in motion that lead up to a series of excellent fight scenes in the last 30 minutes. With Sammo Hung in the lead role, and the likes of Yuen Biao in supporting roles, directed by the man Yuen Woo Ping himself, you’re in for a highly entertaining and extremely well-made comedy kung fu romp.

This film really starts off as a comedy and gradually changes into a more straight-edged martial arts movie as the end of the film approaches. The majority of the comedy comes from the drunken beggar played by Fan Mui Sang (HK aficionados might recognise him from Young Master and the infamous Story of Ricky). He’s obviously having great fun as the wine-obsessed character, and its his wacky interplay with the other characters which make up the bulk of the humour. Compared to him, Sammo is playing this film straight, such is the wide variety of goofy expressions and situations afforded him. Sammo does, however, still get his moments of silliness. Wing is an impetuous and foolish guy who gets himself into difficult situations a few times during the feature. I’ll be honest and say that I didn’t really get all the jokes, I’m not down with the intricacies of Far Eastern humour, but I knew when I was supposed to me laughing so isn’t that good enough?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone combine slapstick and old-school kung fu action as well as Sammo Hung does. Not only does Sammo present a very human quality to his characters, he actually gets beat up and hurt rather than just killing people with one kick, but his large frame is deceptive – Sammo is fast, skillful and innovative. Acting as the action choreographer in this film also, his fight scenes have an amazing grace and precision to them that you just don’t get in Martial Law or western martial arts movies. The different forms, styles and stances used, and the contrasting styles of the combatants truly shows a great attention to detail. It’s a wonder to watch Sammo take on Master Ko at the climax of the film, watching how they try and out-do each other by alternating between different styles, well, it makes me wish I’d taken Kung Fu lessons! Also of note is the excellent, and highly surreal sequence between Sammo and one of Ko’s students, the aptly named Weird Cat. His bizarre ‘cat technique’ is a sight to behold as he meows, scratches himself, pounces and of course, always lands on his feet. Its undeniably comical in nature, but that almost adds another element to it all, not only can Sammo make you look on in awe of his fight sequences, he can make you laugh during them too. Its these fantastically original ideas that really puts this film up a few notches, and makes it that much more amazing to watch.

Magnificent Butcher is truly a movie any fan of Hong Kong movies should own, as it shows just how innovative and exciting the output from that country could be, and just how damn long its taken the western world to catch up. While the characters are hardly developed at all, they’re a lively bunch that never fail to hold your attention. It really is the Kung Fu sequences you’re going to want to get this for, and while they’re a little light in the first part of the movie, the last 30 minutes are absolutely excellent. Sammo Hung does a wonderful job both in front and behind the camera, making his own battles and those of Wing’s fellow students’ novel, exciting and extremely entertaining. Yuen Biao especially looks great when fighting Master Ko’s henchmen, and of course Sammo utterly goes against what you’d expect of a man of his bulk with his superb technique and amazing agility. Hoi San Lee is also great as Master Ko, his Kung Fu display early on and his battle with Wing are extremely impressive, showing his great amount of experience in Hong Kong film making. This is a benchmark production in Hong Kong martial arts movie making, proving that while Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li are all important, there is a hell of a lot of quality not involving any of them which helped Hong Kong achieve the reputation it today holds in the movie world. This is required viewing.