Stranger From Shaolin (1977)

Plot:

Stranger From Shaolin (1977) follows a pair of sisters who rescue a martial arts expert from drowning, and in turn he agrees to help train them and their village to fight local thugs.

Stranger From Shaolin (1977) Review:

The Secret of Chinese Kung: Strong enough for a…Just kidding. This film is like a cross between ‘The Big Boss’ and ‘Shane’. Two women from a fishing village rescue a stranger who happens to be good at kung fu. The stranger helps the two women fight against an oppressive “big boss” portrayed by Lo Lieh.

I rented the film from a local video store on a VHS copy released from the original distributor, Ocean Shores Video. Now, the film has been re-released by Tai Seng in their Martial Arts Theater series. The great Lo Lieh is given top billing on the DVD’s artwork. However, in this film, Lo Lieh isn’t given much of an opportunity to show of his prowess. There’s a Eurasian-looking Bruce Lee clone who portrays the heroic stranger. The fight scenes are pretty well choreographed, but this film lacks originality. Some scenes from “The Big Boss” are even filmed shot-for-shot in this film and are sometimes slightly altered so the scenes wouldn’t qualify as direct plagiarism.