Varied Celluloid

	The Deadly Duo (1971)

Director:	Chang Cheh
Writers:	Ni Kuang
Starring:	David Chiang, Ti Lung and Feng Ku

The Plot: The film starts with the Jin rulers (the ancestors of the Manchu, who would dominate China some 500 years later and establish the Qing dynasty), assassinating those who were loyal to the Sung dynasty. Pao Kung Tien (Ti Lung) leads a small revolt against the Jin, and unfortunately they are not very successful. While doing battle he runs into a traitor who has dishonored his people by helping the Jin, and although the two don’t face off here, they are immediately mortal enemies. Pao Kung Tien and his crew regrettably save only one man from a team of nine who were captured by the Jin. This man passes along information on the fighters who help the Jin. Along with these warnings, he provides a map on his back that shows where the great Prince Kang is being hidden! He warns however that few men would be able to cross the bridge that protects the path to these kidnappers. There is only one man who could potentially save the Prince and he is a gentleman known as master Yin: The Shadow. The Shadow is a ruthless and greedy martial artist who is now in trouble with his own clan after the news has got out about his evil deeds. Hsiao Pin-fu (David Chiang) is a martial artist from the same clan as The Shadow and has been sent by their master, in order to put an end to The Shadow’s corrupt ways. When Pao Kung Tien shows up searching for The Shadow, in an attempt to appeal to his better nature so that he can help save the prince, a fight ensues and David Chiang joins up with Pao Kung Tien’s group of soldiers. Now this ragtag group have to somehow find their way into the camp that Prince Kang is being held… and it won’t be easy!

	The Review

Although I have covered a lot of martial arts cinema on this website, I usually don’t delve heavily into the legitimate history behind these films. This likely has something to do with me not understanding any of the history itself! Yet, as a viewer, I have found myself studying some of China’s more popular history in order to better understand the context of my favorite martial arts epics. The Deadly Duo is one of Chang Cheh’s more historical pieces of cinema. Granted, all of these films have their own historical context, but The Deadly Duo actually begins with a scroll that lets us know precisely what time and era this film takes place in. According to the introduction, the film is set at the end of the Northern Sung Dynasty after the Jin (eventually the Manchu) have began their takeover of China, marking the start of the Jin Dynasty as well as the rebelling Southern Sung Dynasty. This was a time period of strife and battling between clans, but our film here more than likely takes place in or around 1127AD. Although I don’t know a great deal about the history involved, it seems like an interesting period for Chinese history. It is a time that pre-shadows the inevitable rise of the Manchu, who would take control of the country and dominate the majority-Han population. Our film focuses on the rebirth of the Sung dynasty, who would then be known thereon as the Southern Sung dynasty. After doing some initial reading, it was difficult to find many references to a Prince Kang from this time period but from the few things I did read I would assume it is safe to say that our story could essentially be a true story. However, knowing Chang Cheh and the martial arts film business within that time period – you can expect a great deal of embellishment on top of the already mythical folk story-esque nature of Chinese history. The characters are grandiose, the good deeds are impossibly kind and the villains are epic in their evil nature. In Chinese storytelling the nature of grudges seem to be capable of lasting for centuries. The Jin/Manchu/Ching have a long history in martial arts cinema as the pre-requisite bad guys within the genre. That animosity towards the Manchu was certainly palpable throughout the seventies, where the Manchu rivaled the villainy of Russians in American cinema during the Cold War!

A Chang Cheh film wouldn’t really be a Chang Cheh title if there wasn’t some kind of silliness at foot however, and although this is a martial arts film in the guise of history, there is plenty of zany activity here to keep the audience entertained. I think for fans of martial arts cinema, this should hold some interest due to the similarities between a select group of villains in this film and those of Cheh’s later film: Chinese Super Ninjas. Similar to that film, we’re given a group of killers out to stop our protagonists, and they have some very unique powers. We have Mole Man, who can dig through the ground. Tree Man, who hides out in trees. We have Fire Man, who uses explosives that erupt in flames. We have Water Man who assassinates enemies by hiding under their boats and then we have Gold Man.. who I don’t recall ever seeing any super powers from. I’m just being honest here! Anyway, the Mole Man and Water Man here are the most reminiscent of Cheh’s Ninja classic and should capture the imagination of fanboys looking for some of that Five Element magic.

Continuing on with the theatrics, David Chiang’s character has some rather supernatural abilities here as well. A fighter who uses a technique so faint that he has all but mastered the art of weightlessness, he factors heavily into the plot as the only good soul capable of attempting to cross the deadly bridge that leads to Prince Kang’s holding place. It’s unfortunate that he doesn’t get to put this masterful style to good use often, but Chiang does manage to evade attacks by literally floating in mid-air. The style is similar to the mythical depiction of Wing Chun in the Gordon Liu vehicle Fists of the White Lotus, where we saw Lo Lieh use the air from Liu’s punches to quite literally blow him out of the way in order to evade punches. Although one wishes that Cheh would have taken advantage of this strange concept, it could have added an unnecessary and superfluous gimmick on top of a film that is already strong and pointed on its own. David Chiang and Ti Lung starred in many films together and The Deadly Duo is just another title that sees this dynamic duo showing why they were kings of the industry at one point. Surprisingly, Chiang actually comes into the movie somewhat late for such a integral character. Marking his introduction near the twenty or thirty minute point, his role in the story ahead seems somewhat ambiguous. As we see how things play out however, it becomes obvious that this is a man of humble decency and is willing to sacrifice his life as a patriot for his people rather than sit idely by. Lung and Chiang, as they always did, work well together and under Chang Cheh’s guidance the bonds of heroic bloodshed seem so emboldened through their actions. Cheh always had a strong hand in stressing the importance of brotherhood in his films and even if Chiang and Lung were to only meet for a few moments worth of screen time (as was the case in Vengeance), their familiarity and charisma would be enough to stress those important bonds for the audience.

The fight sequences here are choreographed by the immortal Liu Chia-Liang (36th Chamber of Shaolin, 8 Diagram Pole Fighter), who focuses heavily on weapons based combat as would seem necessary. His choreography is often very down to earth and it truly suits this historical epic due to the context and the complimenting styles. Chang Cheh of course adds his patented violence, as bodies seem to stack up in mind blowing increments, especially during the tense and excellent finale. Although nowhere near his goriest work, Chang Cheh incorporates a great deal of blood within his Shakespearean style tragedy, as he was often known to do. Although I won’t say whether the ending is happy or sad, you can look forward to many of the characters, both good and bad, paying the ultimate price. The finale truly is the reason to see the film, as Chang Cheh establishes a very tense pace from the very start of the film that pays off heavily in the inevitable conclusion. Although I have seen others who disagree, I commend The Deadly Duo for crafting an excellent finale that is predicated on intense drama and not just setting the stage for a series of massively orchestrated fight sequences. Mind you, there are fight sequences, but the reason for them is always readily available and completely necessary to give payoff to the well crafted drama that came before it.

	The Conclusion

Overall, I had a really good time with The Deadly Duo! I liked it possibly more than the far more famous The Heroic Ones, also helmed by Chang Cheh and starring Ti Lung and David Chiang. It deals with a story that has historical importance for the Chinese, but focuses on a very basic and simple story that doesn’t require massive sets and an infinite number of extras. I give the film a very beloved four out of five. I highly recommend it and hope others get the chance to track this one down!

	King Eagle (1971)

Director:	Chang Cheh
Writers:	Ni Kuang
Starring:	Ti Lung, Pei-Shan Chang, Miao Ching and Ching Lee

The Plot: When the figurehead of a powerful martial arts clan is killed by the first-chief, the head-man leaves his dying words and symbol with a young follower who is given the responsibility of carrying the symbol to the eight heads of the clan in order to tell them of this treachery. When the young man is wounded by one of the many groups hunting him, he runs off to a creek where he meets up with Jin Fei “The King Eagle”, as played by the legendary Ti Lung. Jin Fei wants nothing to do with this dying man nor his story and feels that if he lives by the sword, so must he die. However, the man begins to speak and just by hearing the story of who killed this headman, it makes Jin Fei a marked man. Now the entire clan is after him, with the first-chief leading the charge. Behind him is the eighth chief, a scorned woman who believes herself to be the most beautiful in all the martial world but is angered when King Eagle does not react to her looks. Eighth chief has an elder twin sister, the seventh chief, who is an honest and decent woman who just so happens to hit it off with King Eagle. These two begin a subtle romance while they inevitably wander towards the ultimate showdown. A showdown that will feature the superhuman Jin Fei and this evil clan of power hungry lunatics.

	The Review

With roughly 100 films to his credit, Chang Cheh had his fingers in every type of martial arts film one could imagine. However, he has mostly been defined by two periods in his work: his earlier swordsman films, made primarily in the sixties and the early seventies and then his hand-to-hand Kung Fu features made from the mid-seventies up through to the eighties. These two periods helped establish him as a legend and although you can’t hold the man to any one select style, you can always feel his personal affections within any particular project. King Eagle is primarily a swordsplay film, made in the early seventies. This was before Cheh would team up with the venom mob in Taiwan later on, and help change martial arts film history. At this point he had already been blessed with succes on titles such as One Armed Swordsman and Have Sword, Will Travel, but this film seems to be mildly forgotten in comparison to those other two, which is a shame since I would argue that it is equally as good as the previously mentioned work. If there is a single memorable thing about this picture, just one thing that you as a viewer will walk away remembering, it is this: Ti Lung is a bad, bad man! Without question, King Eagle becomes the movie that it is because of the role that Ti Lung plays. It has been said that Chang Cheh was influenced by Japanese samurai films and by spaghetti westerns, and never was that more obvious than when watching King Eagle. The character of Jin Fei is that of the immortal anti-hero, who quite simply never wants to be involved in any kind of altercation no matter how ruthless the villains may be or how moral the good guys may be. He simply demands his privacy and although he is ultimately wrapped up in all of the fighting anyway, he only fights after he has been theroughly provoked. The character is pretty amazing, since everyone around him refers to him as a “hero”, but in actuality he only does the right thing when his own selfish way of life is put at stake. Although we as viewers probably shouldn’t LIKE this character, his sheer ferocity and determination makes him too endearing to turn away.

Ti Lung absolutely makes the movie. He excels in this role and shows why he is so beloved by fans of this genre. He delivers when it comes time to show emotion and he is always very believable when delivering the action. He may have been the very best “actor” of the old school Kung Fu era. Here, he essentially plays Superman however. While that may not sound particularly interesting, it adds a completely different element to the movie than what Chang Cheh usually delivers. Bruce Lee often played a similar role, as he was that one guy that truly seemed invincible on the screen. When you watched Bruce Lee, you never even contemplated him losing in a fight. The same can be said here, as we watch Ti Lung rip through his opponents. The difference here is that while Bruce Lee may have finished opponents with a single knockout punch, Ti Lung’s character will quite literally kill you with a single punch to the cranium. A favorite kill of mine comes as Ti Lung monkey wrenches a man’s arm behind his back, and then he proceeds to lift this man straight up into the air via the same arm and shoulder, hurling him six feet in the air where he lands in a flaming bonfire. Super strength? Check. Invulnerability? Check. X-Ray Vision? Probably! The violence can be fairly brutal throughout. This bitter anger separates this movie from the likes of Bruce Lee and gives it that quintessential Chang Cheh vibe. There are limbs removed during the course of the movie, with plenty of arterial spray as Ti Lung slices open some villain’s neck. Not an incredibly gory sight, the movie certainly does deliver more violence than you might be accustomed to for this type of movie, especially if you’re used to the lighter side of the Kung Fu market. There’s a bloody arm dismemberment at one point and the bloodbath that concludes the film make up for the bloodiest moments throughout. The violence and fight scenes are over relatively quick, however, which leads to many of the complaints I have seen elsewhere for the movie. The fight scenes, due to the raw force and fighting ability of Ti Lung’s character, are generally short throughout much of the film. Only during the final battle do we see a great deal of extended choreography, as most fights seem to end with a tiny bit of back and forth before our Chiense superhero dispatches of the bad guys with relative ease.

For me, this film represents Chang Cheh at his best. When his stories are streamlined and he gets to bring his various interests into a project that remains less tedious in its plotting, we get to see how talented a director he really is. The characters are introduced at a steady and solid pace, every character is differenciated so that the audience can take mental notes and the plot is generally a very simple one. The characters are interesting, Chang Cheh gets to use some of his marvelous gimmicks and we get some dynamic performances along the way. Although it is not his best film, I don’t see how you could fault someone for listing it amongst their favorites.

	The Conclusion

Chang Cheh takes a simple story about a man who doesn’t want to fight but is being forced to do it, then he incorporates one armed men (one of the chief’s has a hook for an arm) and deadly metal fingers, how could you not be entertained? Okay, so it isn’t Chang Cheh’s very best, but that isn’t to say it doesn’t entertain. I give the film a four out of five. I would like to see more discussion going on for this one out there. I would like to see King Eagle get a little more respect amongst the more mainstream Kung Fu fans out there! This one certainly has all of the makings of a Kung Fu cult classic, if only more people check it out.

	Heroes of the East (1979)

Director:	Liu Chia-Liang
Writers:	Ni Kuang
Starring:	Gordon Liu, Yuka Mizuno and Yasuaki Kurata

The Plot: Ah To (Gordon Liu) is the son of an important businessman who is being forced into a marriage with a Japanese girl. He at first hates this fact but soon finds love with young Kuda. After the dust settles and the honeymoon is over though, it turns out that his new Japanese wife is addicted to martial arts and has to practice her Karate and Judo at all times. She is soon breaking through brick walls in the courtyard and smashing everything in her way, and rumor gets out that Gordon Liu is being beaten by his own wife! The two get involved ina series of contests between martial arts and Gordon continually schools the young Japanese Karate master with Chinese kung fu. When she has had enough of his dismissal of Japanese karate, she heads back to Japan. Ah To, seeing no way of getting her back, is convinced by one of his friends to send a scathing letter to her dismissing Japanese martial arts. When she receives the letter however, her master and sifu takes challenge with this and an epic showdown between Chinese Kung Fu and Japanese karate is on the way!

	The Review

Liu Chia Liang and Chang Cheh will both live on throughout the years as the essential godfather’s of the kung fu genre. There have been filmmakers who have come and gone throughout the years who have added their own element to the genre, but few can claim to have inspired and created so much of what is now considered canon within this genre. Liu Chia Liang (brother of our star Gordon Liu), famed for his most popular title 36 Chambers of Shaolin, ultimately inspired every martial arts training sequence from that point onward for more than thirty years. Heroes of the East is a title that has been recommended to me many times over by my friend Coffin Jon over at the VCinema Podcast (which I co-host!), but I held off on it until Kung Fu Christmas rolled around yet again. A mix of political intrigue between two nations that have rivaled one another for ages as well as slapstick comedy, Heroes of the East is a strange brew that goes down smooth and leaves you slightly dizzy. The entire premise for Heroes of the East seems to hang on the tension-fueled relationship between the Chinese and the Japanese. For those of you who don’t know these two countries have had a long legacy of disputes, not the least of which would come during the second world war when the Japanese ransacked the country and took part in all sorts of attrocious acts. The amount of anger the Chinese held towards the Japanese could be felt in many films made by the post-war generation and although Heroes of the East doesn’t go out of its way to actually make amends between the Chinese populace and the Japanese, it is an interesting and slightly more open minded view of the clashing cultures made within this era. In many older kung fu films the Japanese were the defacto villains; similar to the way Russians were portrayed in American action films during the cold war. The two films that immediately pop into my head would be Bruce Lee’s The Chinese Connection as well as Chang Cheh’s Chinese Super Ninjas, both films featured stereotypical evil Japanese caricatures promoted as the lead villains.

As stated, the film doesn’t exactly alleviate all of the issues between the Chinese and the Japanese but it does a decent job of portraying a slightly more open minded view of the debate between countries. While Gordon Liu does indeed trounce every Japanese fighter he comes in contact with, the Japanese fighters are at least shown to be dignified warriors. Their skill isn’t shown to be any less than the Chinese ultimately, since Gordon Liu is nearly godlike in his skill level here, but the lack of even-ground for both techniques is slightly disconcerting. What does one expect from a Hong Kong film marketed towards patriotic Chinese though? It would be hard to imagine Gordon Liu being beaten by a Japanese fighter with that in mind. Although there are some serious issues being discussed here, Liu Chia Liang doesn’t take the subject matter as deathly serious. Instead there is a lot of regular Hong Kong humor at play here. Similar to titles like Dirty Ho, the comedy can be a bit over the top but it is a loveable kind of goofy that you’re either going to find endearing or annoying. Much of the comic relief is brought about through Gordon Liu’s affable servant who continually leaks out information regarding his master and the tumultious relationship he has with his karate-skilled wife. The scenes of combat between Ah To (Liu) and Kuda makes for some of the most entertaining segments of the film. Taking a regular argument between husband and wife and amplifying it with martial arts turns out to be a entertaining, if dangerous, combination! I really enjoyed the very obvious differences between the kung fu and the karate choreography. You don’t even have to be familiar with martial arts to look at the two different styles and understand the differences. As always, karate tends to look a little sloppy because at its nature it is a style based on force rather than elegance but it still looks brutish and powerful. In direct contrast to the small steps and dance-like maneuvers of Gordon Liu, THEGIRLSNAME actually looks like the more powerful fighter!

Gordon Liu impresses in one of his few performances where he actually sports a full head of hair and it actually makes him look quite young. Who am I kidding, even at age fifty the man looks good for his age. Liu is in high spirits here as he deftly represents Chinese martial arts and does so with the chops that only he had. Although there isn’t any one big training sequence here, as he and his brother were both known for, there is a funny bit where Liu has to learn drunken boxing by sending his servants to fight with a local master who accepts no students. The drunken old man continues to trounce the servants while Liu sits in the background mimicking his style in order to the movements down. The scene did feel a bit tacked on but it was so clever that you can’t help but enjoy yourself. As always, an impressive and very different form of martial arts cinema from these two great family members.

	The Conclusion

If there are any problems with Heroes of the East, it may be in the pacing. Clocking in just a wee bit over an hour and a half, the film feels like an epic when in actuality it really isn’t THAT long. Although it does tend to be a little longer than your average Shaw Bros. martial arts picture. There is an odd beat to the film, as the first half is primarily comedic adventures in a rough marriage where the second half devolves into an endless series of fight scenes. Regardless, for what it is this one doesn’t disappoint. I give the film a four out of five stars! A good time to be had by all!

	School of the Holy Beast (1974)

Director:	Norifumi Suzuki
Writers:	Masahiro Kakefuda, Norifumi Suzuki
Starring:	Yumi Takigawa, Emiko Yamauchi and Yayoi Watanabe

The Plot: Maya Takigawa (played by Yumi Takigawa) is a young delinquent who is hanging on to a past that has abandoned her. Her mother was a devout nun who at some point became pregnant by an unknown father, which lead to her eventually committing suicide. Now Maya looks to discover just who pushed her mother to her fateful end, and in the process discover who her father is, by infiltrating the convent! As she does so, she discovers that the beautiful exterior is simply for outward appearances and this school of god is nothing more than a home of torture inflicted by a group of hypocrites. Maya will use all of her contacts, intellect and anger to open this case and destroy this school from the inside-out!

	The Review

To be perfectly honest, the nunsploitation genre is something that I have never full-researched. School of the Holy Beast is arguably not even a part of that subgenre, depending on who you talk to, but it had enough elements going for it to rope in my attention. For one, this is a seventies-era Toei production. That alone counts for something. So, regardless of how good or bad the content may be, the movie will probably remain interesting. Number two, it was directed by the amazing Norifumi Suzuki! Third, it has made the top tier amongst many pinky violence lists that I have seen on the internet. Although it doesn’t really seem to belong in this genre, it still makes for an interesting reference before watching. Those three things add up to a concoction that no true Asian cinema nerd could possibly refuse. Going into the movie, I found myself slightly puzzled as to how the film would categorize itself and to what genre it most belonged, but after watching… I find myself even more puzzled than before!



School of the Holy Beast is a true genre film jack-of-all-trades. It knows a little bit about everything, but not a whole lot about any one thing. To be honest, the nunsploitation genre does not actually entice my personal interest as a viewer. This is partly the reason I have put off watching the movie, despite having the DVD just lying around for several months. I was not raised Catholic, I honestly know little about that culture, and films that sell themselves on eroticism generally do little for me. I can enjoy an artistic pinku title, but sexual marketing generally turns me off as a viewer. The jolly surprise that I discovered with School of the Holy Beast however, is that this movie actually goes a bit deeper than what expectations might lead one to believe. There is sex, and plenty of it, but there are also some interesting political and cultural points made, as well as a ton of vivid artistic imagery.

If you take away the religious garb, School the Holy Beast is most assuredly a women-in-prison movie. In fact, when the nuns have visitors from the outside they are forced to have conversations through steel bars as if this were a real prison. Similar to films such as Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion and Criminal Woman: Killing Melody, the monastery that these girls stay in is ruled by a dominant and pious group who want to enforce strict discipline on the inhabitants. The difference here is a palpable sense of skepticism for Christian leadership. While the film never shows utter disdain for the religion itself, there is a great deal of anger felt throughout the movie. These catholic nuns are shown to be the true bearers of the Inquisition, and they enact massive amounts of bizarre torture throughout the film. This seems to create a slightly surreal atmosphere within the movie, because we are constantly shown a strange dichotomy of worlds. Despite the outside world being a very obvious 1970-era Japan, the interior of this monastery is truly medieval in terms of its torture and pious attitudes.

The way the convent is depicted shows a truly bizarre vision of Christian theology. A vision that is shown through the prism of a culture that is not accustomed to this religion. Essentially, all Christians are shown to be self righteous and hypocritical bigots who are unable to control their own actions. Some would argue that this presentation is merely being factual, but an intellectually honest person recognizes this as a stereotype. Hypocrisy seems to be a main theme running throughout the film. The stern preaching of the priest and his lead abbess is shown in direct confrontation with their actions, which are far less moral. The character of father Kakinuma is an interesting one to me. He leads the monastery with a righteous hand, but he secretly has an internal war going on between his faith and his worldly ideals. The background for this character is that he resents god for having never manifested himself physically in front of him, and his immoral activities are either a result of this resentment or are simply a part of his own true disbelief. The film isn’t really clear, and since we do know that he has been abusing his power for at least the past eighteen years, I think it is safe to say he has held onto his beliefs for even longer. If he has lived with this resentment for over 18-20 years, when was he ever actually in touch with his own religion? Within the Christian faith, God is said to be pleased through acts of faith and worship, yet this man of the cloth shows neither faith nor fulfills even the basic tenants of Christian fellowship… and yet demands for god to show himself. His hypocrisy is not just felt through the face that he puts on for the crowds and the church, but through his own internal strife and (dis)belief in God.



Christian theology is referenced throughout the film. During the final minutes, there seems to be a reference made to the story of Jacob. In that story, Jacob wanted to marry a woman named Rachel, but he was tricked by Rachel’s father into taking Leah (Rachel’s sister) as his wife before ultimately marrying Rachel. Although the parallels that are made aren’t wholly compatible with the original story nor this film’s context, there is enough in the film that I think that this was intentional. Also, in one of Maya’s final confrontations with a relative who has been absent her entire life, a relative who also claims to be a devout Christian when they instead revel in hypocrisy, she uses the phrase “I don’t even know you.” This line, within the context of the film, also seems reminiscent to a quotation from the Bible. In Luke 13, Jesus says: “Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.”. For those outside of the religion, it might seem like grabbing and picking at pieces of a scripture that hardly seems applicable. However, this quotation from Jesus is used very often and is one of Jesus’ most memorable parables. The situation is flipped inside of this film, however, and instead of the flock coming to the master – a worldly lamb is speaking to a worldly Sheppard who has always been absent. If you look hard enough, there is enough subtext to appreciate the film on a different level outside of the generic “Oh my gosh, lesbian nuns!”. While one does not have to study theology in order to understand the basic tenets of the film, I think the movie does have plenty to say for those who want to pick up on some of these aspects.

School of the Holy Beast is a very mixed production. We have moments of slapstick comedy that feel best suited for a 1980s teen-sex romp, but then we have the other side of the movie which features a searing indictment of organized religion. Not to mention, the movie has absolutely beautiful photography. The torture sequences, which can be explicit in their sexuality at times, are actually quite amazing as well. There is one sequence in particular that stands out as being both beautiful and revolting at the same time. This bit of torture revolves around Maya, and it shows her being wrapped up in thorns from a rose bush and then being swatted with bouquets of thorny roses. As she twirls in anguish, we watch as rose pedals flow through the air making the entire experience surreal and beautiful. No questions about it, the film absolutely looks spectacular, and the backdrop of a European castle only helps re-enforce this beauty.

	The Conclusion

While the true intentions of the film are entirely up for debate, I think School of the Holy Beast is intelligent enough to garner a larger audience than your average nunsploitation title. The film is beautifully helmed and marks some of Suzuki’s best work from a visual standpoint. Although I may end up at odds with some, I’m giving the film a four out of five stars. It is a confrontational film that carries the attitude of the era while directly attacking social ideals.

The Plot: In the height of the disco age, our story focuses on a man named Tucker Williams who is best known by his alias, “The Disco Godfather” (played by Rudy Ray Moore). When the Godfather’s nephew, young Buckie, has his basketball scholarship dreams dashed by a friend who gives him a hot dose of the brand new drug called PCP… the Disco Godfather swears vengeance! The Disco Godfather, who is an ex-police officer, has all of the connections to convincingly hunt down the drug dealers who have poisoned his community with this new plague. He visits the local hospital, which is packed full to the brim with young kids who are suffering PCP induced comas, and he sets his mind to bigger things. He helps establish programs in order to “attack the whack” and put an end to this nightmare of drug horrors. However, as the Disco Godfather digs deeper and deeper into this assorted mess, he begins to discover that these drug cartels go up further than anyone could have ever imagined!

	The Review

Rudy Ray Moore is a celebrity within the blaxploitation genre that draws some very different reactions. Depending on who you ask, you’ll either hear him revered as a saint or as a blasphemous curse on the entire genre. He is beloved within hip-hop and African American culture for his party albums during the seventies which were very popular. They were groundbreaking in their taboo subject matter, and pushed the limits of vulgarity as an art form. However, when it came to the cinematic scale, his movies were by no means “good”. His catalog has become the fodder of B-Movie fans who love the consistent continuity errors and dreadful acting.

To be completely honest, I am not a big fan of Moore’s comedy recordings. Although they most certainly have their audience, as a totally square cracker, the comedy simply alludes my own understanding. Despite it being slightly mean spirited, and lacking in compassion, I tend to enjoy Moore’s filmography as a connoisseur of really bad movies. That might make me a bad person, that might make me a less cultured hooligan, but it doesn’t make me wrong. Disco Godfather is a bad movie. Poor conception, poor execution and generally bad in almost every way except that one area that tends to matter most: entertainment. Disco Godfather, despite everything I may have to say about it, is ridiculous in its levels of entertainment. Disco Godfather is a movie that you really CAN judge based entirely on its name. Do not feel bad about judging this book by its sequin-laden cover folks, because chances are you KNOW what this movie has in store for you. Simply from knowing Rudy Ray Moore’s involvement, as well as the title of the film, Disco Godfather more or less played out exactly as I had it built up inside of my head. My expectations were that the film would take place in a bizarre fantasy disco world that would be inhabited by caricatures. I expected some kind of conflict would take place, and it would ultimately draw the Disco Godfather from his discotheque, and then he would have to use poorly choreographed martial arts in order to destroy some kind of nefarious scheme that was, more than likely, concocted by the white man. As it turns out, I was right.

That really is Disco Godfather in a nutshell. As with any great piece of literature though, it isn’t ultimately about the destination of the story, but the follies along the way. Similar to Great Expectations or Moby Dick, while we are discussing literary works, Disco Godfather squarely places itself in a very certain time and a very certain place. That place is of course the tail end of the seventies disco subculture! If you have seen Dolemite!, chances are the last thing you ever expected to see was Rudy Ray Moore sporting a skin tight, baby blue, sequin covered jump-suit. Well, if you watch Disco Godfather… prepare yourself, because you’re treated to just such a sight within the opening minutes of the film. Rudy Ray Moore, sporting the biggest grin in cinematic history, pops and locks his way down the electric slide line in true seventies fashion. The moment is very surreal to say the very least, but never lacking in humor. Intentional or not. Rudy Ray Moore is the MVP for this picture, without question. Although Disco Godfather is a step up in most technical regards in comparison to Dolemite!, the one consistency from both pictures is Moore’s performance. Equally intimidating and hilarious, Moore is the glue that holds the film together. His performance is generally poor in all fashions, but its the astounding manner in which he delivers his performance that makes the movie so unique in its entertainment value. Moore enters into scenes with a grin upon his face, despite there being no reason to be so upbeat and he generally fluctuates between two modes: suave and mad-as-all-get-out. He defines the two-dimensional performance here and yet remains so incredibly likable in his performance that it is hard to imagine any audience member walking away with any ill-feelings toward him. He may win over audiences in the most simplistic of manners, but he absolutely does win them over.

Despite Rudy Ray Moore’s awful/brilliant line delivery (“Bucky! What have you HAY-AD!?”), the rest of the cast are generally decent. There are a few spotty moments here and there, but for the most part the cast does a good job in supporting this far fetched, PCP ridden, story. Carol Speed (Abby, The Mack) is good here but her role might as well have been billed as a cameo. At the end of the day, this is Rudy Ray Moore’s show and it is as ridiculous as the man himself ever thought of being. A favorite moment of mine came towards the end of the film and shows Rudy Ray Moore hunting down the PCP traffickers in a alleyway, and this of course proceeds to escalate into a kung fu battle. The choreography is honestly a vast improvement for Moore, but what makes the sequence memorable is when a jogger stumbles upon the brawl and asks “Hey, what’s going on here?,” to which Moore replies “These guys are selling PCP!,” which causes our jogger to throw off the towel from around his neck and join in saying “PCP? Well then, let’s kick some ass!“. If that doesn’t define this movie, what does?

	The Conclusion

Ridiculous. Stupid. Hilarious. Brilliant. All are words that describe Disco Godfather adequately. You, as a film fan, should know whether this is a movie you want to track down. I will say that it at times has pacing issues during the first half, where Rudy Ray Moore seems to spend more time at the disco than he does tracking down any PCP dealers. When the movie picks up, the silliness rarely lets up. Part of me wants to sway anyone from ever seeing this movie and then another part of me wants to implore everyone to search it out. For my rating, I have to sway towards the side of entertainment. I give the movie a three out of five. It was a close vote and almost made it to a four, but those previously mentioned pacing issues really slow things down during the first half. Regardless, check out this ridiculous piece of fluff as soon as possible!