The martial arts genre is wide and varied, but there is a classic 1970s film from Hong Kong that perfectly encapsulates the martial arts experience onscreen. Stretching all the way back to the earliest days of film, martial arts movies are all about the skill and pageantry of combat sports, specifically from Asia. Each region has contributed something new and unique to the umbrella genre, and there are many subgenres that further sudivide martial arts movies. Whether they’re grounded and gritty, or over-the-top and campy, martial arts movies represent the best of what action cinema has to offer.

The genre has produced international superstars like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Donnie Yen, and the cultural influence of Asian film has reached Hollywood. Plenty of American martial arts movies have tried to copy the best elements of the genre, but have found varying degrees of success. Because martial arts movies are so expansive, it can often be overwhelming for new viewers to find the perfect starting point. Fortunately, there is a film from Hong Kong that specifically attempts to sum up the martial arts experience, and also manages to be an entertaining film along the way.

Heroes Of The East Is A True Showcase Of Martial Arts Styles

The Film Is A Love-Letter To Various Forms Of Martial Arts

One of the crown jewels of Shaw Brothers Studio, Heroes of the East is a truly unique specimen from 1970s Hong Kong. The film follows the son of a wealthy Chinese businessman who is forced into an arranged marriage with a Japanese woman. Their marriage gets off to a rocky start when they clash over the superiority of their respective country’s martial arts styles. This prompts the young man, Ho Tao, to accidentally issue a challenge to a group of Japanese martial artists who travel to China to challenge him to a gauntlet of fights to determine which style is best.

Unlike most martial arts movies which rely heavily on one or two styles, the entire point of Heroes of the East is to showcase not only kung fu, but Japanese karate methods too. Watching the two styles clash is the heart of the film’s excellent fight scenes, and each scene is wall-to-wall action with almost no breaks in the pace. Nevertheless, the movie takes time to find humor in the situation as well, especially since the fights are not really life or death. Instead, the marriage between Ho Tao and Yumiko is at risk of falling apart over petty squabbles.

What makes Heroes of the East such a quintessential martial arts movie is that the fighting isn’t merely a means to an end. Often, martial arts movies use the combat sequences in service of some other plot. Heroes of the East is all about the art of combat, and goes out of its way to showcase hand-to-hand fighting, weapons clashes, and even esoteric approaches to combat such as the drunken boxing style. It’s an education in martial arts as well as an entertaining ride, and it doesn’t cut corners in its choreography or its lavish production design.

Heroes of the East is also an important cross-section of martial arts movie legends, and the cast is stuffed with notable names. The film stars Gordon Liu as Ho Tao, and the Hong Kong icon starred in dozens of memorable martial arts movies in his lengthy career. Director Lau Kar-leung also has a cameo role as drunken master So, who inadvertently teaches Ho Tao the art of drunken boxing. Hong Kong was just one H๏τbed for martial arts movies in the ’70s, but Heroes of the East had an international scope, which was rare for the time.

Heroes Of The East Also Represents A Major Shift In Hong Kong Cinema

The Movie Portrayed Its Japanese Characters In A Positive Light

Because Heroes of the East is a film from Hong Kong, it’s expected that it would favor the Chinese styles of martial arts. However, it broke with tradition by also featuring Japanese styles, and showcasing them with the same level of respect as the native approaches. Before Heroes of the East, Japanese characters were often portrayed as villainous and dastardly, and it was a leftover from the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during WWII. In the movie, the Japanese characters aren’t stereotyped, and prove to be just as honorable as the Chinese characters.

Each fight in the movie is also made in the spirit of fairness, with established rules that the characters follow. None of the battles are to the death, and each dual is to determine which fighting approach is superior. Though the movie clearly favors the Chinese approach, it isn’t to the detriment of the Japanese martial arts styles or the characters themselves. Heroes of the East might not be the biggest or most bombastic martial arts movie of all time, but it has yet to be surpᴀssed as a masterclass in the artistry of Eastern combat styles.