Photo of Gordon Liu

Gordon Liu

“Hung Gar is a very difficult martial art to learn. Why did I choose this martial art rather than another? Because I like practicing difficult things! And because after learning it, it's easier to learn other martial arts or to bear other difficult things. Starting with the most difficult will make other things sweet in comparison.”

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    The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

    THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN

    LAU KAR-LEUNG Hong Kong, 1978

    Martial arts movies don’t come more iconic than this kung fu masterpiece from director Lau Kar-leung. With an acute focus on the disciplines of combat, it’s the ultimate training film, as Gordon Liu’s lithe apprentice eschews the path of vengeance for one of grace and spiritual self-determination.

    The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter

    THE 8 DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER

    LAU KAR-LEUNG Hong Kong, 1984

    The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter may have arrived at the midpoint of Lau Kar-leung’s career, but it plays like a late-period reckoning with a genre he helped create. Possessing some of the action maestro’s finest set pieces, and steeped in spiritual exhaustion, this is kung fu’s answer to The Searchers.

    Heroes of the East

    HEROES OF THE EAST

    LAU KAR-LEUNG Hong Kong, 1978

    Kung fu is pitted against Japanese fighting styles in this sparkling culture-clash romcom. Talked into a marriage of convenience, Gordon Liu meets his match in Yuka Mizuno’s feisty bride, while Lau Kar-leung shows why he’s the king of action staging, with some of the most dynamic battles on his CV.

    Clan of the White Lotus

    CLAN OF THE WHITE LOTUS

    LO LIEH Hong Kong, 1980

    Gordon Liu would don the white hair of wizened master Pai Mei in Tarantino’s Kill Bill vol. 2, but here he’s the callow apprentice studying a female fighting style to defeat the iconic villain. Directed by King Boxer’s leading man Lo Lieh, Clan of the White Lotus is a quintessential kung fu classic.

    Dirty Ho

    DIRTY HO

    LAU KAR-LEUNG Hong Kong, 1979

    An all-time great kung fu comedy from the virtuosic Lau Kar-leung, Dirty Ho boasts singular fight scenes that combine acrobatic elegance and zany slapstick. Facing formidable foes, all played by martial arts icons, Gordon Liu and Wong Yue make for a riotous duo of cheeky master and hapless sidekick.

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