The Crippled Masters is a fairly popular exploitation movie to cover because it is pretty much the greatest thing ever. I'm not even going to summarize it because you have to experience all the twists with me.
I dislike how so many people complain that movies about disabled people not casting disabled actors. You don't have to watch them! You can seek out any number of fine cinematic masterpieces in which disabled actors play disabled people. Like The Crippled Masters (1982).
I bought the DVD because of the awesome special features
I hate it when menus aren't interactive.
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| Chapter Names aren't too descriptive |
Some things to look out for as I analyze this movie within the wider context of the acquired-disability-revenge genre:
- Time of acquired disability. Usually they show life before the acquired disability. Sometimes it takes over half the movie, Sometimes it's fairly early on. Sometime it's only a few minutes,
- Training scene. This is either immediately after acquiring the disability or after the first defeat after acquiring the disability. There's usually a mentor with specific knowledge.
- Two villains. I shall call the the one who inflicted the disability the personal villain and the one in power over the personal villain the indirect villain.
I don't know the exact spelling of some of the characters names, and different online sources give me different answers. That's the problem with dubbing.
After ten seconds of shots of Hong Kong, a man screams and his arm falls to the floors.
Now this is how you make an acquired-disability revenge film. Get straight to the point. I didn't put in a movie called The Crippled Masters to watch able-bodied masters for half the movie.
A man called orders his other arm to be cut off. Then he tosses the armless man out. The armless man (Lee Ho) warns that Tang will have his just deserts. Guards throw him out.
Hold on,
His arms were amputated, yet the actor has vestigial limbs.
I take it back. This actor can't accurately portray an amputee because he has vestigial arms. They are completely different and actors can't portray things they are not. What an awful movie.
The master congratulates Tang for amputating the arm and pours him a cup of tea. Tang hesitates and the master admonishes him.
A lesser movie might have Tang explicitly tell another character that he doesn't trust the master. But The Crippled Masters exercises subtlety and just has Pao glance at the tea as if it is poisoned.
Lee Ho wanders around town until a restaurant owner yells at him to get out, thinking he is a begger.
Lee Ho corrects him and says he has money, so the owner lets him in.
Lee Ho struggles to drink the tea from the pot, and the other patrons run out.
A running theme throughout The Crippled Masters (1981) is really bizarre scene transitions. I have trouble orientating myself into the narrative. The waiter appears to just move through a bead chain through the restaurant, but it is also a way to transition in nighttime. Everything darkens, and the music changes. I think that the restaurant is just one room, and the transition flipped it.
These stylistic choices are indicative of the main character's state of confusion.
The waiter brings him some chicken and taunts him with it.
This makes sense because the Disability Discrimination Ordinance in Hong Kong passed in 1995, and this movie takes place before that.
Lee Ho bites the waiter and another man beats him up. .
An old man asks the fourth wall why people have to work so hard if everyone is going to die some day. The Crippled Masters grapples with nihilism.
This is another example of The Crippled Master's awkward transition reflecting the character's confusion,
Lee Ho man wakes up beside him and asks where he is.
Chin, the coffin maker, says he went to pick up dead bodies and saw Lee Ho still alive, so he saved him instead of making money. The Crippled Masters grapples with basic morality.
Chin means gold, and everyone calls him Chin because gold makes him happy. This is an example of a retroactive character arc. Chin picking up Lee Ho instead of collecting coffin money seemed like an obvious choice at first. We later learn that this holds special significance because Chin is obsessed with gold.
Lee Ho explains that he is an escort, but Lin Chang Cao, the master, betrayed him. A lesser movie would waste time showing this before the amputation, but The Crippled Masters knows that it is more efficient to just tell, not show.
The dialogue in this movie is quite amazing
Chin: I've heard people say the the master, Lin Chang Cao is very kind-hearted. But I know better. in fact, my information is that he is very cruel and evil.
This is dubbed in English. Maybe that line sounded fine in Manderin and something went wrong in transation. I think so.
His information is that he keeps buying coffins. If I were an evil king, I would order coffins from different places. And this town probably has more than one coffin maker, due to the demand. (I took Economics 101) Even if there was only one coffin maker, I would just destroy the bodies instead of burying them.
Lee Ho wonders how he could have been so blind to Lin Chang Cao's cruelty, clearly a meta-genre reference to blindness subgenre of the acquired-disability-revenge genre
Pao suddenly appears to buy coffin and is surprised that Lee Ho is still alive, so he sends Tang and another man to attack.
The fighting in this movie is by the best and most interesting across all of these acquired-disability-revenge films. I mean, the bar is extremely low.
Chin maybe dies, maybe lives. He tells Lee Ho that his future will get better but he should leave.
Immediately cut to Lee Ho next to a river. The Crippled Masters demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the acquired-disability-revenge genre structure and streamlines the detail to focus on broader themes and symbolism.
Lee Ho attempts to drink the water, but falls over and is sucked into the stream. This nail-biting scenario culminates in Lee Ho successfully drinking from the stream but is once again sucked int the river.
The Crippled Masters uses geese in flight to symbolize Lee Ho's desire for freedom
When Lee Ho exits the stream, he chases after grounded geese, symbolizing that he lack of arms leave him metaphorically "grounded"
The most famous shot from The Crippled Masters is the iconic rice shot. With a stab of music, the camera zooms in a few grains of rice in a bowl. This cinematographic flourish emphasizes Lee Hos hunger.
Lee Ho enters a pig sty. The pigs look down upon him eating from their trough, no doubt directly comparing the poltical struggles of Lin Chang Cao's empire with the themes of Animal Farm.
Potential Wise Mentor #2 appears and asks whether Lee Ho is a man or a ghost.
"I don't know what I'll say, but if I don't die, I will be a success."
Cue training montage with whimsical music.
This is better than most of the other training montages because it comments on the exploitation of disabled people's labor as "training."
Seriously, he's taking care of the entire farm and entertaining the kids.
Sudden cut to Lin Chang Cao's men attacking Tang.
And I mean sudden cut. Sudden cuts are a hallmark of director Joe Law. As well as pan ins.
Lin Chang Cao pours some acid on Tang's legs, withering them. And I'm just wondering what kind of system Lin Chang Cao uses to determine punishments in his kingdom. Is it arbitrary? Why is it arms for one guy and legs for the other?
Tang threatens Lin Chang Cao.
Lin Chang Cao: All I know is that those against me, like you, die
Philosophically sound. As everyone dies, everyone who stands against Lin Chang Cao also dies.
A lesser movie might go for the cheap "Those who stand against me" joke.
"You knew too much. We were forced to get rid of you,"
Say the man who doesn't get rid of him at all.
Anyone who claims that this is ableist because the disfigured man is the villain has to reread the title of the movie.
Lin Chang Cao goes back to town and attacks a school teacher to transform his school into a casino.
See how expertly The Crippled Masters crafts it's villain?
Lin Chang Cao collects "rent" from an antique shop owner.
Tang falls down the cliffs and lands next to Lee Ho. Joe Law's direction shines here as he chooses to do a series of rapid pans in to both of their faces.
Lee Ho ties a sling around Tang and drags him a cave and we have probably one of the greatest and most influential scenes in cinematic history. Lee Ho and Tang fight. Joe Law chooses to position Lee Ho ABOVE Tang for two purposes. Firstly, it makes sense within the context of the movie. Lee Ho is more used to his disability than Tang. In addition, the lack of arms does not influence his ability to stand. Secondly, it has thematic significance. Lee Ho is expressing his moral superiority to Tang and Tang is accepting it. The positions of the two actors illustrate the dominance of Lee Ho over Tang.
A noise alerts Lee Ho to a basket in the corner. A man asks for help getting out of the basket.
So....this guy was in the basket the whole time? He claims that he is only hiding because of the two men. He got scared from the fighting, and went to the basket.
"I have been listening to your conversation and now I can understand why you're fighting with each other."
"I think the both of you really are a good couple..."
"...one without arms and one without legs. if you combined together,you could beat Lin Chang Cao"
I understand the "specialization" argument, but I think that they would be better off with two four-limbed people than two two-limbed people.
On a strictly logistical level.
Once again, The Crippled Masters demonstrates mastery and control of the tropes and themes of the acquired-disability-revenge genre to construct it's narrative. Usually there is a personal villain and an indirect villain. In the opening, it appears that Tang is the personal villain and Lee Chan Cao is the indirect villain. However, The Crippled Masters subverts this dynamic when Lee Chang Cao cripples Tang, giving him his own personal villain. Thus, the personal and indirect villain become one and the former personal villain becomes a hero. The movie also hints that Lee Ho was at one point a villain, indicating that this is a cycle.
Cue Training Montage. Like everything else, The Crippled Masters follows all the beats but does them so much better than the other acquired-disability-revenge films.
Suspenseful music as Tang uses his arms to walk across the sticks
This is called "adaptive training"
Other activities follow. Tang does hand-stands on bricks. Lee Ho tosses rocks at raw eggs with his feet. Both do some form of martial arts. Then the master uses a ball of yarn to train them.
Unlike so many others in the genre, The Crippled Masters weaves humor into the narrative seamlessly.
Finally it's time for the big confrontation. Lee Ho will finally get his revenge...
...against the restaurant. This was before Yelp.
The waiter attempts to taunt Lee Ho with chicken, but Lee Ho slaps him.
Character Arc complete.
Tang offers a deal: five dollars for every kick Lee Ho gives to the waiter. The waiter agrees.
The first kick is light. The second is hard. A fight breaks out. Lee Ho and Tang defeat the guy who beat up Lee Ho at the beginning of the movie.
Another genius narrative construction of The Crippled Masters. A low-stakes, comedic b-plot conflict to parallel the main conflict. It provides a more believable escalation to the main conflict with Lin Chang Cao.
The waiter never gets his dollar.
Speaking of Lin Chang Cao, his men report that some men from Ching Ho stole some jewelry. His men are literally called White and Black. Lin Chang Cao orders them to steal the jewelry.
Joe Law's sharp cutting misdirects the viewer often. As White and Black leave, the waiter steps into frame. I originally through that the waiter was working for Lin Chang Cao, but it was just a cut to the restaurant.
Lee Ho and Tang follow Lin Chang Cao and his men to a river, where the thieves count jewelry. The thieves argue how much of the treasure each of them deserve, a parallel to the power dynamics in Lin Chang Cao's empire.
Lin Change Cao suggests simply giving him all the jewelery. He and his men fight the criminals and Black eventually wrests the jewelry away.
As they leave, Tang, wearing a hat, grabs them from the bushes and Lee Ho. attacks.
Even those familiar with the acquired disability revenge genre may not realize that this scene is a delightful satire of Crimson Bat 3: Watch Out, Crimson Bat (1963). The most memorable thing about that disappointing third entry in the Crimson Bat entry is the use of hats to denote the morality. Tang actually takes his hat off and uses it as a weapon to indicate his heightened morality. These little touches make The Crippled Masters worth rewatching over and over.
This fight scene is incredible and shows both crippled masters using different fighting skills. They defeat the villains and find Pao crawling away
Lee Ho tears Pao's pants and tells him to warn Lin Chang Cao
Lin Chang Cao is somewhat upset that Pao came back alone without defeating the Crippled Masters. He declares the Crippled Masters his greatest enemies and gives Pao three days to track them down.
Maybe it's a small thing, but The Crippled Masters really makes an effort to make the antagonism between the parties reciprocal
People come to Pao's place for some festival. Pao asks a women whether she has seen two men with no arms or legs.That is a really poor way to phrase it.
"I saw one man with no arms and another man with no legs. But I did not see two men with no arms or legs"
Pao suggests using this man to beat the Crippled Masters.
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"Pao, you are normally very stupid, but this time, you have devised a very good plan."
The Crippled Masters makes economical use of its dialogue. From a single line, we learn three things
1. Lin Chang Cao usually thinks Pao is stupid
2. Lin Chang Cao thinks this plan is good
3. Lin Chang Cao approves of Pao in this situation
Pao goes up to the man, named Al Pao.
Pao jokes that this is a good name. The Crippled Masters expertly weaves humor into it's story without losing narrative focus.
Lin Chang Cao tests Pao out on some of his men. Event the non-crippled kung fu fighting stands out.
Lin Chang Cao asks Al Pao his price and laughs.
Now, this movie is already fantastic in it's deconstruction of some of the tropes in the acquired-disability-revenge-genre. But The Crippled Masters goes further and pulls a brilliant twist as it nears it's third act.
The wise old master didn't teach Lee Ho and Tang kung fu for some noble cause. He wants them to steal eight jade horses back from Lin Chang Cao.
Whoever did the English dubbing for the old master messed up here:
"In fact the eight jade horses were discovered by me, but then some time later, Lin Chang Cao shamelessly..........stole them from me."
The pause is a few seconds long. Maybe this is a deliberate choice by the English dubber.
I don't think the eight jade horses were mentioned previously. It'a brilliant device because all the other mentors in this genre tend to have no motivation besides the good of their hearts. The Crippled Masters challenges the audience to question this trope by subverting it and giving the master a selfish motive.
Al Pao eats peanuts and drinks tea. Apparently he was hired to guard the Jade horses that were never mentioned before. Al Pao decides to relax. Lee Ho and Tang infiltrate the house using skills specific to what the master taught them. It seems like such a simple thing, but acquired-disability-revenge films don't often show the protagonists using specific skills.
The Jade statues are in a red case on top of a she;lf. Tang jumps on top of Lee Ho to reach it.
This arouses suspicious. Al I-Should-Have-Been-Doing-My-Job Pao chases the Crippled Masters out and a fight scene over the jade statues ensues. This is pretty fantastic. All the fight scenes are fantastic.
Al Pao tosses the suitcase to Tang. He claims that the eight jade horses depict special kung-fu techniques. However, he thinks that even if they all teamed up, they couldn't beat Lin Chang Cao.
Joe Law makes another daring directorial decision. Al Pao fights the Crippled Masters in the forest during the night. He immediately leaves the forest and it is the middle of the day. A more cynical viewer may think that they filmed scenes out-of-order without caring about the time of day continuity. However, the darkness represented Al Pao's dark allegiance to Lin Chang Cao. The daylight represents his redemption.
Lin Chang Cao is right outside and ready for a fight. Which they have. Joe Law's delicate hand indicates that Lin Change Cao is a difficult foe. A metallic CLANG reverberate whenever Al Pao hits Lin Chang Cao's back, a subtle way to show that he has armor. Lin Chang Cao beats Al Pao.
Back at the old master's hut, Lee Ho tells Tang that he went into town to get town and ask. He learns that Al Pao is in trouble and mmay be killed unless he gets the Jade horses
I thought that Lee Ho was wanted in the town? He could just walk in with no arms and ask questions.
Al Pao is chained up and being tortured. Suddenly a basket is tossed into the room. The following dialogue exchange is one of the many where The Crippled Masters (1982) makes the audience question the line between intentional and unintentional humor.
Pao (Pao, not Al Pao):What's all this?
Man: A basket
Pao: Fool, anyone can see that. But what's inside it?
Man: Inside it? I don't know
Pao: You fool. Why don't you open it?
Man: Uh...
Pao: Useless! I'll do it.
The master pops out of the basket. Le Ho and Tang come in from an open door.
If they could just walk in, why bother with the basket?
After another fight, they rescue Al Pao, trap Pao in the basket, and escape. Lin Chang Cao orders someone to follow them.
This narrative has been full of twists that cleverly subvert the audience's expectations of a typical acquired-disability-revenge film. ready for another one?
Al Pao was sent by a providential government to investigate Lin Chang Cao steal the eight jade horses. So he was actually against Lin Chang Cao the entire time.
Why are the eight jade horses so powerful?
"It is said that the eight jade horses hold many secrets. If one could only understand them, and use them, a man could create unbeatable kung fu."
Al Pao figures out the secret.
So are the other six jade horses just decoration?
If this were any other movie, I would complain that this it is ridiculous that nobody could conceive of "standing on top of each other" without the eight jade horses.
Especially since they did so in order to get the eight jade horses.
But this is The Crippled Masters (1982), so I trust it.
Al Pao ablesplains the secret of the eight jade horses to the crippled masters
Master: Funny, I sleep in a steaming basket. Most People sleep in beds,
Lin Chan Cao: And now you'll sleep in a coffin.
Al Pao: With respect, you're both crippled, but you're both very useful. The worst possible thing is to be crippled in your mind.
My only complaint about this movie is that all the young mentally disabled kids watching it will internalize this message.
Al Pao, Lee Ho, and Tang find the master gone and place destroyed. Yet he was able to leave a message
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| "As you see, because of the eight jade horses, disaster was brought upon us" |
The coffin master from the beginning of the movie, whom I guess didn't die, delivers two coffins to town and says they are for Lin Chang Cao.
Al Pao fights his way through the town and fights Lin Chan Cao.
I am so sick of this narrative where the able-bodied savior swoops in at the last minute and...
Just kidding, Lee Ho and Tang pop out from barrels and fight, in another fantastic sequence. My only complaint is that, for all the talk about combining their powers, they fight individually.
Outside, Pao runs into Al Pao (confusing) and The Crippled Masters makes a references the Crimson-Batsian influence on the meta of the acquired disability revenge genre
Pao: You blind?
Al Pao: I'd still kill you even if I were blind.
The main fight between the Crippled Masters and Lin Chan Cao parallels the fight between Pao and Al Pa.
Some critics call the next scene a "mistake". I disagree and think that people don't appreciate Joe Laws directing style.
The fight inexplicably moves from the town to the master's hut. This isn't because they filmed it at the hut and couldn't think of a way to get them from the town to the hut. It is Joe Law's experimentation with surrealism.
The fight scene is utterly amazing and possibly the greatest scene of anything I've ever reviewed. Eventually, Tang JUMPS ONTO LE HO'S BACK IN SLOW MOTION AND ATTACHES HIMSELF to it.
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| The ancient Jade horse technique |
Lee Ho and Tang defeat Lin Chang Cao. and the movie ends on a blurry still-shot.
Another excellent choice by The Crippled Masters. So many acquired-disability-revenge films linger past the defeat of the antagonist. This one ends it on a high note.
What else can I say? The Crippled Masters (1982) is the quintessential acquired-disability-revenge film. It lives up to all the hype and I am glad I have the DVD with the special features like Interactive Menus.
There are two sequels..,
I made some inspirational wallpapers using quote from the movie:
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