Brothers Five (1970) July 4, 2007
Posted by Cal in : Wuxia, 1970s films , trackbackDirector: Lo Wei Cast: Cheng Pei-Pei, Lo Lieh Action Director: Sammo Hung, Simon Chui Territory: Hong Kong Production Company: Shaw Brothers
In one of the episodes of the British TV series Extras, Andy Millman (played by Ricky Gervais) is talking about films, and utters the following gem: “I love all the ‘number’ films, really: Seven Samurai, Ocean’s 11…the Dirty Dozen…”
It got me thinking about Hong Kong films, and the abundance of titles with numbers in them that are classics: Warriors Two, 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Heroes Two, 18 Bronzemen…Heroic Trio. And one of my personal faves, the Savage Five. All good stuff, so I was quite looking forward to this old Lo Wei film and wondered if the theory could be proved once more.
When you think about Lo Wei (if you think about him at all), you probably think of a director too easily distracted by horseracing commentaries on the radio, unnecessary cameo roles, or no-budget chop-socky dramas starring a young Jackie Chan. You probably do not think of lavish high-budget productions where the term “visual splendour” would not be out of place.
And yet you definitely get this in Brothers Five, a film that must have been one of his last efforts at Shaw Brothers before going to Golden Harvest. If this was his last, it would certainly look good on his résumé – at times, this looks as good as a King Hu film. I’m guessing the exteriors were filmed in Taiwan, as this has a very “open”, foresty look to it, with long rolling hills in the background. The interiors are also splendid, with some of the nicest interior sets made up to look like exteriors.
Unfortunately, the film itself is a bit of a drag. I’m not going to go into the plot here as I’ll probably end up wanting to commit suicide from continually explaining the same situations the heroes find themselves in before realising the bleeding obvious and teaming up together, but what it amounts to is a “united we stand, divided we fall” motif that gets bloody thin even before we reach the twenty minute mark. There is nothing at all that is not deeply predictable every step of the way. I know I must make allowances as the film is 37 years old, and this kind of story hadn’t been done to death at that point, but the fact is that so many films have done it better and you can’t help but feel bored to tears over the whole thing. Cheng Pei-Pei isn’t really the star of this, she just kind of glides in and out when the plot(?) needs moving forwards or if one of the brothers has done something particularly dumb and needs a nudge in the right direction.
On to the action sequences. Frankly, this was the only reason I kept watching. The fights are co-choreographed by Sammo Hung, and even this early in his career it’s evident he was streets ahead of his time. It’s scary to think that this film was a full fifteen years before he reached his prime as an action choreographer!
Sadly, however, there’s a problem with the fights, too – there are too many of them and they just go on so damned long! This could sound like heresy to a lot of fans, but I swear it’s true. I just lost interest and my eyes glazed over. At one point I was sure it was all finally coming to a close, only to look at the display on the DVD player to find that just over an hour had passed. The total running time’s about 100 minutes, so I was a bit gutted. I stuck it out to the bitter end, but sadly there is no great redemption at the end. In fact, I can’t really remember what happened at the end – and I’m pretty sure I was relatively sober.
Sober enough to remember halfway through that 5 Shoalin Masters was a bit of a stinker, and I never cared much for Ocean’s 11 in the first place. Bang goes that theory, then.
Comments»
You’re actually complaining that there’s too much martial arts in a martial arts film??? That’s like complaining there’s too much comedy in a comedy film or, even better, too much science fiction in a science fiction
I’m only joking of course; I can see your point. I think action is one thing that can wear thin after a while as I’ve seen action films on several occasions where you’re just numbed by the sheer excess of it after a while.
Surprised you’re not keen on 5 Shaolin Masters, I really liked it.
Paul: yep, this is the worst example of “too much action” I’ve seen in a long time…totally numbing.
James: I’m surprised I’m not keen on 5 Shaolin Masters as well, given my liking for Chang Cheh/Ti Lung/David Chiang films (as I’m sure you’ve noticed!). The problem I have with it is it’s a bit fragmented like a lot of those Shaw ensemble films. I thought some of the choreography was a bit sloppy too, and definitely not the best from the Lau brothers. Having said that, I’ll probably give it another viewing at some point and re-evaluate it from there.
I preferred it to the other Shaolin films because of the improved cast and production - the Morricone-esque music helps.
Back on topic, I really enjoyed Lo Wei’s Dragon Swamp. You’d hardly belive that came from the man who made The Killer Meteors!
I’ve not seen Dragon Swamp yet, but I plan to get it at some point. The only other Lo Wei Shaw film I saw was the Bond-esque Golden Buddha, which was…interesting…!
I’d pretty much forgotten about Killer Meteors, actually. That’s one film I definitely won’t be watching again!