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The Miracle Fighters

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The Miracle Fighters
Film poster
Traditional Chinese奇門遁甲
Simplified Chinese奇门遁甲
Hanyu PinyinQí Mén Dùn Jiǎ
JyutpingKei4 Mun4 Deon6 Gaap3
Directed byYuen Woo-ping
Written byPeace Group
Produced byLeonard Ho[1]
Raymond Chow[1]
StarringBryan Leung
Yuen Cheung-yan
Yuen Yat-cho
CinematographyMa Koon-wah
Edited byPeter Cheung
Music byTang Siu-lam
Production
company
Peace Film Production (HK) Co.
Distributed byGolden Harvest
Release date
  • 23 July 1982 (1982-07-23)
Running time
99 minutes[2]
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
Box officeHK$8,482,128

The Miracle Fighters (Chinese: 奇門遁甲; pinyin: Qí Mén Dùn Jiǎ; Jyutping: Kei4 Mun4 Deon6 Gaap3; lit. 'Mysterious Gates Escape Technique') is a 1982 Hong Kong martial arts fantasy comedy film directed by Yuen Woo-ping and starring Bryan Leung, Yuen Cheung-yan and Yuen Yat-cho.[1] The film's action sequences features various elements of fantasy, including magic. It was followed by two thematic sequels, Shaolin Drunkard (1983) and Taoism Drunkard (1984), which are similar in style with unrelated storylines.

Plot

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During the Qing Dynasty, Han Chinese and Manchu people were not allowed to marry each other. After he is found to have taken a Han wife, the Emperor commands Manchu soldier Ko Hung (Eddy Ko) to kill her.[3] When he refuses, he has to see his wife executed by soldiers. Ko Hung engages in a battle with the guards, and faces the powerful Sorcerer Bat (Yuen Shun-yi). Ko Hung takes the child prince hostage and flees the palace, but discovers during his escape that he has accidentally suffocated the prince to death.

Ko Hung soon finds an infant under a tree. He adopts the boy and names him "Shu-kan", which is literally translated as "Tree Root". To cover up what he has done, he puts the prince's jade medallion on Shu-kan. Over a decade later, Sorcerer Bat discovers a drunken Ko and tries to kill him; during the battle Ko is blinded by an assassin’s poison powder. Shu-kan attempts to find medicine to cure Ko’s blindness, and meets two elderly Taoist priests, Kei-moon (Bryan Leung) and Tun-kap (Yuen Cheung-yan). Kei-moon and Tun-kap are disciples of the same master (Yuen Siu-tien), and are always quarreling with each other. Shu-Kan is able to cure Ko, who tries to drive him away to protect him; however Bat catches up with them, kills Ko, and kidnaps Shu-kan. To pass him off as the prince and control the throne, Bat tattoos the royal insignia on Shu-Kan’s foot, but he is able to escape the palace while befriending a strange monster creature living in a jar.

Returning to the priests, the two teach Shu-kan their martial arts and magic skills. The Sorcerer Bat and his assassin disciples try hard to get rid of the two to get Shu-kan, but later he manages to kill Tun-kap. Kei-moon then tells Shu-kan to enter a sorcerer’s competition to obtain the “Supreme Command”. Shu-kan, using the skills he learned, enters the competition and goes through many different obstacles before he faces off with the Sorcerer Bat. He eventually kills the Sorcerer Bat, wins the competition and brings the supreme command with him. As he returns, he and Kei-moon discover that Tun-kap actually faked her death to fool them to obtain the Supreme Command. The two elders then quarrel again over the Supreme Command, deciding who will take it in a game of rock paper scissors. First, they both hand gesture "rock", then "paper" but Shu-kan gestures "scissors" and beats them both. With the Supreme Command, Shu-kan orders them to stop quarreling.

Cast

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Cast Role
Bryan Leung Kei-moon / Old Man
奇門
Yuen Cheung-yan Tun-kap / Old Woman
遁甲
Yuen Yat-cho Shu-kan
樹根
Eddy Ko Ko Hung
高雄
Yuen Shun-yi Sorcerer Bat
蝙蝠法師
Brandy Yuen Clown in the jar
罈子裡的人
Huang Ha Rainmaker
Tino Wong One of Sorcerer Bat's men
蝙蝠法師手下
Yuen Siu-tien Master
師父

Production

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According to assistant director Fish Fong, "maybe over 20,000" snakes were used for the film, and most of them died because of the dry ice used in a scene towards the end suffocating them.[4]

Critical reception

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Rick Baker and Ken Miller give the film a positive write-up, stating that it is "one of the most original, inventive and well-directed comedy-kung-fu movies ever".[1]

Award nomination

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Baker, Rick; Miller, Ken (2024). The New Essential Guide to Hong Kong Movies. New York, New York: RatPac Press & Skyhorse Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-64821-016-7.
  2. ^ "The Miracle Fighters". BBFC. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  3. ^ "The Miracle Fighters". Eureka. Archived from the original on 23 May 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  4. ^ Fong, Fish (interviewee), Lanuque, Arnaud (interviewer) (24 June 2024). At the Service of the Great Magician: An Interview with Fish Fong (Blu-ray). Event occurs at 12:24.
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