1974 · kung-fu · shaw-brothers · bandits
The Savage Five
Directed by Chang Cheh1h 36m1974
A pacifist village is beset by bandits in this martial arts thriller. "Savage Five" hands-down rivals the ornateness of "Kid With The Golden Arm" and the twist-heavy "Five Deadly Venoms". The always great David Chiang plays a lesser version of his Rover character from "Duel Of The Iron Fist", and Ti Lung, looking incredible here, is at his physical best. Accolades to Chen Kuan Tai and Wang Chung in great sympathetic roles, too. A kung fu classic where the actual martial arts display takes a back seat to the mesmerizing story.
Our read: The Savage Five (1974) reads as a sombre, breathless, grounded kung-fu · shaw-brothers · bandits entry — extreme in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, ambivalent in outlook.
Sombre, breathless, extreme kung-fu / shaw-brothers, grounded in texture. Ambivalent, mid-stakes, measured.
- sombre
- kinetic
- intense
Watching The Savage Five tonight? Spin for your lens.
Everyone on the couch spins once and gets one craft to watch for. After the credits, compare what you caught.
Your lens for tonight
?
Everyone on the couch gets one craft to watch for. Spin the wheel to get yours. Sound on: the narrator reads your mission.
More info & search links
How The Savage Five feels to watch.
Each axis is scored by hand, not from votes or genre averages. The bar uses the film's own colours.
What watching it is actually like.
“You want classic Chang Cheh martial arts action with a village defending against bandits.”
Skip it tonight — You should skip if you dislike old-school kung fu or subtitled fight films.
Eight films that feel like this one.
Closest in the twelve-axis space, not “people also liked”. All films like The Savage Five, with why →
Discussion
Make it a movie night.
Pick a mood, get a film the whole couch will enjoy, and give everyone something to watch for.
Pick tonight's film →