Shaolin Daredevils
Shaolin Daredevils aka Magnificent Acrobats aka. The Kings of Kung Fu is a 1979 Shaw Brothers film directed by Chang Cheh, starring the Venoms.
It is known internationally by its original English title The Daredevils. It has no connection whatsover to the Shaolin Temple, Shaolin martial arts and there is no mention of "Shaolin" throughout the entire film. It is only known as Shaolin Daredevils in the USA.
Plot
The Venoms (all on the same side, including Lu Feng!), a group of broke street performers take on a corrupt general (Wang Li) who has assumed power by assassinating his superior. The son of the murdered general (Lo Mang), now homeless, turns to his friends to help him get revenge. The smartest of the bunch (Kuo Chui) initially thinks it’s a bad idea as the army, led by Wang Li has guns and rifles. Kuo eventually comes up with a successful plan to steal some guns to get revenge but guards arrive before they can get bullets (thus, worthless guns). After Lo Mang decides to go solo, he is killed by Wang Li’s kung fu. Kuo, and the other three venoms decide to use brains instead of brawn to take revenge for Lo Mang. Lu Feng poses as a visiting government official with the other venoms as his assistants, and as a peace token offers Wang Li the stolen guns (with Wang Li not knowing they are his guns originally). Wang Li thinks Lu Feng will promote him so he agrees to a fake plan by Lu Feng to go get more guns from a warehouse and send his soldiers to a non-existent battle. Wang Li and his three of his best fighters go to the warehouse but are ambushed by the Venoms as they get revenge for Lo Mang and his father.
Cast
- Philip Kwok - Liang Kuo-jen
- Kuo Chui - Leung
- Lu Feng - Fu Chuan-yi
- Lo Mang – Yang Tau-Ying
- Chiang Sheng – Chin Feng
- Wang Li - General Han Pei-tsang
- Sun Chien – Mr. Hsin
- Yu Tai Ping
- Chan Shen - Chief of Staff
- Cho Tat-wah - Leung's Father
- Wang Han Chen
- Yang Hsiung