By 1980, the entire genre of Chinese martial arts movies--which, in my estimation, had always benefited from its rough-edged quality--was being formalized into something comparable to American soap operas or even Italian Mannerist painting. Better production values are fine, but not when the end result is a film so slick and shiny that it's painful to look at. In technical terms, "The Master" (which aired on cable TV in the mid-1980s as "Three Evil Masters") is a product of its time, but has enough heart to work. Yuen Tak convincingly portrays a bullied, low-ranking student at an unethical kung-fu school who gives refuge to an injured martial arts master (Chen Kuan-tai, who's always worth watching). Chen was wounded in a fight with three bandits who have been terrorizing the countryside, and in exchange for food and shelter he teaches Yuen some valuable moves. Gradually, Yuen becomes a better fighter and must singlehandedly confront the bandits--led by fearsome, white-haired Wang Lung-wei--when they decide to take over the kung-fu school. Terrific fight choreography by Hsu Hsia, and a maddeningly catchy opening theme (which plays beautifully over Chen Kuan-tai's first brawl with the villains) by Eddie Wang. Seven and a half stars.

THE MASTER gets off to a great start, with Jin Tianyun (Chen Kuan Tai) being attacked in a tea house. The fight scene is great, with a little twist of its own: Jin thinks he's up against three opponents- The Three Devils-, but he's nearly fatally wounded by a fourth attacker- the owner of the tea house himself. Jin escapes by diving through a window- with the treacherous owner's knife still in him. Meanwhile, Gao (Yuen) is being mercilessly bullied at "The Decent School of Martial Arts." Gao gets reprimanded when he fights back and his suffering is compounded. When he returns home that night, Jin arrives, nearly dead, and Gao takes him in. As Jin secretly recovers (Gao would be in even deeper **** if Jin's presence were known), Gao discovers that Jin had once beaten Gao's master, Shi. Jin muses that he'll live to be 90. "How can a blind man see the future?" Gao wonders. To get money to buy medicine to help Jin, Gao goes undercover in a brothel and steals it. He is "outed" and beats a hasty retreat. When Jin has recovered enough, he confronts the pretentious Shi, but is injured again. When he flees Shi's school, he's ambushed once again by The Three Devils and killed. The 3 then decimate Shi's school and take up permanent residence. Gao becomes a waiter in a tea house. There is plenty of solid action throughout THE MASTER and it's beautifully choreographed and shot. The one and only flaw is a single reverse-action shot that stands out in my mind because it's the ONLY real flaw in the entire film. That's why I rate it a solid ten.

"The Master" begins like an old Western. A gang (gunslingers) of three known as The 3 Devils enter a tea house (saloon), looking for a man dressed all in white named Jin Tianyun. The film opens with a great fight, where The 3 Devils come at Jin Tianyun with fists & feet, throwing darts, tonfa, and knives.Meanwhile Gao Jian, a kung fu wanna-be, is practicing at a nearby martial arts school. His skills are pitiful and he's always being bullied by classmates. Jin Tianyun shows up injured at Gao Jian's door, and Gao takes him in and helps nurse him to health. Jin Tianyun takes a liking to the hapless Gao Jian and agrees to teach him kung fu behind his master's back.All the while, The 3 Devils continue to hunt for Jin Tianyun. The three finally catch up with "Brother Jin" at the school, and by this time Gao Jian's skills are honed like a razor's edge. He must rise to the challenge to defend his school and avenge his new "Master"."The Master" is well paced, has lots of the cheesy slapstick of this genre & era, and has some great fights, especially the final one where Gao Jian battles the best of The 3 Devils. I very much recommend this movie to fans of the genre.An interesting note: the actor who plays Jin Tianyun was in the recent Donnie Yen film "Dragon Tiger Gate".

The Shaw Bros. have more than proved that they where the king of kung fu film production. In comes 3 Evil Masters, it follows the same storyline as most old school kung fu flicks. Orphan kid taken in and the master treats him like garbage.Chen Kuan Tai steps on the scene injured from a plot to kill him. The kicker is that he is also the same man that broke the cruel masters' ribs and agrees to teach the orphan kid kung fu. Chen Kuan Tai is then hurt again from a fight, he escapes only to run into the Evil 3 that has been trying to kill him.Finally they succeed causing the orphan student to extract revenge to the fullest. An early Shaw Bros. title, and a good one indeed. Check this movie out, you can't go wrong.