Martial Arts of Shaolin (1986)

[Drunk Monk]

It’s like I don’t even know you people.

Except for the Yeti. He understands.

[Greg]

Feeling like I had missed a step, I saw Shaolin Temple last night. And now I have Shaolin - Shaolin running through my head. I was able to see this in the original chinese with subtitles. Which means I know the English translation for the song. Yay?

I was confused at first because I thought I had clicked on some weird documentary about the temple. Who knew Shintoism played a role? The film eventually starts and I could barely recognize Jet. He looked about 12. And his skin was so smooth! The plot was dumbish. I skipped the dog scene. But I did see the eating the dog scene. Some of the fights were good. Some of it was just weird shots of forms through branches. The last fight was epic. There was a lot of weirdness in the film. Was it a PRC thing to have these supposedly pious monks constantly breaking the rules of their order?

The best part for me was seeing the Shaolin Temple and recognizing the different buildings and areas. Although I do want to know what Temple has the great waterfall with the bridge over it. That was beautiful. I did like how you could walk out of the sand dunes to the Dragon Gate.

There! I am another member of Doom that has seen Shaolin Temple.

[King Bob]

I forgot about the song. It was catchy. "Shaolin, Shaolin..."

[Greg]

Sadly without the English lyrics.

[Drunk Monk]

That song is anthemic.

When the cfs & I first went to China, the opening ceremonies for the tournament we were competing in began with an a cappella barbershop quartet singing Shaolin. And they killed it. One of the greatest versions ever. And I’ve heard so many versions now.

The third film tried to launch a new Shaolin song but it wasn't as good and never caught on. I had forgotten it until I rewatched it.

RE: meat eating monks - that was a theme throughout the trilogy. Shahar talks about it in his book. I’ve grappled with it many times in my reporting. That’s a big discussion.