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As the brother of director
Liu Chia-Liang, you know he has to know his martial-arts (especially, being a descendant of the great Wong Fei-Hung). While many tend to overlook his achievements, only seeing those of his more famous brother, his contribution to martial-arts filmmaking in Hong Kong is nothing to sneeze at. He was the chief choreographer on the first film to be shown in American theaters - 5 Fingers of Death. When his brother and
Tang Chia became Choreographers at Shaw Bros' in the early 60's, it undoubtedly opened some doors for him as well. The first film he choreographed was Valley of the Fangs, from there his skills were called on for numerous choreography jobs.
He's worked on such classics as The Water Margin, All Men Are Brothers, Boxer From Shantung, Delightful Forest, and Oath of Death. In most cases, he also stars in most of the films he choreographs as an actor. He took his first starring role in the film 2 Graves of Kung Fu, beating his brothers with the lead role in a major film. A lot of the friendships he's forged along the way have also aided others with his expertise in their films. Actor
Jimmy Wang-Yu saw a lot of his films receive the "Midas Touch" by working with him. Films like Tiger and Crane Fists, Point the Finger of Death, and Deadly Silver Spear.
Working with
Meng Fei he helped to bring us such classics as King of Boxers, Prodigal Boxer, Secret of the Shaolin Poles, and Enter the Whirlwind Boxer. But, his greatest friendship was twith actor
Samo Hung. They not only became good friends, they also became business partners opening up the film studio "Gar Bo" Films. Both excellent martial-artist/choreographers/stuntmen/directors they gave us splendid films with awesome martial-arts choreography in them. The best were Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog and The Odd Couple, which is one of the best weaponry films out side of his brother's 8 Diagram Pole Fighters.
He and his brother have choreographed a great deal of martial-arts films betwen them as well as together. As a duo, they've choreographed Master of the Flying Guillotine, Revenge of the Patriots, Fists and Guts, Dirty Kung Fu, and 5 Masters of Death, considered by many to be the best of the "Shaolin" series shot by
Chang Cheh. He 's had no trouble with the transition to "New Wave" action film like Skinny Tiger, Fatty Dragon and the most successful film his choreographed - Full Contact starring
Chow Yun-Fat.
My Favorite Films:
- Dirty Kung Fu
- Treasure Hunters
- Odd Couple
- Warrior From Shaolin
- Fake Ghost Catchers
- He Has Nothing But Kung Fu
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