108: The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978) - Shaolin-igans

We're back after a brief hiatus with another geographically centered mini-series, this time focused on the movies of Hong Kong! And to kick it off, Nick is finally making good on his longstanding threat to talk Shaw Bros: it's Lau Kar-Leung's THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN (1978)!

36th Chamber is an enormous tentpole in kung fu film, and one of the first post-Bruce Lee HK movies to break through to international audiences. We're probing into what made it so influential, how it established training tropes, and we opine on why it's a perfect introduction to the genre.

We're also talking about Lau Kar-Leung's approach to martial arts as a self-improvement tool, Gordon Liu and Shaw Bros' outsized impact outside of the kung fu world, and the Kill Bill siren. And yes, we mention Bruce Lee.

But who are the Shaw Bros exactly? Nick's here with a quick rundown of their history and how there's literally a place called Movietown. We also determine what chambers would absolutely wreck us personally.

Next time: we're agreeing with Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock in Corey Yuen's YES MADAM (1985)!