Directed by Ta Huang (Chinese Hercules) and released at the height of the 1970s kung fu craze, Shaolin Boxers offers a rare leading role to James Tien – who more often played supporting roles in films such as Fist of Fury, The Iron-Fisted Monk and The Magnificent Bodyguards – in an action-packed narrative that charges him with rescuing innocents from forces of corruption and evil.

In Fuquan, the people are terrified of the local Security Chief, He Rong (Chu Mu, The Invincible Iron Palm), who gained his position by bribing the referee in an annual martial arts tournament held between four villages. In order to wrestle control from this band of tyrants, Lin Zhi-gang (Tien) – a student of the Dragon Village Shaolin school – enters the competition to prove his dominance and free the villagers from their obligation to pay for He’s protection. But He Rong does not intend on relinquishing power so easily, and teams up with Lei Biao (Li Min-lang, The Shadow Boxer) – a mysterious kung fu adept with shaky morality – to ensure that Lin does not emerge victorious.

Released at a time when audiences all over the world clamoured for kung fu cinema in the aftermath of Bruce Lee’s breakout films The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and – above all – Enter the Dragon, Shaolin Boxers is a slice of martial arts mayhem that draws upon all the most enduring elements of the Hong Kong action film. Eureka Classics is proud to present the film on Blu-rayfor the first time in the UK from a new 2K restoration.