3.5/4  The best Kung-foo comedy
A movie that I feel inspired the action in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. The action scenes were phenomenal and beautiful to watch. I have never seen a another movie that had quite the combination of great action and comedy. The comedy was... (read full)

2.5/4  Iron Monkey Quick Review
Lots of flying around, and some good martial arts. It is an obvious pre curser to CTHD. None the less, it fells less like a great movie, and more like a not so great of one. A worthy watch though for martial arts fans and action geeks.

4/5 monkey style
  by J. Y. TRASMONTE (S.F. Bay Area)
this is a really worth it decent old school kung fu movie in the late 70's.

A story about delinquent guy whose family has been murdered by the ching empire. The guy found refuge at shaolin temple where he soon learn one of the hardest technique called monkey fist. After he mastered the art, he left shaolin and went to join the ming empire to act as a spy so that he can assasinate the general who is responsible for the death of his family. He met the general at the end only to found out that the general also has a deadly kung fu technique.

A very good kung fu between monkey fist vs. eagle claw style...great acrobatic moves and raw fighting with no wire and flying around. The picture of the film is not great but is bearable to watch but the sound is good. Highly recommended for old school kung fu fans out there

3/5 The Bloody Monkey Master
  by morgoth (omaha, NE)
With Chen Kuan Tai as director and lead actor and Ni Kuang writing the script, it would be hard for this movie to go wrong. That is why it is so hard to believe that it did. The Bloody Monkey Master is a proper name though I would have named it the Blood Soaked Iron Monkey. I wish I could just review this but I had so many problems with it and have to bring them all up.

THERE ARE GOING TO BE A COUPLE OF SPOILERS DOWN BELOW BUT I CERTAINLY WON'T GIVE A AWAY THE ENDING.

Chen Kuan Tai is a gambler and his family is full of revolutionaries. His family is captured by the general and are tortured because they won't give up the whereabouts of Kuan Tai. One kid looks like he is going to tell a soldier where he is Kuan Tai's dad chokes him to death so he won't tell. That was OK with me, but then things just get worse the whole movie. His family is killed and Kuan Tai wants revenge. So he goes to Shaolin and hopes to learn there. Chi Kuan Chun is a student there and they end up having a really good fight in the movie. So after learning monkey style the now called Iron Monkey goes undercover in the government and becomes a high ranking official. This is where my major problem comes into play. In order to gain trust by the 3 top guys under the genereal-Kam Kong(Elvis Tsui), Iron Monkey has to kill a bunch of revolutionaries. He goes on to kill like a hundred people!!!!! Finally at the end we get the battles with the top 3 guys and then Kam Kong. That was truly spectacular to watch and the movie would easily get a 4 or even a 5 if they didn't have all of those killings in the movie. Then I hated the ending. If they would have at least given him punishment than I would have been fine with this whole thing.

Overall I haev to say that Chen Kuan Tai's portrayal of the monkey style is right up there with a movie like Mad Monkey Kung Fu and that is near impossible to do. Great kung fu but a tough movie to watch. You have been warned.

The dvd quality is fine. Old print and scratched up but at least we get to see it, right?

5/5 THE ORIGINAL
  by
man i have to tell you for a movie made in 1977 the action is so crisp and persistent. now this movie stars one of my favorite actors of the martial arts genre chen kuan tai as the real iron monkey who in real life studied and mastered the shaolin monkeyfist. this movie also has some of actors i like such as leung kar yan aka beardie, wilson tong aka the foot doctor, kam kong (master of the flying guillotine) and of course the great chi kuan chun as his shaolin brother. you can also catch a brief appearance by wong chi sang and on the back cover of the xenon version of the dvd it says alan hsu and jack long and william yen are in it but i couldnt spot'em. they must've been doing stunts and sommersaults. dvd quality i give it a 4 ans sound i give a 5 despite the brief switch to mandarin/cantonese in the middle of the movie. but anyways go pick this one its worth whatever price you pay.

5/5 This movie is the ISH
  by Walter Boyd
This movie is the shiznit! It is serious and violent, and the comedy is unscripted. If you like these things, I don't think you'll be disappointed. If you prefer the Magnificent Butcher and say, comedic action movies like that, this isn't for you. Chen Kuan Tai has natural screen talent, and he directed this. The scene with his little brother has got to be one of the funniest ever, even though it's a little sad. But family comes 1st!!! It is a decent quality considering how old it is, but don't expect miracles on the digital transfer. However, it is very watchable and it's one of the best kung-fu movies I've seen.