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In a remote Shaolin training camp, a young warrior named Yun Fei is given the task to put a stop to Shao-Feng's reign. After a botched assasination attempt, with Yun Fei barelyescaping with his life, he meets a band of allies, including Tan Fung the blacksmith (played by Jackie Chan who's lucky enough to score a bigger role than the other two "dragons"), an unnamed swordsman who calls himself "The Wanderer" and have a fear of drawing his blade after a past incident, and a scholar (played by the director, Woo himself) who's a messenger to the capital city and the one person capable of exposing the truth behind the tyranny to the Imperial Court. Soon enough, it's up to the ragtag group to take on Shao-Feng.
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In a remote Shaolin training camp, a young warrior named Yun Fei is given the task to put a stop to Shao-Feng's reign. After a botched assasination assassination attempt, with Yun Fei barelyescaping barely escaping with his life, he meets a band of allies, including Tan Fung the blacksmith (played by Jackie Chan who's lucky enough to score a bigger role than the other two "dragons"), an unnamed swordsman who calls himself "The Wanderer" and have a fear of drawing his blade after a past incident, and a scholar (played by the director, Woo himself) who's a messenger to the capital city and the one person capable of exposing the truth behind the tyranny to the Imperial Court. Soon enough, it's up to the ragtag group to take on Shao-Feng.
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Blade On A Stick is now a disambiguation page.
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* BladeOnAStick:
** In the final battle Tan Fung primarily uses his spear, and proves he's really good at using it by taking down several mooks, including the two sword-and-shield users of Shao-Feng's lieutenants, in a checkpoint.
** Out of Shao-Feng's eight lieutenants, at least two of them uses spears in combat.
** The climax also have Shao-Feng and Yun Fei getting their hands on gigantic ''guandaos'', which they then use in a lengthy weapon duel. Though they eventually lose their blades and decide to continue fighting with fists.
** In the final battle Tan Fung primarily uses his spear, and proves he's really good at using it by taking down several mooks, including the two sword-and-shield users of Shao-Feng's lieutenants, in a checkpoint.
** Out of Shao-Feng's eight lieutenants, at least two of them uses spears in combat.
** The climax also have Shao-Feng and Yun Fei getting their hands on gigantic ''guandaos'', which they then use in a lengthy weapon duel. Though they eventually lose their blades and decide to continue fighting with fists.
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* WeaponTombstone: The film ends with a shot of [[spoiler:the graves of Tan Feng and the Wanderer, marked respectively by their spear and sword]].
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* BloodFromTheMouth: In the climax, you realize the heroes are finally, finally, ''finally'' winning [[spoiler:when Shao-Feng starts coughing up blood during his fight against Yun Fei. Granted, it takes three {{Diving Kick}}s to the skull for that to happen]]...
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* DualWield: One of Shao-Feng's lieutenants uses twin ''jians'', and oddly enough is the only character in the whole film to use two weapons at once.
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* ItsPersonal: While the heroes have their own reasons to oppose Shao-Feng and his lieutenants one reason or another, for Tan Fung his personal beef is against two of them - the one with a chain-dart and another with twin swords, because those two are the ones who killed Tan Fung's brother years ago. In the final battle when the two lieutenants tries catching up to the heroes, Tan Fung purposely tells his allies to go on while he deals with them. [[spoiler:Tan Fung wins, avenging his brother, but was mortally injured in the subsequent fight]].
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* MutualKill: [[spoiler:Tan Fung and his last onscreen kill, the second spear-wielding lieutenant. When the enemy spearman tries attacking the scholar, Tan Fung pulls a HeroicSacrifice and get himself skewered, but in his death throes managed to throw his own spear at the villain. Both of them succumbs to their respective injuries]].
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* FireForgedFriends: All the main heroes, basically. Yu Fei, Tan Feng and the Wanderer went from fighters on the same side to bonding over their past and sharing their goals in taking down Shao-Feng. It may be an early John Woo film, but the director's usage of themes involving brotherhood and bonding are already present.
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* BladeOnARope: One of the eight lieutenants uses a rope dart, and he's among the better fighters that even managed to wound Tan Feng in the climax.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/16z99k2tsixci6ajbjtfqmtlsdn.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:When Jackie Chan meets John Woo...]]
''The Hand Of Death'' a.k.a. ''Countdown To Kung Fu'' is a 1976 MartialArtsMovie directed by Creator/JohnWoo, one of Woo's earlier efforts [[note]] seriously, Woo was 29 while in the director's chair, and this isn't even his first film [[/note]]; and notably the first film to star all Three Dragons of Hong Kong martial arts cinema, Creator/JackieChan, Creator/SammoHung, and Creator/YuenBiao, ''before'' either of them are famous.
It's the late Qing Dynasty, where ruthless Manchurian warlords rules the land with tyranny; the Shaolin sect opposes the tyrants, but they are flushed out by a ruthless traitor, the ex-Shaolin disciple Shih Shao-Feng and his overweight, buck-toothed right-hand man Du Ching (Sammo Hung in an early role as the secondary villain), leading their armies in wiping out entire populations of the Shaolin sect to remove any opposition to Shao-Feng's rule.
In a remote Shaolin training camp, a young warrior named Yun Fei is given the task to put a stop to Shao-Feng's reign. After a botched assasination attempt, with Yun Fei barelyescaping with his life, he meets a band of allies, including Tan Fung the blacksmith (played by Jackie Chan who's lucky enough to score a bigger role than the other two "dragons"), an unnamed swordsman who calls himself "The Wanderer" and have a fear of drawing his blade after a past incident, and a scholar (played by the director, Woo himself) who's a messenger to the capital city and the one person capable of exposing the truth behind the tyranny to the Imperial Court. Soon enough, it's up to the ragtag group to take on Shao-Feng.
Unrelated to the [[HandOfDeath murder trope]].
----
!!Time to Countdown on the Tropes of Kung Fu:
* AccidentalMurder: What causes the Wanderer to be wary of drawing his sword in the past; in a failed attempt to kill Shao-Feng, the Wanderer accidentally killed a HookerWithAHeartOfGold named Autumn Moon (which Shao-Feng used as a HumanShield). It turns him into TheAtoner for the rest of the film.
* BandOfBrothels: A whorehouse appears in the Wanderer's TroubledBackstoryFlashback. As it turns out, the Wanderer had planned to ambush Shao-Feng who's currently with his personal harem, only to fail and accidentally kill his lover, the hooker Autumn Moon.
* BigBad: Shih Shao-Feng, the former Shaolin warrior turned traitor, who is leading massacre of entire temples and crushing everyone opposing his rule.
* BladeOnAStick:
** In the final battle Tan Fung primarily uses his spear, and proves he's really good at using it by taking down several mooks, including the two sword-and-shield users of Shao-Feng's lieutenants, in a checkpoint.
** Out of Shao-Feng's eight lieutenants, at least two of them uses spears in combat.
** The climax also have Shao-Feng and Yun Fei getting their hands on gigantic ''guandaos'', which they then use in a lengthy weapon duel. Though they eventually lose their blades and decide to continue fighting with fists.
* TheDragon: Du Ching, the second-in-command of Shao-Feng, and also one hell of a FatBastard abusing his prisoners. Hey, it's Sammo Hung as a villain here.
* GoodOldFisticuffs:
** Yun Fei is as adept at fighting with his bare hands as he is with using weapons. At least two of Shao-Feng's eight lieutenants also fights exclusively using their fists, despite their colleagues being armed.
** The final battle, once Yun Fei and Shao-Feng disarms each other. They then continue the last stages of their martial arts brawl with their bare hands [[spoiler:with Yun Fei winning]].
* MartialArtsStaff: The preferred weapon of Yun Fei early on, where he'll use his staff to beat up enemies. But after meeting Tan Fung, the blacksmith proves the impracticality of using a blunt staff as a weapon by ''breaking it'' before crafting a replacement metal staff for Yun Fei.
--> '''Tan Fung''': "Your staff is wood. His (Shao-Feng) sword is metal."
* TheLoad: The scholar, as played by John Woo, who unfortunately proves to be the useless civilain the heroes have to take care because of his status as the sole NonActionGuy in a kung-fu movie. He needs to be constantly looked after in the ending duel, and [[spoiler:both Tan Fung and the Wanderer gave up their lives to save him at different points]].
* MookLieutenant: Shao-Feng have his own legion of eight EliteMooks as his personal vanguard, who frequently leads his lesser soldiers around.
* NeckSnap: More than one enemy mook suffers this fate, but notably [[spoiler:Yun Fei managed to avenge his fellow Shaolin comrades by twisting Shao-Feng's neck with his legs]].
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Tan Fung, the blacksmith and local simpleton who spends most of the film being bossed around by soldiers or berated by Shao-Feng's lieutenants. Truth is, his idiocy is a ''front'' for him to get close to the villains in order to avenge his brother killed by Shao-Feng in the past.
* TrainingMontage: Like every good kung-fu film, this one has the bonding moments between Yun Fei, Tan Feng and the Wanderer, prior to their climatic battle.
* UnwillingSuspension: Yun Fei suffers this fate from being hung by his legs after his initial capture and put through ColdBloodedTorture; he still managed to escape by undoing the knot around his ankles ''[[NowThatsUsingYourTeeth with his teeth]]''.
* VertigoEffect: Being one of John Woo's earlir efforts, Woo himself is still experimenting with a number of filming techniques. The vertigo zoom is notaably utilized in several fight scenes, including [[spoiler:a zoom-in on Yun Fei before he executes Shao-Feng]].
* VillainOpeningScene: What better way to introduce the film's villains, than having Shao-Feng's army ambush a resistance hideout in one of the Shaolin Temples, with Shao-Feng and Du-Ching personally leading the attack? And having Shao-Feng personally beat the elderly Shaolin abbot to death with his ''bare hands''?
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Yun Fei in the finale, when he removes his shirt and fights Shao-Feng with his abs exposed.
----
[[caption-width-right:350:When Jackie Chan meets John Woo...]]
''The Hand Of Death'' a.k.a. ''Countdown To Kung Fu'' is a 1976 MartialArtsMovie directed by Creator/JohnWoo, one of Woo's earlier efforts [[note]] seriously, Woo was 29 while in the director's chair, and this isn't even his first film [[/note]]; and notably the first film to star all Three Dragons of Hong Kong martial arts cinema, Creator/JackieChan, Creator/SammoHung, and Creator/YuenBiao, ''before'' either of them are famous.
It's the late Qing Dynasty, where ruthless Manchurian warlords rules the land with tyranny; the Shaolin sect opposes the tyrants, but they are flushed out by a ruthless traitor, the ex-Shaolin disciple Shih Shao-Feng and his overweight, buck-toothed right-hand man Du Ching (Sammo Hung in an early role as the secondary villain), leading their armies in wiping out entire populations of the Shaolin sect to remove any opposition to Shao-Feng's rule.
In a remote Shaolin training camp, a young warrior named Yun Fei is given the task to put a stop to Shao-Feng's reign. After a botched assasination attempt, with Yun Fei barelyescaping with his life, he meets a band of allies, including Tan Fung the blacksmith (played by Jackie Chan who's lucky enough to score a bigger role than the other two "dragons"), an unnamed swordsman who calls himself "The Wanderer" and have a fear of drawing his blade after a past incident, and a scholar (played by the director, Woo himself) who's a messenger to the capital city and the one person capable of exposing the truth behind the tyranny to the Imperial Court. Soon enough, it's up to the ragtag group to take on Shao-Feng.
Unrelated to the [[HandOfDeath murder trope]].
----
!!Time to Countdown on the Tropes of Kung Fu:
* AccidentalMurder: What causes the Wanderer to be wary of drawing his sword in the past; in a failed attempt to kill Shao-Feng, the Wanderer accidentally killed a HookerWithAHeartOfGold named Autumn Moon (which Shao-Feng used as a HumanShield). It turns him into TheAtoner for the rest of the film.
* BandOfBrothels: A whorehouse appears in the Wanderer's TroubledBackstoryFlashback. As it turns out, the Wanderer had planned to ambush Shao-Feng who's currently with his personal harem, only to fail and accidentally kill his lover, the hooker Autumn Moon.
* BigBad: Shih Shao-Feng, the former Shaolin warrior turned traitor, who is leading massacre of entire temples and crushing everyone opposing his rule.
* BladeOnAStick:
** In the final battle Tan Fung primarily uses his spear, and proves he's really good at using it by taking down several mooks, including the two sword-and-shield users of Shao-Feng's lieutenants, in a checkpoint.
** Out of Shao-Feng's eight lieutenants, at least two of them uses spears in combat.
** The climax also have Shao-Feng and Yun Fei getting their hands on gigantic ''guandaos'', which they then use in a lengthy weapon duel. Though they eventually lose their blades and decide to continue fighting with fists.
* TheDragon: Du Ching, the second-in-command of Shao-Feng, and also one hell of a FatBastard abusing his prisoners. Hey, it's Sammo Hung as a villain here.
* GoodOldFisticuffs:
** Yun Fei is as adept at fighting with his bare hands as he is with using weapons. At least two of Shao-Feng's eight lieutenants also fights exclusively using their fists, despite their colleagues being armed.
** The final battle, once Yun Fei and Shao-Feng disarms each other. They then continue the last stages of their martial arts brawl with their bare hands [[spoiler:with Yun Fei winning]].
* MartialArtsStaff: The preferred weapon of Yun Fei early on, where he'll use his staff to beat up enemies. But after meeting Tan Fung, the blacksmith proves the impracticality of using a blunt staff as a weapon by ''breaking it'' before crafting a replacement metal staff for Yun Fei.
--> '''Tan Fung''': "Your staff is wood. His (Shao-Feng) sword is metal."
* TheLoad: The scholar, as played by John Woo, who unfortunately proves to be the useless civilain the heroes have to take care because of his status as the sole NonActionGuy in a kung-fu movie. He needs to be constantly looked after in the ending duel, and [[spoiler:both Tan Fung and the Wanderer gave up their lives to save him at different points]].
* MookLieutenant: Shao-Feng have his own legion of eight EliteMooks as his personal vanguard, who frequently leads his lesser soldiers around.
* NeckSnap: More than one enemy mook suffers this fate, but notably [[spoiler:Yun Fei managed to avenge his fellow Shaolin comrades by twisting Shao-Feng's neck with his legs]].
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Tan Fung, the blacksmith and local simpleton who spends most of the film being bossed around by soldiers or berated by Shao-Feng's lieutenants. Truth is, his idiocy is a ''front'' for him to get close to the villains in order to avenge his brother killed by Shao-Feng in the past.
* TrainingMontage: Like every good kung-fu film, this one has the bonding moments between Yun Fei, Tan Feng and the Wanderer, prior to their climatic battle.
* UnwillingSuspension: Yun Fei suffers this fate from being hung by his legs after his initial capture and put through ColdBloodedTorture; he still managed to escape by undoing the knot around his ankles ''[[NowThatsUsingYourTeeth with his teeth]]''.
* VertigoEffect: Being one of John Woo's earlir efforts, Woo himself is still experimenting with a number of filming techniques. The vertigo zoom is notaably utilized in several fight scenes, including [[spoiler:a zoom-in on Yun Fei before he executes Shao-Feng]].
* VillainOpeningScene: What better way to introduce the film's villains, than having Shao-Feng's army ambush a resistance hideout in one of the Shaolin Temples, with Shao-Feng and Du-Ching personally leading the attack? And having Shao-Feng personally beat the elderly Shaolin abbot to death with his ''bare hands''?
* WalkingShirtlessScene: Yun Fei in the finale, when he removes his shirt and fights Shao-Feng with his abs exposed.
----
