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* BloodBrothers: The three leading lawmen, He Zhong Heng, Luo Zhang and Ying Hao, are best friends from military training camp who swore to be brothers and stick their necks out for each other no matter what happens.
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* SwordFight: Tons of it.
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* SwornBrothers: The three leading lawmen, He Zhong Heng, Luo Zhang and Ying Hao, are best friends from military training camp who swore to be brothers and stick their necks out for each other no matter what happens.
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Hurting Hero is a disambiguation
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* HurtingHero: Zhong Heng, the protagonist, whose attempts to expose the corrupt justice system had him [[spoiler: framed for theft, locked in a prison cell with dozens of prisoners who '''hates''' him, get the stuffing beaten out of him, reduced to a semi-unconscious state (the reason he didn't die is because the Fifth Master specifically instructs him to be kept alive for more flogging), peed on, forced to swallow a cockroach, flogged for days, starved for days, being tricked into eating rice in a bowl containing a dead rat, and in his weakened state, locked in a PunishmentBox with Sun Long, a bandit who ''craves'' to kill Zhong Heng slowly and painfully]].
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* BladeOnAStick: Sun Long uses a ''guandao'' during his rampage scene. By the time Zhong Heng, Luo Zhang, Ying Hao arrives with a detachment of reinforcements to arrest Sun Long, there are at least a dozen dead officers beside Sun Long, and plenty of red on the blade of that ''guandao''.
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dixing quote format, alphabetization
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---> "[[TitleDrop What's the price of honesty?]]...I advised you before and you didn't listen to me." - [[TheDragon The Fifth Master]]
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%%* IAteWhat: Part of the HumiliationConga inflicted on [[spoiler: He Zhong Heng]] by the corrupt court and the cruel Fifth Master; after starving him for five days, [[spoiler: Zhong Heng]] is served a bowl of rice, which he hungrily digs in... only to discover there is a dead rat hidden in it. %%What was his his reaction?
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* IHaveYourWife: It's not explicitly stated which member of the family, but as it turns out, [[spoiler: Luo Zhang didn't willingly betray his best friend, Zhong Heng; his family was framed prior to the story by corrupted court and thrown in prison, and Luo is only serving the villains to ensure his family's safety]].
%%* IAteWhat: Part of the HumiliationConga inflicted on [[spoiler: He Zhong Heng]] by the corrupt court and the cruel Fifth Master; after starving him for five days, [[spoiler: Zhong Heng]] is served a bowl of rice, which he hungrily digs in... only to discover there is a dead rat hidden in it. %%What was his his reaction?
* IHaveYourWife: It's not explicitly stated which member of the family, but as it turns out, [[spoiler: Luo Zhang didn't willingly betray his best friend, Zhong Heng; his family was framed prior to the story by corrupted court and thrown in prison, and Luo is only serving the villains to ensure his family's safety]].
* IHaveYourWife: It's not explicitly stated which member of the family, but as it turns out, [[spoiler: Luo Zhang didn't willingly betray his best friend, Zhong Heng; his family was framed prior to the story by corrupted court and thrown in prison, and Luo is only serving the villains to ensure his family's safety]].
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* MasterSwordsman: He Zhong Heng and Luo Zhang.
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* IAteWhat: Part of the HumiliationConga inflicted on [[spoiler: He Zhong Heng]] by the corrupt court and the cruel Fifth Master; after starving him for five days, [[spoiler: Zhong Heng]] is served a bowl of rice, which he hungrily digs in... only to discover there is a dead rat hidden in it.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/capture_153.PNG]]
[[caption-width-right:350:The Price of Honesty... is [[spoiler: DEATH]].]]
---> "[[TitleDrop What's the price of honesty?]]...I advised you before and you didn't listen to me." - [[TheDragon The Fifth Master]]
''What Price Honesty'' is a 1981 Creator/ShawBrothers period piece directed by Patrick Yuen Ho-Chuen, starring Jason Pai Piao in a rare heroic role, Sun Chien and Creator/DannyLee.
The film revolves around three Ming Dynasty lawmen, He Zhong Heng, Luo Zhang and Ying Hao, who graduated in academy together. Sworn brothers and best friends since their days in training, all three of them are assigned in the big city as law enforcers for the Imperial court, but upon discovering the legal system is hopelessly corrupt and the civilians are being abused, the sworn brothers must question their choice: between loyalty, or duty.
Far darker and more realistic than most of the Shaws' period pieces released at the time, ''What Price Honesty'' paints the costumed period-piece universe it's set in as a bleak, bleak moral world where even the most idealistic of heroes would cave in to corruption, strife and abuse. To quote director Patrick Yuen:
"Although it is a costume drama, it is designed to reflect the gloomy aspect of the bureaucracy, the social injustices and human frailties which are also evident in present day society."
----
!! What Price Tropers?
* IAteWhat: Part of the HumiliationConga inflicted on [[spoiler: He Zhong Heng]] by the corrupt court and the cruel Fifth Master; after starving him for five days, [[spoiler: Zhong Heng]] is served a bowl of rice, which he hungrily digs in... only to discover there is a dead rat hidden in it.
* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: Luo Zhang, after betraying Zhong Heng and allowing his former sworn best friend to be imprisoned and abused by the corrupt magistrate]].
* BaitAndSwitch: [[spoiler: Towards the end of the film, Zhong Heng, having captured Magistrate Ge ''alive'', is confronted with Lord Huang, the Head Minister, who berates Magistrate Ge for accepting bribes, pushing innocent civilians into living through hell, and allowing criminals to go free, claiming that he will end Magistrate Ge's corruption immediately. The Head Minister then draws his sword... and impales Zhong Heng, '''the hero''', instead, before congratulating Magistrate Ge for a job well done. Turns out the supposed BigGood of the movie is the true villain of the picture]].
* BigGood: Subverted with Lord Huang, the Head Minister and ruler of the Imperial Court, who appears to be a kindly, benevolent man. [[spoiler: It turns out he's even worse than Magistrate Ge and the Fifth Master, and is behind all the bribery and corruption in the city]].
* BladeOnAStick: Sun Long uses a ''guandao'' during his rampage scene. By the time Zhong Heng, Luo Zhang, Ying Hao arrives with a detachment of reinforcements to arrest Sun Long, there are at least a dozen dead officers beside Sun Long, and plenty of red on the blade of that ''guandao''.
* BloodBrothers: The three leading lawmen, He Zhong Heng, Luo Zhang and Ying Hao, are best friends from military training camp who swore to be brothers and stick their necks out for each other no matter what happens.
* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler: Zhong Heng in the second half of the film]]. The sadistic Fifth Master, after framing him, even takes time to rub it into his face.
--> "I though you said you wanted to expose me? Go ahead and do it now! You can't, can you? Well I'm going to enjoy making you retract your promise of justice and make your life a living hell..."
* ClearMyName: Zhong Heng in the second half of the film, after being framed and imprisoned by the corrupt Magistrate Ge, had to find a way to expose the Magistrate's corruption and earn his freedom.
* CorruptPolitician: Lord Ge, the Magistrate and the film's BigBad, who enforced a rule of tyranny, dictatorship, allows his underling the Fifth Master to abuse citizens on his behalf, and much of the film is spent on Zhong Heng trying to expose Ge's actions to Lord Huang, the Imperial Chief Magistrate and the BigGood of the film. [[spoiler: In a horrible last-minute twist of events, it turns out Huang is ''another'' example of this trope, and is workign in tandem with Lord Ge in extorting the citizens]].
* DiabolusExMachina: Yeah, the film's all-powerful BigGood? [[spoiler: He's behind all that corruption, which Zhong Heng realized two seconds before he gets betrayed and backstabbed]].
* DirtyCop: The Fifth Master, leader of the Imperial constables, who blatantly accepts bribes ''in front of his men''.
* DownerEnding: After all the trauma, suffering and torture Zhong Heng and Luo Zhang sits through for most of the film, you'd expect a happy outcome. [[spoiler: Except no. None of the three main characters outlives the credits, and despite Luo Zhang finally killing the villains responsible for the corruption, given the hopelessly flawed justice system, his efforts will be swept under the rug and made null]].
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In his first scene, the Fifth Master publicly accepts bribe from a ''convicted murderer'', telling his underlings to have the murderer released... while shoving a stack of silver ingots handed to him by said murderer into a drawer under his desk. One that is filled with gold and silver pieces, collected after months and months of accepting bribes.
* ExcrementStatement: [[spoiler: In Zhong Heng's first night in prison, having being flogged and beaten up by several punks and gangsters led by Sun Long, one of them then pees on the semi-unconscious Zhong Heng, under Sun Long's orders]].
* EyepatchOfPower: Sun Long, the bandit leader, is shown sporting an eyepatch after being arrested. He's notably ''extremely'' pissed off at Zhong Heng, the main character who is responsible for him losing an eye in the first place (see next line for details).
* EyeScream: The arrest on Sun Long, the rampaging bandit chief, ends with Sun Long and Zhong Heng duelling each other, one-on-one, with Zhong Heng winning by slashing his eye out.
* FakeAFight: [[spoiler: This is how Luo Zhang managed to sneak a weapon for Zhong Heng, pretending to beat up his former best friend, but secretly dropping a knife for Zhong Heng to use as an escape tool]].
* ForceFeeding: Attempted; during the prisoners' beat-down delivered on an imprisoned [[spoiler: Zhong Heng]], one of the prisoners sees a cockroach on a wall and decide to make him swallow. [[spoiler: Zhong Heng]] instead bites off the prisoners' [[{{Fingore}} forefinger]].
* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: Lord Huang, the Imperial Minister and Head Magistrate. Turns out the film's alleged BigGood turns out to be even worse]]...
* IHaveYourWife: It's not explicitly stated which member of the family, but as it turns out, [[spoiler: Luo Zhang didn't willingly betray his best friend, Zhong Heng; his family was framed prior to the story by corrupted court and thrown in prison, and Luo is only serving the villains to ensure his family's safety]].
* HumanPincushion: [[spoiler: Luo Zhang, but the good news is that he had killed Magistrate Ge and Lord Minister Huang, the two main villains, seconds before he gets nailed by the archers nearby]].
* HurtingHero: Zhong Heng, the protagonist, whose attempts to expose the corrupt justice system had him [[spoiler: framed for theft, locked in a prison cell with dozens of prisoners who '''hates''' him, get the stuffing beaten out of him, reduced to a semi-unconscious state (the reason he didn't die is because the Fifth Master specifically instructs him to be kept alive for more flogging), peed on, forced to swallow a cockroach, flogged for days, starved for days, being tricked into eating rice in a bowl containing a dead rat, and in his weakened state, locked in a PunishmentBox with Sun Long, a bandit who ''craves'' to kill Zhong Heng slowly and painfully]].
* JustFollowingOrders: The Magistrate's officers turns out to be these, being law enforcement personnel just doing their jobs. Granted, they're shown accepting bribes and abusing innocent civilains occasionally, ''under'' the Fifth Master's command (who is, by proxy, the Magistrate's orders as well). And yet the film treats them pretty much like disposable mooks in big fight scenes, allowing Zhong Heng to kill them by the dozens without raising any red flags about conscience.
* MasterSwordsman: He Zhong Heng and Luo Zhang.
* OffWithHisHead: An unlucky officer lose his head to Sun Long's halberd during the rampage scene.
* OneManArmy:
** Zhong Heng takes plenty of names throughout the entirety of this film, even when the odds are piled against him.
** The bandit lord, Sun Long, have plenty of kills as well, via halberd during his one-man rampage.
* QuestioningTitle: Granted, the film's poster and title cards doesn't have a question mark on it, but it's still a question. [[spoiler: And the Price of Honesty is '''DEATH''']].
* SacrificialLion: For most of the first act, the film revolves around the brotherhood between it's leads, He Zhong Heng, Luo Zhang and Ying Hao, as they rise through the ranks of being imperial officers and Inspectors. But [[spoiler: Ying Hao]] dies unexpectedly at the start of the second act, in an unsuccessful attempt to arrest the rampaging bandit Sun Long, and the film goes darker from that point onwards.
* SelfDestructiveCharge: Right at the ending of the film: [[spoiler: the Head Minister, Lord Huang, turns out to be working with Magistrate Ge. After Zhong Heng gets betrayed and stabbed by Huang, Luo Zhang, finally reaching his RageBreakingPoint, breaks formation and charges ahead, stabbing Huang to avenge Zhong Heng. Magistrate Ge tries to flee, but Luo Zhang hacks him to death, allowing himself to be nailed by several archers]].
* SwordFight: Tons of it.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler: Ying Hao's wife]], who gets killed by Magistrate Ge's underlings several days after losing her husband, her only crime being the only named character who is a decent human.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Invoked, when Magistrate Ge offers Luo Zhang a plate of silver for [[spoiler: assisting in framing Zhong Heng and arresting him]]. But Luo refuses, and instead asks [[spoiler: for his family, framed and imprisoned, to be released instead]].
* YankTheDogsChain: For a moment at the end of the film, it seems like Zhong Heng, after '''ALL''' that crap he sat through, being flogged, starved, beated and tortured for days before finally earning his justice, had finally exposed Magistrate Ge's corruption and extortion to Lord Huang, the Head Minister and the film's patented BigGood. Lord Huang then congratulates Zhong Heng for his efforts, draws his sword to "enforce immediate justice"... [[spoiler: and uses it to stab Zhong Heng. Because it turns out Lord Huang is another CorruptPolitician working alongside Magistrate Ge]].
----
[[caption-width-right:350:The Price of Honesty... is [[spoiler: DEATH]].]]
---> "[[TitleDrop What's the price of honesty?]]...I advised you before and you didn't listen to me." - [[TheDragon The Fifth Master]]
''What Price Honesty'' is a 1981 Creator/ShawBrothers period piece directed by Patrick Yuen Ho-Chuen, starring Jason Pai Piao in a rare heroic role, Sun Chien and Creator/DannyLee.
The film revolves around three Ming Dynasty lawmen, He Zhong Heng, Luo Zhang and Ying Hao, who graduated in academy together. Sworn brothers and best friends since their days in training, all three of them are assigned in the big city as law enforcers for the Imperial court, but upon discovering the legal system is hopelessly corrupt and the civilians are being abused, the sworn brothers must question their choice: between loyalty, or duty.
Far darker and more realistic than most of the Shaws' period pieces released at the time, ''What Price Honesty'' paints the costumed period-piece universe it's set in as a bleak, bleak moral world where even the most idealistic of heroes would cave in to corruption, strife and abuse. To quote director Patrick Yuen:
"Although it is a costume drama, it is designed to reflect the gloomy aspect of the bureaucracy, the social injustices and human frailties which are also evident in present day society."
----
!! What Price Tropers?
* IAteWhat: Part of the HumiliationConga inflicted on [[spoiler: He Zhong Heng]] by the corrupt court and the cruel Fifth Master; after starving him for five days, [[spoiler: Zhong Heng]] is served a bowl of rice, which he hungrily digs in... only to discover there is a dead rat hidden in it.
* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: Luo Zhang, after betraying Zhong Heng and allowing his former sworn best friend to be imprisoned and abused by the corrupt magistrate]].
* BaitAndSwitch: [[spoiler: Towards the end of the film, Zhong Heng, having captured Magistrate Ge ''alive'', is confronted with Lord Huang, the Head Minister, who berates Magistrate Ge for accepting bribes, pushing innocent civilians into living through hell, and allowing criminals to go free, claiming that he will end Magistrate Ge's corruption immediately. The Head Minister then draws his sword... and impales Zhong Heng, '''the hero''', instead, before congratulating Magistrate Ge for a job well done. Turns out the supposed BigGood of the movie is the true villain of the picture]].
* BigGood: Subverted with Lord Huang, the Head Minister and ruler of the Imperial Court, who appears to be a kindly, benevolent man. [[spoiler: It turns out he's even worse than Magistrate Ge and the Fifth Master, and is behind all the bribery and corruption in the city]].
* BladeOnAStick: Sun Long uses a ''guandao'' during his rampage scene. By the time Zhong Heng, Luo Zhang, Ying Hao arrives with a detachment of reinforcements to arrest Sun Long, there are at least a dozen dead officers beside Sun Long, and plenty of red on the blade of that ''guandao''.
* BloodBrothers: The three leading lawmen, He Zhong Heng, Luo Zhang and Ying Hao, are best friends from military training camp who swore to be brothers and stick their necks out for each other no matter what happens.
* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler: Zhong Heng in the second half of the film]]. The sadistic Fifth Master, after framing him, even takes time to rub it into his face.
--> "I though you said you wanted to expose me? Go ahead and do it now! You can't, can you? Well I'm going to enjoy making you retract your promise of justice and make your life a living hell..."
* ClearMyName: Zhong Heng in the second half of the film, after being framed and imprisoned by the corrupt Magistrate Ge, had to find a way to expose the Magistrate's corruption and earn his freedom.
* CorruptPolitician: Lord Ge, the Magistrate and the film's BigBad, who enforced a rule of tyranny, dictatorship, allows his underling the Fifth Master to abuse citizens on his behalf, and much of the film is spent on Zhong Heng trying to expose Ge's actions to Lord Huang, the Imperial Chief Magistrate and the BigGood of the film. [[spoiler: In a horrible last-minute twist of events, it turns out Huang is ''another'' example of this trope, and is workign in tandem with Lord Ge in extorting the citizens]].
* DiabolusExMachina: Yeah, the film's all-powerful BigGood? [[spoiler: He's behind all that corruption, which Zhong Heng realized two seconds before he gets betrayed and backstabbed]].
* DirtyCop: The Fifth Master, leader of the Imperial constables, who blatantly accepts bribes ''in front of his men''.
* DownerEnding: After all the trauma, suffering and torture Zhong Heng and Luo Zhang sits through for most of the film, you'd expect a happy outcome. [[spoiler: Except no. None of the three main characters outlives the credits, and despite Luo Zhang finally killing the villains responsible for the corruption, given the hopelessly flawed justice system, his efforts will be swept under the rug and made null]].
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: In his first scene, the Fifth Master publicly accepts bribe from a ''convicted murderer'', telling his underlings to have the murderer released... while shoving a stack of silver ingots handed to him by said murderer into a drawer under his desk. One that is filled with gold and silver pieces, collected after months and months of accepting bribes.
* ExcrementStatement: [[spoiler: In Zhong Heng's first night in prison, having being flogged and beaten up by several punks and gangsters led by Sun Long, one of them then pees on the semi-unconscious Zhong Heng, under Sun Long's orders]].
* EyepatchOfPower: Sun Long, the bandit leader, is shown sporting an eyepatch after being arrested. He's notably ''extremely'' pissed off at Zhong Heng, the main character who is responsible for him losing an eye in the first place (see next line for details).
* EyeScream: The arrest on Sun Long, the rampaging bandit chief, ends with Sun Long and Zhong Heng duelling each other, one-on-one, with Zhong Heng winning by slashing his eye out.
* FakeAFight: [[spoiler: This is how Luo Zhang managed to sneak a weapon for Zhong Heng, pretending to beat up his former best friend, but secretly dropping a knife for Zhong Heng to use as an escape tool]].
* ForceFeeding: Attempted; during the prisoners' beat-down delivered on an imprisoned [[spoiler: Zhong Heng]], one of the prisoners sees a cockroach on a wall and decide to make him swallow. [[spoiler: Zhong Heng]] instead bites off the prisoners' [[{{Fingore}} forefinger]].
* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: Lord Huang, the Imperial Minister and Head Magistrate. Turns out the film's alleged BigGood turns out to be even worse]]...
* IHaveYourWife: It's not explicitly stated which member of the family, but as it turns out, [[spoiler: Luo Zhang didn't willingly betray his best friend, Zhong Heng; his family was framed prior to the story by corrupted court and thrown in prison, and Luo is only serving the villains to ensure his family's safety]].
* HumanPincushion: [[spoiler: Luo Zhang, but the good news is that he had killed Magistrate Ge and Lord Minister Huang, the two main villains, seconds before he gets nailed by the archers nearby]].
* HurtingHero: Zhong Heng, the protagonist, whose attempts to expose the corrupt justice system had him [[spoiler: framed for theft, locked in a prison cell with dozens of prisoners who '''hates''' him, get the stuffing beaten out of him, reduced to a semi-unconscious state (the reason he didn't die is because the Fifth Master specifically instructs him to be kept alive for more flogging), peed on, forced to swallow a cockroach, flogged for days, starved for days, being tricked into eating rice in a bowl containing a dead rat, and in his weakened state, locked in a PunishmentBox with Sun Long, a bandit who ''craves'' to kill Zhong Heng slowly and painfully]].
* JustFollowingOrders: The Magistrate's officers turns out to be these, being law enforcement personnel just doing their jobs. Granted, they're shown accepting bribes and abusing innocent civilains occasionally, ''under'' the Fifth Master's command (who is, by proxy, the Magistrate's orders as well). And yet the film treats them pretty much like disposable mooks in big fight scenes, allowing Zhong Heng to kill them by the dozens without raising any red flags about conscience.
* MasterSwordsman: He Zhong Heng and Luo Zhang.
* OffWithHisHead: An unlucky officer lose his head to Sun Long's halberd during the rampage scene.
* OneManArmy:
** Zhong Heng takes plenty of names throughout the entirety of this film, even when the odds are piled against him.
** The bandit lord, Sun Long, have plenty of kills as well, via halberd during his one-man rampage.
* QuestioningTitle: Granted, the film's poster and title cards doesn't have a question mark on it, but it's still a question. [[spoiler: And the Price of Honesty is '''DEATH''']].
* SacrificialLion: For most of the first act, the film revolves around the brotherhood between it's leads, He Zhong Heng, Luo Zhang and Ying Hao, as they rise through the ranks of being imperial officers and Inspectors. But [[spoiler: Ying Hao]] dies unexpectedly at the start of the second act, in an unsuccessful attempt to arrest the rampaging bandit Sun Long, and the film goes darker from that point onwards.
* SelfDestructiveCharge: Right at the ending of the film: [[spoiler: the Head Minister, Lord Huang, turns out to be working with Magistrate Ge. After Zhong Heng gets betrayed and stabbed by Huang, Luo Zhang, finally reaching his RageBreakingPoint, breaks formation and charges ahead, stabbing Huang to avenge Zhong Heng. Magistrate Ge tries to flee, but Luo Zhang hacks him to death, allowing himself to be nailed by several archers]].
* SwordFight: Tons of it.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler: Ying Hao's wife]], who gets killed by Magistrate Ge's underlings several days after losing her husband, her only crime being the only named character who is a decent human.
* WeCanRuleTogether: Invoked, when Magistrate Ge offers Luo Zhang a plate of silver for [[spoiler: assisting in framing Zhong Heng and arresting him]]. But Luo refuses, and instead asks [[spoiler: for his family, framed and imprisoned, to be released instead]].
* YankTheDogsChain: For a moment at the end of the film, it seems like Zhong Heng, after '''ALL''' that crap he sat through, being flogged, starved, beated and tortured for days before finally earning his justice, had finally exposed Magistrate Ge's corruption and extortion to Lord Huang, the Head Minister and the film's patented BigGood. Lord Huang then congratulates Zhong Heng for his efforts, draws his sword to "enforce immediate justice"... [[spoiler: and uses it to stab Zhong Heng. Because it turns out Lord Huang is another CorruptPolitician working alongside Magistrate Ge]].
----
