Finally!! Episode 2 of The East Meets the West is here and we’ve got none other than podcaster extraordinaire, Derek Koch as a guest co-host! Regor and Derek discuss the Shaw Brothers film, Crippled Avengers (1978) and the Spaghetti Western, Django (1966). We delve a little deeper into the backstory of the Shaw Brothers and have a lively conversation discussing both movies and the similarities (in narrative, themes, and more) between Shaw Brothers films and Spaghetti Westerns!
Crippled Avengers was directed by the great Cheh Chang, written by him and Kuang Ni, and produced by Runme Shaw. Django was directed by Sergio Corbucci, and written by him and Bruno Corbucci, and starred Franco Nero.
Because the names of the actors and characters in Crippled Avengers was seemingly a tad confusing (especially if you’ve got the subtitles on), we have prepared a list for you, the listener, so you can play along at home and enjoy the film even more. The following is a list of the actors in the film, the characters they play, the variations on their characters’ names, and whether or not they were in 5 Venoms or were part of the Venom Mob (or 5 Weapons Guys as they were also known). Also, since the 4 crippled characters have the same hairstyle, outfits, and general look, we’ve labeled them Blind, Deaf and Dumb, Idiot, and Legs:
Chen Kuan-Tai – Black Tiger Dao Tian-Du (in the English dub it’s pronounced Tu Tin-To throughout the movie and in the subtitles)
**Phillip Kwok Chun-Fung – Chen Shuen (or Shun)(Lin Wing in the movie and subtitles) – Character is BLIND.
**Lo Meng – Blacksmith Wei Jia-Jie (though it’s Ah-Wei or Wei Da-Ti in the movie) – Character is DEAF and DUMB.
**Sun Chien – Hu Ah-Kue (or Ah-Kuei in the movie) – Character is LEGS.
**Chiang Sheng – Wang Yi (same everywhere!) – Character is IDIOT.
**Lu Feng – Dao Chang (School friend of Tu Tin-To)
*Johnny Wang Lung-Wei – Keeper Wan (or Lin Yung)
Yang Hsuing – Master Jiu Gao Feng
Ching Miao – Master Li Jing Ying
Yu Tai-Ping – Archer Lin
Tony Tam Chun-To – Master Law Bo
*Dick Wei – Tian Nan 3 (Tigers #1)
*=Was in 5 Deadly Venoms
**=Part of the Venom Mob (5 Weapons Guys)
We hope this information helps and adds to not only your enjoyment of the film, but also the your enjoyment of future Shaw Brothers movies!
If you want to send us your opinion on this episode, please email us at: theeastmeetsthewest@gmail.com, or leave a voicemail at 978-432-9079 which we will play on a future show.
You can also check out our other podcast, Then Is Now, as well as tons of other fun stuff over at http://www.havenpodcasts.com
