Scene of the Week: An Inspirational Ass-Kicking, Courtesy of The Crippled Masters

I love a good cinematic oddity. I’ve also been known to enjoy a vintage kung fu flick or two in my day. So imagine how happy I was when I first stumbled across this film well over 20 years ago. Just telling people about The Crippled Masters, my face beaming with pride over the discovery of this Hong Kong kung fu gem, drew reactions that ranged from incredulous looks to outright laughter. Once I finally had the film in hand, I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. Yes, it has the appeal of being a very strange film; it’s exploitation at its finest…a martial arts freakshow. Yet the fact that stars Frankie Shum (a man with no arms) and Jackie Conn (a man with deformed legs) rose above the film’s obvious intention and showed the world that they were truly skilled fighters was nothing short of impressive.

The film is in the public domain and can be found on many a martial arts DVD collections and all of your favorite streaming apps, and for this edition of Scene of the Week, I’d like to share a little slice of Sunday morning motivation with you. Watch in awe as these Crippled Masters show their common enemy that they shouldn’t be taken lightly!