Five Shaolin Masters (1974): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 1974, Five Shaolin Masters is an action and drama film directed by Chang Cheh, running about 110 minutes.

What it’s about. Hu Te et al. escape the burning Shaolin temple after the Qing soldiers destroyed it in Shaolin Temple. The group of 5 decide to develop secret codes to identify fellow patriots, enlist those patriots and eventually meet up again to escape to the south away from the Qings, and also identify the traitor who sold out Shaolin temple. Ma Fu Yi, joins the Qing top fighters to eliminate the rebels but is exposed by Ma Chao-Tsing who gets captured by Ma Fu Yi. Hu meets up with a group of Shaolin men secretly posing as bandits to rescue Ma as their leader is killed in the process, thus the bandits join the rest of the Shaolin patriots.

Who’s in it. Five Shaolin Masters stars David Chiang as Hu Te-Ti, Ti Lung as Tsai Te-Chung, Alexander Fu Sheng as Ma Chao-Hsing and Kuan-Chun Chi as Li Shih-Kai, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 7.5/10, Five Shaolin Masters has been warmly received by audiences.

Where to watch. In US you can stream it on ARROW and rent or buy it from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies and YouTube. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Five Shaolin Masters page.

If you liked it. Fans of Five Shaolin Masters tend to enjoy The Dark Knight, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Inception and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.