# The Savage Five (五虎将)
**The Savage Five** (五虎將) is a 1974 Hong Kong martial arts action film directed by Chang Cheh (張徹) and produced by Shaw Brothers, starring David Chiang, Ti Lung, Chen Kuan-tai, Danny Lee, and Wong Chung as five villagers who resist a bandit gang that has seized their small town.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2019-10-1-13.html) It premiered in Hong Kong on 15 February 1974 in Mandarin and color.[2](https://www.hkfilm.net/archive/hkfa.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 五虎將 (Wu hu jiang), English title The Savage Five[3](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/The_Savage_Five) |
| Director and writers | Directed by Chang Cheh; screenplay by Chang Cheh and Ni Kuang (倪匡)[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2019-10-1-13.html) |
| Production | Shaw Brothers (邵氏兄弟), Hong Kong; producer Runme Shaw (邵仁枚)[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2019-10-1-13.html) |
| Release | 15 February 1974, Hong Kong; Mandarin, color[2](https://www.hkfilm.net/archive/hkfa.pdf) |
| Running time | 92 minutes per the Hong Kong Film Archive; other databases list 91, 95, or 96 minutes[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2019-10-1-13.html) • [4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-savage-five) |
| Action directors | Lau Kar-leung (劉家良) and Tong Kai (唐佳)[5](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2019-10-1-13.html) |
| The five leads | David Chiang (Chen Deng), Ti Lung (Fang Yi-fei), Chen Kuan-tai (Ma Dao), Danny Lee (Wei Minghui), Wong Chung (Yao Guang)[6](https://www.senscritique.com/film/the_savage_five/11251885) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
A gang of bandits arrives in a remote, self-sufficient town carrying a safe stolen in a robbery elsewhere, and forces the blacksmith Wei Minghui (韋明輝, played by Danny Lee) to open it; Wei escapes and reports to the authorities.[7](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/1933448/) While they wait, the bandits kill villagers and beat the traveling acrobat Yao Guang (姚廣, Wong Chung).[7](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/1933448/) Three righteous men, [Chen Deng](https://www.edgepedia.org/chen-deng) (陳登, David Chiang), Fang Yifei (方一飛, Ti Lung), and Ma Dao (馬刀, Chen Kuan-tai), join forces against the gang, and the innkeeper San Niang (三娘子, Wong Bing-bing) seduces the bandit leader (Frankie Wei) to work with them from inside.[7](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/1933448/) The plan goes wrong when Wei Minghui mistakenly leads bandits he meets on the road back to the town.[8](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00182743) The five men rise against the villains in a gruesome final battle, and the ending is tragic: the heroes die in the fight that saves the town.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2019-10-1-13.html)
## Production and the casting of the five
The film sits late in Chang Cheh's systematic building of male stars at Shaw Brothers. After Ti Lung and David Chiang had become famous, Chang built films around the pair, adding Chan Koon-tai (陳觀泰) and Wong Chung (王鍾) for the tailor-made *Four Riders* (1972); *The Savage Five* then introduced the newcomer Danny Lee (李修賢), so that the five men shared the screen in what the Hong Kong Film Archive describes as Chang's construction of a masculine, yanggang (剛陽) film world.[5](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2019-10-1-13.html) Within the ensemble, the Archive notes that Ti Lung and David Chiang still command the screen against the other three.[5](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2019-10-1-13.html)
The credited crew includes cinematographer Kung Mu-to (龔慕鐸, also known as Miyuki Yukio), editor Kwok Ting-hung, composer Chen Yung-yu (陳永煜, also known as Chen Hsun-chi), and the action directors Lau Kar-leung and Tong Kai.[5](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2019-10-1-13.html)
## Style and influences
**A kung fu film without kung fu.** Unlike most of Chang Cheh's mid-1970s output, *The Savage Five* is not built around martial arts display; martial arts are present and integral to the story, but the film's center is its character-driven plot.[9](https://www.shawbrothersuniverse.com/the-savage-five-1974-review/) None of the five men is a kung fu master, which makes the courage of more or less ordinary men the film's main subject.[10](https://cityonfire.com/savage-five-the-1974/) Reviewers have repeatedly described the result as Chang Cheh's closest approach to an outright western: a peaceful town overrun by bandits, a locked safe, and a villain whose weapon is a pair of pistols rather than fists or blades, with gunplay driving the climax.[10](https://cityonfire.com/savage-five-the-1974/) Commentators compare the setup to *The Seven Samurai* (1954), with the difference that the bandits never leave the town and the heroes rise from among the oppressed townspeople.[9](https://www.shawbrothersuniverse.com/the-savage-five-1974-review/)
The western flavor extends to the soundtrack, which borrows [Ennio Morricone](https://www.edgepedia.org/ennio-morricone)'s music from Giulio Petroni's *Death Rides a Horse* (1968) and *The Return of Ringo* (1965), matched beat for beat to Chang's images.[9](https://www.shawbrothersuniverse.com/the-savage-five-1974-review/) One sequence drew particular comment: after the bandits have apparently been defeated, Brother Li (Frankie Wei) walks into town and shoots people down with two pistols, a moment reviewers read as evidence of Chang Cheh and [Ni Kuang](https://www.edgepedia.org/ni-kuang)'s interest in the spaghetti western and its nihilism.[11](https://letterboxd.com/omahajon/film/the-savage-five/)
The film also fits Chang Cheh's broader aesthetic as he described it in his memoirs: hard, physical combat with a sense of mortal flesh and blood rather than supernatural feats, and heroes who do not survive every fight but often die tragic, heroic deaths.[12](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/rp-tv-film-veterans-19-2.html) A distinctive feature noted by critics is that the five heroes are more vulnerable than in typical Chang Cheh films; the bandits pose a real threat, and it is never certain which of them will fall.[13](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-savage-five/) The madam San Niang, played by Wong Bing-bing, is an unusually substantial female character for Chang, sacrificing herself to buy the men time, and one critic calls her the team's sixth, honorary member and the film's real symbol of heroism.[11](https://letterboxd.com/omahajon/film/the-savage-five/)
## Reception and availability
The film holds a 6.4 rating on IMDb from about 390 votes and a 64% audience score on Moviefone's aggregation.[4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-savage-five) • [14](https://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-savage-five/gqQSUCwbStCIN6P4SMnmh7/where-to-watch/) The Chinese film database 1905.com rates it 8.1.[7](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/1933448/) In 2019 the Hong Kong Film Archive screened it in a Chang Cheh retrospective, and in 2023 the CCTV movie channel broadcast it as part of its Shaw Brothers programming.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2019-10-1-13.html) • [7](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/1933448/) In the United States it streams on Shout! Factory TV and the Shout! Factory Amazon Channel, and can be rented or bought on Amazon Video, YouTube, and Google Play Movies.[4](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-savage-five)
## References
1. [The Savage Five, Hong Kong Film Archive programme note](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2019-10-1-13.html)
2. [港產電影一覽 (1913-2003), Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.hkfilm.net/archive/hkfa.pdf)
3. [The Savage Five, The Grindhouse Cinema Database](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/The_Savage_Five)
4. [The Savage Five streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-savage-five)
5. [五虎將, 香港電影資料館 programme note](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2019-10-1-13.html)
6. [The Savage Five, SensCritique](https://www.senscritique.com/film/the_savage_five/11251885)
7. [五虎将 The Savage Five (1974), 1905电影网](https://www.1905.com/mdb/film/1933448/)
8. [五虎將 The Savage Five, LiTV](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00182743)
9. [The Savage Five (1974) Review, Celestial Pictures / Shaw Brothers Universe](https://www.shawbrothersuniverse.com/the-savage-five-1974-review/)
10. [Savage Five, The (1974) Review, cityonfire.com](https://cityonfire.com/savage-five-the-1974/)
11. [The Savage Five review by Jon Peters, Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/omahajon/film/the-savage-five/)
12. [张彻──回忆录・影评集：张彻电影的阳刚武力革命, 香港电影资料馆](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/rp-tv-film-veterans-19-2.html)
13. [The Savage Five (1974), Letterboxd film page and reviews](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-savage-five/)
14. [The Savage Five Where to Watch, Moviefone](https://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-savage-five/gqQSUCwbStCIN6P4SMnmh7/where-to-watch/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Martial arts films › Released 1943 to 1985*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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