A lesser-known film from the 1970s has whatQuentin Tarantinoregards as one of the greatest battles ever put to the screen. Over the years, cinematic history has witnessed some truly remarkable battle sequences, brought to life by a number of moving parts.
Various genres have contributed in that regard. When it comes to the subject of thebest big battles ever made, movies across a wide range of genres come to mind, including World War 2 films likeSaving Private Ryan, and historical epics likeSpartacusandBraveheart.
A film that rarely finds itself in that conversation isBeach of the War Gods, an often-overlooked gem that adapts an Akira Kurosawa classic and one of thegreatest samurai movies of all time.
Beach Of The War Gods Is The Martial Arts Movie Version Of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai
In 1973, former Shaw Brothers actor andmartial arts movie star Jimmy Wang Yuteamed up with Golden Harvest - the studio behind many of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee’s movies - forBeach of the War Gods, a martial arts period piece that acts as an adaptation of Akira Kuorsawa’sSeven Samuraimovie, but with the story set in ancient China rather than Japan.
Keeping with the premise ofSeven Samuraibut with a wuxia-inspired twist,Beach of the War Godsfollows a sword-wielding hero played by Jimmy Wang Yu, who takes it upon himself to shore up the support of five talented warriorsas he looks to defend a small fishing village from an army of Japanese pirates.
Also written and directed by Jimmy Wang Yu, the movie’s story builds up to a long and dramatic clash between the two sides, as the hero’s band of fighters leads the villagers into a giant battle with the movie’s Japanese villains. The fight over the village’s fate plays out for more than a half-hour.
What Quentin Tarantino Has Said About Beach Of The War Gods
During a discussion ofJimmy Wang Yu’s careeron thePure Cinema Podcast, Quentin Tarantino heaped praise on the actor’s work onBeach of the War Gods. Beach of the War Godstechnically belongs in the kung fu movie genre,butas Tarantino points out, Wang Yu’s movie"transcends the martial arts genre."
Tarantino argues that as the movie transitions to its final fight, it’s essentially become a “historical battle movie,” likening its approach to the action to Mel Gibson’sBraveheart.He even went as far as to call the ending ofBeach of the War Gods"one of the great battles of all time."
In an article that Tarantino wrote about Jimmy Wang Yu, he citedBeach of the War Godsas one of the actor-director’s four “masterpieces,” and credited much of its overall quality to Wang Yu’s visual style of directing. He compares it to300, remarking thatthe Zack Snyder film “plays like a remake” ofBeach of the War Gods.
Beach Of The Gods Is An Underrated Martial Arts Masterpiece
As a lesser-known Hong Kong-Taiwan production, as opposed toa big-budget Shaw Brothers epic,Beach of the War Godsreceives far less attention than it deserves. It may not be hailed as one of the best martial arts movies of the 1970s, butit’s definitely an underappreciated classic of the genre.
But as Tarantino points out, it’s so much more than just a martial arts film.300andBraveheartare apt comparisons, considering thatBeach of the War Godssucceeds in creating a visually immersive atmosphere, aided in large part by the historical costumes of the warriors on the Japanese and Chinese sides of the movie’s central conflict.
This helpsBeach of the War Godssuck you into the action, but that’s not the only factor at play. While Jimmy Wang Yu was not necessarily known as an expert martial artist in the same vein as Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee, that wasn’t inherently obvious inBeach of the War Gods, which employs some masterful martial arts choreography.
What makes it stand out so much is thatBeach of the War Godsisn’t showing one fight at a time; it manages to juggle dozens of combatants at once; when Jimmy Wang Yu is battling Japanese pirates with his two swords, other fighters can be seen in the background, having their highly choreographed showdowns.
How long Jimmy Wang Yu’s movie was able to keep this up has a lot to do with what makes it so spectacular. And then there’s the diversity of the action, as the main group of heroes is composed of fighters with unique fighting styles. This enabledBeach of the War Godsto consistently mix things up so that its action isn’t limited to just swordplay.
Beach of the War Godsprovides a thrilling spectacle of a final battle, one that easily justifiesQuentin Tarantino’s high praise for the movie. A battle that lasts more than 30 minutes naturally risks testing the audience’s patience for a satisfactory conclusion, but Wang Yu brilliantly makes every minute of the fight well worth it.
