Magnificent Wonderman

When the Mongolian Salitai raids the Shaolin Temple, the head Buddhist priest of the temple, Won-kak, meets by chance the mute So-sun and the Mongolian Il-gong. They shave their heads and enter the temple. Buddhist priest Won-kak gets the Buddhist soldiers together and tells them to protect to the end the national treasure, the golden Buddhist statue that is at Shaolin temple. The mute So-sun works as the lowest servant at the temple and learns how to fight. One day, evil men come and steal the gold statue. So-sun sees this and tells Buddhist priest Sio but the ringleader of men is none other than the Mongolian informant Il-gong. So-sun ends up on the run due to scheming of Il-gong. After training with the Pungdo-hyub fighting technique, Il-gong turns the Shaolin Temple into the bandits' headquarters. So-sun searches out the 'Hwa-gong Secret Fighting Technique' scriptures and trains under it to defeat the Pungdo-hyub fighting technique.

Directed by Godfrey Ho, Kim Seon-gyung, Magnificent Wonderman leans on a strong ensemble — Casanova Wong, Elton Jeong Jin-Hwa, Kim Yeong-Il — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about action titles of 1978.