Wang Yu, King of Boxers (1973)

Wang Yu, King of Boxers (1973)
aka: The Screaming Tiger; Ten Fingers of Steel; Screaming Ninja
Chinese Title: 唐人票客
Translation: Tang People Ticket Guest

 

Starring: Jimmy Wang Yu, Chang Ching-Ching, Lung Fei, Chi Lan, Kang Kai, Ma Chi, Lu Ping, Hsueh Han, Shan Mao, Luo Bin, Huang Fei-Long, Tsai Hung
Director: Chien Lung
Action Director: Huang Fei-Long, Pan Chuan-Ling

 

Wang Yu, King of Boxers is pretty much a run-of-the-mill early 1970s basher opus with few things to set it apart from the dozens of similar films coming out in 1973. Bruce Lee had come and gone by the time it came out. Kung fu was growing in popularity around the world, including the United States. By this point, people like Ti Lung, Chen Kuan-Tai, Henry Yu, Michael Chan Wai-Man, and others demonstrated that they were better screen fighters than Jimmy Wang Yu. And yet, Wang Yu stayed true to his game, doing what he did best.

 Japan (sometime before the Second Sino-Japanese War). Ma Tai-Yung (Wang Yu) is a Chinese guy visiting the place in search of some people. He is targeted by a pickpocket, Ying Chu (Chang Ching-Ching, in one of her last roles), who works for a racket that exploits orphans for their own gain. Ma eventually tracks down Ying Chu and simultaneously puts the hurt down on her despicable employers. While doing so, Ma meets up with a Korean guy (The Fist That Kills’ Lu Ping) who’s in Japan looking to avenge the murder of his father.

Enter the local karate school, run by Ying Wu (Lung Fei, who else?). They have more than their fair share of problems. After all, Sensei Ying is the fellow who murdered the Korean guy’s master. And he killed Ma’s family and village. And he has a beef with the local kendo school, run by The Iron Monkey’s Ma Chi. It isn’t very long before all three parties start putting the pressure on him, which he is more than willing to lash out against. What this means is that you the viewer are about to get 80 minutes of non-stop action.

I think the most interesting thing about Wang Yu, King of Boxers is that it is set in Japan. Moreover, it also refrains from depicting all Japanese people as irredeemable brutes-cum-rapists (or enablers of such). Oh sure, there are some Japanese would-be rapists in this movie, one of whom is played by perennial villain Shan Mao. But their targets here would be their fellow Japanese (even if all the characters are played by Chinese actors). The Japanese kendo school is depicted as honorable and the kendo master’s daughter (Chi Lan, of Two Dragons Fight Against Tiger) is portrayed as a possible love interest for our hero. Wang Yu, King of Boxers does have a smidgen more depth than your average anti-Japanese kung fu movie from that period.

The action is provided by Huang Fei-Long and Pan Chuan-Ling. The former is best known for his work on movies like Shaolin Deadly Kicks and The 18 Bronzemen. Pan Chuan-Ling, however, had a shorter career that lasted from 1970 to 1973, which included credits like Duel in the Tiger Den and Chiu Chow Kung Fu. Pan never made it out of the basher era, so we are not quite sure how much his style would have progressed had he continued in the game.

The fighting is typical early 70s Jimmy Wang Yu flailing arms. If you don’t care for this approach to screen fighting, Wang Yu, King of Boxers will do nothing to change your mind. Choreographers Huang and Pan do manage to keep things interesting by throwing in different styles, like “karate”, kendo, judo and sumo wrestling. In an early scene, Wang Yu throws down with a quartet of sumo wrestlers for a reward of several hundred teals of gold. It’s hard to imagine Wang Yu’s push kicks an swingy arms defeating men of that carriage, but okay. It’s a kung fu movie. I do wish there was more of an effort to include Japanese weapons in the fights; in one sequence, Wang Yu fights off a bunch of men dressed in gi, but who armed with your standard early 70s knives. Couldn’t they afford sai swords and tonfa, at least?

Most people will remember the finale, in which Jimmy Wang Yu faces off (once again) with Lung Fei. The fight starts atop a cliff, and the moves onto a train, and then a bridge, and then a river, and finally at a waterfall. For a good ten minutes, Wang Yu and Lung Fei just punch, kick, chop, fist hammer, knee and strike each other into oblivion. There are actually some moments of fast, complex exchanges during the train portion of the fight that had me impressed. I don’t think it quite reaches the length to be one of the all-time longest fight scenes, but it is pretty darn long.

Jimmy Wang Yu fans will definitely find something to enjoy here. Naysayers will not be convinced of their folly. But I liked the idea of Jimmy Wang Yu teaming up with a Japanese kendo school to fight the evil karate school. It’s a little twist on the usual rigmarole, but sometimes that is enough.