One-Armed Against Nine Killers (Taiwan, 1976)
aka The One-Armed Swordsman vs. the 9 Killers
Chinese Title: 獨臂拳王勇戰楚門九子
Translation: The one-armed boxing champion bravely fights against the Nine Chu School Disciples
Starring: Jimmy Wang Yu, Tsung Hua, Chen Hung-Lieh, Lo Lieh, Tsao Chien, Lung Fei, Wan Shan, Kao Chen-Peng, Hsieh Hsing
Director: Hsu Tseng-Hung
Action Director: Huang Kuo-Chu
Entertaining, if confusing little wuxia adventure about a one-armed boxer--yes, boxer--who is going around looking for the titular characters to avenge for his family's massacre three years prior. The main culprit behind the slaughter is the head of the Chu clan, who employed nine assassins to wipe out JWY's clan after his dad refused to participate in a rebellion. The film is basically JWY walking around the countryside and getting in one fight after another with a whole plethora of colorful villains, like a transsexual/hermaphrodite monk and a guy who practices the "turtle style." There are several twists along the way, a few I saw coming and a few I did not.
Highlights of the film include Chen Hung-Lieh wielding a Cloud-sized sword; a guy who plays chess with real people for some reason; Lo Lieh with a blowgun-flute; and JWY almost decapitating a prostitute with a tea tray. The fights are fun, if a bit simple (and fast). There are lots of weapons being used, including fans, spears, swords, sabers, sickles, and even a tonfa-sword. My main problem is the dubbing, which confuses the names of two or three of the assassins, and the fact that there are several assassin characters who are not the nine killers of the title. That makes the movie a little confusing. The Wu Tang Collection has a clean 76-minute version from a German rip, although another user on Youtube has grainier 83-minute version uploaded, which is the one I watched.For anyone watching who can't keep score:
Clan Leader Chu - Tsao Chien (The Gallant Knights)
The 9 killers:
Lu Sao Fung - (killed before movie starts)
Mung Sing-Hung (guy at beginning) - Tsung Hua (Super-Chaser)
Yen Hsi-Su - Lung Fei (Bruce Lee, We Miss You)
Fu Pai-Su (tonfa-blade guy) - Wang Chi-Sheng (Revengeful Swordswoman)
Yang Chi (female assassin)
Chu Lu (brothel guy) - Wan Shan (Chivalry Deadly Feud)
Liu Fei-Dong (big sword guy) - Chen Hung-Lieh (Cub Tiger from Kwangtung)
Shao Si-Yu (Lu Yen?) - Lo Lieh (Five Fingers of Death)
Tang Han (spear) - Choe Song (The Black Enforcer)
Other villains:
Lo Pu (chess guy) - Wu Ho (Woman Guerilla with Two Guns)
Wong Pa, the "Turtle" - Hou Po-Wei (Flying Swallow)
Dr. Poison - Yu Heng (The Hero)
Lu Ta-Chia (shows up in forest) - Hsieh Hsing (The Ghost Hill)
Fortune Teller - Kao Chen-Peng (The Deadly Silver Spear)
Tai Li-Wai (sickle killer) - Chin Lung (Heroine of Tribulation)
Chu Clan 4 Killers (dressed like scholars)
Lo Pai-Do (throwing dagger killer)
Spy Ring Kokuryukai (Taiwan, 1976)
aka Lady Karate
Chinese Title: 黑龍會
Translation: Black Dragon Society
aka Lady Karate
Chinese Title: 黑龍會
Translation: Black Dragon Society
Starring: Chia Ling, Chang Yi, Lung Hsiung, Sally Chen Sha-Li, Kam Kong, Chin Chien, Miao Tian, Tien Yeh, Ke Tian, Yi Yuan, Hsieh Chung-Mou
Director: Ting Shan-Hsi
Director: Ting Shan-Hsi
Action Director: Shan Mao, Ho Wei-Hsiung
This is a pseudo-martial arts take on the story of the infamous Manchurian/Japanese spy, Yoshiko Kawashima. The movie is set in the early 1930s, with Kawashima (Chia Ling, in an atypical role) living in Japan. The Japanese army has taken Manchuria, but it's still something of a No Man's Land. The Prime Minister figures that if they can't tame the place before the Nationalist Army arrives, they'll lose it. So, they decide to set up the puppet state of Manchukuo, with "the Last Emperor" Pu Yi. Yoshiko is given the task to help Pu Yi escape from his exile mansion in Tientsin and take him to Manchuria.
The premise is pretty simple, but the execution is a bit complicated. There are a lot of different parties getting in the way, and for their own reasons. The local Japanese authorities, led by Lung Hsiung and Miao Tien, are something of a hindrance to her...although I'm not really sure why. There is a band of anti-Japanese revolutionaries led by Chang Yi, who also moonlights as a cape-and-mask hero called the Plum Bandit. The Plum Bandit is eventually joined by a Nationalist spy named Bluebird (Sally Chen). There is a rival spy played by Kam Kong who's in love with Yoshiko. There is a random bunch of Japanese samurai led by Yi Yuan. Finally, Yoshiko's own estranged Mongolian husband, Ganjuurjab (Tien Yeh), shows up to complicate things even more.
Despite the American title, there isn't a whole lot of fighting in this. There is a fight at the very beginning where Chia Ling demonstrates her skills against a whole bunch of karate fighters. We're about halfway through when we get a sword-and-knife tussle between Kam Kong and Pu Yi's guards, inlcuding Jimmy Wang Yu regular Hsueh Han. There's a gunfight that becomes a sword-and-bayonet fight between the revolutionaries and the Japanese soldiers which is well staged. The showstopper is a huge raid by the aforementioned samurai on the restaurant that Yoshiko runs her operations from, which has her fighting of dozesn of katana-wielding killers with a tanto dagger. It's the best scene in the film, although I can't place Yi Yuan's motives. Finally, there's a final shoot-out between the revolutionaries and the soldiers as Pu Yi and Yoshiko are escaping into the harbor.
Oh, and kung fu viewers may be surprised that Chia Ling has two sex scenes in the film, although she might be using a butt double during her sex scene with Kam Kong.
The character of Yoshiko Kawashima has been portrayed in other films and do-ramas:
Beautiful Spy, Kawashima Yoshiko (1955) - portrayed by Pak Ming
Sen'un Ajia no Joō (1957) - portrayed by Miyuki Takakura
The Last Emperor (1987) - portrayed by Maggie Han
Kawashima Yoshiko (1989) - portrayed by Zhang Xiaomin
Kawashima Yoshiko (1990) - portrayed by Anita Mui
Ri Kouran (TV, 2007) - portrayed by Rei Kikukawa
Dansō no Reijin: Kawashima Yoshiko no Shōgai (TV, 2008) - portrayed by Meisa Kuroki
Chasing Kawashima Yoshiko (2023) - portrayed by Lynn Xiong
This is a pseudo-martial arts take on the story of the infamous Manchurian/Japanese spy, Yoshiko Kawashima. The movie is set in the early 1930s, with Kawashima (Chia Ling, in an atypical role) living in Japan. The Japanese army has taken Manchuria, but it's still something of a No Man's Land. The Prime Minister figures that if they can't tame the place before the Nationalist Army arrives, they'll lose it. So, they decide to set up the puppet state of Manchukuo, with "the Last Emperor" Pu Yi. Yoshiko is given the task to help Pu Yi escape from his exile mansion in Tientsin and take him to Manchuria.
The premise is pretty simple, but the execution is a bit complicated. There are a lot of different parties getting in the way, and for their own reasons. The local Japanese authorities, led by Lung Hsiung and Miao Tien, are something of a hindrance to her...although I'm not really sure why. There is a band of anti-Japanese revolutionaries led by Chang Yi, who also moonlights as a cape-and-mask hero called the Plum Bandit. The Plum Bandit is eventually joined by a Nationalist spy named Bluebird (Sally Chen). There is a rival spy played by Kam Kong who's in love with Yoshiko. There is a random bunch of Japanese samurai led by Yi Yuan. Finally, Yoshiko's own estranged Mongolian husband, Ganjuurjab (Tien Yeh), shows up to complicate things even more.
Despite the American title, there isn't a whole lot of fighting in this. There is a fight at the very beginning where Chia Ling demonstrates her skills against a whole bunch of karate fighters. We're about halfway through when we get a sword-and-knife tussle between Kam Kong and Pu Yi's guards, inlcuding Jimmy Wang Yu regular Hsueh Han. There's a gunfight that becomes a sword-and-bayonet fight between the revolutionaries and the Japanese soldiers which is well staged. The showstopper is a huge raid by the aforementioned samurai on the restaurant that Yoshiko runs her operations from, which has her fighting of dozesn of katana-wielding killers with a tanto dagger. It's the best scene in the film, although I can't place Yi Yuan's motives. Finally, there's a final shoot-out between the revolutionaries and the soldiers as Pu Yi and Yoshiko are escaping into the harbor.
Oh, and kung fu viewers may be surprised that Chia Ling has two sex scenes in the film, although she might be using a butt double during her sex scene with Kam Kong.
The character of Yoshiko Kawashima has been portrayed in other films and do-ramas:
Beautiful Spy, Kawashima Yoshiko (1955) - portrayed by Pak Ming
Sen'un Ajia no Joō (1957) - portrayed by Miyuki Takakura
The Last Emperor (1987) - portrayed by Maggie Han
Kawashima Yoshiko (1989) - portrayed by Zhang Xiaomin
Kawashima Yoshiko (1990) - portrayed by Anita Mui
Ri Kouran (TV, 2007) - portrayed by Rei Kikukawa
Dansō no Reijin: Kawashima Yoshiko no Shōgai (TV, 2008) - portrayed by Meisa Kuroki
Chasing Kawashima Yoshiko (2023) - portrayed by Lynn Xiong
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