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The One-Armed Swordsman
Directed by Chang Cheh
The first real kung fu movie I ever bought was one called The Killer Meteor(1976). The star of the film (Jimmy Wang Yu) was the title of the movie, as was his weapon. The film is also the only time I've ever seen Jackie Chan as a bad guy. The film was my first real introduction to true martial arts cinema and also my first introduction to Hong Kong star Jimmy Wang Yu (Wang Yu was the big guy in China between Bruce Lee and the emergence of Jackie Chan as a huge star).
To this day, The Killer Meteor is STILL one of my favorite martial arts movies. Somewhat because of the craziness encountered along the way through the hero's journey but also because of how cool Jimmy Wang Yu is. Ever since then, he's been one of my favorite Kung Fu stars, and for good reason. He is the One-Armed Swordsman! He also made another similar character of The One-Armed Boxer.
Well The One-Armed Swordsman was the first one. The one that started it all. This film is the movie that jump started the kung fu movie genre back up after dying out midway through last century. If it weren't for this film, then the MASSIVE 1970's and 80's kung fu genre we know and love wouldn't be what it became. This was actually the first film to EVER break over a million dollars in Hong Kong box office.
The One-Armed Swordsman is about a man named Fang Gang. He starts the film with both arms but during a fight a woman he trusted, cuts off his left arm during what was supposed to be just a fist fight. The man recovers, relearns kung fu, butts get kicked and so on. The film isn't too difficult to explain, however, this isn't just like some common, everybody is fighting in some random field, kung fu movie.
This is a Shaw Brothers movie. The Shaw Brothers were like the Chinese Holloywood. They had competition but not for long. People would come in and join the Shaw studio then they would be paid monthly. They would live at the Shaw Studio and would make movies. It was like a normal job except it involved film instead of...well more boring forms of labor.
Because the entire film was shot in the studio, everything looks great. Weather didn't play a part because they were always inside. Everything is controlled. The whole picture looks like some dream than a real picture of kung fu in actual China. Not that it looks fake. It just looks much more fantastic and beautiful than some random field does. Since it's in studio, the costumes looks great and are often on par with what you might see in modern kung fu pictures...except it was 1967.
Seeing as how I've only ever seen TWO kung fu pictures from the 1960's (both were One-Armed Swordsman films oddly enough) I find it strange how AMAZING this DVD transfer looks. Not even the transfer for Master of The Flying Guillotine or The Prodigal Son looks this good! Listening to the film you can tell it's a really old Kung fu picture...but just looking at it you might not be able to. Dragon Dynasty is making some of the VERY BEST kung fu dvd transfers out right now. I didn't even see a SINGLE pop or scratch on the film itself. I would at least expect a cigarette burn or two when watching ANY kung fu movie! I'm amazed how incredibly well they were able to fix the negative for this movie. I can't wait to see how the picture looks for the dvd's for The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and Five Fingers Of Death. WOW.........WOW!
This is one of the better kung fu pictures I've seen in a while. It's not exactly as gripping as Hero or anything but it's quite well acted (except for the main bad guy...he's kind of a typical maniacal evildoer, but aside from him of course) and the film transfer is EXCEPTIONAL. ESPECIALLY for a kung fu movie. EVEN MORE when you realise it's a kung fu picture from 1967! Many American films don't even look this good on dvd......crazy.
I give this film
[5/5]
Jimmy Wang Yu is so friggin cool. I think that's all I have to say really. It's at Wal-Mart now (here in my town) so pick it up if you like martial arts pictures in any way! Run! GET!
September 13 , 2010
ILLegal Alien: Jedi Link of USA.
Of all the muthafuckas in the world, he's the muthafuckest.
This one is a bizarre case. Some places he fits in, others he stands out. No matter where you find him, he'll always be the same guy as he never puts up a facade for any reason. A filmmaker on the rise he has a vast knowledge of useless garbage. If it's in a movie he's seen it. Thanks to the internet he's seen worse. This one is severely scarred by an incomprehension of how retarded people can be. Generally a loner, he knows few, those few don't always support him so he stands on his own.
He is relentless in his pursuit as a filmmaker and refuses to be left out of a business he wants to see improve. He also has ADD which explains the somewhat "all over" nature of his own description.