THE FLYING DAGGER (1969)

THE FLYING DAGGER (1969)

Ladies and gentlemen, the man himself is back, the great Sir Run Run Shaw produces from the "throw back" vault (hence the black and white opening) his trusted director Chang Cheh who writes the script with pal Lee Chi-Sin as they all watch action director team Tang Chia and Liu Chia-Liang slash together the classic film THE FLYING DAGGER (1969). And if you had as much fun reading the preceding bit as I had writing it we might be blood related, let's get busy!

Did you ever have a thought to do something that, while you were thinking it, seemed like a great idea at the time. So you did it. And then, all of this crap comes down after it and you realize you really didn't think it through? You too, huh? Cool, so Yu Ying of the Qiankun Sword Clan (who just happens to be the  daughter of the clan's chief) decides to kill the son of the Green Dragon Clan's Chief who just happens to be Jiao Lei the Flying Dagger...oops! Never mind that his son was a killing, raping and then killing again type of a son-of-a-gun. Parents just don't see their children in that kind of light. 

Chief of the Green Dragon Clan, Jiao Lei the Flying Dagger gets all mad and revengey and starts killing everybody just to get to Yu Ying and for good measure clearly intends to kill her father, Yu Yuan, Chief of the Qiankun Sword Clan as well. So, after killing the legendary Luo Tong and Song Jingang and his four sons, while killing the Song's servants and children a real badass guy shows up with a similar skill set as The Flying Dagger. His name? Yang Qing, badass, mystery man extraodinaire. Ready, set --begin story!

THE FLYING DAGGER (1969) stars Cheng Pei Pei as Yu Ying the well intentioned pursued damsel of our story. Yeung Chi-Hing is the revengey pursuer and father Jiao Lei the Flying Dagger, the mad cap murderer. Lo Lieh is Mr. Badass extraordinaire man of mystery who sometimes seems to help and other times not so much.

HONORABLE MENTION: There are a lot of recognizable faces here: Cheng Miu as Yu Yuan the father of the pursued, Ku Feng as Song Jingang, and even Liu Chia-Liang, Cliff Lok, David Chiang Dai-Wei and Liu Chia-Yung have small cameos. 

FIGHT TIME: The incredible action direction team of Tang Chia and Liu Chia-Liang are responsible for what action we see here as I counted six (6) fight scenes including the rather tame finale. Everybody's fight scenes are well done but I would have liked a bit more in the way of technique in the scenes. However, I found in my research that THE FLYING DAGGER (1969) was actually filmed years earlier and its released delayed but no reason for the delay was given. This helps me to be a bit more forgiving of the relatively sedate nature of the fights as the truth of the matter is we could always use "more".

HONORABLE MENTION: none

THE FLYING DAGGER (1969) at its core is a straight forward pursuit film. It is due to the talents of its co-writers Chang Cheh and Lee Chi-Sin through characterization that we hold our interest throughout the film. In addition, if the film had been released years earlier then I certainly would be making a bigger deal of the use of the Jiang Hu Chivalry and male dominate subplot which at this point (1969) we have already seen at least a couple of times already. That said, I certainly enjoyed THE FLYING DAGGER (1969) and wholly recommend it to viewers and complete collectors alike. See you next time!

If you liked this review please comment on the blog, become a follower of the blog, join me on my Facebook account by sending me a message first and then a friend request so I know who I am friending (  https://www.facebook.com/Michael529P   ) and like my Facebook page: SHAW Brothers Kung Fu Movies 1965-1986. I thank you and would appreciate it very much!

NEXT UP: THE INVINCIBLE FIST (1969)

TWELVE DEADLY COINS (1969)

TWELVE DEADLY COINS (1969)

Our next movie for 1969 is an adaptation of the novel TWELVE DEADLY COINS written by Chang Meng-Huan. I have no access to this novel at all so there will be no comparison data. Runme Shaw is the producer, Hsu Tseng-Hung is the script writer and director. The action team of Tong Gai and Liu Chia-Liang are back after a spell to action direct this wuxia tale of brotherhood and chivalry also titled TWELVE DEADLY COINS (1969). Let's get busy! 

Yuan Cheng Lieh has practiced and planned for twenty years for his revenge. His "iron thorn technique" is finally ready to challenge the mighty Yu Jian Ping and his famous "Twelve Deadly Coins". The hurt and pain of rejection and the physical injury to his left eye will finally be avenged. But first, Yu Jian Ping must be made to suffer a humiliation that will have him begging for death. Yuan Cheng Lieh has sworn however, that he will not let Yu Jian Ping die so easily.

Qiao Mao was born poor and raised by his father until Master Yu Jian Ping of the highly respected Yu Security and Escort Bureau took him in and taught him martial arts and treated him almost like a son. In fact, Master Yu taught Qiao Mao so unselfishly that Qiao Mao's martial skills were second only to Master Yu's himself. Never the less, not only did Qiao Mao never forget his humble beginnings he also never dared think of himself as the equal of any of Master Yu's many pupils and certainly not the master's own son Yu Hua. He has allowed his humble birth to burden him like a stone he is obligated to carry on his shoulders until his death. 

Yu Jian Ping's Security Escort Bureau has been hired to escort the Jiang Ning County Soldier's Fund of 200,000 taels. Master Yu has assigned this to his son Yu Hua thinking this would be an excellent opportunity for his son to get some experience. Qiao Mao, however disagrees citing the exceedly large amount of funds involved. Both Master Yu and Yu Hua think that the bureau's reputation should be deterrent enough to make even this amount of money a milk run. But Qiao Mao does not agree and after failing to convince Master Yu to send him along he trails the escort wagons on his own and notices them being shadowed by some men dressed in black on horseback. 

Qiao Mao rides up to Yu Hua and warns him of the apparent dangers but Yu Hua is having none of it. Yu Hua agrues with Qiao Mao and refuses to alter his planned route. As you can imagine, things do not go well for the convoy and that is just the beginning... 

TWELVE DEADLY COINS (1969) stars Lo Lieh and Ching Li in one of those wuxia tales where the young hero is so embedded in honor and integrity that he is almost totally "bitchafied" and the young heroine is so stepped and surrounded by an evil and vile environment that she falls in love with this bit-- ah, I mean, hero at first sight. Lo Lieh plays Qiao Mao the perfect student of Master Yu Jian Ping played masterfully by the great Tien Feng. Ching Li meanwhile plays the ungrateful and treacherous student to the dastardly Master Yuan Cheng Lieh who is the villain of our piece also masterfully played by the great Fang Mian [These fine gentlemen would also play opposing masters in the cult classic FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH (1972)].

HONORABLE MENTION: Ho Ming-Chung plays Master Yu's son Yu Hua and acted in one more movie in 1970 and was never heard from again according to HKMDB (HONG KONG MOVIE DATABASE). Liu Chia-Liang plays Meng Gang, Chiu Hung plays Shen Ming Yi, Tong Gai plays Long Arm Bear, and the late Wu Ma plays Red Hair Bear.

FIGHT TIME: The action-directing team of Liu Chia-Liang and Tong Gai are back for TWELVE DEADLY COINS (1969) but there is not a lot to direct here. There are only two (2) full out fight scenes in the movie, the robbery of the convoy and the multi-fight finale. In spite of this they give their usual high standard of action although I couldn't help noticing that there was a lot of light skill on display in this movie. I must say I wish there was more fighting but that is my only complaint about the fighting. 

It took me three times around watching TWELVE DEADLY COINS (1969) before I recognized the themes from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet embedded in the plot. This is always going to work in a love story if done properly so when I do my pros and cons columns, I get pros: Liu Chia-Liang action, wuxia storyline, end of movie twists, Ching Li, Ching Li and Ching Li. The cons: I wish there was more fighting, and the hero is too soft for my personal taste. So over-all I will give TWELVE DEADLY COINS (1969) a positive recommendation and encourage you all to watch it if you can but to buy it only if you collect. See you next time!

If you liked this review please comment on the blog, become a follower of the blog, join me on my Facebook account by sending me a message first and then a friend request so I know who I am friending (  https://www.facebook.com/Michael529P   ) and like my Facebook page: SHAW Brothers Kung Fu Movies 1965-1986. I thank you and would appreciate it very much!

NEXT UP: DRAGON SWAMP (1969)

THE SILVER FOX (1968)

THE SILVER FOX (1968)

Hey, welcome back. Producer Runme Shaw continues the Shaw Brothers' vision of the female heroine in their wuxia movies with THE SILVER FOX (1968). He brings back both the director (Hsu Tseng-Hung) and writer (San Kong) of TEMPLE OF THE RED LOTUS (1965) and TWINS SWORDS (1965) in a mind numbing story of self indulgent evil you will not soon forget. Tang Chia and Liu Chia-Liang do the honors of the action choreography and actually get screen credit for it for the first time. Now let's check out San Kong's story.  

Sima Chau is a victim, a victim of want and the world has conspired against him. He wants what belongs to his father. His father is the teacher of a famous kung fu school. The Deadly Palm technique are the specialty of the school and Sima Chau should inherit the system but instead his father favors an older student of the school, Hsia Wu, whom he has to call elder brother.  That handsome bastard was only adopted by his father and what he has should belong to Sima Chau. Hsia Wu's wife Pui Yu. Beautiful Pui Yu. She should be his, as well, in spite of her marriage to Hsia Wu, in spite of giving him a child, she should be his and she will be his --as well as everything else that should belong to him. He will fix them. He will fix them all. 

For eighteen years Hsia Wu has hidden himself. He and his one-year-old daughter (Hsia Ching Ching) barely escaped Sima Chau's treachery and slaughter of their entire school, that day, when his own morals failed him. Hsia Wu has trained himself with the Deadly Palm Manual and has almost mastered the technique. He has trained his daughter in the martial arts as well. She is very good and has become The Silver Fox constantly harassing Sima Chau's escort business. Their ultimate goal, however, is to get revenge, to take their time and get revenge. 

Huang Chung-Hsin as Sima Chau is not the star of THE SILVER FOX (1968) but his presence carries the whole of the movie. I say this because if even for a minute you do not believe in the sheer evil of his sense of entitlement then nothing else the cast does in this movie makes any sense. For me, I was sold from the very first snide look his character gave at the beginning of the movie to Tien Feng's character. Not only are the things we see significant but as we learn of the other characters we can only imagine the sinister things he must have threatened to get the characters to comply with his wishes. This story absolutely deserves a modern remake as a Netflix unrated series. If you know somebody, tell somebody.

HONORABLE MENTION: The rest of the cast deserves honorable mention for their parts are well done: Tien Feng as Hsia Wu, Lily Ho as Hsia Ching Ching aka Silver Fox, Chu Sam-Yin as Pui Yu, and Chang Yi as Hsu Shung Wu as the obligatory male hero.

FIGHT TIME: Welcome back, let's get right to it. We have a pretty interesting scenario here, while we have Tang Chia and Liu Chia-Liang as credited action choreographers but we don't a lot of action. What we do have is the first unarmed combat scenes and the first mention of an unarmed kung fu school. So The Silver Fox (1968) has some historical significance due to these facts as least as far as I can tell and until somebody else proves different. I counted no more than four (4) fight scenes including the finale some of them pretty short. Everybody does a good enough job with their fights but the star of this movie is the story.  Not that there's anything wrong with that. 

I already gave it away that I have every reason in the world to recommend THE SILVER FOX (1968). It is all about the story which could use some evening out but the front and back ends of the story are plenty powerful enough. The historical significance is just an added bonus for collectors to actually purchase the movie to own. This was a lot of fun, see you next time!

NEXT UP: THE MAGNIFICENT SWORDSMAN (1968)