SIX ASSASSINS (1971) #62

SIX ASSASSINS (1971)

KOREAN POSTER

SIX ASSASSINS (1971) released March 25th, was written and directed by Walter Chung Chang-Hwa produced by Shin Sang-Ok and Sir Run Run Shaw. Shot in Taiwan, it is a twist of THE MAGNIFICENT 7 with a splash of  CHUSHINGURA: THE 47 RONIN, wuxia movie! Let's get busy. 

Yun Il-Bong as Lord Zheng Guo Li Min

Chen Feng-Chen as Lord Ding Yuan

Lord Zheng Guo Li Ming is a feudal lord and land owner but most importantly he is the emperor's brother. Unfortunately Lord Li Ming is also a tyrant and his treatment of his servants have them running to the neighboring estate, the estate of Lord Zheng Shou Zhen Ding Yuan. 

Lord Li Ming refuses to accept this defiance from lowly peasants and personally travels to the Ding Yuan estate to confront one such family and robs and murders them. He then orders the boundary marker to be moved to expand his estate but Lord Ding Yuan arrives to confront him and demands he move the marker back and leave his land. This enrages the emperor's brother and he murders Lord Ding Yuan right on the spot. As Lord Ding Yuan lies dying though, he orders his men to not do anything. 

Shum Lo as Minister Cui Yin

The case lands before Minister Cui Yin by virtue of written petitions and before hearing from either estate representative in person he decides in favor of the emperor's brother Lord Li Ming. Minister Cui decides that Lord Zheng Shou Zhen Ding Yuan was in the wrong and his son will not inherit his title and will forfeit his father's estate. When Minister Ruan Yi-Cheng arrives at the capital representing the Ding Yuan estate, the edit against them has been drafted already but Minister Ruan Yi-Cheng begs Minister Cui to delay the issuing of the edit for one month so he may prepare the people of Wei City for the outcome and avoid any unrest. Under the conditions laid out by Minister Ruan Yi-Cheng, Minister Cui agrees to the one month delay BUT Minister Ruan has lied! 

Fang Mian as Ruan Yi-Cheng

Minister Ruan Yi-Cheng's real intention for the one month delay is to plan and execute the assassination of the emperor's brother hoping that with his brother dead, the emperor  would withdraw the edit and allow Lord Ding Yuan's son to keep his inheritance. To this cause, he has enlisted the help of Hero Mu Jun-Jie to help with the planning because the murder must not take place on either lord's estate for it to work. Adding further to the danger is not only Lord Li Ming's two personal body guards but his protector is none other than Captain of the Imperial Guard, Qiu Zhang-Sheng! Ladies and gentlemen -- get your popcorn ready!

CAST REPORT

the good: Ling Yun as Hero Mun Jun-Jie. James Nam Gung-Fan as Fu Cheng. Lily Li as Sun Mei-Zhen.

the bad: Yun Il-Bong as Lord Zheng Guo Li Ming. Kao Ming as Captain Qiu Zhang-Sheng. Tong Tin-Hei as Lord Li-Ming personal body guard.

HONORABLE MENTION: Introducing in his very first movie: Chan Shen as Yu Li-De, Lord Li-Ming personal body guard. Bruce Tong Yim-Chaan, Luk Chuen, Sammo Hung, Someno Yukio and Lam Ching-Ying have small roles as fighters. 

Introducing: Chan Shen 

FIGHT TIME: SIX ASSASSINS (1971) is credited by HKMD (Hong Kong Movie Database) as directed by Walter Chung Chang-Hwa with no credit given to any action director. I must say, under these circumstances, the action is top notch and state of the art for 1971.  The techniques are clear, easy to follow, realistic and entertaining. Each participant has their own flavor about their fight style and I am hard to imagine anyone being disappointed with the five (5) actions scenes I counted. This is not action-packed, but never-the-less, the movie is still well paced. There are both weapons and empty handed combat on display. Well done!

HONORABLE MENTION: James Nam Gung-Fan's fight scenes are very flashy and suitable for his character which is a parallel to Robert Vaughn's character from the Magnificent Seven.

Lily Li

RECOMMENDATION: SIX ASSASSINS (1971) is a nice eastern western romp for any slow Saturday afternoon when one has a touch of kung fu fever that needs a fix. In addition it is collectible as the character actor, Chan Shen's first movie. He is well used in almost every classic Shaw Brother's movie whether action or comedy. Well, that's my review, 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 JADE FACED ASSASSIN (1971)

THE WANDERING SWORDSMAN (1970)

THE WANDERING SWORDSMAN (1970)

Sir Run Run Shaw produces another masterpiece by the director / writer team of Chang Cheh and I Kuang. THE WANDERING SWORDSMAN (1970) was released on February 4th and is a look at the day in the life of a swordsman walking the Jiang Hu who is highly skilled but is still very inexperienced.  At the root of the film is an unusual  heist that our hero stumbles into. Yuen Cheung-Yan and Chan Siu-Pang share the action directing duties and Yang Sze (who becomes known as Bolo Yeung) has his acting debut. Let's get busy!

You Xia-er is a young wandering swordsman. Although he is very highly skilled he is also inexperienced and very happy-go-lucky. Strictly by chance he follows a pair of horsemen and overhears them plotting the robbery of a rich family. While he makes no attempt to stop the robbery, he does take the booty from one of the robbers after the event and gives it to a large number of refugees from a river flooding. Then, because of a misunderstanding, he haplessly gives the refugees all of the money he has on him.

This causes him to have no money to pay for his meal which forces him to attempt to pawn his weapons to the restaurant owner. However during the owner's refusal, a nearby ruffian, seeing an opportunity to gain an advantage of some sort, buys You Xia-er's weapons and then quickly leaves the premises. Anxious not to permanently lose his weapons You Xia-er follows the ruffian to attempt to get his weapons back.  

During the chase You Xia-er realizes if he had a horse he could catch up to the ruffian and reacquire his weapons. While figuring out how to do just that, he happens across yet another ruffian about to victimize a young girl after killing her companion. He saves her by chasing off her attacker.  He then escorts her to safety and borrowing a horse once again goes after his weapons.   While searching for the guy with his weapons he decides to go to a gambling house to get into some trouble and sure enough he gets on the wrong side of the casino manger by cheating the house at dice.

While getting away from the casino with his cheated money, he spots the ruffian he sold his weapons to. He follows him back to where the ruffian is staying and then decides to steal his weapons back and to rob the ruffian of his personal belongings including the guy's silver. While fighting the ruffian he just robbed, little by little all of the people that he has had "issues" with turn up and they want his ass. However, the leader of these ruffians also shows up, is briefed on what is going on, and appreciating the You Xia-er's kung fu skills has a much better idea on what to do with him. A day in the life of a wanderer, indeed!

CAST REPORT

the "good": David Chiang as You Xia-er : the star of the show and perfectly cast for his smile and charm and brilliantly showcased by director Chang Cheh who informs us with the first close-up of this character not to think of him as the same character from Have Sword, Will Travel (1969) because no matter what the similarities may be they are very, very, different. Lily Li as Jiang Ning who adds just a dash of female to the mix, and Cheng Lui as Security Chief Jiang Wei, the little guy with the big muscles. 

the bad: Chang Pei-Shan as "Fail Safe" Kung Wu, the mastermind of the heist. Wan Kuang-Yu as Single Swordsman Jin Li Loi. Wu Ma as Foxy Hou Jiou, and Chen Sing as Iron King Jung Sze Hu.

HONORABLE MENTION: Yang Sze (Bolo Yeung) in his first movie, Wang Cheung, the Yuen Clan: Yuen Cheung-Yan, Yuen Shun Yi and Yuen Woo-Ping and the late Hsu Hsia.

FIGHT TIME: THE WANDERNG SWORDSMAN (1970) has plenty of action, I counted eight (8) fight scenes including the heart stopping finale in its one hour and forty-eight minutes. The two fight choreographers do an excellent job of telling the story of the action, although one of them: Chan Siu-Pang, I am not familiar with, but the other one: Yuen Cheung-Yan is very well known today but even in 1970 his work is quite good. No disappointments here.

THE WANDERING SWORDSMAN (1970) is by no means David Chiang's first appearance on film but it is the first time his smiling persona and his charm is used as a character trait that will become his trademark in the years to come. That fact and the fact that this is a very good movie makes it a no-brainer to recommend for all viewers and 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 WINGED TIGER (1970)

THAT FIERY GIRL (1968)

THAT FIERY GIRL (1968)

THAT FIERY GIRL (1968) is a romantic / drama / wuxia tale of opposing clans. Not quite Romeo and Juliet but not far off. Yan Jun is the director and Liang Jen is the script writer and this is Mr. Liang's very first script. Runme Shaw is the producer this time around. We should remember Yan Jun as the director of THAT MAN IN CHANG-AN (1967) that I declared was a wuxia / comedy that kept me laughing, I hoped, intentionally. So, as you can imagine, I am really looking forward to watching this one. Let's check out the plot. 

Mei Feng-Chun and two of his friends of the Mei Clan return from training in kung fu to get revenge on the Hulu Clan for past atrocities committed by the Hulu Clan against the Mei Clan. As they approach their village they see members of the Hulu Clan galloping away from their village. They race back to their village to find their ancestral shrine burning and their Clan Chief mortally wounded. The Mei Clan Chief lives just long enough to tell Mei Feng-Chun what happened: The Hulu Clan raided the Mei Clan Ancestral Shrine hoping to get the treasure map of the Mei Clan. 

Unfortunately the map had been long ago stolen so the Hulu Clan raiders burned down the ancestral shrine.  Mei Feng-Chun and his two friends camp out to plan their next move but coincidentally it is the meeting place of the Mei Clan traitor, Mei Danui who stole the treasure map and his Hulu Clan co-conspirator. After hearing the arrangement Mei Danui made for assylum at the Hulu stronghold Mei Fengchun kills Mei Danui and steals his identity to infiltrate The Hulu Clan and recover the Mei clan treasure map and get revenge for the deaths caused by the Hulu clan. His first obstacle: the Hulu Clan's fierce warrior woman Pearl, also know as Red Chili.

Chan Leung debuts as Mei Feng-Chun / Mei Denui and has that "cop smell" all over him. Chan Leung just looks, acts, moves and radiates "good guy" and THAT FIERY GIRL (1968) totally benefits for it. On top of all of that, it doesn't hurt that this is his very first job and it carries over in his performance in the enemy's camp, unsure whether or not at any moment he could be unmasked as a traitor he never comes across as relaxed. On the other hand you have the veteran actress Cheng Pei-Pei as Pearl / Red Chili, who delivers the exact character required here: an immensely confident daddy's girl superbly trained in the martial arts vaguely aware of the evil around her but not consumed by it. 

Pearl is immediately draw to the aura of goodness in Mei Denui and becomes his protector. Their chemistry is one of big sister / little brother and evolves into a young woman's first crush as his character compared to the other Hulu men is one of personal pride versus the Hulu men's creepy selfishness. A very easy choice for her to make and THAT FIERY GIRL (1968) is very much more a romantic drama with a Romeo and Juliet twist than a wuxia revenge tale but it combines both elements and works well as very good entertainment.

HONORABLE MENTION: The great character actor Ku Feng as an unnamed character! Ku Feng plays Mei Feng-Chun's quick witted friend with a fiery temper of his own. 

FIGHT TIME: THAT FIERY GIRL (1968) is not much on fights. There is no one credited for fight choreography and I counted only 2 or 3 fights with some small skirmishes here and there. This film is saved by the Romeo and Juilet theme of the story and the actors so thankfully there is no reason to be disappointed too much.

I recommend THAT FIERY GIRL (1968) as a pleasant way to past the time for viewers and collectors and it certainly doesn't hurt to see Cheng Pei-Pei act as a different character than her performance in COME DRINIK WITH ME (1966). She is very convincing as a cute daddy's girl. See you next time!

NEXT UP:  THE SWORDS OF SWORDS (1968)