Review: One-Armed Boxer vs. The Flying Guillotine


Oddball martial arts outing set in China in 1730, with Kam Kang playing a somewhat elderly, blind assassin for the Manchus, who wields the title decapitating device, and is in search for the one-armed boxer, a sympathiser of the dethroned Ching dynasty, who apparently killed two of the blind man’s disciples. After dispatching every one-armed boxer he comes across (A geriatric blind man fighting a one-armed man? Sounds like a bad joke, doesn’t it?), the blind assassin’s mission brings him to a martial arts tournament fronted by the Eagle Claw Clan, and featuring an array of bizarre contestants, as well as a one-armed boxer named Master Yu (Jimmy Wang Yu), who is indeed the man being sought.



Without question the most bizarre martial arts movie I’ve ever seen (and boy, have I seen some weird ones), this wild, violent, absolutely marvellously barmy 1975 Jimmy Wang Yu (also the screenwriter and star) film is unforgettable stuff. Not for everyone, and I found Wang’s One-Armed Boxer far less interesting and even less likeable than the supposed villain of the story. However, for fans of the weird, this is unmissable, and indescribably brilliant stuff on the B-grade level.



The fantastic tournament segment alone is worth seeing, especially if you are a fan of Asian fighting styles, of which several are seen here. This extended sequence features a spitting Thai fighter (no, not a TIE fighter!), and a truly bizarre ‘Yoga Master’ supposedly of Indian extraction who might just be a distant relative of Reed Richards and was certainly an inspiration for the “Street Fighter” computer game series, among several other similarities. There’s even a guy who breaks his leg and still continues to fight! How cool is that? The film’s finale is excellent too, with the Thai boxer stuck fighting in a small room lit underneath so his feet burn. There’s also an ingenious way of countering the flying guillotine in this scene too, which I won’t spoil the specifics of.



This film is like “Bloodsport” mixed with a spaghetti western, only really, really fucked up. Or to put it another way, it’s the film “Enter the Dragon” wishes it could be. It’s not my favourite martial arts film (“Big Trouble in Little China”, “Eight Diagram Pole Fighter”, “Bloodsport”, and “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” all stand before it), but it’s a lot of bizarro fun for those who can take it’s eccentricities. Badass music score, too, especially the blind man’s theme, which clearly influenced Quentin Tarantino (who apparently loves the film) in making the “Kill Bill” flicks.



Rating: B

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chil...
Read more

Review: Cinderella (1950)

The story of poor young Cinderella (voiced by Ilene Woods), treated as a servant by her nasty stepmother (voiced by Eleanor Audley), and dismissed by her thoroughly rotten, ugly stepsisters. Her only friends are a group of mice, who are forever being menaced by a cat named Lucifer (or as I call him, Grumpy Cheshire Cat). The King (hoping to find a wife for his charming son) is throwing a ball and every available young woman is invited to attend, and Cinderella is most excited to go. However, her stepmother and stepsisters do all they can to prevent this from happening. But with help from the mice and one fairy godmother (voiced by Verna Felton) later, and Cinderella looks set to attend the ball. You know the rest, folks.   Lovely 1950 Disney animated movie from directors Clyde Geronimi ( “Peter Pan” , “Lady and the Tramp” ), Wilfred Jackson ( “Fantasia” , “Alice in Wonderland” , “Peter Pan” ) & Hamilton Luske ( “Pinocchio” , “Fantasia” , “Peter Pan” ), that is a bit t...
Read more

Review: Jinnah

The story of Mohammed Ali Jinnah (Sir Christopher Lee) the politically moderate founder of Pakistan. A Muslim lawyer, Jinnah fought to form a separate nation from India for the Muslim minority, whilst Mahatma Gandhi (Sam Dastor) wished for India to stay united and proposed Jinnah as the new PM as a compromise. James Fox plays British viceroy Lord Mountbatten, Indira Varma plays Jinnah’s wife, and veteran bit player Vernon Dobtcheff plays a British dignitary.   Although Christopher Lee’s title performance received some critical notice and the actor himself was very proud of the work, this modestly budgeted 1998 biopic from director Jamil Dehlavi ( “Immaculate Conception” with Melissa Leo) and co-writer Farrukh Dhondy ( “Red Mercury” with Stockard Channing and Ron Silver) was largely ignored at the time and still very little-known today. Part of that is probably due to the poor marketing of the film, and difficulty in finding a distributor. It’s hard to get people to talk abo...
Read more