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

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