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THE GIRL WITH THE THUNDERBOLT KICK (aka GOLDEN SWALLOW, 1968) is a Shaw Bros. costume swordplay drama notable for co-starring the studio's top male action star, Jimmy Wang Yu, with the studio's then-reigning swashbuckling diva Cheng Pei Pei (THE THUNDERING SWORD). Wang Yu plays the notorious killer Silver Roc and Cheng plays his childhood sweetheart Golden Swallow, whom he hasn't seen in years (a reprise of a character the same actress played in King Hu's COME DRINK WITH ME, 1966). Golden Swallow follows Roc's trail of blood and is accompanied by Golden Whip Hand (Lo Lieh), who is in love with her but helps her track down Silver Roc. Midway through the film they all meet, but Silver Roc quickly challenges Whip Hand to a duel after the latter condemns Roc for an earlier instance of cold-blooded killing. That's pretty much the whole plot and it takes a long time getting to the final duel. This film has its fans but it doesn't hold up as well as such other Wang Yu vehicles of the 1960s as ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, RETURN OF THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, and THE ASSASSIN. There are plenty of swordfights here, but they're fairly stylized, with lots of leaping around, twirling of swords, soft blows, and unconvincing fighting skills. Cheng Pei Pei has great screen presence, but she's more of a dancer than a fighter. There's an undertone of unrequited love that's rather poignant at times. Following this film Wang Yu turned to a harder-edged brand of martial arts film with THE CHINESE BOXER (1970), generally considered the first pure kung fu film.The video transfer available in this country has Cantonese dialogue dubbed over the original Mandarin soundtrack, which remains slightly audible. The transfer is full-screen, cutting off the widescreen subtitles on the sides, making some of the dialogue difficult to decipher. The Cantonese sound mix includes music cues lifted from John Barry's soundtrack for the James Bond film YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE and awkwardly plastered in over the very lovely original music track.
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