Killer Constable (1981)
"Wan ren zan" (original title)

Director:

Chih-Hung Kuei

Stars:

Kuan Tai Chen, Feng Ku, Jason Pai Piao

Cast

Credited cast:
Kuan Tai Chen	...	Leng Tian-Ying
Feng Ku	...	Fang Feng-Jia
Jason Pai Piao	...	Fan Jin-Diao
Tsui Ling Yu	...	Hsiao Lan
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fei Ai
Chuen Chiang
Han Chiang
Tao Chiang
Piao Chin
Tat-wah Cho	...	Liu Jing-Tian
Ping Ha	...	Woman with Baby
Hui-fen Huang	...	Empress Dowager
Kung-wu Huang
Sae Ok Kim
Yeong-mun Kwon

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

betrayal | justice | corruption | fighting | violence | 

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Taglines:

Bare hands and feet against the deadly killer swordsmen . . . it was a bloodbath.

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin Cantonese

Release Date:

3 September 1981 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Killer Constable

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shaw Brothers

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

obvious inspiration for John Woo's The Killer...

I'm what you'd call a devout Shaw Brothers fanatic. With that bias in mind, Killer Constable (Lightning Kung Fu) is an interesting diversion from your standard Shaw fare being made at the time. As others have stated before me, the "Kung Fu" in the US video re-title is a bit misleading as there is little to no actual kung fu in the film. Instead we're treated to a lot of swordplay. Not the kind of swordplay you'd expect to see in one of Chu Yuan's jiang hu epics, but a more gritty, rough-and-tumble style of fighting that almost seems out of place in a Shaw Brothers film (much of the action courtesy of a Japanese choreographer whose name escapes me). Shaw veteran Chen Kuan Tai (Boxer From Shantung, Crippled Avengers) plays the constable of the title, Ling Tien Ying, who is ordered to hunt down the men responsible for robbing the imperial treasury of 2 million taels of gold. To make matters interesting, he's given only 10 days to do it. Tien Ying is pretty damn ruthless. An anti-hero if there ever was one, but it's a testament to both Chen Kuan Tai as an actor and Kuei Chih Hung's skill a director that we still care what happens to this man and sympathize with him even after he's done some very questionable things. Speaking of director Kuei Chi Hung, he does a great job of instilling a strong sense of atmosphere and maintaining it throughout the picture. Also, anyone familiar with John Woo's The Killer will immediately recognize a couple of scenes that were clearly used/lifted for Woo's film nearly 10 years later. In fact it's so obvious that I'm surprised I've never read anyone commenting on it before. Perhaps it's due to this films lack of availability? Whatever the case, I'd be interested to hear Woo's take on it. Not to give too much away, but the scenes in question involve a blind girl and two antagonists at each other's throat in the same room, ready to kill one another. Both men play along in lying to the blind girl about the one man's identity and what his intentions really are. Sound familiar at all?