The One-Armed Swordsman (1967)

A noble swordsman, whose arm had been chopped off, returns to his former teacher to defend him from a villainous gang of rival swordsmen.

Director:

Cheh Chang

Writers:

Cheh Chang, Kuang Ni

Stars:

Jimmy Wang Yu, Chiao Chiao, Chung-Hsin Huang

Cast

Credited cast:
Jimmy Wang Yu	...	Fang Kang / One-armed Swordsman (as Yu Wang)
Chiao Chiao	...	Hsiao Man
Chung-Hsin Huang	...	Wei Hsuan
Yin-Tze Pan	...	Chi Pei-erh
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pei-Shan Chang	...	Sun Hao
Hsiung Chao	...	Ah-Hsien
Chuan Chen	...	Chi student
Shao-Peng Chen	...	Chi student
Yanyan Chen	...	Madam Chi (as Yen-yen Chen)
Lei Cheng	...	Teng Chung
Lung Chiang	...	Chi student
Yuan Chieh	...	Lu Chen
Chun Chin	...	Street gambler
Siu Loi Chow	...	Bandit Hsu
Dan Fan	...	Shih Yi-fei

Storyline

An evil gang attacks the Chi school of Golden Sword Kung Fu. One student sacrifices his life to save his teacher and his school, his dying wish is that his son be taken in as a student. Young Fang Kang grows up in the school and treasures his father's broken sword and the memory of his father's sacrifice. The other students (including the teacher's daughter) resent him and try to drive him away. The teacher's daughter challenges him to a fight and when he refuses she becomes enraged and recklessly chops off his arm! He retreats, broken and bloody, and is found by a young poor girl living alone who nurses him back to health. Meanwhile, the evil gang who originally attacked the Golden Sword school develops a weapon that renders the Golden Sword useless and starts killing off all of the schools students. Fang Kang eventually recovers with the girl's help but must now face a life with only one arm. Will he be able to recover and live to defend the school as his father did?

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Plot Keywords:

sword | kung fu classic | kung fu | martial arts | broken sword | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin English Hungarian

Release Date:

26 July 1967 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

The One-Armed Swordsman

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shaw Brothers

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min (restored print)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first Hong Kong film to make HK$1 million at the local box office, propelling its star Jimmy Wang to super stardom.

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Quotes

Shih Yi-fei: Pei, don't worry. So what if you cut off his arm? He's not coming back anyway. We'll just never bring it up in front of Sifu.

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Connections

Referenced in Dragon (2011)

User Reviews

Good DVD restoration, lousy extras

I just watched the Dragon Dynasty DVD release of this movie that I'd last seen over 40 years ago as an impressionable pre-teen in Hong Kong. The restoration is quite stunning. The colors are vibrant and the print is mostly scratch-free. You also get to appreciate how director Chang Cheh in the late 60s/early 70s was a cut-above-the-rest storyteller with his camera placement and some fluid tracking shots, thereby transcending a lot of the hackneyed scripting, stilted acting and the studio-bound sets. However, I also took exception to the fact that the DVD did not contain commentary by Quentin Tarantino as promised by the box notes, and the 2 "film students" who did provide commentary left a lot to be desired. Surely Tarantino would have remarked upon the fact that the most noticeable parts of the musical score (including the entire end title scene) was lifted lock, stock and barrel from the 1966 Ralph Nelson western DUEL AT DIABLO. (Composer Neal Hefti's estate should sue!) And at another dramatic moment, a very familiar John Barry suspense motif from the Connery Bond films makes a 3-second appearance. It's really pathetic that these "film scholars" completely missed these cultural touchstones that make Hong Kong movies from this era such crazy-quilt pleasures.