The Hand of Death (1976)

A survivor of an attack on a rebel group opposing the Manchu invasion of China creates the Goose Fist fighting technique and tries for revenge on a traitor.

Director:

John Woo (as Wu Yu Sheng)

Writer:

John Woo

Stars:

Tao-Liang Tan, James Tien, Jackie Chan

Cast

Credited cast:
Tao-Liang Tan	...	Yun Fei (as Dorian Tan)
James Tien	...	Shih Shao-Feng
Jackie Chan	...	Tan Feng (as Chan Yuan Lung)
Ching Chu	...	Autumn Moon
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Pao-Shan Chang
Chun Chao
Feng-Chen Chen
Sheng Chiang
Chi-Chu Chin
Sammo Kam-Bo Hung	...	Officer Tu Ching
In-han Jang
Jeong-Kuk Jang
Chi-Ming Lam
Ke-Ming Lin
Feng Lu

Storyline

Superkicker Dorian Tan Tao-liang plays a Shaolin student who must find a Manchu traitor responsible for the murder of the abbot. Jackie Chan is a spear fighting expert who decides to help Tan because the traitor killed his brother. Part of their mission is to help a scholar make it safely across the river without getting killed from the Manchus.

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Plot Keywords:

psychotronic film | shaolin | student | spear | attack | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for martial arts violence and brief sexuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was one of Writer John Woo's first movies as a director. He's listed as "John Y. Woo" in the credits.

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Quotes

Yun Fei: Men who beg are not heroes. They're cowards.

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Connections

Featured in Jackie Chan: My Story (1998)

User Reviews

Simple, yet straight to the point...

Funny how most of the DVD covers for "Hand of Death" has Jackie Chan all over it, despite him only having a supporting role in the movie. But his face sells.

Regardless, then "Hand of Death" is one of the more interesting movies to Jackie Chan's impressive movie list, prior to making it on an international scale.

The story in "Hand of Death" is fairly simple, yet straight to the point. It is a story of revenge and for the downtrodden to stand up against their oppressors. The story doesn't really leave much to the imagination and requires absolutely nothing from your intellect. This is straight from point A to point B; and beating up everyone in between these two points.

The fight sequences were good, although some of them were painfully choreographed, where you saw the opponents, just waiting for the kick or punch to be thrown. And, of course, the sound effects here are hilarious - as they tended to be in many of these old action movies.

Tao-liang Tan was doing quite a good job in this movie, and it wasn't Jackie Chan who was in focus in this movie. As much as Sammo Hung Kam-Bo used to make great movies back in the day, then the buck-teeth he had to wear in this movie was just a bit too over the top. It was also good to see Wah Yuen in the movie, despite a very small and brief appearance only, not to forget about Biao Yuen as well.

"Hand of Death" is well worthy of a place in the movie collection of anyone who is fan of martial arts movies (or Jackie Chan's movies). This is simple, yet entertaining entertainment.

Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin

Release Date:

15 July 1976 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Strike of Death

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company Credits

Production Co:

Golden Harvest Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1