Du bei chuan wang

"The One Armed Boxer" is to "The Master of the Flying Guillotine" what "Star Wars" was to "The Empire Strikes Back."

This is the film that catapulted Jimmy Wang Yu to superstar status, and for good reason. This film set the standards that you'll find in all of Wang Yu's films...superbly choreographed, arcade-style fights, exotic weaponry, colorful foreigners challenging the supremacy of Chinese boxing, and Jimmy's "aw-shucks" hero, an introspective but ultimately hardcore fighter that BARELY makes it out of his misadventures alive.

I saw "Master of the Flying Guillotine" first, and I still believe that this film is Wang Yu's greatest achievement. However, seeing "The One Armed Boxer" only increased my appreciation for "MFG" tenfold. In this film, we find out how the One Armed Boxer became One Armed, but we also learn how he became such a badass...attaining a level of kungfu (as well as cleverness) that would be put sorely to the test in "MFG."

The whole epic melodrama begins, incredibly enough, over some thugs stealing a poor man's pet bird. Wang Yu (at this point, a Two Armed Boxer) refuses to stand for such knavery, and he proceeds to challenge these scum to a fight. Of course he and his fellow students clean the floor with these clowns. Not suprisingly, the defeated thugs go crying to their sifu and fabricate a story that Jimmy insulted the sifu. The sifu then goes to Jimmy's school and challenges Jimmy's sifu to a fight. Once again, these troublemakers get beat up for their trouble.

Enraged over his defeat, the evil sifu hires a bunch of highly skilled foreign mercenaries who, unlike his incompetent students, can do the job right. This team of mercenaries are trademark Wang Yu villians...three Osaka karate experts, a Tae Kwan Do expert, a judo expert, two Thai kickboxers, two Tibetan lamas (I imagine these violent Tibetan lamas inspired "Shaolin vs. Lama"!), and a Yoga fakir who fights by bouncing on his head. (No, I'm not making this up.)

A bloody massacre ensues, and a half-dead, One Armed Wang Yu drags himself from the dojo. He is rescued by a kindly doctor and his daughter, who teach him the vital pressure points as well as a horribly painful technique that makes his One Arm the Unstoppable Killing Machine that we all know and love.

This flick is just wall to wall fistfights, with those occasional touches of utter brutality among the often graceful choreography. The head Osaka fighter is one Bad Mutha...you know he's Bad News when you see his fangs! The Tibetan lamas are no walk in the park, either. Their techniques include the dreaded Iron Palm and some weird inflation technique. But if you watched "MFG" carefully, you'll notice these two lamas are none other than the students of Evil Incarnate, The Master of the Flying Guillotine!! (the rest is history, as they say...)

Jimmy Wang Yu is one of the most under-rated masters of kungfu cinema...in terms of directing as well as acting and fighting. Of course I dig Jet Li, Jackie Chan, and the rest of the New Wavers, but there's nothing more satisfying than going back to Old School to see where Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam got it all from. Jimmy Wang Yu is a straight-up O.G., in every sense of the word.

The first rule for a successful career in motion pictures is - find something that works and beat it to death. Jimmy Wang Yu lost his right arm in 1967 in "One Armed Swordsman". The movie shot him to the top and he followed the rule and made a career out of it. As many have commented, this movie has many similarities to "Master of the Flying Guillotine". This movie falls flat in many ways but it's interesting to watch next the other movie and see how Jimmy took the flopping carps and turned them into leaping dolphins. I particularly enjoyed his one finger handstand. Yes, the special effects are not special at all but still it was fun. On the sad side, whatever happened to the girl in this movie, Cindy Hang Tsin (1951-1978)? I can't find anything explaining her untimely death.

I recently watched One-Armed Boxer (1972) on Prime. The storyline revolves around a rivalry between a martial arts school and an opium cartel. Despite winning the initial battle, the martial arts school loses the war, leaving only one student alive-albeit with the loss of an arm. The surviving student learns one-armed boxing to seek revenge.

Written, directed, and starring Jimmy Wang Yu (The One-Armed Swordsman), the film also features Yeh Tien (Blood of the Dragon), Lung Fei (Blood of the Dragon), Yi-Kuei Chang (The Fists of Vengeance), and Hsin-Yi Chen (Rage of the Tiger).

This movie is incredibly entertaining, featuring a classic rivalry plot that is well-paced and includes a rewarding conclusion. The martial arts scenes are well done, incorporating cool weapons, and the hand removal scene is both hilarious and wild. The use of fire adds fantastic elements to the scene. The depiction of Indian people in this film is wild.

In conclusion, One-Armed Boxer is a classic martial arts film that is an absolute must-see. I'd score it a 7.5/10 and strongly recommend it.

What ever happened to the good old days? Sitting in a Times Square movie theater all day watching the 3 or 4 movies for the price of one. Well onto the movie, I also remember this movie from the good old days, the effects and story are wild. Watching this one armed man running around on 2 fingers to beat an opponent or popping a hole in the inflating monk. I would love to see this and some of the other oldies ( Duel of the iron fist, Chinese Hercules ) released on DVD. I will keep hoping.

Although not well known in the US, this is one classic kung-fu movie that has its place in the annals of kung-fu action movies starring Yu Wang, and probably the movie that catapulted him to big stardom. Before Bruce Lee, and Jackie Chan he was THE martial action star.

Format was very innovative as many of Jimmy Wang's movie is. This movie features a martial artist with only one arm, and like the blind swordsman series that made Shintaro Katsu a big star, his name will be associated with this movie for a long time. When you see this movie, you'll see how good of an athlete Jimmy Wang is, and he can play a good guy character like nobody else.

A martial arts movie classic, and a must see if you are a martial arts movie fan.