O Braço de Ouro do Kung Fu

I saw this movie on "Kung Fu Theatre" when i was an early teen and just fell in love with this action/adventure! I found a copy on VHS a few years back and have damn near worn out the tape playing it... Anyone who has been over for an extended time has been shown this and for the most part the reaction is solid: This is a great film.

One of the shortcomings is also what makes it so powerful: It's a comic book style with a very simple storyline... on the surface. With characters like Brass Head (who gets killed off way to early!), Silver Spear, Iron Robe and the title character, there are very visual and easily digestible stereotypes to hook the young viewer. But on a more subtle lever there are sub- plots galore and of course lots of twists and intrigue woven into this chop-opera...

Compared to "Five Deadly Venoms", which on some levels is a more richer and stronger storyline, "Kid With The Golden Arm" is less dark and brooding. All of the actors seem to play similar characters in both but this one there is a charm to the ones here that still resonate with me to this day...

I totally recommend this if you like fantastical kung fu, especially in light of movies like "Crouching Tiger..." or "Shaolin Soccer..."

I LOVE this movie. It is one of the few violent movies "grandfathered" into my children's approved stack (Master Killer is another). The movie is a fantasy with superheroes such as Short-axe, Long-axe and Hai-Toh; and, super-villans, such as Brass Head, Iron Robe, Iron Feet, Silver Spear and the Kid with the Golden Arm. Many may disagree with me, but I find this movie better than The Five Deadly Venoms, mostly because it is a lot less sadistic...

It is an easy movie to make fun of, I'll grant you; but, there is a solid, if simple, plot line. Agent Hai-Toh is the main hero and easily the most charismatic character. The Kid with the Golden Arm is a less compelling character, with a face that makes you think that he was hit squarely with a board BEFORE becoming invulnerable...

The fight scenes are long, even for a Chinese movie; but, for a colorful piece if violent escapism, this is unbeatable...

I'd give it, for its genre, three out of four stars...

The storyline for The Kid With The Golden Arms is about as basic as can be: the good guys are escorting a shipment of gold to a famine-stricken region and have to stop the bad guys, a collection of broad, colourful comic-book style bandits with self-explanatory names (eg. Bronze Head, Silver Spear, Iron Robe), from stealing it along the way. Makes a change from all of those old school kung fu films that require an in-depth knowledge of Chinese political history in order to understand what is going on, I suppose.

Fortunately, what director Chang Cheh's film lacks in plot development, it more than makes up for with awesome kung fu action, the film comprising of one expertly choreographed and flawlessly executed martial arts scene after another, with a wide variety of impressive weapon work, lots of breath-taking acrobatics, and a surprising amount of bright red gore (characters are regularly sliced and impaled). Philip Kwok, as drunken Agent Hai Tao, proves particularly impressive with his amazing athleticism and impeccable timing.

I recently watched The Five Deadly Venoms and, not knowing much about this genre, did not realize that the general group of actors from that film stayed as a group for other projects; so it was merely by chance that I watched The Kid with the Golden Arms and found that many of them were here again. As with Wu Du, the plot here sets up a series of strong characters and then sees them battle each other; in this case the plot device is a transportation of gold with a collection of people responsible for it while the Che Sa gang are out to get it. Those responsible include Hero Li and Miss Leng who are both skilled with the sword, two skilled axe-men and one drunken sheriff called Hai Tao. On the other side is a collection of chiefs including Silver Spear, Brass Head and of course old Golden Arms himself.

In terms of characterization and narrative, it is as simple as a series of confrontations but it still works very well as a plot because this is what the viewer is after and this is what is delivered. What plot there is does move along pretty well and keeps the characters busy, but it is the action and the characters that sell it. In terms of the use of the same actors I saw before, it is easy to see why this group are popular because they are very effective and engaging both in the action and in their performances. Meng Lo is imposing as the title character even if he seems very similar to his Toad. Kwok is a lot of fun with his character and also has a great closing line. Pai Wei and Helen Poon are a bit too po-faced for the rest of the film and their bits feel a little less fun as a result. Sheng Chiang, Feng Lu, Chien Sun and others are equally more in keeping with the action and fun and their deliveries are good. The fight sequences make the most of their skills too and there are many impressive combat sequences with great moves – the camera as ever sits back and we get good steady shots which show off the actor's skills (as opposed to frantic edits like you get in some Hollywood films, which are to hide the lack of skills!). The action is frantic and fun.

The Kid With the Golden Arms is not quite as good as Wu Du but it is still very enjoyable with lots of good performances from a strong cast and lots of engaging and well executed action sequences. I look forward to seeing the group in action again.

To be perfectly blunt right from the get-go, Kid with the Golden Arm is not one of the best Shaw Brothers movies, but neither is it anywhere close to one of the worst. I feel like it's somewhat middle of the road, but as it turns out, middle of the road for the greatest martial arts movie production company in history is still very good overall, when all's said and done. There are problems, and there are nitpicks, but I feel like for this specific movie, it's so direct and unapologetic about delivering almost nothing but action that most flaws are quite easy to forgive.

This is usually the part in a review where I'd try to summarize the plot, but it's too hard to do for Kid with the Golden Arm. There is a bunch of gold being transported, and slightly too many characters are all wanting to obtain it. Some want it for selfish reasons, and some characters seem more altruistic (even if it's not always clear who's who - there are so many characters here, and they're really only distinguishable by their fighting styles, which you do get used to as the movie goes on).

People in this film all vaguely want the same goal, and the movie is 86 minutes of them competing for it. It feels like a 120-minute-long movie edited down so that most dialogue scenes that don't involve people expressing a desire to fight were cut out, leaving the movie clocking in at under 90 minutes. There's one stretch shortly after the halfway point where it feels like about 15 to 20 minutes pass without any action, and that's the closest things come to feeling boring (honestly, just take the opportunity to have a toilet break here without pausing, or top up your beverage of choice if you like to indulge in a drink or two when watching martial arts movies).

As for the action, I don't think it's top quality by Shaw Brothers standards, but it's fun. I liked certain characters having certain physical quirks/fighting styles, and there were a few wild moments that surprised me and made me laugh. It's a good time if you're a fan of classic martial arts movies, but it's certainly not representative of 1970s Hong Kong martial arts cinema at its very best.