Le roi du kung-fu attaque

"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.

These films are great in a series. If you enjoy this one youll love One Armed Boxer 2 even more. Shame somebody doesnt re-release these on DVD. Even the sound effects are classic. Someone moves a finger and you hear gunshots. Someone twitches you get explosions. I love it. Over the top as hell! Give me more. Pure comedy or genius, I can never decide!

The movie I watched on Amazon Prime was called "One Armed Boxer" but that has nothing to do with the plot. Typical kungfu movie with one school battling another and a perceived slight. Decent movie with English dub and subtitles. Liked the use of the "Shaft" theme during the pivotal fight scenes.

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.

This review is for DU BEI CHUAN WANG/ONE ARMED BOXER from Red Sun. The print is pretty good for a 1970s martial arts film and amazingly the film has subtitles--not those stupid dubbed voices--a major plus. As far as the quality of the subtitles go, they are fair. There are a reasonably high number of misspellings but compared to many films of the genre, this one ain't bad--it's not good, either, but at least you can understand what they are trying to say.

The plot is a very, very familiar one in many ways. First, it's the standard fight between two schools of martial arts and the bad guys cheat...a lot. Second, it's probably the fourth film I've seen involving a one-armed martial artist, so it's a bit of a cliché. However, oddly, none of the films are sequels--it just seems that getting your arm torn off in a fight is an everyday occurrence. And, when this happens you eventually train and return to whip the entire gang--a relatively common event in China if these films can be taken seriously. However, despite having so many familiar plot elements, it is a very good film. I liked seeing all the different styles of martial arts that were supposedly brought from all over Asia. But, more importantly, despite a very simple plot, the film is all about the action--non-stop and insane action, actually. While the fighting isn't among the top echelon of martial arts films (you won't mistake this for a Bruce Lee or Sonny Chiba flick), it is far better than average and so much is going on, it's eye-popping and occasionally brutal action from start to finish.

If you like martial arts films, then this one is a must. If you don't, well it's worth a look--maybe you'll see something you like.