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A young female martial artist reluctantly decides to help a man who is being pursued by a vicious gang, so that she would have the pleasure of killing him herself as revenge for causing the ... Read allA young female martial artist reluctantly decides to help a man who is being pursued by a vicious gang, so that she would have the pleasure of killing him herself as revenge for causing the death of her sister.A young female martial artist reluctantly decides to help a man who is being pursued by a vicious gang, so that she would have the pleasure of killing him herself as revenge for causing the death of her sister.
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As this is an old film, there should be no harm in discussing what the film is about. Despite the film being advertised with Angela Mao Ying as the star, she plays a more subdued part in the film.
Mao (Miss Tien) plays a woman who is searching to take revenge on a man who abandoned her younger sister and because of the abandonment, eventually resulted in the girl's death. The poor doomed fellow has problems of his own because of a vendetta against gangsters. Mao, deciding that she would not be cheated of her vengeance, helps him against them, so that she would have the pleasure of killing him, herself. Furthermore, he has fallen in love with another girl who tags along with him. So, every so often, the two end up begging Tien to wait a bit longer before killing the pathetic guy.
The fellow starts the film as a lousy fighter, but eventually learns Tai Chi Ch'uan from an old herbalist. This stands him well to help him later in the film.
So, what happens next? Does he escape from the gangsters? Does Miss Tien get her revenge? Is this a pretty good movie?
Well, I can answer the third one. I found it enjoyable. The fight scenes were pretty realistic as this belongs to the "gritty" style of Martial Arts films. As for Mao Ying...she's always a pleasure to watch.
Mao (Miss Tien) plays a woman who is searching to take revenge on a man who abandoned her younger sister and because of the abandonment, eventually resulted in the girl's death. The poor doomed fellow has problems of his own because of a vendetta against gangsters. Mao, deciding that she would not be cheated of her vengeance, helps him against them, so that she would have the pleasure of killing him, herself. Furthermore, he has fallen in love with another girl who tags along with him. So, every so often, the two end up begging Tien to wait a bit longer before killing the pathetic guy.
The fellow starts the film as a lousy fighter, but eventually learns Tai Chi Ch'uan from an old herbalist. This stands him well to help him later in the film.
So, what happens next? Does he escape from the gangsters? Does Miss Tien get her revenge? Is this a pretty good movie?
Well, I can answer the third one. I found it enjoyable. The fight scenes were pretty realistic as this belongs to the "gritty" style of Martial Arts films. As for Mao Ying...she's always a pleasure to watch.
Raymond Chow's upstart company sure played it smart with this movie. He used Chang Yi as the male lead. Chang Yi was an established Shaw Brothers actor doing martial arts films since about King Cat in 1967 but was shelved due to new talent such as David Chiang and Ti Lung. Next add Pai Ying for the bad guy. He's another Shaw Brothers actor who did a fine job as an evil eunuch in the 1971 "The Eunuch". Sammo Hung was the martial arts choreographer and with some side burns (quite stylish in 1972 but ridiculous otherwise) he got good screen time as a co-villain. Bruce Lee had just done "Fist of Fury" so add the theme of evil Japanese to the mix. (Actually the movie still works fine without the subplot, but why not?) With all that foundation, the only risky element was casting Angela Mao as the hot kung fu chick female lead. That was really no risk at all. Angela was fabulous despite the otherwise impression that the entire movie was done in one take. Yes, the whole movie seems to have been made with a budget for the price of the rolls of film with just a few dollars left over to pay the crew. Nevertheless, here I am 40 years later and watching it for the second time and enjoying every minute of it. Certainly recommended for all fans of the genre and my rating here is 7.0
A man named Ling Shi Hao is left beaten by a mob of Japanese ner~do~wells. But rather than dying face down in the dirt, he is rescued by a woman, and nursed back to health..Years later, a mystery woman ( Angela Mao) comes to town and starts beating the living daylights out of the same Japanese mob who had beaten Ling, in order to get information as to his whereabouts. They know nothing, believing him to be dead these last few years, but just who is this mystery woman? Why is she looking for Ling? Soon enough, it transpires that she too is looking for Ling, in order to kill him! And when she eventually tracks him down on the remote farm she goes in for the kill..!
After a bit of conflict, Ling manages to convince his would be executioner to lay off him until he has had 24hrs to take revenge on the evil gang of Japanese mobsters that originally left him for dead.
Reluctantly she agrees, but is left ruing her decision, after he is once again bested and disappears into hiding before reappearing again, only this time with skills that might just help him win.. The final question of course being just who will side with who when the kick hits the fan?
Compared to Hapkido and When Taekwondo strikes, the fights here isn't as intense, but it's still good, especially when Angela Mao, in revenge mode, kicks and punches her opponents with abandonment. She acts quite well as the one-tracked minded lady who wants to kill Ling. What's interesting is that Ling is a hero, a guy who had made a mistake in the past. But Mao is too obstinate and filled with hate to forgive. After all, he was the cause of her sister's death. This is a rather sombre-toned tale that has some characterisation and some depth in its portrayal of honour and compassion.
After a bit of conflict, Ling manages to convince his would be executioner to lay off him until he has had 24hrs to take revenge on the evil gang of Japanese mobsters that originally left him for dead.
Reluctantly she agrees, but is left ruing her decision, after he is once again bested and disappears into hiding before reappearing again, only this time with skills that might just help him win.. The final question of course being just who will side with who when the kick hits the fan?
Compared to Hapkido and When Taekwondo strikes, the fights here isn't as intense, but it's still good, especially when Angela Mao, in revenge mode, kicks and punches her opponents with abandonment. She acts quite well as the one-tracked minded lady who wants to kill Ling. What's interesting is that Ling is a hero, a guy who had made a mistake in the past. But Mao is too obstinate and filled with hate to forgive. After all, he was the cause of her sister's death. This is a rather sombre-toned tale that has some characterisation and some depth in its portrayal of honour and compassion.
"Lady Whirlwind" AKA "Deep Thrust" is a little better than another Angela Mao film released by the same company that I saw recently, "Deadly China Doll", because Angela is indeed one of the two main characters here and has several fight scenes. The bad news is, her and everybody else's fight scenes are generally mediocre, often spoiled by poor editing and ludicrous wirework. The good news is, Angela brings a relentless aggression to them that few other female stars can match. More good news: her character is a little more complex than usual for this genre - she begins as a revenge-obsessed woman but gradually becomes more compassionate. More bad news: it's exactly this compassion that doesn't allow her to have a climactic fight scene. A watchable but forgettable film on the whole. Gotta love the stolen score notes from "Diamonds Are Forever", though! (**)
When Angela Mao is off-screen, this movie is mediocre to a fault. Not bad, but of little interest to anyone but a serious Hong Kong movie geek. But when Mao is on screen, she's electrifying.
It's not just her charisma, although she's got buckets of that. She has a magnificent gift for selling a move that transforms what would be at best a serviceable fight scene into something riveting and dramatic. In the build up to her first fight in the casino, Mao flashes an ironically contemptuous sneer that sends icy chills down your spine. At the end of the fight she beats the crooked casino boss with a cold fury that's thrilling and appalling in its savagery.
What's really unusual is how the movie doesn't do anything to soften her character. Often the girl in these movies is there to be raped and killed so the hero can take revenge. Sometimes she's sifu's daughter, who fights pretty good for a girl but is ultimately there to be rescued from the boss. None of that for Miss Tien. She is Nemesis, come to punish the hero for his past misdeeds. The question is: will she let him live long enough to redeem himself by fighting the boss of his old gang?
This curious twist transforms a run-of-the-mill early 70s Kung Fu flick into something compelling and different.
It's not just her charisma, although she's got buckets of that. She has a magnificent gift for selling a move that transforms what would be at best a serviceable fight scene into something riveting and dramatic. In the build up to her first fight in the casino, Mao flashes an ironically contemptuous sneer that sends icy chills down your spine. At the end of the fight she beats the crooked casino boss with a cold fury that's thrilling and appalling in its savagery.
What's really unusual is how the movie doesn't do anything to soften her character. Often the girl in these movies is there to be raped and killed so the hero can take revenge. Sometimes she's sifu's daughter, who fights pretty good for a girl but is ultimately there to be rescued from the boss. None of that for Miss Tien. She is Nemesis, come to punish the hero for his past misdeeds. The question is: will she let him live long enough to redeem himself by fighting the boss of his old gang?
This curious twist transforms a run-of-the-mill early 70s Kung Fu flick into something compelling and different.
Did you know
- TriviaThe U.S. title, "Deep Thrust - The Hand of Death", was a take-off on the "adult" film Gorge profonde (1972) which was causing a national sensation at the time.
- GoofsAt the very end of the film, Hsuang Hsuang's blood on one side of her mouth switches sides in the final shot.
- Quotes
Ling Shih-hua: Miss Tien. Thank you for saving me.
Miss Tien: Forget it. I just didn't want somebody else to kill you.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Best of the Martial Arts Films (1990)
- SoundtracksThe Bulldozer Leads The Dance
Music by Georges Garvarentz
- How long is Lady Whirlwind?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
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- Also known as
- Lady tourbillon
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,194,814
- Runtime1 hour 28 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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By what name was La déchaînée de Shanghai (1972) officially released in India in English?
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