In the wild bunch of movies made in Taiwan and Hong Kong during the Martial Arts craze of 70's, this A GIRL FIGHTER was a surprise. All in all it's a martial arts version of John Sturges' classic LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL, 1959, in that both have a cop handcuffing the criminal son of a big boss, but then the boss' private army takes the Lawman under siege in order to free the culprit (a kind of plot stolen also in others Kung-Fu pics like Green Dragon Inn, for example). The biggest difference here resides in the fact that the cop is a chinese beauty, actress Shangkuan LingFung (aka Polly Shang): as brave and fierce as a man can be, she's the only one who has the courage to accept the police assignment everybody are afraid of: to find and catch the wealhty criminal son (actor Luo Bin) of a powerful Province Governor. She manages to capture him soon enough, but real trouble starst when the governor sends his private army to free the vicious son, taking under siege the tavern where the prisoner, the girl and her mysterious ally (actor Tien Peng, aka Roc Tien), a cavalier who as a pending matter with the criminal, made a stop for the night. A long series of fights and tricks ensues... Well directed by Yang Shih-Ching, this made-in-Taiwan epic adventure can't match the sumptuousness of the made-in-Hongkong Shaw Bros' swordsplays movies, but it's an enjoyable adventure all the way with fine settings and costumes. The personages have no psychology, they're all one-dimensional characters, but psychology is not what you look in those kind of films and the cast is more than adequate, with a fine touch by Tien Peng as the girl's ally, Miao Tien as an officer on the escort, and actor-coreographer Chen Hui Lou (Jackie Chan's Fearless Hyena, to name one) as the chief of the enemy soldiers. Released in Hong Kong 1972, Italy 1973, also known as Girl Boxer. A little gem in independent Wuxiapian genre.
