Queen Boxer aka The Avenger
The compilation film Deadly Fighting Dolls ends with a lengthy action piece
from Queen Boxer. It is quite an amazing fight and I have wanted to see this
film ever since seeing it. It stars one of the more famous fighting females
from the 1970’s – Judy Lee (aka Chia Ling). Judy Lee like so many of the
femme fatales from this era was born in Taiwan. She was a classmate of Angela
Mao at their Peking opera school. In 1972 she was discovered by Yeung Kwan
and he cast her in this her first film. Queen Boxer was a hit and Judy went
on to make over sixty films in her career.
This film is fairly simple and really only has a few action scenes to make
it worth a visit. Judy is involved in only two fights, but both are large
set pieces that are quite extended. The story itself though follows the standard
revenge formula. In the opening scene Judy’s brother challenges the corrupt
Boss Pai and is easily killed by his gang when they throw lye into his eyes.
He is then cut down though he still fights on for quite a while even after
four hatchets have been imbedded in him!
Judy hears about this and comes to town looking for trouble. At the same
time the owner of a food stall (Yeung Kwan) decides that he won’t pay off
the boss anymore and joins up with Judy to fight him. This leads to the two
of them entering the boss’s headquarters and taking on his gang. A gwielo
pulls out a revolver and shoots Yeung Kwan and the two of them have to escape.
On her own Judy comes back later to finish it once and for all. This is the
fight that was included in Deadly Fighting Dolls and it was quite a doozy
for that time period – especially taking into consideration that it is a
lone female taking on around forty bad guys. Judy begins with two knives
and slices her way through her opponents, then it is hand to hand, then on
to hatchets. They attempt to blind her with lye as well, but she uses her
ponytail as a shield. Slowly but surely she kills off the enemy until only
the boss remains. The final frame is a classic as Judy reaches out to close
his eyes as the Shaft like soundtrack swells up.
