Aka - Fist
of Flying Tiger
Dubbed but decent picture quality. It was
shot in Korea,
Director Tony Lou Chun-ku was to go on and direct some very good films when
he was later hired by the Shaw Brothers - The Lady Assassin, the Bastard
Swordsman - and then a number of solid Girls with Guns films - but this was
only his sixth film coming right after the promising sounding Prostitute
Loves Police. Two of his earlier films starred Ron Van Clief - Tough Guys
and The Death of Bruce Lee. I don't know if those qualify as Black Exploitation
or not. Here he still doesn't have much of a budget - Shaolin Temple has
about a dozen monks - but he did have a script from the legendary Ni Kuang,
who just passed away recently (2022).
If you are not familiar with him just know that he wrote over 200 scripts
of which many are classic films including his first credited - The One Armed
Swordsman. This isn't to forget the hundreds of fictional novels he wrote
and his creation of the popular character of Wisely or Wesley. He learned
to write not in a class room but as his job - writing out the death sentences
for people about to be executed in China. He got out when he could and carried
a hatred of Communism with him for life. I can imagine what he had been thinking
these past two years. This story falls back on the much used Manchus vs the
Mings and the Shaolin Temple. Maybe that is how Yangtze Productions Limited
could afford to buy it. He also tosses a few famous characters into the mix
because why not.
Manchu soldiers bust into a compound and kill all the rebellious Mings within
except for the daughter Yim who escapes. They keep looking for her and chase
her into a temple where she is saved by Master Hung (played by Tony Lou).
He advises her to go find safety at Shaolin Temple. But but but that's only
for men. Don't worry I will write a letter of recommendation to the High
Monk (San Te - a true historical figure who was depicted in 36th Chamber
of Shaolin as well as Return to the 36th Chamber). Just don't let them know
you are a girl. I guess monks don't see a lot of women because she is there
for two years and only her friend Choi (Chang Yi-tao) figures it out. They
teach her no kung fu and she keeps finding excuses not to undress before
the boys - but she teaches herself at the bottom of a well unclogging the
mud. And she thinks she is ready for revenge. That is the well-known Mud
in Well Technique. In the temple also are Fong Sai-yuk and Hung Hei-gun
(Jet Li in The New Legend of Shaolin). They don't have big roles here though.
Turns out she isn't really ready though she does kill a few but she along
with Choi and Monk San Te are no match for the villain of the film - Lord
Kang (Thompson Kao Kang) who is a master of the tiger claw and has a steel
shield under his clothes protecting him. So they escape and Yim takes shelter
with a nun. For two years she practices and invents a new form of martial
arts. Wing Chun. Yim Wing Chun. She plays Michelle Yeoh. Some credit the
nun, some Yim but she got the copyright on the name.
Much of the film is training, a few spurts of action and then a decent finale
when she tries out her Wing Chun on the villain. The choreography is from
Yen Shi-kwan who only performed that duty a handful of times but was such
a great villain in films like The Heroic Trio and A Hero Never Dies. Yim
is played by Cecilia Wong who is very appealing. I have no idea if she had
any martial arts training but she looks good here and most of her films were
martial arts. Her career slowed down and stopped in 1982 after she married
Natalis Chan in 1979. And they are still married. Damn, someone stayed married
to Natalis for over 40 years.
