Road Rash Reviews

One Armed Boxer [Eureka Classics] Blu-ray Review****-

Cert 18 | 89 mins | 1972

4 Star

Martial Art Revenge.

Following in the vein of the Shaw Brothers Studio (Come Drink with Me, The One-Armed Swordsman, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) of Hong Kong comes one of their stars Jimmy Wang Yu (The One Armed Swordsmen, One-Armed Boxer II, Return of the Chinese Boxer) as writer, director and starring himself as the lead role. This film pulls together a multitude of Martial Art disciplines to give the viewer a  thrilling display of their fighting styles from around the world.

Morning tea is being taken in a restaurant, where men are showing off their birds. But when the ruthless drug dealing, prostitute provider Hook gang come in they start trouble with the locals. On another table, members of the Ching Te martial arts school are enjoying their morning refreshments when best in class Yu Tien Lung (Jimmy Wang Yu) and friends take umbrage at these Hook louts, and they end up fighting with the Ching Te martial arts school easily defeating their foes. Their head man Tien Pao (You-Min Ko) vows revenge and demands to be met in the local quarry for a reckoning.

The outcome is the same as the first and the Hooks go off licking their wounds, going back to their master Chao Liu (Yeh Tien, Blood of the Dragon, Fury of King Boxer) and spin a yarn that the Ching Te had started it all and to add insult they claim that Lung had insulted Chao Liu.

Chao Liu takes great offence to this accusation and soon Chao and his men are headed to the others Dojo, where our protagonist is being punished for his foolishness, which he accepts readily. While he is serving his penance Chao turns up and the accusations and insults fly before the feet and fists do.

Once again the Hooks are defeated, and this time it is Chao who vows revenge and he knows how to do it, and in the process get his hands on Ching Te martial arts schools business’ of brick making and cloth dying. He knows a man that used martial arts mercenaries from across the globe.

These consist of Erh Ku Da Leung, a ruthless and feared karate champion from Okinawa (Wong Fei-lung, The Seven Commandments of Kung Fu, The Buddha Assassinator) and his two students, Ko Fu (Yi-Kuei Chang, The Death Player, The Fierce Fist) the Tibetan Zen Boxing expert, Cho Lung (Su Chen Ping) the Zen Boxing expert along with Ko Fu. The others include  Mi Tsu (Blackie Ko) and Ni Tsai (Kuan Hung) Muay Thai fighters from Thailand. Bringing up the rest are Kao Chiao (Tung Chiao Wu), a judoka and judo master from Japan, Chin Chi Yung (Shan Mao) a Taekwondo master from Korea, Mura Singh (Chun Lin Pan) a Yoga expert from India, Chang Ku (Hung Tsai) Chuan, a karate fighter from Okinawa, Japan and Pan Tien-Ching (Yung-Sheng Wang), another karate fighter. Needless to say somewhere along the line Lung loses an arm and must fight his way back to health with the aid of Jade (Hsin Tang, Tiger Cliff, The Fists of Vengeance). A man must go through extreme pain to gain the power to conquer.

One Arm Boxer is a treat for the Martial Arts fan as Chinese boxing is pitted against many fierce disciplines all trying to kill them, only one can triumph.

One Armed Boxer (Masters of Cinema) is available on Blu-ray

 

SPECIAL EDITION BLU-RAY CONTAINS:

Limited Edition O-Card Slipcase featuring new artwork by Darren Wheeling [First Print Run of 2000 copies only]

Limited Edition reversible poster featuring new and original artwork [First Print Run of 2000 copies only]

1080p presentation on Blu-ray from a new restoration of the original film elements(worldwide debut of this restoration on home video)

Original Mandarin and English audio options

Optional English Subtitles 

Brand new feature length audio commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) 

Stills Gallery

Original trailer 

Limited-Edition Collector’s Booklet featuring new writing by James Oliver and archival writing [First Print Run of 2000 copies only]

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DirectorJimmy Wang Yu
GenreAction, Drama, Martial Arts
StarringJimmy Wang Yu, Yeh Tien, Hsin Tang, Fei Lung
Available to buy on : Own it on Blu-Ray