The One-Armed Swordsman (1967)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Touches You

Brilliant and touching

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

A lower caste servant gives his life in defense of his master, Qi, master of the Golden Sword school. Qi promises the dying man that he will raise his son; the boy retrieves his father's broken sword (which will prove pivotal later), and grows up to be Wang Yu. Belittled for being the son of a mere servant, the adult Yu decides to leave the school- but Qi's daughter, whose advances Yu has rebuffed, takes it upon herself to amputate his right arm in retribution. This impromptu surgery takes place in a snow-bound forest and is foreshadowed by the chopping off of a tree limb. It's a remarkably bloodless affair, and Yu staggers away to throw himself off a bridge- but he falls, instead, on the (conveniently) passing boat of Miss Xiaoman, who nurses him back to health. Meanwhile, Smiling Tiger (whose smile is deceptive) and Long-armed Devil (whose whip and short spears are "extensions" of his reach, one presumes) have decided to hunt down and kill all of Qi's Golden Sword students. The bad guys have developed a "sword-lock" weapon that, coupled with the use of a dagger, makes them night unbeatable. Yu, meanwhile, gets "better," though he's remarkably proficient with his left hand for a man used to fighting with his right. (He even develops Chi to the point where he can push air (?) hard enough to trim limbs from a tree and leave his palm-print in a tree stump. These two incidents happen back-to-back and both involve tree LIMBS and a tree STUMP. One can only wonder if the symbolism was intentional by director Chang Cheh. My guess would be that it WAS.) All of the foregoing leads to a final confrontation at the Golden Sword school that should not be missed.

The One Armed Swordsman is one of the most important kung fu movies ever made. For one thing, it made Cheng Cheh and Jimmy Wang famous. It was also a really early example of the genre.What i noticed about this film is the focus was less on choreography and more on character development and cinematography. Because of this i think that it is more accessible to the average movie fan.The story is basic. A martial arts student gets his arm cut off, masters a new style,gets a girl and defends his old master. it is standard but truly shows and develops the main character. This is in my top five kung fu films of all time. A MUST see.

This is a pretty original and refreshing genre movie and not just for its time. Of course the concept alone of having a one-armed swordsman as the main character in a Hong Kong martial arts movie is already original and refreshing on its own. But also the whole handling and development of the storyline is great and refreshing. It's not just some mindless chopping in this movie.I must admit that in this case I liked the 1995 remake "Dao" even a better as movie. It had a better storyline, better emotions, better villains, better fight sequences and a better overall style. Nevertheless this movie is still a better one than "Dao" is. Qualitivly the story is a better told one and of course simply just because this movie was first and therefor automatically is also more original.It's already an outdated and somewhat silly looking movie. It's a movie with some fake looking sets and beards and some horrible added sound effects. Also the blades and blood are obvious fakes. The movie on its own is pretty violent and graphic but because of its fake look its nothing too shocking or impressive. It also is not like its laughable it just makes the movie look outdated.The fights also aren't ever really long one's but they are really well choreographed and makes it very enjoyable to view for the fans of the genre. Toward the end the action of course starts to kick in even more. It's also true that the movie gets even better by then.This just is no Hollywood movie, so the editing and camera-work might seem a bit off to some but this is of course all part of the Asian style of film-making. Not that I'm a particular great fan of it all though. In some things Hollywood movies are just better, mostly when it comes down to the technical things behind film-making.A great and original movie within its genre!9/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I did not know then that Chinese martial art fighters were distinguished by the myriad schools where they trained. I also learned that hand-clasping (as if in prayer) greeting with a bow that a swordfighter uses to greet his shifu (teacher). How about that peculiar Chinese idiom: "Please don't stand on ceremony" meant to put guests at ease? Neat. So a Chi man has 64 ways of using his sword. Actually the Chinese call it a knife because of its shape and it is much broader than an ordinary sword. Chinese swords tend to be somewhat slim and light. The slightly built Wang Yu seems an unlikely candidate to be a super swordsman but his stance and his moves belie the frail looks. The hero underdog gives not only as good as he gets, but more! Jimmy is a double edged martial arts movie actor. Obviously he knows his martial onions although he is not truly a master like Bruce Lee. BUT, he sure can act.The female lead Chiao Chiao played other swordfighter roles quite credibly but I was disappointed that in some movies she was cast as a femme fatale even with nude scenes.