Iron Swallow (1978)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Excellent but underrated film

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

IRON SWALLOW is a kung fu film made in Taiwan with more style than sense. It features Judy Lee in the solid role of an avenging swordswoman who works her way through a number of men who wronged her in the past. The opening half of the film is quite outrageous in its depiction of Lee as a vengeful force who goes around committing mutilation murders, taking body parts from those she defeats.The plot becomes more complex when Lee meets up with Don Wong, the student of a potential victim, and it soon becomes clear that a greater evil is at work. It's a routine and slightly overlong film for its genre, lacking the kind of quality that the best productions had. The film starts out interestingly but the interest gradually wanes and it ends up with the familiar stock format and final fight. Lee and Wong are fine as the stars but the direction and writing could really have been better as sometimes this is just too confusing.

It starts with Chia Ling driving auntie in a wagon. She stops at a jug set up road side apparently for water. Snakes are inside. Some guy rides up and they fight briefly then he rides off. Cut to Don Wong sparring practice with Ting Wa-Chung, his kung fu master's son. The master plans a party. Chia attacks his wife then cuts his eyes out. She tells him it is for revenge. Someone is following Chia. Cut to another old guy playing chess. Chia is there for revenge too. This time it's the ears. Cut to the party preparation. A girl reports to the master what happened. Don Wong also reports. Soon she attacks again. This time she cuts off the old guy's right arm. All this comes across unsympathetic to Chia Ling. The revenge seems too cruel. Don and Ting Wa-Chung want to get her. The master explains the back story. Then it becomes a problem that another man is killing people and framing Chia Ling. The unknown guy following her offers his help.This movie is a mess due to lack of simple storytelling. The audience needs to quickly identify the hero and the villain. In this movie it is impossible to figure that out until after an hour. These movies are famous for filming to start without a script or for it all to be made up as they went along. If the story is a mess because of that so be it but this one had a script that destroyed the movie. All that is left is the action. There are nothing but beatings in the first hour. Just skip to the final fight or don't bother. I cannot recommend this movie for anyone and even hardcore fans like myself will feel the disappointment.

Iron Swallow is a surprisingly "great" kung fu movie. The fights are good, and that's the main thing I look for, but get this, the story is good too. It happens, just not often enough. Judy Lee is after 10 old men who covered up a crime they committed 10 years ago. Wong Tao and Ting Wa-chung play best friends and are students of Yee Yuen (he plays one of the 10 men Judy Lee is after), and the 2 students have to try and figure out what's going on.The final 10 minutes of this movie is pure awesomeness. Good fighting, yes, but a good story greatly enhances the viewing experience. Judy Lee and Wong Tao perform their fight scenes very well, but the they can't match up to Wong Wing Sang's skills. Most people will recognize him as the guy who uses a pole to fight Ghostfaced Killer, and he plays the Yoga master with extendable arms in Master of the Flying Guillotine. He has some awesome skills, and he gets plenty of chances to show them off in this kung fu classic. This is a dam good movie all the way through. Highly recommended for kung fu fans who don't like much comedy with their kung.The Crash DVD picture quality is full screen and faded, but still more than watchable.