I have to rewatch this one soon. It’s been ages since I watched it.
[quote=“scherpschutter, post:440, topic:368”]Thanx
Bodyguard - could this be a reference to Yijimbo? I think that means bodyguard too, and Chiang plays a character who seems, like Mifune, a wandering samurai, after the fall of a shugunat. I think historically in China things were completely different, Chiang is of course no samurai, but Chen might have have wanted to do something in honour of Kurosawa, linking his film, with the help of Yojimbo so to speak, to the spaghetti westerns too. Chiang’s relationship with his horse reminded me of Sartana and his horse (or is this purely coincidence? I don’t know if Cheh ever saw a spaghetti western), and Chiang, while interfering in a conflict, saves the love of Lung and Ching, like No Name saves the ‘holy family’ in Fistful.
The pagoda sequence is of course great, and Chiang is fine too, I just thought this dramatic triangle Lung-Chiang-Ching didn’t work. Those things aren’t really Cheh’s forte; usually they don’t really harm the movie, but here they’re quite central to the story, taking a lot of time.[/quote]
Possibly (in reference to YOJIMBO), as Cheh was greatly influenced by Japanese filmmaking especially gangster pictures. The Shaw’s imported Japanese filmmakers (and also Koreans) to learn and enhance the Chinese style of making movies. Both sides learned a great deal from each other. Cheh had to have seen some Italian westerns at some point as at least three of his films have that feel about them. Those three are THE INVINCIBLE FIST (1969; close ups, facial hair and lots of sweaty faces), THE ANONYMOUS HEROES (1971; his revolution ‘Eastern’) and THE SAVAGE FIVE (1975; town besieged by gang of cutthroats trying to open a stolen strongbox; film uses cues from DEATH RIDES A HORSE). Personally, I don’t see much of an Italian western slant in many of his films. His swordplay films take after the Japanese samurai adventures such as MUSASHI series and the later ZATOICHI series from the 60’s (the stances the combatants take; the slow build to the duel; a group of thugs being killed in one stroke and all falling down at the same time). But those three above definitely have a ‘Western/Eurowestern’ vibe about them.
I remember NAVAJO JOE (1966) having a relationship with his horse as well. HAVE SWORD was shot in 1968 so I doubt Cheh had time to see SARTANA as he was also busy working on GOLDEN SWALLOW and THE FLYING DAGGER (location shooting in Japan on both) simultaneously as well as prepping several other productions at once.
Four Real Friends aka Dragon Squad aka Si da tian wang aka Die Stahlharten 4 by Jimmy Wang Yu.
Not Yu’s best work. The presented Kung-Fu is good but I’ve seen better…
Flying Guillotine 1974
This was my latest installment of my Shaw Brothers journey of discovery and was absolutely first class. One of the best I’ve seen. Good story, well directed and of course a whacky weapon. Surprisingly this one doesn’t contain as much fight action as others I have seen but this turns out to be a plus as the other elements of the film are allowed to dominate. That said, there is still plenty of chop sockey going on along with a plethora of decapitations (only to be expected in mind of the eponymous flying weapon) and also some naked breasts which came as an unexpected but pleasant surprise.
My biggest surprise though came about 20 minutes in during the afore mentioned bare booby love scene when the hauntingly beautiful notes of Morricone’s Return of Ringo floated in. Did they have the rights to use this masterpiece? I suspect not. But it was well placed anyway and greatly enjoyed by yours truly.
I’ve still only seen about a dozen Shaw Bros flicks so far but this one is definitely one of my faves.
The Shaw’s did pay for use of music. I don’t know how much, but they mostly utilized the library tracks from the DeWolfe library. On occasion, an original score was created, but this was mostly relegated for their drama pictures and musicals. Producing and releasing between 40 and 50 movies a year made it more difficult to score every film when it was more economically sound to use canned music.
THE FLYING GUILLOTINE took a year for director Ho Meng Hua to complete. According to history, the weapon was a real creation used by assassins of the Emperor to eradicate rebels and those against his rule. However, there are only mentions of the weapon in documents and no actual sketches of the contraption. According to Ho, no one apparently lived long enough to draw what the weapon looked like.
Wang Yu fired back with an inferior, but enjoyable flick entitled MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE, aka ONE ARM AGAINST THE FLYING GUILLOTINE in 1975. Ho Meng Hua also directed an exploitation derivative of his own movie entitled THE DRAGON MISSILE in 1976. The story was almost identical save for more dramatic elements and an interesting turn that makes the bad guy the unwitting good guy. The effects are quite nice for the imposing Dragon Missile.
Another indy movie was released in 1977 entitled THE FATAL FLYING GUILLOTINE starring Chen Sing and Carter Wong. It was okay but more of a true chopsocky movie.
In 1976 the Shaw’s began work on a sequel to THE FLYING GUILLOTINE with Chen Kuan Tai signed on to reprise his role from the first. The much revered Cheng Kang was assigned to direct. However, problems arose when the female lead disappeared and never returned (supposedly took off for Taiwan for undisclosed reasons). Then Chen Kuan Tai got into an apparent dispute with the studio and abruptly left leaving the production early on. Cheng Kang had other films on his slate so he went on ahead with those and gritty crime director, Hua Shan was brought in to take over the film. Ti Lung took Chen’s role a new female lead was cast. Watching the film, it’s easily apparent that there were problems, but it’s definitely the action film the first movie wasn’t. It details a group of patriots that side up with Ti Lung to kill the Emperor. The steel umbrella returns as does a new refurbished guillotine with some hidden features. It’s a gloomy affair and one of the most violent and bloody of the Shaw canon. I like to think of it as the BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES of Shaw pictures. The makers make good use of Ifukube’s score for MAJIN (1966).
Ho Meng Hua then directed a loose followup entitled THE VENGEFUL BEAUTY (1977) aka THE BLOODY HIBISCUS. It’s one of the best Shaw’s lower tier exploitation kung fu quickies. It takes place during the events of the first film detailing Shaw’s then Queen of exploitation avenging her wrongfully killed husband (while pregnant!) at the hands of the Emperor and his guillotine death squad. There’s sex, nudity and lots of violence including an army of Lo Lieh lookalikes during the conclusion.
The weapon also appeared in some other later productions including THE HEROIC TRIO in 1993 starring Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung and the late Anita Mui, who was considered the Madonna of HK.
[quote=“Phil H, post:445, topic:368”]Flying Guillotine 1974
This was my latest installment of my Shaw Brothers journey of discovery and was absolutely first class. One of the best I’ve seen. Good story, well directed and of course a whacky weapon. Surprisingly this one doesn’t contain as much fight action as others I have seen but this turns out to be a plus as the other elements of the film are allowed to dominate. That said, there is still plenty of chop sockey going on along with a plethora of decapitations (only to be expected in mind of the eponymous flying weapon) and also some naked breasts which came as an unexpected but pleasant surprise.[/quote]
To my surprise, one day I was watching The History Channel & saw that it was a real weapon. Seems very impractical but I’m not well versed in ancient Eastern weaponries.
I think I saw that documentary too, it was a comparison of all kinds of Asian weaponry, the samurai sword was called the best weapon in the end
What? Better than a throwable decapitation device that not only executes the victim but captures and retrieves the severed head as well?!? I find that very hard to believe ;D
[quote=“Phil H, post:445, topic:368”]Flying Guillotine 1974
My biggest surprise though came about 20 minutes in during the afore mentioned bare booby love scene when the hauntingly beautiful notes of Morricone’s Return of Ringo floated in. Did they have the rights to use this masterpiece? I suspect not. But it was well placed anyway and greatly enjoyed by yours truly.[/quote]
Yep. Good movie! A Shaw Bros. classic, for sure.
Amigo, the more Shaw Bros. films you see the more you will hear ripped-off (but, well used!) Spaghetti Western (and even James Bond) scores.
One of my favorite Chang Cheh films, THE SAVAGE FIVE, has a musical score that is almost entirely taken from THE RETURN OF RINGO and DEATH RIDES A HORSE.
This is just a standard element of these films–and one I must admit that I actually enjoy!
I’ve once seen a documentary ‘Top Ten Lethal Weapons of China’ on National Geographic. It features The Flying Guillotine as No1 weapon but it is said that nobody actually has found or seen a real one.
Have a look for yourselves:
I recently watched:
[glow=red,2,300]Soul of the Sword[/glow] by Hua Shan starring Ti Lung
very nice swordplay and surprising (well, the major twist actually isn’t surprising) twists in this one…
[glow=red,2,300]Vengeance[/glow]
by Chang Cheh starring David Chiang, Wang Ping and Ti Lung
This is not your typical SB Martial Arts movie. The setting is China in the 1920s, the atmosphere is dark and bleak without any humor, there’re not as many fights as we’re used to but those are more realistic, more brutal and bloodier. There’re no people flying around and the weapons used are mainly short-axes, knives and sometimes guns.
I liked the movie very much even though there’s less fighting than usual and a lovestory side plot, which takes some time…
People who like dark and bleak movies with realistic, brutal and bloody action will love Vengeance !!!
Anyone seen this one ?
[quote=“Bluntwolf, post:452, topic:368”][glow=red,2,300]Vengeance[/glow]
by Chang Cheh starring David Chiang, Wang Ping and Ti Lung
This is not your typical SB Martial Arts movie. The setting is China in the 1920s, the atmosphere is dark and bleak without any humor, there’re not as many fights as we’re used to but those are more realistic, more brutal and bloodier. There’re no people flying around and the weapons used are mainly short-axes, knives and sometimes guns.
I liked the movie very much even though there’s less fighting than usual and a lovestory side plot, which takes some time…
People who like dark and bleak movies with realistic, brutal and bloody action will love Vengeance !!!
Anyone seen this one ?[/quote]Fantastic Stuff, another similar one to this with David Chiang and Ti Lung is THE DUEL, essential viewing.
I remember Whicker’s World on tv when i was a kid but not Whicker’s Orient.
Check out this documentary “What makes Shaw Run Run” where Alan gets to go to the Shaw studios.
I’d love to see a decent quality version of it though.
Looks promising! I’ll have to look for THE DUEL !
THE DUEL is a good one, indeed. It used to run on American Television, under the title of DUEL OF THE IRON FIST, quite a bit when I was in my teen years. Of course, they ran the horrendously dubbed in English version; but, even then it was a decent flick. When I finally got the movie on DVD, in the original Chinese with English subs, I realized how good the film really is. Of course, it is another fine example of the work of Hong Kong Cinema master, Chang Cheh.
[quote=“Yodlaf Peterson, post:454, topic:368”]I remember Whicker’s World on tv when i was a kid but not Whicker’s Orient.
Check out this documentary “What makes Shaw Run Run” where Alan gets to go to the Shaw studios.
I’d love to see a decent quality version of it though.
Excellent! Thanks for posting these links, amigo!
I watched the recent Fortune Star release of BIG BOSS OF SHANGHAI this evening, much better than the English dubbed Vengeance video dvd i’ve also got.
[quote=“Chris_Casey, post:457, topic:368”]Excellent! Thanks for posting these links, amigo![/quote]Glad you like it Michael
Michael?