One Armed Boxer (1971)

Today we've got a review of One Armed Boxer.

Plot summary:
The students of the Hang Tui school have a strong sense of justice. This pisses off their rivals at the Chao school, who hire martial artists from across Asia to put them in their place. What follows is a massacre, the only survivor being a guy named Tien Lung (Jimmy Wang Yu) who loses an arm in the fight. He's taken in by a kindly old doctor who just happens to know the secret of a one armed fighting technique that could allow Tien Lung to exact revenge on his enemies...

If the above plot synopsis makes the movie sound a bit cookie cutter, that's because it is. What a disappointment this movie was. I went into it thinking it would be as good or better than its sequel, Master of the Flying Guillotine, but its not even close. It just takes way too long to get to the point. The movie is called One Armed Boxer but he doesn't even lose his arm until the final third of the film, and the earlier segments of the film just drag.

I can't really comment on the film's DVD release since I don't think it's been released stateside, but it doesn't really matter since it's only really worth watching if you've seen the sequel and want to know the character's backstory. If not, then it's totally skippable.

Trivia:
This was the second one armed character played by Jimmy Wang Yu. The other was a one armed swordsman.

Link(s) if interest:
One Armed Boxer theatrical trailer