Description: (Action/Comedy) A young woman marries a dying senior member of a martial arts family in order to protect her family’s fortunes, leading to a duel with a greedy relative.
Amazon.com: 'You made me a cripple, so I'll make you a cripple, too,' sneers charismatic swordplay superstar Wang Yu, clutching his severed member, in this 1967 classic of manly suffering and bloodshed. Because of its implacable-revenge motif, and its extended training sequences, this is sometimes cited as the first true martial arts movie--a transitional film between the old-school swordplay and the contemporary kung fu genres. Whatever you call it, it is easily one of the most influential Asian action movies ever made. A master of long-sword fighting techniques, Wang loses an arm in the early innings. (It is hacked off by the woman he loves.) In order to exact payback, he has to master the unfamiliar short-sword style, using the stump of his symbolically shattered blade. Meanwhile, enemies of the long-sword school have invented a sneaky 'sword-clamp' device and deploy it against the good guys. Issues of fighting style and discipline are central; one technique trumps another, and the hero triumphs because, driven by rage, he practices more obsessively than his foes. This is a lean, effective piece of genre craftsmanship from the great director Chang Cheh, finally available in the U.S. in a letterboxed version that gives his shapely widescreen compositions a fair shake. --David Chute
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Average Rating:
Rating: - Great story and plot with believable characters.
One Armed Swordsman is an excellent film that combines drama, great story telling, and action. It's rare to find any type of action film that keeps you gripped without introducing another fighting scene for the sake of it.
The main character loses his right arm in an accident. He's forced to physically and mentally deal with being crippled forever. There is also another plot taking place that deals with revenge. This also adds a great deal to the story and is pulled off very well.
The characters are well acted and Wang Yu's performance stands out the most. He delivers some very powerful scenes. There is also a good deal of character development. It's very hard not to feel the main characters plight and I found myself waiting impatiently for the villians to finally get theirs. The action scenes are pretty good, very well coordinated and some good gore. Another strength is the fighting happens ... Read More
Rating: - Jimmy Wang Yu and Chang Cheh in top form!
What a film! The One-Armed Swordsman is the story of a humble student who in a terrible "accident" loses his right arm and is then forced to make tough decissions on where his life will go from there. Jimmy Wang Yu is fantastic as our lead and uses incredibly great facial expressions and body language to support the emotional beats thrown his way(best performance of his career in fact). The direction by the legendary Chang Cheh is some of his best as well with quite a few of the most beautifully shot scenes I've ever scene in the genre. The incredible thing about that is the film is almost exclusively shot on sets which when teamed with Chehs direction gives the entire film almost a surreal fairy tale quality. Now the effects are a little dodgy at times but when taking into consideration that this was released in 1967 it is easily forgivable (and makes them actually pretty good overall). The choreography and fights ... Read More
Rating: - INCREDIBLE SWORD FIGHTING FILM !!
The Weinstein Company has to be commended for finally releasing "The One-Armed Swordsman" completely restored on DVD. The video and audio restoration that went into this release is truly amazing. This 1967 Martial Arts Classic is presented in it's 2.35:1 Widescreen format and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. This is without a doubt the best version of "The One-Armed Swordsman" I've ever seen. The video transfer is just spectacular and the colors are sharp and vibrant. The sound is clean and crisp albeit in mono. The sound options include original Mandarin or English dubbed version and choice of Subtitles. The special features I found most interesting were the Interview with Jimmy Wang Yu and the Stills Gallery and Trailer Gallery. Sadly the commentary of Quentin Tarantino listed on the rear cover under the special features section of the DVD is missing. Martial Arts fans will be amazed by the incredible quality of this release ... Read More
Rating: - 5 stars for movie, 3 stars for release
OK if you have never seen this movie and are interested in classic kung-fu movies, by all means get this release, the quality is great. My complaint is that the Weinstein company lied about the special features. I already owned a great region 3 copy of this film, and was surprised to see that the new American release had commentary by Quentin Tarantino, which is stated on the package. I know that he is a big Shaw bros fan and was interested in hearing his insight on the film. I could care less about the film scholars opinions as they don't really state anything a fan wouldn't already know. Well the DVD does NOT have commentary by him, and my purchase was completely pointless. This review is to mainly to warn others out-there like myself who are huge fans that might also be considering purchasing this version for that reason.
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- Great story and plot with believable characters.
- 5 stars for movie, 3 stars for release
