AKA: Dubei dao, 獨臂刀
This blockbuster hit from 1967 made Jimmy Wang Yu the first martial arts superstar of the Shaw Brothers era, established co-writer/director Chang Cheh as Hong Kong’s top martial arts filmmaker and broke box office records by becoming the first Hong Kong production to earn over $1 million. Beyond its immediate commercial and critical success, the film charted a bold, new course for the martial arts genre and paved the way to even greater triumphs for many of the cast and crew associated with it.
A servant dies defending sword master Qi Rufeng (Tien Feng) from attackers, leaving his son in Rufeng’s care. Fang Gang (Jimmy Wang Yu) grows up to become a righteous young man and Master Qi’s top sword student, much to the chagrin of other senior students in his martial arts school. Weary of their scorn and the advances of Master Qi’s spoiled daughter Pei-erh (Pan Yin-tze), Rufeng leaves the school with little more than the sword his master gave him and a broken sword left to him by his father. He’s intercepted by Pei-erh and two other students. Angry at his departure, she forces the reluctant Rufeng into a fight. After being handily defeated, she chops off his right arm in an unexpected fit of rage. Stunned and severely wounded, Rufeng stumbles off into the night. He’s rescued and nursed back to health by an ordinary peasant girl named Xiaoman (Chiao Chiao). After many months together the two fall in love. However, feeling useless without his sword arm, Rufeng slips into depression until Xiaoman offers him her father’s partially destroyed martial arts manual. The surviving contents describe techniques for training the left arm to wield a short sword. Rufeng masters the techniques and adapts them for use with his father’s broken sword just in time to face a new threat. Master Qi’s arch-enemy, the Long-Armed Devil (Yang Chih-ching) plots to kill Qi and his pupils after memorizing the school’s sword technique and developing a specialized weapon to ensnare the golden swords wielded by Qi and his students. The Long-Armed Devil sends out his minions to begin picking off Master Qi’s students before assaulting Master Qi’s school. Although previously mistreated by Qi’s students, Rufeng’s devotion to his master leads him to come to the defense of the school. As it turns out, Rufeng’s one-armed swordfighting technique is uniquely suited to matching the newly developed fighting style of the Long-Armed Devil and his minions.
A fan of the Japanese samurai genre, Chang Cheh was inspired by the success of films starring Shintaro Katsu as Zatoichi the blind swordsman. This, along with the Shaw brothers’ keen nose for exploiting emerging trends in the Asian film market, led to the creation of the ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN.
Although not credited properly onscreen, action directors Tang Chia and Lau Kar-leung played a crucial role in the success of the film by playing prominent fighting roles and choreographing realistic and highly creative fight sequences that set a new standard in Chinese martial arts cinema. In particular, the emphasis on training and specific fighting techniques and tactics provided a foundation for the kung fu movie boom that was about to begin.
Genre: Wuxia
Companies: Shaw Brothers
Release Date: July 26, 1967
Producer: Runme Shaw
Director: Chang Cheh
Action Director: Tang Chia, Lau Kar-leung
Starring: Jimmy Wang Yu (Fang Gang), Chiao Chiao (Xiaoman), Pan Yin-tze (Qi Pei-erh), Huang Chung-hsin (Wei Hsuan)
