AKA: Tie shou wu qing, Tit sau miu ching, 鐵手無情
This small-scale wuxia thriller from Shaw Brothers was director Chang Cheh’s second and final attempt at making a leading man out of action star Lo Lieh. While he failed to catch on with local audiences, Lo Lieh nevertheless went on to star in the international box office breakthrough KING BOXER before finding his place in Hong Kong cinema as a lead villain in dozens of films including Lau Kar-leung’s masterpiece EXECUTIONERS FROM SHAOLIN.
Lo Lieh stars in the title role as bounty hunter Tieh Wu-ching the Invincible Fist, who along with his brother Er-long (David Chiang), is tracking down four thieves responsible for the theft of a family fortune and the murders of its owners. Having carefully planned and executed several large heists over the past few years, the bandits have established alter egos as respectable members of the community and are now relying on these disguises to smuggle the loot out of the region. Yet one by one, Wu-ching and his men manage to corner each of the bandits with their portion of the ill-gotten gains, save for their mysterious leader, Ma Wai-jia the Deadly Rope Killer (Fang Mien). When Wu-ching finally tracks down Wai-jia, he ends up surrounded by hired thugs and wounded during a vicious fight. Wu-ching escapes with the intervention of Er-long who sacrifices himself to save his brother. By chance, Wu-ching escapes on Wai-jia’s horse which leads the bounty hunter to the villain’s home where his daughter lives. Blind since age six, Kuei-ku (Li Ching) is unaware of her father’s life as a bandit and mistakenly takes Wu-ching for a friend of her father. Wai-jia returns home to see his enemy in the care of his daughter. Both men choose to hide the truth from her and set out for a fateful duel to the death.
This is the first film David Chiang had a notable role in. Hereafter, he became Chang Cheh’s favorite lead alongside fellow newcomer Ti Lung in a string of successful films crossing the martial arts, drama and contemporary action genres.
Tang Chia and Lau Kar-leung directed the fight choreography as they had with most of Chang’s previous martial arts films but unlike in the past, they do not appear onscreen in any fighting roles.
Genre: Wuxia
Companies: Shaw Brothers
Release Date: June 30, 1969
Producer: Run Run Shaw
Director: Chang Cheh
Action Director: Tang Chia, Lau Kar-leung
Starring: Li Ching (Ma Kuei-ku), Lo Lieh (Tieh Wu-ching), David Chiang (Tieh Er-long), Fang Mien (Deadly Rope Killer/Ma Wai-jia)
