Hello you fight film fans! This next film we're going to cover on Hai! Karate is one of the great Chang Cheh's lesser-known films, King Eagle!! The film stars Shaw Studios icons Ti Lung and Li Ching as the leads, with Cheung Pooi-Saan and Cheung Miu as veteran role players in the cast. This film is interesting, so let's get to it!
King Eagle starts out in a different way
than a good deal of pictures from Shaw
Studios. We open with the head of the
Tien Yi Tong clan is betrayed by 1st Chief
Hung Sing Tien(Pooi Saan). Sing Tien even
takes out his own brother in the attack.
This goes throughout the opening credits,
keeping you squarely riveted. Sing Tien
is aided by his desired lover and clan
member An Bing Er(Ching)in the fight.
(Side note: Bruce Tong plays the brother
who gets dispatched - he'd ride these roles
into a bigger status as a solid actor for Shaw
as the 70's rolled on.)One man manages to
escape however, and in doing so takes the
golden marker from the late clan leader,
hoping to get that symbol of the chain of
command to other loyal members. But he
gets to a river and finds the wandering
swordsman King Eagle Jin Fei(Lung) who
at first doesn't even want to get mixed
up in it when he's begged to take the
marker to the clan. Sing Tien however
isn't so sure about Jin Fei staying out of
it, so he does what melodramatic villains
do: he hires two killers to take Jin Fel
out. This is also due to the fact that
Jin Fei is well known for being a master
swordsman in the land.
Jin Fei goes to town to meet his close
friend, and falls into the trap of the
hired killers only to be saved by An
Yuk Lin, the older sister of Bing Er.
Now if she looks familiar...it's Li
Ching playing both roles! Yuk Lin is
far more virtuous and heroic than her
sister, and so she's shocked to find
that the chief of her clan was murdered
by her and Sing Tien. She disbelieves
at first until she's attacked and Jin
Fei rescues her. They wind up falling
for each other. This romance does have
clouds on the horizon however, as Sing
Tien and Bing Er team up with Wan Bau
Ha(Miu) to wipe Jin Fei out once and for
all!! And so they meet for the final
battle...
King Eagle is a different kind of Chang
Cheh flick. This was his 11th for Shaw,
and it came after such triumphs like The
One-Armed Swordsman for example. The thing
with King Eagle is that there's more focus
on the female leads played by Li Ching. An
award winning actress by this point, Ching
handles the dual roles of Yuk Lin and Bing Er
to perfection. They are each their own
woman, their own warrior. She takes care
to give them life and Ti Lung responds very
well to both with his emoting. Lung at this
point was fast becoming one of Shaw's great
male leads and his stoic performance carries
great heft. Cheh's direction is notable for
the fact that Li Ching's dual roles were
shown with flair and attention and not treated
as backdrop like his other films. Also, while
there is some bloodshed to be found(Jin Fei's
spearing of a villain while he's in midair is
startling), it's less than what you'd get in
one of his later films. The story is deliberate
to almost being too slow but put together
well with the fight scenes, even if they're
quick. All in all, check out King Eagle for
a nice little wuxia action if you're looking
for something to watch.
RATING: 3 of 5 DRAGON PUNCHES
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