Lady Kung Fu (1972) User Reviews

Interesting, albeit typical martial arts fanfare from the '70s

[dee.reid · 8/10 · 4 October 2006]

Raymond Chow produced "Lady Kung-Fu," a no-holds-barred martial arts action flick from the early 1970s directed by Feng Huang, and contains shades of nearly every Bruce Lee movie from that time. When I looked at it last night, I saw a number of interesting parallels between this flick and Bruce Lee's "The Chinese Connection," as both films were released in 1972. Most notable is that the plots bear some resemblance to one another and there is a strong sense of conflict between warring martial arts schools. Unlike "The Chinese Connection," however, the enemy, the Japanese, are portrayed in a flagrant, one-sided, racist, and xenophobic light; they are sometimes referred to as "Japs" by the main Chinese characters (I know this film is set before World War II - I wonder, did such racial epithets exist before then?). But I'm getting off track. Angela Mao, Carter Wong, and Sammo Hung star as three Chinese gong-fu students studying martial arts in Korea under a famed exile (Hapkido Grandmaster Han Jae Ji). They take their Hapkido training (called "kung-fu" in the film) back to China and attempt to set up their own school, only to face opposition from the ruling Japanese occupational forces, who seek to promote their art of Judo (founded in 1882 by Dr. Jigoro Kano). That's about all there is to the plot, and then we have the fights. During the opening credits, we're treated to one incredible sequence with Wong drubbing a band of thugs. Next, there is a training sequence with Angela Mao. Then, Han Jae Ji himself demonstrates his unique Hapkido fighting art. In "Lady Kung-Fu," there are a number of familiar faces from Chow-produced martial arts action flicks too. Mao is probably my favorite fighter, since she is mostly famous for her tragic portrayal of Bruce Lee's sister in "Enter the Dragon" (1973). On a side note, I am currently studying Hapkido and I encourage anyone else interested in it to check out this flick.

An enjoyable martial arts romp.

8/10

Lady Kung Fu

[ebiros2 · 7/10 · 29 October 2011]

I've seen this movie first time as "Lady Kung Fu" (a.k.a. Anjera Mao no Onna Kassatsu Ken) in a movie theater in Asia, and was impressed with Angela Mao's skills.

The movie is bit like the "The Chinese Connection" in that Japanese oppression is part of the topic. Korean Hapkido school goes against the Japanese Karate school. The bad guys are of course the Japanese.

This movie came out 6 month after the sensational success of "The Chinese Connection", both by Golden Harvest, so similarity is not surprising. Angela Mao was hot commodity for Golden Harvest at the time, and she takes the lead in this movie. She has this unique school girlish looks that makes her stand out in any movie she's in. Very young Sammo Hung also stars in this movie. It seems that he hasn't gotten a hair cut between this movie, and the time he stared in the "Enter the Dragon" the following year. He's also gained lot of weight between this and the "Enter the Dragon".

This movie looks better now than when I first saw it. It has aged pretty well over 40 years.

Still a great kung fu action movie, and recommended for viewing.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 21 April 2014]

Korea, 1934. During the Japanese occupation, there is open warfare between rival martial arts schools. There is a fight in the marketplace, and three Chinese students cannot stand the unfair way of students that side up with the invaders, when they gang assault one of the fighting men. Between the three, they send the aggressors away. Retaliation is heavy: their school is destroyed, and they are banished.

This film may be best known for an uncredited cameo from Jackie Chan before he became an international star, but it is a decent film in its own right. While not quite as action-packed as "Lady Whirlwind" (which came out the same year from the same director), there is a better plot here, and the production value from Golden Harvest is noticeably higher.

A decent copy has been released from Shout Factory. While it is not pristine (this may not even be possible) and does not have much for special features, this is a film worth checking out.

Great moves from Grandmaster Ji!

[hemp_tee · 24 August 2001]

Pretty standard fare as far as 70s martial arts flicks go. However, notable for the role of 'Teacher' played by Hapkido founder Grandmaster Ji Han Jae. Some great fight scenes (watch Grandmaster pulverise his students ;]). Also good to watch Angela Mao and Samo Hung in some decent fight scenes. A very interesting 'must-see' for all Hapkido (and other martial arts) students.

Fist of Fury Remake

[Sevket_Erhat · 7/10 · 6 August 2004]

I cannot understand why this film is really rare and not widely available. The copy I have seen has burnt in English subtitles that is almost impossible to read as it often goes under the screen and since it was in white color it disappeared in their white clothes.

Apart from that the movie is really good. Although I have never been a fan of Carter Wong or Sammo Hung Kam Bo, I have enjoyed the scenes with Hwang In Sik. He is such a good high kicker.

One thing that bothered me about this movie is that it looks way too similar to Fist of Fury. They even used the same guy that played the annoying Chinese man siding with the Japanese in Fist of Fury too.

Definitely not as good as Fist of Fury but much better than most of the martial arts movies. Recommended...

A Solid "Old-Style" Kung Fu Film

[Uriah43 · 6/10 · 8 August 2020]

This film takes place during the Japanese occupation of Korea with three young Chinese adults by the names of "Kao Yu Ying" (Angelo Mao), "Kao Chang" (Carter Wong) and "Fan Wei" (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung) having a picnic and enjoying nature. All of a sudden some Japanese men arrive and begin harassing them. What these Japanese men do not realize, however, is that all three of these people have come to Korea to study the martial art known as hapkido and happen to be among the best students in the school. As a result, the Japanese are thoroughly beaten and depart quite humiliated. Not long afterward, cognizant of the political situation, their teacher "Shih Kung-chan" (Han Jae Ji) instructs them to go back to China to start a new school there. Unfortunately, there just happens to be a Japanese martial arts school already in the city they set up in and this creates all kinds of problems for them. Now, rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a good "old-style" kung fu film which covered the familiar "Chinese vs. Japanese" theme quite well. It also featured several actors who had previously performed with Bruce Lee in other films most notably Ping-Ou Wei (as the Japanese thug "Chang Pu-tse"), the affable Ti Chin ("Hsiao Lao-fu") and Ing-Sik Whang (as the elder student "Whang In Sik"). Be that as it may, while certainly not a great martial arts film by any means, I still enjoyed it for the most part and I have rated it accordingly.

Fantastic: why kung fu films are made

[InzyWimzy · 10/10 · 9 February 2004]

Man, this one had me hooked from start to finish. The characters really shine through here make you really want to root for the good guys. This film shows a lot of formidable throw techniques; very effective against multiple attackers. Feng (Sammo) is the brash, arrogant fighter and is played well by the Fat Dragon (WARNING: Shirtless Sammo sighting!!) Carter Wong is okay and thankfully isn't featured that much. OW, that arm!

Finally there's Angela. Her character is really interesting because she's a pacifist torn between her belief in non-aggression and righting her enemy's wrongdoings. Can she compromise and how will she resolve the conflict? Don't get me wrong; there is a story to this, but Ms. Mao is the epitome of Hopkido here. She displays her fighting skills in several scenes and I can't get enough of her flipping guys like rag dolls. Even dubbed, she acts really well especially with her facial expressions. Angela's the main star here and proves it beyond a doubt.

Incredible

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 5 February 2023]

Set in 1934 Japanese occupied Korea, Hapkido starts with Yu Ying (Angela Mao), Kao Chang (Cater Wong) and Fan Wei (Sammo Hung, graduating from getting his ass kicked by Mao and being on the same side; he also choreographed the fights) trying to start a school where they can teach hapkido, a martial art that uses joint locks, grapples, throws, kicks and punches. Unfortunately, the Black Bear Gang - Japanese toughs - want to run them out of town and keep trying to trick them into fighting. This goes against the will of their master but eventually, enough is enough.

Released in the U. S. as Lady Kung Fu - and even replacing Enter the Dragon as the top film of the week during the week of September 19, 1972 and using the tagline "Here comes the unbreakable China doll who gives you the licking of your life!" - Hapkido also features early appearances by Biao Yuen, Corey Yuen and Jackie Chan. Ji Han-Je, who appears as the teacher, was the man that many consider the founder of hapkido. He also is in Game of Death with Lee.

As for the music - which is always a fun thing for me in Hong Kong cinema, as I love to see where it takes songs from - Emerson Lake and Palmer's "Eruption" is the theme song!

Between the direction by Huang Feng and Hung's skills at showing unarmed combat in movie form, Hapkido is absolutely stunning, filled with intense fights and high drama as Mao stands - almost - alone by the end of the film. She's amazing and you completely buy every strike she unleashes on her hapless and outmatched foes, even if I wish she'd been the lone warrior to protect the honor of her fighting style.

Hapkido

[kurciasbezdalas · 10/10 · 7 December 2008]

The plot of this movie is very similar to Fist of Fury, but in this film the main heroine is a female played by Angela Mao, who is better known for her role in Enter The Dragon, but in this film she get more of the show. The fighting scenes were great for that time's movie, though it beats some of the nowadays martial art's movies too. Actually the bigger part of the movie is fights, so if you want to see some great Kung Fu (Hapkido?) fights and don't care about a plot - this movie is for you. Angela Mao really knows how to kick and in this movie, she proved it several times. I liked Sammo Hung's character, who was a troublemaker in this film. Even Jackie Chan appeared in few scenes.

Good Angela Mao Film Filled With Familiar Faces

[coconutkungfu-30704 · 7/10 · 19 February 2020]

A good martial arts film in the mold of Fist of Fury that presents the art of Hapkido and has some great action scenes and features smaller roles for the likes of Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao and Jackie Chan. Angela Mao is awesome!

Recommended for fans of kung fu cinema.

Blink and you'll miss Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao, but Lam Ching-Ying is featured nicely

[PKazee · 8/10 · 18 August 2017]

Jackie can be seen briefly in at least two scenes. I first noticed him near the end of the film in the scene where Angela visits the Japanese school and is prevented from leaving. Jackie, dressed in black, stands in the doorway and gets flipped to the floor by Angela. In another scene, he's also standing on the left side of a doorway, but he's wearing white.

I THINK I also saw Yuen Biao (in white) a couple of times, but unfortunately, I can't tell you where to look for him.

What surprised me was how prominently featured Lam Ching-Ying is in this movie. He's all over the fight scene that takes place in the street market, ultimately taking punches from Sammo Hung, who probably has more screen time than anyone else in the film.. certainly screen time spent fighting.

Finally, I was surprised to discover that the attractive young woman who gets ogled and nearly groped near the start is none other than Nancy Sit!

Grandmaster Ji still hasn't lost his touch.

[hwarang16 · 5 March 2002]

Grandmaster gave me a copy of "Hapkido" to watch. Unfortunately, it was the only copy he had, and it was kinda in poor condition. But what I saw of it was extraordinary. He could kick like nobody could. The throws, joint locks, simply incredible. To be honest, he still looks just as good today.

Why isn't this available?!

[kniphofia · 10/10 · 28 July 2003]

I saw this movie at the theater in 1974 and have been waiting to see it again ever since. It's surely one of the best of the Hong Kong movies of the period - one of the best martial arts movies ever! Why it isn't available on VHS or DVD I just don't know. I would love to have a copy.

Ahead of its time

[glenn-aylett · 8/10 · 1 July 2012]

I have seen this film twice and I believe it to be way ahead of its time as, firstly, it features a woman as the main martial arts star when this was almost unheard of and, secondly, features a martial art very few people would have heard of in the West and Hapkido was given the title Lady Kung Fu in America to reach a wider market.

Basically Hapkido is the story of three students of Hapkido, a Korean martial art like a cross between karate and jiu jitsu, who are persecuted in thirties China by the Japanese who set up karate schools and try to ban non Japanese martial arts. Obviously this being a martial arts film there are some spectacular fight scenes between the Japanese and the Koreans, particularly the end fight where Angela Mao and Hwang in Sik take on two Japanese senseis, one of whom is a dab hand with a sword, and fight them to the death, Angela Mao having a unique figthing technique that involves her pigtails.

The main drawbacks are fairly poor dubbing on the version I've seen, Angela is given a corny American accent, the very cheap sets and poor acting. However, the quality of the fight scenes cannot be faulted and Angela Mao is as good as Bruce Lee.

Authentic martial arts

[deangelised · 10/10 · 21 June 2013]

This movie is a pearl which I hungered for a long time. While the plot is quite simple, for a modern day viewer it may contain some really unexpected twists. But we watch martial arts movies not for the brilliant plot, do we? I myself learned hapkido in Korea for a year and this movie brought to me a sweet nostalgia. Although, sometime I was not very happy with the choices of the heroes in their styles, and some greatly effective counter- attacks was never used, but in this movie you can see a variety of skills taught up to the third dan of the black belt. This movie gets 10 points from me, because these are really authentic hapkido. However, there is some important for me mistake in it. It is said in this movie that hapkido is an ancient Chinese martial art. It is entirely not true. Hapkido is a very recent (beginning on the XXth century) Korean martial art.

Lady Kung Fu

[westy_jed · 9/10 · 31 December 2006]

Lady Kung Fu is one of the greatest movies to watch if you like martial arts films. There are scenes in the film that take a while to pass (boring), but other than that, is packed with fantastic Hapkido skills from Angelo Mao, Grandmaster Ji Han Jae, Carter Wong, Sammo Hung, In-Sik Whang and the others. The end fight-scene between a black-bear student and Yu-Ying (Angela Mao) has a great choreography blend from the beginning of the fight till the point when Yu-Ying's eldest classmate jumps in to take on the black-bear student's teacher. It is a bit disappointing to see the teacher use a sword against Yu-Ying's classmate, because of the limitations of techniques the classmate can do without a sword. You can't have a great sword-fight with only one sword! Apart form that, the whole movie's fantastic!

Wow

[handofaces-1 · 9/10 · 29 December 2005]

Well, it's been a while since I've written a comment about a movie. Hapkido aka Lady Kung Fu is Fantastic. Mao Ying, Sammo, and Carter are all excellent in this film. The reason I'm writing a comment is because recently I have been a little disenchanted by some of the 70's kung fu films that I have seen. People have said films like The Master of the Flying Guillotine or The Five Deadly Venoms are Fabulous, but it seems to me that although there is things that are mentionable in those films,they lack something, perhaps a story that just hooks you such as Hapkido does. The only thing I am sad about is that the DVD I bought was in poor quality visually, but it was still in widescreen. I've only seen two of Mao Ying's films--Hapkido and Dance of Death. Dance of Death exhibits Mao Ying's talents, but it lacks a bit in story. The difference between hapkido and dance of death is that in dance of death mao ying is constantly fighting scene after scene which could be a joy to watch...though as I said before the story lacks...HEY I just put two movie critiques in one...heheh Last words: Hapkido should be a classic and it should be on DVD digitally remastered, widescreen, with originally Chinese language and English subtitled for the world to love..by the way this is better than fist of fury in my opinion sorry bruce...bruce is great but this movie is better.

Chinese and Korean kick major Japanese ass with Hapkido

[phanthinga · 8/10 · 20 July 2019]

If you a fan of martial art movies then you definitely know how much Chinese people love their kung-fu movie where one single guy beat up a bunch of Japanese and they got the right to do so but rarely I see the main character team up with a foreigner to defeat the villain while using a Korean based martial art like Hapkido in Hapkido (1972). Starring Angela Mao, Carter Wong, and Sammo Hung when he still young this cliche old school kung-fu movie got everything a fan needs to be entertained and although I can't tell the difference between regular kung-fu fight and hapkido fight it is still pretty cool to see Chinese finally realize they not alone in the battle against evil Japan (lol). I know this movie set up Angela Mao to be the one who settles the score and she really is but the true powerhouse of the movie for me is Sammo Hung when he goes all out in the market fight

Worthy chopsocky outing

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 10 July 2014]

Korea, 1934. Three top martial arts school students -- shrewd Kao Yu Ying (Angela Mao, everyone's favorite petite firebrand), sensible Kao Chang (charming Carter Wong), and impetuous Fan Wei (liable Sammo Hung) -- move to China to start their own school. They face opposition from a rival Japanese school. Director Feng Huang, working from a compact script by Yan Ho, relates the enjoyable story at a swift pace, maintains a generally serious tone with a few amusing moments of humor, and stages the abundant kung-fu fights with stirring aplomb. Moreover, the plot neatly explores the themes of patience, courtesy, and standing up for the weak and oppressed. The three protagonists are very engaging, with Mao in particular once again in strong and assertive form as she takes on and defeats a school full of guys (she even beats one dude up with her pigtails!). The Japanese villains are quite arrogant and obnoxious. Yu-tang Li's crisp and lively widescreen cinematography rates as another definite asset. A cool little item.

Superb undiscovered gem.

[aaronmoran-84427 · 10/10 · 15 March 2020]

I'm not the biggest fan of 70s kung fu movies, much prefer the 80s-90s era. This is because a lot of films from this period do fall into a tired overdone premise like revenge or trafficking etc. Also a lot of the fight scenes have aged poorly when compared to the crisp relentless action of later years.

BUT sometimes a film goes under the radar and impresses me hugely. One of them is HAPKIDO. First the fight scenes are superb, thanks to the likes of a young Sammo Hung who also co-stars in the film. The action is busy, creative and looks like it could've been done today, which is rare. But most praise goes to the queen of martial arts cinema Angela Mao, who is best known as Bruce lee's tragic sister in Enter the Dragon, shows incredible athletism and the camera just loves her. Great support from legends like Carter Wong, Wong In Sik and Ji Han Jae adds depth to the action.

The story is also very good as it centers on students trying to establish a hapkido school during the cruel Japanese oppression. It puts its characters in situations including consequences of being a hero.

HAPKIDO is worth the time of anyone who wishes to watch a great example of how good 70s martial art movies are, to show it was not all about Bruce or Jackie.

Angela Mao: Pretty & Petite But Deadly

[oldschoolbx · 10/10 · 30 December 2019]

Miss Mao kicks major ass as short as she is in this 1972 Kung Fu Grindhouse masterpiece later seen here in America as Lady Kung Fu courtesy of National General Pictures in 1973

Information About Lady Kung Fu aka Hapkido

[oldschoolbx · 10/10 · 14 December 2019]

This movie was released in Mandarin not Cantonese. In fact the majority of Chinese Martial Arts films were released in Mandarin from 1970 to sometime in the early 80s.

Hapkido

[coltras35 · 10/10 · 4 December 2022]

Chinese kung fu students, having been taught the Korean art of Hapkido for 5 years, are released into the world in order to open up their own branch of Hapkido school. At first they get along fine with everybody, going to visit the other local/rival kung fu schools, even opening up a drop~in centre for the sick, gaining the respect of all the other kung fu masters and people in town.... except 'The Black Bear' school, a bunch of rascally Japanese bullies, that get wind of a Hapkido school opening, and consequently start causing trouble for everyone in a 50 mile radius. For the three Hapkido teachers, The promise of observing patience at all times by their master becomes increasingly difficult - insults and violence are exclusively aimed at their school, acts which inevitably result in tragedy, and the need for the remaining teacher to forget her oath of level headedness and start fighting back.

Angela Mao, who played Bruce Lee's sister in Enter the Dragon, steals the scene in this awesome martial arts film that has oodles of impressive martial arts fighting ( choreographed by Sammo Hung), which, in the Bruce Lee's school of hard knocks - straightforward, fast and furious. Apart from the fighting, it's well-acted, paced, well-plotted with enough story to add weight to the proceedings. Angelo Mao has a great screen presence and conveys some compassion in her character.