Ying xiong ben se (1973) User Reviews

Over the top fun!

[flyingchimpanzee · 6/10 · 18 August 2002]

A minute into the movie and you know you're in for some fun. A groovy 60's soundtrack blares as the scene opens onto several young men in martial arts training. A trainee jumps high into the air and just as he busts his kung-fu move the film freezes on the image and a credit appears in Chinese characters. The opening continues this way, (high jump kicks syncopated to the funky beat), until the credit sequence is over.

We learn that these trainees are three Japanese brothers, (one is of course played by Yasuaki Kurata), and their squat & sturdy auntie is teaching them tough killer kung-fu to avenge the death of their parents. Their father committed hari-kari from the shame of losing a war prisoner during a prison break and now the harsh midget auntie, (Tse Gam Guk), works to poison the boys with hatred and revenge.

Cut to Taiwan and Jimmy Wang Yu is a taxi driver who lives with his father, little brother and sexy blind sister. Jimmy's a righteous man with a quick fist who tends to get into fights. Unfortunately after every fight Jimmy must pay for his victim's medical bills by dipping into a fund for his sister's operation. Still Jimmy's quite a guy, stopping the `sneak thieves' by chasing them in a loader from an empty shipyard and saving his supermarket clerk girlfriend from lecherous advances.

It turns out that Jimmy's dad helped sneak the war hero out of the Japanese prison and now the vengeful brother's have arrived in Taiwan to make him and his family pay. The story is just a set up for the audience to view innumerable fight sequences between the killer brothers and various family members but especially with Wang Yu. The film is purposely gimmicky using silly sound effects, jump cuts, freeze frames, motorcycle gangs, supermarkets (a novelty in Hong Kong at the time?) and real life stunt woman Tse Gam Guk to perform several of her outrageous stunts in the film. It's obvious that this movie was just slapped together but there are more than enough fun and outlandish moments to find Knight Errant entertaining.

Addendum: The term Knight Errant is a common translation for the traditional Chinese hero character seen in many ancient Wu Xia fables. Wang Yu is obviously playing a modern version of this traditional character in the film.

A blasted from the kung-fu pasted.

[geek3866 · 6/10 · 11 August 2002]

Jimmy Wang Yu (star of MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE) plays a cab-driver in Taiwan who seems to spend most of his time getting into fights which his Dad has to bail him out of. Dad is trying to save money so he can get an operation to return his daughter's sight. Recently arrived in town are a trio of brothers who have been raised since childhood (by an old woman with a scar) in the martial arts so they can seek vengeance for their parent's deaths. Jimmy's Dad turns out to be the guilty party and it's up to Jimmy to defend his family from their wrath. This movie is equal parts Jackie Chan and Ed Wood in it's execution and inspiration. For every scene that is technically well done their is one that just makes you shake your head and wonder what he was thinking. The final showdown between Jimmy and the scar-faced woman being the best example. "Blasted" shows up in the subtitles a lot but not always in the same context. Sometimes it's used instead of bastard and othertimes it's used instead of just any random exclamation. What the english title KNIGHT ERRANT has to do with anything is beyond me. Check it out if you like old school 70's martial arts mayhem.

Hack...

[poe426 · 6/10 · 6 February 2012]

Another of those wacky Wang Yu wonders, KNIGHT-ERRANT features our hero in a (then) contemporary setting, driving a cab. Unfortunately for him and his family, he can't keep his hands (or his feet) to himself: hot-tempered, he invariably finds himself slugging it out with pretty much whoever happens to be on hand... which gets him thrown in jail and costs him his life savings. So, no money for his blind sister's operation to restore her sight. Meanwhile, the mother of a trio of Japanese karateka (led by Kurata), out for revenge, prepares them for a big showdown with Wang & Company. The battle with the 3 karate men is anticlimactic: the REAL fun comes when the Mother (Miss Guk, according to reviewer flyingchimpanzee) confronts Wang. He's a good head and a half taller than she is- but nowhere near as tough. He even runs her down, backs up and runs her over again (and yet again) to no avail. (And we actually SEE her being run over!) Will Wang prevail, or will Mama Guk fix his wagon? Checker out and see.

Top-tier contemporary kung fu courtesy of Wang Yu

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 17 August 2016]

KNIGHT ERRANT is a fine contemporary kung fu thriller made in Taiwan with Jimmy Wang Yu in the lead role. It's not quite up there with THE Chinese BOXER or THE ONE-ARMED BOXER and their sequels, but it does pack a punch and tells an action-packed story in a novel and exciting way. Wang Yu plays a wayward son who works as a taxi driver and keeps dipping into his blind sister's operation fund due to his fighting hijinks and his need to pay compensation to his victims.

It soon transpires that he's going to need all his fighting skills about him because a quartet of Japanese villains have turned up in Taiwan looking for revenge. The reason for their vengeance is revealed in some flashback sequences and it's pretty good and well thought out. KNIGHT ERRANT sounds like some medieval adventure from the title but in fact it refers to the wandering hero type character of which Wang Yu is a contemporary version here.

The film is well shot and very groovy with only some occasionally weird jump cut editing that lets it down. What's especially interesting is that the entire second half of the film is set around a log mill which makes a great backdrop for the action. There are attempted murders and rapes, extensive brawls, and some brutal deaths taking place amid the machinery and vehicles of this massive and shadowy mill. KNIGHT ERRANT isn't gory but the death scenes are gruesomely imaginative. Just when you think it's all over, there's a hilarious showdown with a short Japanese woman who seems to have a Terminator-style quality to her; the bit with Wang Yu and his taxi is a real highlight! It's great stuff, and a top kung fu film throughout.