Another entertaining Shaw Brothers martial arts action flick directed by Cheh Chang before he reached the pinnacle of his directing career several years later with the Venom Mob. In this film, Lo Lieh plays the dedicated chief constable of a small village, but ends up falling in love with the blind daughter of a vicious local bandit. It's an okay story, but characters are paper thin and the romantic sub plot slows down the main action. However, Lo Lieh delivers yet another reliably good performance, as does director Cheh Chang in delivering a number of solid (and bloody) material arts action sequences, mostly swordplay, which makes the film well worth watching.
5 Reviews
Minor but entertaining effort from Lo Lieh
Leofwine_draca21 October 2017
Warning: Spoilers
THE INVINCIBLE FIST is a minor film in the career of Shaw Brothers director Chang Cheh, but nonetheless a typically engaging and entertaining one. The plot is simple and takes place in a single extended location, where a bounty hunting team headed by Lo Lieh is on the hunt for a criminal gang who have been committing ruthless robberies and murders. Most of the action is set in tall fields of crops where the combatants stalk one another. Surprisingly, there's no hand-to-hand combat given the title; instead, Lieh uses a sword while the bad guys have various specialised chain and umbrella weapons.
The plot is straightforward and features time for a little romantic interlude involving Ching Li's blindwoman. The rest is the usual mix of plotting, betrayals, and brief but gruesome fight sequences, of which there are plenty. Lieh excels in his hero role and is well supported by David Chiang, just on the cusp of stardom. Ku Feng and Chen Sing show up to play supporting villains, and there are familiar faces throughout.
The plot is straightforward and features time for a little romantic interlude involving Ching Li's blindwoman. The rest is the usual mix of plotting, betrayals, and brief but gruesome fight sequences, of which there are plenty. Lieh excels in his hero role and is well supported by David Chiang, just on the cusp of stardom. Ku Feng and Chen Sing show up to play supporting villains, and there are familiar faces throughout.
Superb production values for a weak tale
rossmcdee113 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Johnson Tsao Chuang-Sheng was the ART DIRECTOR/Scenery Manager for about 200 films from 1959 (Shaws- Darling Daughter) until the early 1980's .
He worked on King Hu's second film as a director- Sons of the Good Earth (1965) and his next breakthrough film COME DRINK WITH ME that fans of the genre will be familiar with.
His first film with Chang Cheh was (I think?) the Singing Thief in 1969. The Invincible Fist was the next film with Chang made the same year along with DEAD END & Have Sword, Will Travel.
It looks fabulous.
However, the story is very poorly written , with Lo Lieh (an excellent performance considering the script) portraying a bit of an idiot bounty hunter.
There's several daft decisions he makes that cost many lives , one of the most ludicrous is when he confronts a main adversary in a suspiciously deserted inn.... He doesn't disarm him after 'capturing' him, stands with his back to an open door, ignores the treacherous waiter behind him, and then gets the adversary to turn around obscuring his devious hands and hidden weapons while lecturing away in a righteous manner. Groan-worthy moments like this really destroy the mood and atmosphere of what could have been a great action story.
There is also a romance with the blind daughter of the main adversary that is so ludicrous I won't even start on it. It does have the best bit of writing in the film though- a metaphor for Wolves loving their off-spring and long travels that may never see a return.
The most important thing is of course the ACTION and chorography skills on display, which could elevate a tired or silly story into a minor classic still. Here we have the dependable duo of Liu Chia Liang and Tang Chia on about their 10th collaboration with Chang. However the fighting is mostly unmemorable- just HACK & SLASH, clanging and grunting,and while well filmed and artfully composed seems uninspired after the great films they'd made with Chang previously ( 1 Armed Swordsman, return of, Assassin & Golden Swallow) and those that they were about to make .
He worked on King Hu's second film as a director- Sons of the Good Earth (1965) and his next breakthrough film COME DRINK WITH ME that fans of the genre will be familiar with.
His first film with Chang Cheh was (I think?) the Singing Thief in 1969. The Invincible Fist was the next film with Chang made the same year along with DEAD END & Have Sword, Will Travel.
It looks fabulous.
However, the story is very poorly written , with Lo Lieh (an excellent performance considering the script) portraying a bit of an idiot bounty hunter.
There's several daft decisions he makes that cost many lives , one of the most ludicrous is when he confronts a main adversary in a suspiciously deserted inn.... He doesn't disarm him after 'capturing' him, stands with his back to an open door, ignores the treacherous waiter behind him, and then gets the adversary to turn around obscuring his devious hands and hidden weapons while lecturing away in a righteous manner. Groan-worthy moments like this really destroy the mood and atmosphere of what could have been a great action story.
There is also a romance with the blind daughter of the main adversary that is so ludicrous I won't even start on it. It does have the best bit of writing in the film though- a metaphor for Wolves loving their off-spring and long travels that may never see a return.
The most important thing is of course the ACTION and chorography skills on display, which could elevate a tired or silly story into a minor classic still. Here we have the dependable duo of Liu Chia Liang and Tang Chia on about their 10th collaboration with Chang. However the fighting is mostly unmemorable- just HACK & SLASH, clanging and grunting,and while well filmed and artfully composed seems uninspired after the great films they'd made with Chang previously ( 1 Armed Swordsman, return of, Assassin & Golden Swallow) and those that they were about to make .
THE INVINCIBLE FIST Lo Lieh stars in minor Shaw Bros. swordplay film
BrianDanaCamp15 May 2005
THE INVINCIBLE FIST (1969) is a lesser swordplay film from Shaw Bros. director Chang Cheh (ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, BLOOD BROTHERS, HAVE SWORD WILL TRAVEL, etc.) starring Lo Lieh (FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH) as a sword-wielding bounty hunter, Master Tieh, who goes under the nickname, "Invincible Fist." However, despite the title, there are no fists on display in this film. The action strictly involves swords and such nifty exotic weapons as the Golden Abacus,which shoots out little golden balls, goose-shaped flying stars, and a tube which shoots out a chain with a sharp projectile at the end which embeds itself into a victim enabling a fighter to pull his opponent in close. There are many fight scenes involving multiple combatants, often played out in fields of high reeds (built on Shaw Bros. studio sets) which offer convenient cover to the various parties stalking each other.
The plot is a simple one, involving the efforts of Master Tieh and his band of fighters to apprehend a skilled band of robbers and their numerous henchmen who have struck four times within the past two years, robbing and killing prominent families in the province. Ku Feng (THE MAGIC BLADE) plays one of the four lead robbers, who disguises himself as "Cripple Peng" when not robbing. Chen Sing (SHAOLIN MONK) plays another of the robbers and has one excellent fight scene early on where he wields a metal spear. David Chiang (THE NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN), in an early major role, plays Master Tieh's brother and chief lieutenant and distinguishes himself in many fight scenes also. Future kung fu star Cliff Lok (KUNG FU GENIUS, RING OF DEATH) is visible as one of the bad guys. The robbers ride around in a carriage which holds six-to-eight men, but is pulled by a single poor horse who clearly has a hard time lugging it uphill as it's called on to do here.
There is a subplot in which a wounded Lo Lieh is nursed back to health by the virtuous blind daughter (Li Ching) of the head bandit, played by Fang Mien. This whole sequence might have slowed the film down, but it's thankfully short and comes too late in the proceedings to do any serious damage. A scene between the two men in front of the blind woman foreshadows a very similar scene played out between Danny Lee and Chow Yun Fat in front of a blind Sally Yeh in John Woo's THE KILLER (1989).
Again, this is not one of the great martial arts films from Shaw Bros., coming out at a time when Chang Cheh was putting greater effort into films like GOLDEN SWALLOW, HAVE SWORD WILL TRAVEL and RETURN OF THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, but it is polished and well-staged and offers plenty of action. Fans of this genre will not be too disappointed.
The plot is a simple one, involving the efforts of Master Tieh and his band of fighters to apprehend a skilled band of robbers and their numerous henchmen who have struck four times within the past two years, robbing and killing prominent families in the province. Ku Feng (THE MAGIC BLADE) plays one of the four lead robbers, who disguises himself as "Cripple Peng" when not robbing. Chen Sing (SHAOLIN MONK) plays another of the robbers and has one excellent fight scene early on where he wields a metal spear. David Chiang (THE NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN), in an early major role, plays Master Tieh's brother and chief lieutenant and distinguishes himself in many fight scenes also. Future kung fu star Cliff Lok (KUNG FU GENIUS, RING OF DEATH) is visible as one of the bad guys. The robbers ride around in a carriage which holds six-to-eight men, but is pulled by a single poor horse who clearly has a hard time lugging it uphill as it's called on to do here.
There is a subplot in which a wounded Lo Lieh is nursed back to health by the virtuous blind daughter (Li Ching) of the head bandit, played by Fang Mien. This whole sequence might have slowed the film down, but it's thankfully short and comes too late in the proceedings to do any serious damage. A scene between the two men in front of the blind woman foreshadows a very similar scene played out between Danny Lee and Chow Yun Fat in front of a blind Sally Yeh in John Woo's THE KILLER (1989).
Again, this is not one of the great martial arts films from Shaw Bros., coming out at a time when Chang Cheh was putting greater effort into films like GOLDEN SWALLOW, HAVE SWORD WILL TRAVEL and RETURN OF THE ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, but it is polished and well-staged and offers plenty of action. Fans of this genre will not be too disappointed.
Lo Lieh and Chang Cheh at their best...
poe4266 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers
THE INVINCIBLE FIST is actually one of the better "small" Shaw Brothers films ("small" in the sense that it's confined to a forest set and a small house). It's beautifully done (it reminds me more than a little of one of those tight, economical westerns done by Bud Boetticher), with solid performances all around. Lo Lieh plays Tieh, who leads a group of bounty hunters scouring the forest for a gang led by the infamous "Rope Killer" Ma (whose weapon of choice is a length of rope with a blade attached to one end). Ma, it turns out, has a beautiful blind daughter, Kuei. Lieh and his men dispense with some of Ma's gang, including Chen Sing and "Cripple Peng" (Ku Feng, whose disguise fools no regular viewer of Chang Cheh movies), but Er Long (David Chiang), one of Lieh's men, is killed. In a VERY suspenseful scene, Lieh confronts Ma and some of his henchmen (who we see creep up on Lieh from behind while he's talking to Ma's back) and is mortally wounded. He makes it through the forest to Ma's home, unaware at first that the blind girl is Ma's daughter. There are some neat little story twists involving the two men and the girl and a couple of (in my opinion) unnecessary wirework shots (though just a few). All told, a very suspenseful story that wastes nothing. Lo Lieh is at his very best here. I would've liked to have seen his character continue on in a sequel or two- he's THAT cool.
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