The Flying Dagger

“Godfather of the kung-fu film” Chang Cheh, is famous for introducing the revolutionary concept of “yanggang” (macho) martial arts movies – paving the way for Bruce Lee, among many others. Until then, female stars (often in male swordsmen roles) ruled the screens. So this collaboration between writer/director Chang and swordswoman supreme Cheng Pei-Pei (now famous for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) is exceptional indeed. Here she plays a righteous woman warrior who incurs the wrath of a “flying knife” master after she kills his rapist son. Lucky for her that an honorable dagger master played by Lo Lieh (the star of Shaw Brothers’ first international kung-fu hit King Boxer) is on her side. Although extremely attractive when she only played heroes, Cheng could hold her own with any man, freeing Chang to create the best of all possible martial arts worlds.