The Duel (1971)

Director
Chang Cheh

Main cast
David Chiang; Ti Lung; Yue Wai; Wang Ping; Ku Feng

Genres
Action, Foreign

Description
Tan Jen-chieh’s life spins out of control when he’s forced into exile to clear his name following the murder of his adopted father. He’s hunted in the streets. His lover, Butterfly, turns to prostitution. And his father’s likely killer – a smooth operator known as the Rambler – is always lingering nearby. But before Tan and the Rambler can slit each other’s throats, they learn they’ve been double-crossed and go two against everyone in a rage of double-edged vengeance.


Similar movies

Phillip Kwok plays the orphaned son of a general disgraced and executed by his political enemies... which has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. Raised to be a righteous martial artist, Yuan kicks off the story proper by finding a cave containing a skeleton, a treasure map, and a manual teaching him the Golden Snake style. Obeying a request hidden in the manual to give a portion of the treasure to the Golden Snake's old girlfriend, Yuan begins to seek the woman out - on the way solving the riddle of the Golden Snake, and how he came to his end.
Chang Cheh directs this old school Shaw Brother produced kung fu yarn. The film opens with members of the Ten Tigers group getting attacked by a pair of mysterious assailants. The film then flashes back several years previous to focus on Ming partisan Chu (Ku Feng) who is on the run from Manchu forces. Local merchant and kung fu enthusiast Li Chen-chau (Ti Lung) gives the fugitive shelter in his pawnshop and quietly recruits some of his fellow martial master associates to help protect the lad. When Li's professional rival rats him out, Manchu official Liang (Johnny Wang Lung-wei) not only orchestras his army but fools a couple other kung fu masters including Beggar Su (Phillip Kwok Tsui) into helping his cause. After a heated battle, Li manages to convince Su to joining his cause, thus forming the Ten Tigers. The film then snaps back to the original storyline, where the identities of the mystery assailants are revealed.
Legendary Weapons of China is a martial arts fantasy film taking place during the late Qing Dynasty when Empress Dowager Cixi dispatches her agents to various factions of the Boxer Rebellion in order find supernatural martial artists that are invulnerable to western bullets. When one of the leaders of these groups disbands his forces, assassins from the remaining factions are sent out to kill him.
The sword saint requests a duel with god of sword at the apex of the forbidden city to determine the worlds best. As the date of the duel nears troubles befall the imperial town until everything is revealed at the climactic fight.
This mystery-tinged 'Martial Arts World' epic was one of director Chu Yuan and novelist Ku Lung's last together for the Shaw Studios, but it's another action-filled winner. Liu Yung and Sun Chien (the Korean kicking 'Venom' from Chang Cheh's internationally popular series) team to investigate the martial arts murders of a supposedly mortally wounded swordsman, only to find deception, death, double-dealings, imposters, and one deadly duel after another. No less than three choreographers are on hand to handle the multitude of magnificent martial arts.
A disgraced former Kung Fu expert makes a living as a merchant with the help of a hot headed friend. When the men are harassed by gangsters, the merchant decided to teach his friend monkey boxing so they can defend their business.
A rich man's son (Yuen Biao) believes himself to be the best kung fu fighter in Canton. Unfortunately, his father, anxious for his son's safety, bribes all his opponents to lose. After a humiliating defeat at the hands of an actor in a traveling theatre company, the son resolves to find a better teacher. Furious kung fu battles and slapstick comedy.
Tung Wei (18 Fatal Strikes Enter The Dragon) is a lad who wants to learn kung fu. He trains in two different styles: Hung Gar and Wing Chun. Everything is fine until a jealous master creates a rift between Tung's two teachers, and he has to choose sides. But a bigger problem looms ahead. The Tiger Master, played by Philip Ko (Dragon On Fire, Fearless Dragons), wants to fight both men to the death. They're no match for him, so Tung goes to the one man who can train him properly: Sammo Hung
Three young martial arts students and their teacher are beaten up badly by a wandering man who proclaims himself "a corrector of bad kung-fu." Determined to avenge their teacher and regain their honor, the three students all go their seperate ways to find kung-fu masters who will take them as students.
One of the last of the Old School Hong Kong martial arts flicks, this one deals with a legendary competition in swordplay and fighting that ends up being fought between two great warriors, a Chinese man and a Japanese man, who, over the course of the film, have become friends.
A young martial artist seeks revenge on the ninja who kills his martial arts brothers and teacher.
A great "swordfighter" learns humility after he is defeated by a master martial arts monk. But his reputation always precedes him, leading to danger, destruction, challenges, cruelty, kidnapping, and killing.
A couple unite - she is fluent in the crane style of kung fu, he in tiger style. They have a son, but the boy's father is killed by the evil eunuch Pai Mei. Disguised as a girl, his mom trains him in crane style while he secretly learns tiger style from his father's training manual.
A small town is protected by one of the famous Ten Tigers of Kwangtung. The town is very safe as Ti Lung and his Kung Fu students patrol for criminals. Enter the rival Kung Fu school whom Ti Lung's students have beaten in a lion dance competition and then humiliated in a brawl. The rival school is joined by an opium dealing Kung Fu master who plans to turn the town into a community of addicts!
Crippled Avengers is a 1978 Shaw Brothers kung fu film directed by Chang Cheh and starring four members of the Venom Mob. It has been released in North America as Mortal Combat and Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms. The film follows a group of martial artists seeking revenge after being crippled by Tu Tin-To (Chen Kuan Tai), a martial arts master, and his son (Lu Feng).
Yun Fei Yang is the viciously bullied orphan who takes on the unpleasant tasks at a formidable kung-fu school. Constantly mocked by the other students of the school, Yen counts as his only friend the daughter of the resident master. Any internal wrangling between the various members is put to one side when a swordsman from a rival clan reminds the master of the duel he must take part in once a decade. Unfortunately the defending clan chief is well aware that his rival is more powerful than himself. The expected defeat is further complicated when a wandering swordsman arrives on the scene and joins himself to the injured party, immediately adding to Yen's woes.
He's lost his memory, but not his skill: After a fierce battle with a local tong, Hoi is thrown over an embankment and left for dead. He survives the ordeal but has lost all of his memory, but not his kung-fu. His fateful meeting with a beggar leads to their teaming up for cleaning up that tong.
A young daydreamer assumes the identity of a dead martial arts hero and quickly finds himself caught up in a plot by several clans to steal famous martial arts artifacts being transported by an escort company.
Director Chang Cheh begins his Shaolin Cycle with this solid kung fu actioner about a band of fighting Ming Dynasty loyalists branded as enemies of the state and driven underground following the burning of the Shaolin Temple by Qing Dynasty officials. Due to a misunderstanding, Shaolin kung fu prodigy Fong Sai-yuk (Alexander Fu Sheng) is duped into helping Qing agents to capture leading Shaolin rebel Hung Hei-gun (Chen Kuan-tai). Upon discovering his mistake, Sai-yuk teams up with the remaining rebels to free Hei-gun before his planned execution. Plotting to stop them is General Che Kang (Zhu Mu), a formidable Tibetan kung fu master who commands an army of fighters including four deadly Tibetan llamas.
Based in Delhi's Chandni Chowk, orphaned Sidhu is adopted by the owner of Bajrang Bali Parathas, known simply as Dada. Years later Sidhu has grown up and is an expert at slicing vegetables.
The notorious “One-Armed Swordsman” who has spent the last two years retired from the martial world as a simple farmer with his wife. Of course this idyllic life is about to be sliced to ribbons by Chang’s wicked imagination. He concocts a savory setup when he introduces, not one, but eight unique villains known as the Eight Kings of Swords and their sword-wielding entourage for Wang Yu to eventually chop his way through.
In the 19th century, the Prince Regent of the Qing Dynasty orders the mass execution of the entire Meng clan. Before his beheading, the leader vows that his family will avenge this travesty of justice. Awaiting his death, a five-year-old Meng boy named Erkui bravely sings an aria. The power and purity of his voice touches the opera star Master Yu and his seven-year-old pupil Guan Yilong. Master Yu rescues the boy and the two orphans become brothers. Years later, Master Yu wins the coveted golden "The Mightiest Warrior" plaque from the Prince Regent, but subsequently loses it in a duel with his archrival Master Yue. Banished from the stage upon his loss, Master Yu spends his time training the two brothers in the village. When the boys grow into men, they set off for Shanghai to pursue revenge. Once they reach Shanghai, they quickly defeat Master Yue, reclaiming not only the plaque but also taking over the Yue's opera troupe.
The General's son Yang escapes a massacre at his home that subsequently sees a corrupt, criminal syndicate in charge of the local forces. Seeking shelter with four good friends who are street performers, Yang plots his revenge though refuses to acknowledge the fearsome odds he faces. The quartet try to convince him to bide his time, but the young avenger sneaks into his former home and, after a battle against a few top fighters, is killed by their leader. When Yang's friends discover his tragic fate, they devise a way of defeating the killers without having to face their mighty army directly.
Hu Te et al. escape the burning Shaolin temple after the Qing soldiers destroyed it in Shaolin Temple. The group of 5 decide to develop secret codes to identify fellow patriots, enlist those patriots and eventually meet up again to escape to the south away from the Qings, and also identify the traitor who sold out Shaolin temple. Ma Fu Yi (the traitor, played by Wang Lung Wei), joins the Qing top fighters to eliminate the rebels but is exposed by Ma Chao-Tsing who gets captured by Ma Fu Yi. Hu meets up with a group of Shaolin men secretly posing as bandits to rescue Ma as their leader is killed in the process, thus the bandits join the rest of the Shaolin patriots.
Two men, one a businessman skilled in Kung Fu, the other a kickboxer discover they are brothers, and together, both in and out of the ring, they must face a crime syndicate. One of the first films to use the martial art of Muay Thai.
When a martial arts teacher is murdered by his students, his son and heir, Lao Chung (Gordon Liu), escapes but vows to exact vengeance for his father's death. After learning drunken kung fu from an old master, Chung sets out to punish the perpetrators. Eagle Han also stars in this rousing Hong Kong actioner featuring scores of spectacular fight scenes, all choreographed by the legendary Lau brothers.
After Chen Zhen's execution in Shanghai, the Japanese feared that his death would unite all Chinese kung fu schools against them. Fearing this, the Japanese gave orders to the head of the Hong Ku School, Miyamoto (Lo Lieh) to surpass all Chinese schools including the Ching Wu School. When they refuse, the Japanese beat up the students and destroys the school. Meanwhile, one Chinese learns about the destruction of the Ching Wu School when he goes to Shanghai to visit Chen Zhen's grave. This Chinese is the only one who has the guts to fight the Japanese, this Chinese is known as Chen Shen (Bruce Li) who is the brother of Chen Zhen and he vows to avenge his brother's death and end the terror of the Japanese once and for all.
A massive gold forture is hidden somewhere in the hills surrounding Hong Kong, and 12 kung fu masters are in pursuit of the loot. Through a series of head-to-head confrontations, the pool of treasure hunters dwindles until there's one left.
Hailed as possibly the greatest classical weapons movie ever made and starring world-renowned martial arts master, director and action-choreographer, Sammo Hung. This film showcases some of the most spectacular and intricate weapons duels ever committed to film. Sammo Hung and Lau Kar Wing play dual roles as both masters and students of the sword and spear styles of kung fu. Comic mayhem ensues when the students get kidnapped and the masters must rescue them.
Two agile Hong Kong martial arts kids join up with a pair of bungling Chinese-immigrant beach bums on the sunny shores of Hawaii, where they divide their time between sophomoric kung-fu kid hijinks and their designated mission--tracking down a missing book whose secrets have fallen into the hands of a power-hungry villain.
A "Dragon Claw" master returns from Manchuria where he became a traitor to China. He's after the coveted Dragon Claw Golden Tablet that will force people to bow down to him. He challenges the Grand-master who has a checkered past of his own. The Grand-master happens to suffers from a terminal chronic injury related to his evil past. The traitor kills the grand-master, causing his wife and son the go into hiding. The wife seems to really be the Dragon Claw master in the family and she vows to train her son the kung fu secrets. The son finds that one of his friends has learned a strange style of kung fu from a filthy medicine man. The son seeks him out to improve his kung fu and defeat the traitor.
Two princes are seperated by birth. One is raised by the Prime Minister. The other is raised by three mad Shaolin Monks. They both learn kung-fu. When they are 23, they meet and combine there forces to defeat the evil 9th Prince.
John Liu stars as Shao Yu Pai, master of the "northern kick" kung-fu, still seeking revenge for the death of his brother. Evidence mounts that Lu Tung Chung (Alexander Lo), master of the "southern fist" kung-fu, is the culprit. What Shao doesn't realize, however, is that the true villain is subtly manipulating both the martial artists behind the scenes, hoping to force them into a confrontation and have the dirty work done for him.
Lei Ming, a noble young martial arts student who doesn't know the meaning of giving up. He faces a treacherous, blood-thirsty Japanese karate expert, which leads to many memorable battles as well as several unforgettable training sequences.
The Wong family kung fu school gets smacked around by a rival school. Wong Fei-hong gets fed up with the abuse and goes to learn from his fathers master. After one of the rival schools members kills some of the towns people Wong Fei-hong becomes enraged trains even more comes back and gets his revenge.
Wang Chin-chin, who is both the 11th prince and an expert fighterm has fun secretly subverting a local con-man, the inept Ho Chi (Wong Yue), but blackmails the crook into becoming his student after making it look like a B-girl named Choi Hung (Kara Hui) has poisoned Ho and beaten him up in a nightclub.
The workers of a dye factory have their pay cut by 20% when the factory owner brings in some Manchu thugs to try and increase production. Desperate to reclaim their full wages, the workers hire an actor to impersonate a priest and kung-fu expert from the temple of Shaolin. The factory owner proves the actor a fraud, and punishes all those involved. The young actor feels he has let the workers down, and promises to atone. He sets out for Shaolin, determined to be accepted as a kung-fu pupil at the elite temple.
Wong Fei Hung (Gordon Liu) and his friend are constantly having contests to see who has the better martial arts skill. After getting in trouble with their fathers, Wong Fei Hung settles down and starts to train seriously, while his friend still horses around. After his friend is hurt by a rival school, Wong goes to the school for retribution. Instead his skill is tested through a series of events which climax with him taking on a Northern martial artist (Wang Lung Wei). In an excellent battle of skill (and choreography), he earns the respect of the rival school. Also stars Mai Te Lo and Hui Ying Hung.
Wong Hsia Yuan is an old-fashioned martial arts master who's so behind the times that he'd rather his school be destroyed than change its ways. He may get his wish, thanks to the young, beautiful, intelligent Chan Mei Ling (Kara Wai Ying Hung), who arrives from the states to open a new branch of the school. Armed with an unfamiliar, modern way of thinking, Mei Ling goes about recruiting new students in strange, and sometimes questionably legal ways. Yuan is furious, but when the local triads enter the picture, the two put their differences aside to take back the neighborhood.
In the great tradition of Hsu Tseng Hung's The Silver Fox and Chang cheh's Lengend of the Fox comes this exciting adventure, where the only thing between all the clan leaders and certain death is one young woman.
Ti Lung is the Nameless Swordsman bent on defeating the faceless King of Swords to claim the title, and the glory, for himself. Hordes of fighters lunge from the shadows to cut down the mysterious challenger. Even a cunning seductress takes a stab at him in a revealing bath house assassination. It is said that a man's weapon reflects his utmost dreams, desires and fears. A warrior with no name and one motive has a soul as merciless as cold steel.
A brother and sister escape from Japanese-occupied Shanghai to Japanese-occupied Taiwan, to stay with their grandfather who runs a Kung-Fu school there. However, the master of a Japanese Kung-Fu school in Taiwan has designs on bringing all other schools on the island under his domination, and part of his plan involves the murder of the siblings' grandfather.
Wandering samurai Nemuri Kyoshiro (Raizô Ichikawa) finds a bulls-eye on his back after befriending the shogunate's tightfisted financial adviser, Asahina, who's earned the wrath of the shogun's self-indulgent daughter for cutting off her allowance. The enraged princess promptly hatches a scheme to have Asahina bumped off -- along with his protector, Kyoshiro. Shiho Fujimura also stars in this installment of the enormously popular film series.
Two rival swordsmen in imperial China, poncho-clad Fu Hung-Hsueh and Yen nan-Fei (Lo Leigh, 5 Fingers Of Death) vie with a power-hungry villain for the deadly Peacock Dart and fend off waves of expert killers during their journey.
Martial arts purists -- not to mention fans of miniskirt-clad, high-kicking karate girls -- will welcome the tightly choreographed fight scenes and slow-motion scuffles in this film about a teenage karate phenom eager to take down her older peers. High schooler Kei Tsuchiya joins The Destroyers when she decides that her longtime karate master is holding her back. She realizes her mistake but it's too late.
Teddy Yu is a former secret agent turned chiropractor who thought he left his past behind. He teaches martial arts to his two kids. However, his past catches up to him as a rogue agent demands to know the whereabouts of an agent known as Dragon. Now, father and children must team up to stop the rogue agent and his goons.
Cheng Pei-pei plays Golden Swallow, a fighter-for-hire who has been contracted by the local government to retrieve the governor's kidnapped son. Holding him is a group of rebels who are demanding that their leader be released from prison in return for the captured son. After a brief encounter with the gang at a local restaurant, Golden Swallow is joined by an inebriated wanderer Drunken Cat (Yueh Hua) who aids her in her mission.
During the Manchurian invasion of China, the son of the Ming Dynasty General takes refuge in the Shaolin Temple to learn martial arts, so that he may seek revenge for his dead father. But he must first endure the rigorous test of the temple's legendary 18 Bronzemen.
Chan Hui Lau stars in this vintage martial arts film as Chang, the owner of a winery and master of Drunken Boxing, a deadly kung fu technique that, as the name implies, requires its practitioner to be drunk. His relatively peaceful life is interrupted when he catches two boys (Li Yi Min and Jack Long) stealing grapes from his vineyards and puts them to work for him. Over time, he teaches them the art of Drunken Boxing. When the two boys get into a fight with some local toughs, they provoke the wrath of Yeh Hu (Lung Fei), Chang's enemy.
Aicha, a high-school student, is a passionate kung fu fighter. Her Turkish parents expect her to get good grades so she can get into medical school, like her brother Ali. But school doesn't inspire her. Defying her family, Aicha starts secretly training at a professional, co-ed kung fu club. A boy, Emil, helps Aicha train for the club championship and they fall in love.
Three North Shaolin teachers (Lu Feng, Chang Sheng, and Sun Chien) are called on by the Manchus to teach their soldiers and are urged to challenge the current South Shaolin teachers. They defeat the South Shaolin teachers and, that night, the head general (Wang Lung Wei) kills the South Shaolin teachers and blames their death on the North Shaolin teachers. The South Shaolin master sends more of his pupils, who are killed accidentally by the North Shaolin teachers. He finally sends two more (Wei Pai and Lo Meng) of his students to train with old masters and trains one student (Kuo Chui) himself with the goal of finally defeating the North Shaolin experts.
A violent gang is abducting and killing women around Thailand. Sanim and his friends, having had loved ones abducted, have joined together to break the gang of kidnappers. In a botched kidnap attempt, Deu is saved by Sanim's crew. After learning their unique martial arts style, Deu helps lure the gang into an epic battle to save the women across Thailand.
Martial arts expert Wing Chun battles bandits in this magical film that provides as many laughs as it does wallops. Besides horse thieves, Wing Chun must deal with the men around her who simply can't handle a strong, independent woman. Ultimately, she must dish out "lessons" again and again and again until the respect for her remarkable skills is finally won.
Set in 1932, amid the rise of militarism after the establishment of the Manchukuo colony in Northeast China, the story centers on a trio of karateka. Studying under their aging master in a small dojo in the woods of central Kyushu, Choei, Taikan and Giryu face a company of kempeitai military police come to requisition their dojo for use as a military base.
Lee Yi Min stars as an eager young kung fu student who seeks to improve his fighting skills with an aim to avenge his fathers murder at the hands of the Ghost Face Killer an overwhelming force of destruction and master of the death dealing Five Element Fist. Lee eagerness to study attracts the attention of the master of Chess Boxing Jack Long who is the Ghost Face Killers arch enemy. Together master and student devise a wicked cross fertilization of the Chess Boxing and Five Element Fist styles and set out to put an end to the Ghost Faces deadly reign.
A young father and his infant son are beset by forces of evil and corruption. They wander China, upholding their sense of honor and protecting the weak. When they are forced into combat, spectacular and hilarious fast-motion kung fu sequences follow. In the end, they must call on all of their abilities in a battle royale, to attempt to vanquish a supernatural man-monster or die trying.
Secret Service of the Imperial Court was one of the last kung fu/swordplay films to be made at Hong Kong's Shaw Bros. studio. Set in the Ming Dynasty, it makes excellent use of the studio's vast array of sprawling sets and colorful costumes to give a real period flavor. It has a good cast, lots of large-scale fight action and an exciting storyline about a conflict between an honorable officer and a corrupt Eunuch.
Huang Rong is taken hostage by Ouyang Feng, who attempts to use her to seize the Nine Yin Manual from Guo Jing. Guo and Hong Qigong rescue Huang Rong and Guo gives Ouyang an "edited" version of the manual, that will eventually cause Ouyang to become insane after he practises the skills in the manual wrongly. Ouyang, Hong and Guo get into a fight, in which Ouyang Ke is injured, and Guo and Hong use the opportunity to escape. However, Hong Qigong is also wounded and he gives Huang Rong his Dog Beating Staff, effectively handing over his leadership of the Beggars' Sect to her. Ouyang Feng and Ouyang Ke pursue Guo Jing and Huang Rong to a deserted town for revenge. Guo and Huang take shelter in an abandoned tavern inhabited by a only a retarded girl called Shagu.
During the Ming dynasty, Yuen Biao is a royal guard charged to capture a dangerous criminal. The battle which opposes them will make them fall into ice. Three centuries later, nowdays, the archaeologists give them again the life. Only a black jade Buddha and a temporal wheel would be able to make them return in their time. The battle would start again.
The forces of good and evil clash in this martial-arts picture, as personified by warriors and overlords from the Orient's past.

© Valossa 2015–2024