The Flying Dagger (1969)

Like two men out of an old American Western, Lo Lieh and the Big Bad slung daggers with pin-point accuracy and at distance. Lo once again plays the gruff loner with a heart of gold. Cheng Pei Pei and her family are the ones in need of help this time. She started a clan war when she killed the Big Bad's son after he committed a heinous and gratuitous crime in the opening minutes. If not for Lo Lieh I would have dropped the movie right there.

The first twenty minutes or so are scenes of Pei Pei's clan being decimated by the Big Bad and his endless stream of murdering, torturing, minions. Lots of spurting blood, but after awhile tedious to watch. Her fortunes changed and so did mine when Lo finally showed up. A little romance in the last part of the movie gave Lo and Pei Pei's characters more depth, too bad the writers didn't develop the relationship earlier and better.

The clarity of the movie was a relief, some of these old kung fu movies have lost much of their visual integrity and sound. Fortunately, this version of the movie was NOT dubbed on Amazon Prime.

(November 2020)

********REWATCH EDIT***********
(August 22, 2025)

I liked this much better on a rewatch and raised my score from a 6.5 to a 7.5, though it's still graded on a generous curve. Lo Lieh and Cheng Pei Pei were gorgeous together and had great chemistry. Lo was mesmerizing as the anti-hero Yang Qing. Still burns that he would have few of these roles and be cast as villains more often than not. I was disappointed Pei Pei wasn't allowed to cut loose like she usually did with a sword. Here she played more of the traditional female role, albeit skilled with a blade. Yang Chi Ching made for a deadly gloating adversary as Flying Dagger Jiao Lei. Chu Wen Xiong/Cheng Lei as the voice of reason in PP's group was a good first, if brief, friend for Yang. And often stuck in the background Shum Lo had a surprisingly heroic turn as the tavern owner, Fan Kun. The cast was loaded with familiar faces for kung fu film watchers. If your eyes are quick enough, you can see Lau Kar Wing as one of the Five Ghouls. And martial arts director Tang Chia cackled as a doomed minion.

Comparing this movie to others from 1969, it holds up well against them. The sword fights per usual were more theatrical than realistic. It was a Chang Cheh film so there was copious amounts of spurting blood. This film was in the waning years of female heroines. CC would later rid his movies of women and relegate talented Lo to villain roles. And a response to myself in the original review--the reason the movie looked better than many from this time was because it was a Shaw Brothers. Many have been taken good care of and/or restored.

Interesting cameo: David Chiang had a blink and you’ll miss him scene standing behind Uncle Liu when Ying first arrives. He, Chang Cheh, and Ti Lung would soon become the Iron Triangle and make 20 movies together. Pet peeve comment: I will never understand why tiny DC was given more leading roles than Lo Lieh.

Triggers: The opening scene contained a murderous sexual assault that was lingered over too long. A turnoff the first time I watched the film and on the rewatch.

As mentioned, buckets of spurting blood

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A Shaw Bros Spaghetti Western

With the dusty, fatalistic vibe of a spaghetti western disguised as Shaw Brothers swordplay and blessed with an incredible black-and-white opening sequence, you'd be forgiven for thinking that The Flying Dagger would be a rape revenge tale lead by a female swordswoman; what you get instead is Lo Lieh wandering into town like a wuxia Clint Eastwood, throwing knives with absurd accuracy and looking cooler than everyone else in the room. It's certainly an impressive bait-and-switch, opting instead to deal with the internal struggle between good and evil that exists within all of us, where honour and chivalry often carry little weight in the world. Chang Cheh's direction already shows his growing fascination with violence, sacrifice and masculine heroism, hallmarks of his later works. The action is relatively brief but frequent, often punctuated by the deadly precision of thrown knives and colourful villains. Lo Lieh is always a great watch, dominating the screen with his effortlessly charming if not entirely noble persona, Yeung Chi Hung makes for a wonderfully nasty villain, cackling wildly and throwing daggers with absolute precision into his foe's limbs or torso as he sees fit, while Cheng Pei-Pei, who, despite headlining, unfortunately takes a backseat, barely getting a chance to break into action, is shackled to the tortured woman in love stereotype. It means that the third act is bogged down when the romantic sub-plot takes precedence over the film's main drive of loneliness, belonging and redemption. Still, the stylish camerawork and snappy pace mean that The Flying Dagger soon gets back on track, delivering just the right kind of heroic sacrifice and blood-soaked righteousness you'd expect.

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