The Deadly Duo (1971)

Honey, these guys don't use doors!

The Deadly Duo featured the successful trifecta of director Chang Cheh and actors Ti Lung and David Chiang. This time around the deadly duo’s mission was to rescue the hostage Song Prince. The cast of characters was bulging at the seams. The Shaw Brothers tower and bridge even had supporting roles!

Song rebels discover a dilapidated bridge leading to the tower where their prince is being held hostage by the Jin conquerors. Vastly outnumbered the rebels are finally able to find a fighter who has the best chance of leading them across it. The duo may be deadly but their opponents are as well. It will take sacrifice and fast swords for them to succeed.

This was around the 8th film that Ti Lung and David Chiang made together. Ti was the loyal rebel who recruited the featherweight fighter David Chiang to join his dwindling band. While I’m not a huge fan of Chiang, Ti spent the last third of the film shirtless, making up for my disappointment. Tang Chia has never been my favorite martial arts director but this time he was joined by Lau Kar Leung, a choreographer whose work I do enjoy. Most of the fights involved swords and the usual bizarre weaponry like a sword with projectile exploding balls or lethal giant golden cymbals. Villains hid underground and in trees. Bolo as the River Dragon, had a crew that could hold their breath for a very long time and leap out of the water. He was nearly always a baddie but I like the big guy. Chen Sing played the invading emperor with no kung fu skills which was a bit of a shock. Ku Feng was a dastardly leader who enjoyed the execution field and sported comically villainous eyebrows. With Chang Cheh at the helm there would be no women in the cast, most certainly buckets of blood, and bodies stacked high.

The plot supposedly based on a real life rescue was as simple as they come yet the movie held my attention. Because it was a Shaw Brothers film there was the money for fake forests and to burn sets. Most of the characters didn’t use doors, instead crashing through them or the walls. Although they still saved money with bit actor Tung Choi Bo who played an assassin who was killed and five minutes later the head of the guard with a whole new wig and wardrobe! There was nearly constant action which meant you didn’t have a chance to become acquainted with many of the characters as the body count was high. Ti and Chiang would go on to make over 20 movies together, so far, they’ve all been watchable but I have a long way to go. As always, I grade on a curve for these niche movies, and could only recommend for fans of the genre.

17 March 2025

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