Jimmy Wang Yu’s appearances in classic Shaw Brothers wuxia films such as Golden Swallow and One-Armed Swordsman in the 1960s saw him become Hong Kong’s biggest martial arts star. But by 1970, he wanted to forge a new path as a director. Wang’s big idea was to focus on unarmed combat rather than swordfighting, and his hit directorial debut Chinese Boxer is credited with starting the craze in Hong Kong for kung fu films, which replaced wuxia movies at the box office. In a controversial move, Wang broke his contract with Shaw Brothers and moved to fledgling rival studio Golden Harvest, where he directed the entertaining One-Armed Boxer in 1972. This necessitated him relocating to Taiwan, where the film was made. One-Armed Boxer is an energetic, action-packed movie and features Wang playing the titular character, who seeks revenge on the villains who cut off his arm. The film’s main attraction is the international array of fighters that Wang must face to achieve his goal. The Post discussed Wang’s movie with Asian film expert Frank Djeng, who supplies the commentary for One-Armed Boxer ’s new Blu-ray release by Eureka Classics in the UK. Eureka will release the film on May 24. The villains use a lot of different martial arts styles in the film, although they are all highly exaggerated. There is a lot of fighting. Wang Yu knew that is what the audience wanted to see, so he just got right down to it. You have karate, by the bad guy with fangs – a villain with fangs, how can you top that! – and you have taekwondo, judo, Tibetan Zen boxing with the “tantra palm”, Muay Thai, and there’s even a fighter who does Indian yoga. John Woo wuxia film that paved the way for A Better Tomorrow and more For Wang Yu, making One-Armed Boxer entertaining was more important than anything else – his ultimate goal was simply to entertain the audience. He had watched Japanese chambara films, which were always pitting one martial arts style against another, and he wanted to make a Hong Kong film which set Chinese kung fu against other styles. He could pretty much do what he wanted when he was making One-Armed Boxer , and he thought it would be fun to use all these different styles from different countries. How would you describe the martial arts? They’re not as elegant or refined as some of the Shaw Bros wuxia movies. The martial arts have a gritty, more realistic look, and a certain urban quality. This is influenced by the fact that Wang Yu himself was a street-brawler – he liked to get into fights. One-Armed Boxer is quite brutal at times. That aspect is a homage to Chang Cheh , who was Wang Yu’s mentor. After Chang Cheh’s films, it was difficult for martial arts movies not to have a degree of brutality. The fights are also less stagy than [in] wuxia films, and it really looks like gangsters fighting – there’s a bit of realism to it. Why do you think he chose another one-armed role? Because it had worked at the box office before. The shot of Wang Yu getting his arm cut off was actually shortened for the Hong Kong release – in fact, several shots were cut by the censors in Hong Kong. In the flashback sequence, you can see the uncut version of that. The flashback sequence was in black and white, so they didn’t censor it. There was no red blood on the screen, so they passed it. Why did Wang leave Shaw Bros for Golden Harvest and start making films in Taiwan? It was mainly money. He made Chinese Boxer for Shaw, so they did give him a chance to direct, which is something he wanted to do. But even when he was working as a director/actor/producer at Shaw, they didn’t raise his salary [stars at Shaw were contracted to the studio and were paid a salary]. Like an Asian Henry Fonda: Jimmy Wang Yu the hero in 1967 film The Assassin When Raymond Chow left Shaw to form Golden Harvest, he asked Wang Yu to go with him. He offered him much more money, so he broke his eight-year contract and took it. There was a dispute, which ended up with Shaw agreeing to tear up his contract if he agreed not to shoot movies in Hong Kong for a few years. So he moved to Taiwan, and he just stayed there. Many of the actors and martial artists in One Armed Boxer are Taiwanese. There’s not much information about them. A lot of them starred in Taiwanese martial arts films. Wang Yu tried to import some Hong Kong people – I think he originally wanted Lau Kar-leung to choreograph it, but Lau was tied to Shaw and making movies for them, so he had to rely on Chen Shi-wei, who also acts in the film. Some of the performers in the film were real martial artists, so the fighting is very good. The more outrageous scenes are made for entertainment, but in between you do have some authentic fights. How much did Wang’s real personality have to do with the success of his kung fu films? He was always proud of being a streetfighter. It helped his appeal, especially with the younger male audience in Hong Kong who were dissatisfied with life at that time. They identified with him. He had a reputation as a street brawler, but in real life he was a rich boy, and his family was rich. But he presented himself as a working-class hero on screen, and that appealed to audiences back then. Were Wang’s hopes for international success affected by the rise of Bruce Lee? Yes, they were. Wang Yu thought he had it made in the US, he thought he was going to have a big career there and be a kung fu star overseas. But he was overshadowed by Lo Lieh in Five Fingers of Death ( King Boxer ), which was a huge hit in America – it was the first martial arts film to get a wide release in the US outside Chinatowns – and then the death of Bruce Lee , which overshadowed the release of Chinese Boxer in the US. Wang Yu could never get to the same level of international stardom as Bruce Lee after he died. One-Armed Boxer looks more like a Shaw Brothers film than a Golden Harvest film – its production values are quite high. You have the long takes, the realistic choreography, and it’s more lifelike. It’s kind of the Shaw Brothers movie that Shaw never made. In this regular feature series on the best of Hong Kong martial arts cinema, we examine the legacy of classic films, re-evaluate the careers of its greatest stars, and revisit some of the lesser-known aspects of the beloved genre. Read our comprehensive explainer here . Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook