Master of the Flying Guillotine (1977)

Very best movie i ever watch

Let's be realistic.

Awesome Movie

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

I want to give this movie a 4 out of 10 for wasting my time, but I also want to give it a 6 out of 10 since I watched about an hour and a half of it and endured it for that long.The good about this movie: The opening scene. Looks interesting. Looks very good. Unfortunately it doesn't turn out to be very good.The illegal fights. Most fights I have seen have 'no eye-gouging' etc. This is a no holds barred match and a fight to the death. Unfortunately as unusual as that is to see in a martial arts film or match it is not at all entertaining to see in this movie. Cringe-worthy in some parts, yes, but so was Riki-Oh cringe-worthy and that had entertaining fights. This one did not.The music and colorful scenes, jokes on the characteristics of Thai, Indian, and Japanese fighters are all very interesting. What I have noticed: This movie was done in 1976. I know it must have influenced Tarentino somewhat in his music/colorful scenes for Kill Bill. I know this movies Indian character must have influenced the creators of Street Fighter for their Indian character can stretch as well. I know this movie may have influenced Punch Out! with the stereotypes within (cause that game and this movie makes fun of race cultures a bit without making the race/culture weak. You have to be familiar with this movie or that game to know what I mean.The bad things about this movie: Matches in this movie are mediocre and unexciting. The movie is VERY predictable except for maybe 1-2 parts and even then it's not like great 'wow that surprised me what a great movie!' suspense, but like 'heh. Wasn't expecting that. meh. Oh well'. It's just a boring movie all through out. Boring fights, and predictable ending where the protagonist wins in the end against the antagonist.

Few films enjoy the moniker of a "cult classic." Few films have a one-armed hero, a blind antagonist who wields a Flying Guillotine, steal German techno music for the soundtrack, a martial arts tournament in the middle of the film, and have been inspirational to Quentin Tarantino and video games. Master of the Flying Guillotine (aka One-armed Boxer vs. The Flying Guillotine) is one of several old-school martial art films to take on an iconic stature amongst Asian film fanatics. This movie is one of my favorite Taiwanese films - produced by First Films.It is 1730 during the reign of Emperor Yung Cheng of the Manchu Dynasty and is in the case of all films about this oppressive era the protagonists are supporters of the Ming Dynasty. The awesome antagonist is a blind (disguised) Buddhist named Fung Sheng Wu Chi played with demonic fury by Kam Kong (Half a Loaf of Kung Fu). He wears Buddhist garb, has his own lifted musical theme of "Super 16" by the German group Neu! (they also use "Super" by Neu! in the opening theme and "Mitternacht", "Morgensparziergang" and "Kometenmelodie 2" by Kraftwerk in the film), throws bombs that remind me of Tim from Monty Python and the Holy Grail and carries an ingenious weapon called the Flying Guillotine. This weapon is a round circular disk with serrated edges on the outside and a retractable net with sharp knives that can be thrown by its user to go over the head of its opponent and with a jerk of the attached chain rip off the head. It is also be folded and fit in your pocket! With this weapon and his learned knowledge that his students Chow Lung and Chow Fu were killed by the One-Armed Boxer he goes off in search of his revenge.The One-Armed Boxer (Jimmy Wang Yu reprising his most successful role as well as directing this film) is the sifu of a martial arts school where he shows his students how to fight, walk on empty baskets and to walk on ceilings (it is all in how you breathe). His students want to enter a martial arts tournament run by Wu Chang Sheng of the Eagle Claw school but he fears that government might find them out. He does agree to go watch the tournament though.The tournament is one of the many highlights of the film. While the tournament film was nothing new (Enter the Dragon was done several years earlier), the approach of many styles and deadly fighting would go on to influence video games such as Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. There are nine fights that range in quality but most are memorable. The first is Long Spear Chang Chia Yu (actually uses a three-section staff) versus Long Stick Ho Po Wei. This is a short but decent fight that is more memorable because the underrated Lau Kar Wing (also one of the stunt coordinators) plays Chia Yu and that it is more calm than the fights about the happen. However there is much more: there is a Mongolian who looks more like a silent movie star (with his dastardly false mustache) than a Mongolian. There is a double fatality. There are crotch kicks, eye pokes, pole-fighting, a one-armed fighter who accidentally shows his other arm, a cheating Thai fighter and an Indian fighter who can stretch his limbs (like Dhalsim in Street Fighter) to attack his opponents. One of my favorite fights is the fifth fight between Eagle Claws Wu Shao Tieh (Doris Lung) and a Monkey Boxer Ma Wa Kung who is small, agile and carries the fight between the two (being comic relief he will not win but he will not die either).But this tournament is just a diversion. The main plot will continue after the abrupt conclusion of the tournament. There are still several fights to go and two are unforgettable. The first memorable fight involves the One-Armed Boxer vs. the Thai fighter. Though Wang Yu would have trouble with plot, dialog and making sense in many of his films he has always had an interesting knack on weaponry and situations. Here he uses a small metal house to trap the barefoot Thai fighter while the OAB's students are piling wood and setting underneath the house ablaze making this a giant hotbox. This fight to the death is a bit difficult and is sometimes hard to watch but nonetheless a fantastic bout. Sometimes the hero must have some sadistic element in fighting his enemies. The last fight is an awesome inevitable confrontation between the protagonist and Fung Sheng. Here is where Fung Yu's ingenuity at situational martial arts comes to blossom. I will not tempt to spoil this be explaining it (just in case you have not watched it). I will say that it is the perfect ending to this momentous martial arts film.There are a couple of good Master of the Flying Guillotine R1 DVDs out there by Pathfinder. Pathfinder has a 2002 (Ultimate Edition) and 2004 (2-disc Anniversary Edition) release. The latest release is preferable because of the anamorphic video transfer, additional interviews with Jimmy Wang Yu and an insert booklet with a several goods articles including the history of the Flying Guillotine, the movie itself and one on Wang Yu. It is important to mention to extreme collectors that the commentaries are different on both disks. The first one has Wade Major and Andy Klein, the second adds Alex Luu to the mix. I was not particularly impressed by the second commentary. While they acknowledged their mistakes in the first one (such as calling this a Hong Kong film) they still did not add as much factual information as they could (name the music that was lifted instead of saying a German band) and they digressed a few too many times. While this film could use a better transfer it is great to see in a good-enough widescreen version with Mandarin dialog.

Just the other day I picked up a copy of NEU2, and couldn't believe my ears! If I had thought of just looking at the soundtrack listing I could have saved myself years(literally!) of wondering who the heck did some of the rad music for this film! THIS SOUNDTRACK RULES! Wish it was available on one CD, but hey, its all good.Now I have to bungle around with this comment because I have to have what, a ten line minimum? I find this very silly as I'm finding it hard to say too much more about this.Well for one thing, I have to admit, the action in this film is always sweet, I hope someone decides to release a region 1 copy of the first film in the series, as I am curious how it measures up to this one.

"As you may have gathered, a rational plot summary is pretty pointless - but rest assured there are epic martial arts battles and ludicrously inspired moments galore" - IMDb plot summary."Master of the Flying Guillotine" is one for the ages, no doubt. Those above words just about sum up everything there is to discover in this film. The plot is absolutely ridiculous and only lasts about five minutes total in the whole film. The rest of the movie is devoted to ludicrous yet well-staged action scenes that are sure to live long in memory after it's gone. "Master of the Flying Guillotine" is the most popular martial arts flick from the post-Bruce Lee age, and it's lingered for years on the late-night grindhouse circuit.I sat through the first five minutes and I fell out laughing. Mind you, I wasn't laughing because I couldn't believe it all (I couldn't) but because when you realize it, it's the most over-the-top kick to the head you'll ever experience. It's virtually impossible to take anything in the film seriously, but there's no way that should let you not walk away from it without getting something. The plot, as I mentioned before, is non-existent and any attempts in trying to rationalize the action are pretty pointless.The plot can be summed up like this, in one sentence: After the beginning of the Ching Dynasty, the blind assassin, Fung Sheng Wu Chi (Kam Kang), goes on a murderous rampage, becoming a serial killer who starts offing one-armed fighters left and right, after receiving news (via carrier pigeon) that his two disciples have been murdered by the One-Armed Boxer (lead actor, writer, and director Jimmy Wang Yu) from the first film, and tracks his quarry to a martial arts tournament a la a plot device used in "Enter the Dragon" (1973).That's about all there is to the plot. The Blind Assassin and his weapon of choice - the Flying Guillotine - a tethered device that looks like a hat is swung in any direction he chooses and hooks itself to a victim's head with the aid of razor-sharp blades on the inside and with one good jerk, he rips their head clean off. I don't think I mentioned that other than the fact he's blind, he is able to throw the flying guillotine with pin-point accuracy.Other unbelievable instances occur, including an Indian Fakir whose arms can stretch to twice his own body length, and in one sequence, the One-Armed Boxer battles a Muay Thai fighter (Tsim Po Sham) in a hut while his men light fires under it, essentially turning into a frying pan that literally gives both men hot feet. Then there's the equally unbelievable final confrontation between Wang and the Blind Assassin. The action is pretty bloody and intense, and the punching sounds are so exaggerated I honestly couldn't help laughing uncontrollably.It's wildly insane stuff and it's no wonder Quentin Tarantino idolizes it so much and was able to pay some homage to it with his "Kill Bill" movies.10/10