The King of Boxers (1972)
A King Boxer named Chow (Meng Fei) visits a friend in Thailand. She introduces him to her boyfriend, who's a Thai boxer. Chow saves the Thai boxer from some thugs and the two become friends. Chow teaches him the knife style. Meanwhile back in China, Chow's brother and sister look after his kung fu school. A Japanese martial artist (Kurata) visits the school looking for Chow. Kurata fights and beats his brother instead and develops strong liking for Chow's sister. Chow returns to China and has to defend his school's honor against Kurata.
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Boring
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.
It's sad that this obscure martial arts film from Thailand gets confused with a different film, from Shaw Brothers that shares the same name, "King Boxer." This movie, released a year before that more well-known title, is actually the better film. Unlike Shaw productions, we have a film that utilizes real location shooting, rather than fake sets with artificial landscapes. So we are treated to quite a tour of beautiful Thailand, with some unforgettable imagery. In this way, "The King Boxer" becomes a kind of 'love letter' to Thailand and it's fascinating culture. A Chinese man is visiting Thailand, hoping to get a closer look, and possibly a lesson in Muay Thai, the sport of Thai kick boxing. a beautiful Thai girl introduces him to her brother, who is a professional fighter, and the two become fast friends. The man known as "the King boxer" within Thailand, and internationally, becomes teacher to the young Chinese visitor. Of course King Boxer is soon challenged by a rather nasty Japanese martial artist, who is determined to rob the king of his title. And then it becomes personal, when his sister rejects the Japanese thug's advances. Some great, well choreographed fighting follows, culminating into quite a bloody revenge epic.This film is unique in that it is very well-made, with a decent budget. Also the Thai angle is something different for a martial arts film. There aren't nearly enough Muay Thai films out there to compete with the countless Kung Fu movies that were produced at this time. "The King Boxers" is a very hard film to track down, but it is worth the effort..
Although I don't really like most of the old school kung fu movies because of the lack of serious acrobatic skills, this is one that made me watch the whole time. It's an entertaining movie with some good action moments. 7/10.