Master of the Flying Guillotine

Master of the Flying Guillotine is a 1976 Taiwanese wuxia film starring Jimmy Wang Yu, who also wrote and directed the film. It is a sequel to Wang's 1971 film One Armed Boxer, and thus the film is also known as One-Armed Boxer 2 and The One Armed Boxer vs. the Flying Guillotine.[1]



Contents
[hide]  *1 Plot  ==Plot[ edit] == The film concerns Wang's one-armed martial arts master being stalked by an imperial assassin, the master of two fighters (the Tibetan lamas) who were killed in the previous film. The title refers to the assassin's weapon, the "flying guillotine", which resembles a hat with a bladed rim attached to a long chain. Upon enveloping one's head, the blades cleanly decapitate the victim with a quick pull of the chain. Blind, the assassin relies on others to identify one-armed men, and he kills any that he meets. When the One-Armed Boxer is invited to attend a martial arts tournament, his efforts to lie low are unsuccessful, and the assassin soon tracks him down with the help of his three subordinates competing in the tournament: a Thai boxer, ayoga master, and a kobojutsu user.
 * 2 Cast
 * 3 Reception
 * 4 Legacy
 * 4.1 Prequel
 * 5 References
 * 6 External links

The One-armed Boxer leaves the tournament and, using a series of traps, defeats the assassin's subordinates. Unable to directly confront the deadly assassin himself, the One-armed Boxer devises a plan that uses misdirection. Taking advantage of the assassin's blindness, the One-armed Boxer converts a coffin-maker's shop into an elaborate trap: each time the blind assassin throws his weapon, it becomes damaged and loses one of its blades on the strong planks. Once the weapon is finally destroyed, the One-armed Boxer engages the assassin in a duel and defeats him. ==Cast[ edit] == The Master and his Flying Guillotine.==Reception[ edit] == Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 90% of 20 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 6.9/10.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[2]  Metacritic rated the film 57/100 based on eleven reviews.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[3]  Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times called it "near-great" and "a venerable example of the kung fu genre".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-nytimes_4-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[4] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Master of the Flying Guillotine has been called the Holy Grail of the Hong Kong martial arts movies of the '70s, and now that it has been lovingly restored and given a regular theatrical release, it's easy to see why."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-thomas2002_1-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[1]  Joey O'Bryan of The Austin Chronicle rated it 2/5 stars and called it "a mess" that fails to live up to the epic brawl promised by the alternate title.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[5]  Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club called it "a delirious kung-fu saga" that is "wild even by the genre's lenient standards". Rabin concludes, "Goofy Z-movie fun of the highest order, Master Of The Flying Guillotine needs to be seen to be believed, and even then defies belief."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[6]  Phil Hall of Film Threat rated it 1.5/5 stars and wrote, "[T]his silly production stands as a dinky reminder of why martial arts film fell out of favor during the mid-1970s".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[7]  J. Doyle Wallis of DVD Talk rated it 4/5 stars and called it "a complete guilty pleasure that leaves you feeling high off its empty b-movie fun".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-dvdtalk_8-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[8]  Mike Pinsky of DVD Verdict wrote that the film toys with and subverts many martial arts film cliches, which makes it surprising and entertaining.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[9] ==Legacy<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">Quentin Tarantino has cited the film as "one of my favorite movies of all time."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[10]  Most of the music in the film is taken from Krautrock bands, especially [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neu! Neu!].<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-dvdtalk_8-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[8]  The soundtrack has been referenced and sampled extensively, including Tarantino's Kill Bill.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-nytimes_4-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[4]  The character Dhalsim from the Street Fighter video game series has been compared to the Indian assassin in the film.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[11]  InThe Boondocks episode Stinkmeaner 3: The Hateocracy, the Hateocracy member, Lord Rufus Crabmiser, used a flying guillotine disguised as a lobster trap to attack the Freeman family and ultimately kill Bushido Brown.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[12] ===Prequel<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:20.3636360168457px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:13.63636302948px;">In 1977, a prequel called Fatal Flying Guillotine was made by Hong Kong director Raymond Liu.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[13]
 * Jimmy Wang Yu as the One-armed Boxer
 * Kam Kong as Fung Sheng Wu Chi
 * Doris Lung as Wu's daughter
 * Sham Chin-bo as Nai Men, the Thai boxer
 * Lung Fei as Yakuma
 * Wong Wing-sang as Indian fighter (The film gives him the name Yogi Tro Le Soung)
 * Sit Hon as tournament referee
 * Lau Kar-wing as fighter with a three-section staff
 * Wong Fei-lung as One-armed boxer's student
 * Yu Chung-chiu as Wu Chang Sang
 * Shan Mao as bamboo cutter
 * Wang Tai-lang as Ma Wu Kung, Monkey stylist
 * Shih Ting-ken as One-armed boxer's student
 * Lung Sai-ga as Wang Jiang
 * Philip Kwok as Chang Chia Yu
 * Lung Fong as Tiger Fists / nose-picking fight
 * Sun Jung-chi as Daredevil Lee San
 * Wong Lik as Tornado Knives Lei Kung