THE DEADLY DUO is another splendid production made by director Chang Cheh with stars Ti Lung and David Chiang for the Shaw Brothers studio. Cheh, Lung and Chiang teamed up for over a dozen of these films and rather incredibly most of them turn out to be good if not fantastic, and THE DEADLY DUO carries on that tradition.Things open in a jaw-dropping fashion with some brutal execution scenes and a mass fight between a group of rescuer heroes and the massed forces of evil. The heroes are Sung fighters here while the bad guys are Mongols typically wearing animal pelts. The story gets a little bogged down by telling major action scenes in flashback where I think they would have worked better played out in a linear fashion, but this is only a minor complaint. At around the halfway point of this short film, the main plot becomes clear: the heroes have to infiltrate a fortress to rescue a kidnapped Sung prince. The only man who can aid them is David Chiang, a fighter famed for his light frame.What follows is a bloody and brutal fight in which mass brawling violence occupies most of the running time. Cheh gleefully directs the gory mayhem and the resultant film feels like a comic book at times, especially with the 'five element' henchmen including Tree Man, Mole Man, and the great Bolo Yeung playing the shaven-headed River Dragon! Lung and Chiang bounce off each other well as the heroes and the excellent supporting cast features Chen Sing, Ku Feng and Stanley Fung (best known for playing Rawhide in the LUCKY STARS films) as villains. It's a real treat for Shaw fans.

The action is fast and furious (and usually involves half a hundred men at a time) in THE DEADLY DUO. Chang Cheh's Dynamic Duo, Ti Lung and David Chiang, are paired up again. While it's not really clear what's going on or who's kicking whose butt, there's a whole lotta butt being kicked, and that's good enough for me. There are a couple of interesting scenes: in one, a raft is dismantled from underneath so that the guys on it end up in the ocean with their attackers. In another, three men try to make it across a bridge spanning a chasm, only to fall to their deaths, one by one. (Why the second and third men try after seeing the first guy fall isn't really clear.) Later, Daivid Chiang, using a hook with a chain attached, manages to get across. The final battle pits Lung and Chiang against a horde of combatants. Chiang allows Lung to escape while he sacrifices himself. The final shot shows the apparently dead Chiang, standing upright with weapon in hand, on the dock as Lung escapes. Solid actioner.

This Shaw Brothers film is exceptional. It's so good because it's jam-packed full of insanely fast and high quality fighting--fighting which features wonderful choreography and actors with great skill. In addition, unlike many Chinese sword epics, this one features LOTS of different weapons and styles--even cymbals of death and a grappling hook on a chain!! It's also good because unlike some martial arts films, the DVD is wonderful--with both Chinese language and two different English language tracks. So, for purists out there that had dubbing, it's a treat to be able to turn off the English--thought the dubbing, by the way, is surprisingly BETTER than the rather lackluster subtitles! And, there are two DIFFERENT dubbed tracks (I prefer the 2nd one). The film, however, is at first rather bad because story and character development seem almost unimportant until about a third of the way into the movie. If you want a story about people and want to see acting, then this film is not for you--it's almost completely frenetic action. And when it does slow down, a bit, it still is not one of the more character-driven stories I've seen! My wife is not a martial arts film fan, but she usually can tune out my pictures. However, she begged me to watch this by myself later since it was making her (and our dog) frantic just hearing it!! Once I went to the exercise room and popped the DVD back into a different player, I was happy I didn't just give up on it. The story, while never great, got a lot better. And I was really impressed by the action--David Chiang, in particular, was great.As far as setting for this story goes, understanding it will help if you read up on this part of history--and the film WON'T help you to understand this! But, here goes...the Jin (also called Jinn) captured the northern part of China and captured the Emperor, his father (who had previously abdicated) and the Crown Prince. Eventually, the Prince was somehow rescued--and went south to continue the Sung Dynasty in the southern portion of China. This movie is about some heroes who gave their lives to save the Prince. You will NOT understand all this based on the prologue--which seems to assume you are Chinese and know Chinese history.Hsiao Pin-fu (called 'Little Bat' in the subtitles) has been sent by his master to find his old friend from their martial arts school because the Master was saddened that his student had given in to evil. When Hsiao Pin-fu arrives, he learns that indeed his old friend is a crook--and soon another nice-guy (Pao Kung Tien) is there because this crook knows about the kidnapping and how to find the Prince. The baddies are killed and Pao and Hsiao join forces. LOTS of killing and excitement ensues--along with a finale where Hsiao loses about 75 gallons of blood and STILL manages to keep on fighting!! While it starts slow, if you are a fan of the genre you must see this film. It's great--exceptionally well made and cool throughout.

DEADLY DUO (1971) is one of a group of historical near-epics from 1970-73 directed by Chang Cheh and starring Ti Lung and David Chiang. This one's considerably shorter than the others (THE HEROIC ONES, NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, BLOOD BROTHERS), with less in the way of characterization and plotting and more in the way of fighting, action and adventure. All the fights involve various weapons, mostly spears and swords, but also some pretty exotic ones, such as a pair of lethal cymbals and a container that shoots out incendiary balls. The co-director of the action scenes is Lau Kar Leung (aka Liu Chia Liang) who had a special interest in spear and stick fighting and went on to direct some of the best kung fu films of the late 1970s and early '80s. The plot involves patriots during the Sung Dynasty and their attempts to rescue a kidnapped prince from Ching troops who have invaded the north of China. The patriots are led by Ti Lung who recruits a mysterious but seemingly superhuman fighter played by David Chiang to find a way to cross a perilous bridge to enter an impregnable fortress to locate and rescue the imprisoned prince. The big confrontation at the end involves trickery on the part of the heroes and the self-sacrifice of one of their number as David, who is not known to the enemy, brings in Ti as his `prisoner' to turn over to the Chings, as a way of gaining entrance. Then he cuts Ti's bonds and all hell breaks loose. The fight scenes are generally pretty fanciful but always fun to watch. The patriots' opponents have names like Fire Man, Tree Man, Mole Man, Gold Mongol and Water Dragon. One particularly clever scene finds the patriots on log rafts crossing a river when Water Dragon and his cohorts attack and cut the binding on the logs, causing the rafts to fall apart in the water. There are several underwater action shots here. David Chiang and Ti Lung are both extremely agile and energetic and carry the action forward with great verve. Some good villains are on hand as well, including such dependable players as Ku Feng, Chen Sing, Bolo Yeung (as Water Dragon) and Liu Chia Yung. It's not a terribly deep film, but it's colorful and exciting and plays like a pumped-up swashbuckler. Although kung fu purists may prefer Chang Cheh's later Shaolin series, fans of sword- and weapons-play will enjoy this.