Great Scenes – LADY IS THE BOSS
I recently went to see RZA‘s Man with the Iron Fists (2012) hoping for a glimpse of that old Shaw Brothers magic I love so well – and though it was undoubtedly watchable, I was disappointed that besides for a fantastic title sequence and the brief presence of Chen Kuan Tai and Gordon Liu, it seemed to be missing the LOVE I expected to see from a genre fan and Wu-Tang man. So like an addict I ran home and popped in the nearest Lau Kar Leung flick, Lady is the Boss (1983) – by no means a great film save for this amazing ending, which features the director’s company (many of them his students) referencing the hits in a medley of manic action. We get Venom Sun Chien kicking formal ass (in bow tie) against perennial monk Gordon Liu, escalating into more self-referential goodness when Mad Monkey Hsiao Hou bursts on the scene with some insane acrobatics. And watching the ending, in which Sifu Leung faces off against Wang Lung Wei, I realize why I love these movies so much – because they feature actual ACTING, moments of reality where actors react to wounds, or hesitate before taking a new strategy, or reach for a nearby dumbell to use as a weapon – which give the fighting a realism rarely seen in modern martial arts, where everything’s choreographed to the point of boredom and directors have to turn to indulgence like slo-motion, ridiculous split screen, or over-the-top gore to maintain our interest. No thanks. I’ll take LKL and the Brothers Shaw anyday.
Good analysis!
The film follows the exploits of three heroes: Blacksmith (RZA), an escaped slave that came to the small town of Jungle Village in China after his ship crashed, and becomes a renowned weaponsmith, who hopes to make enough money to buy prostitute Lady Silk (Chung) whom he is in love with from Madame Blossom, who runs one of the best whore houses in China.