News

The 1970s represent a supreme period in the context of martial arts movies. Although these films were being released as early as the 1920s, this decade effectively put the genre on the map and brought mainstream popularity with some of the best martial arts movie performances of all time. The love for martial arts cinema continued in the following years, with hit releases like The Karate Kid, which made such an impact it warranted a Karate Kid sequel 40 years later.

Without a doubt, the most legendary figure of this period was Bruce Lee. As a pioneer of cinematic martial arts, Lee's performances were so great they produced a new sub-genre known as Bruceploitation films that were aimed at emulating his style. While he is certainly a household name for this decade and beyond of martial arts movies, there are several more standout performances from the 1970s that majorly affected the genre.

Six Assassins

Written and directed by Jeng Cheong-Woh

Hong Kong, 1971

Not all is well during the time of the Tang dynasty. The emperor’s cold-hearted brother, Lord Zheng Gui Li (Yun Il-Bong), spends his time visiting various fiefdoms and smaller such lands with the intent of bribing its tenants for food and money. In the event of resistance, occupants are immediately slain without mercy. Arriving at the domain of Lord Ding Yuan (Chen Feng-Chen) proves fateful. The latter calmly, diplomatically refuses to cough up provisions, resulting in his execution to which his followers take much offense. Minister Cui Yin (Shum Lo), equally obfuscated by the killing and an upcoming royal edict that is to exempt Zheng from punishment, concocts a plan with one skilled warrior, Mu Jun-Jie (Ling Yun) and five other novice fighters (among them the delightful Lily Li Li-Li, who sadly does not end up doing very much...

As Peter and Neal head to the office, Neal complains about how boring mortgage fraud cases are. "We stare at paperwork all day." Yeah, I'd be bored too. FBI headquarters is filled with running agents and Hughes calls Peter in right away. As we've never seen anyone move with the slightest hint of urgency in this office, something big is up. Neal inflates his ego, Lauren is snarky, and the FBI has a missing agent. Ah! The rush makes sense. Lauren exposits that they lost contact with Mark Costa 12 hours previously, but don't know what happened. It's not often the white collar division has this kind of action. Hughes finger summons Neal to Lauren's chagrin and Neal snarks back at her as he goes. Peter tells us that Agent Costa went undercover as a drug trafficker needing money laundered to nail Lao Shen, who heads back to China in 72 hours.