The 14 Amazons

The 14 Amazons (1972)

Runtime: 117 minutes

Directed by: Kang Cheng, Shao-Yung Tung

Starring: Ivy Ling Po, Lisa Lu, Lily Ho, Yueh Hua, Chen Yen-Yen

From: Shaw Brothers

Monday night I watched Alien again; it's still an excellent movie, whether it's the original movie or the Director's Cut. Last night I watched this for the first time, as it's been too long since I've seen something from the Shaw Brothers. Well, I saw a pretty good one here. All the details are below: 

As it's been since late August that I last saw a Shaw Brothers movie, I figured it was about darn time I saw another one. This is one of the free offerings that are available for free on Amazon if you have Prime, so that is what I streamed last night. I had heard of the movie before so that is why I selected it in particular. Now, this is a dubbed version and and judging by the odd opening involving a narrator delivering a big info dump, at least the beginning is cut. Alas... I am still glad I saw this.

The film is based on old Chinese folklore; a group of women in a clan seek revenge on the enemy army that killed their General-along with other soldiers-that left only a single male heir left (more on him later). Due to a corrupt A-hole, the Emperor's army being borrowed was out of the question, so they have to scrounge together a ragtag group of people to help them out, basically.

One odd thing, which I am glad I heard about before I started watching... that male heir is played by... Lily Ho. Yes, a woman. The character was supposed to be under 18 years of age so I guess that's why they did it, but Ms. Ho otherwise dressed and looked like a female, complete with pigtails; it was pretty odd. But nevermind that... the movie is a lot of fun. It is larger in scale than the typical Shaw Brothers movie, so plenty of their regular players appear. The action scenes are also big in scope; in a typical Shaw Brothers joint, they usually quality stuff with plenty of moving parts. Here, they are even larger than usual and involving such things as fire and rope bridges. The film certainly isn't afraid to abuse the women and even have them bleed.

I had a real good time watching this movie and appreciated that among the wackiness and elaborate setpieces, there was some nice military strategy too. While it's not as well-known now as the more famous movies from the legendary studio, this film is more than just a distaff gimmick, I thought it brought the goods.