The Assassin

The Assassin (Da Ci Ke) (1967)

Runtime: 113 minutes (at least that's the copy available on Amazon for streaming. IMDb claims it's 121 minutes long)

Directed by: Chang Cheh

Starring: Jimmy Wang Yu (RIP), Lisa Chiao Chiao, Li Hsiang-Chun, Tien Feng, Wong Chung-Shun

From: Shaw Brothers

Finally I can say “RIP Jimmy Wang Yu.” He passed away early last month but as there is at least one other person who died in January that I'm finally gonna tip my cap to later in May... it's a Shaw Brothers effort I hadn't seen before and as most of Yu's most famous movies have already been watched by me, this was selected. Yu apparently wasn't the easiest of persons to deal with & there are also rumors of him having various issues with The Triad; no matter the truth there, at least on screen I know that he was a dynamic performer who was great at the martial arts. The Assassin actually doesn't have as much action as you'd expect; there's definitely more in another Cheh/Yu collaboration from '67: The One-Armed Swordsman. Then again, no one in either movie got their body destroyed as badly as that one guy last night who bum-rushed Dave Chappelle at the Hollywood Bowl... oof, that was brutal.

Wang plays a swordsman who not only has two arms, but he is from an average background yet aspires for much more. Plenty of time is spent with him & his girlfriend who wishes he would be happy as she loves him as he is. He's a nice guy who treats his mom well and that is the impetus behind him being involved w/ an epic bromance for a little while. Oh, and he does wind up getting involved w/ political intrigue because he was dragged into it.

The Assassin manages to be more romantic than action-packed. That was OK with me as it was a nice relationship between the lead couple so those lengthy discussions never bored me. When there is action that still delivers the sort of Shaw Brothers thrills I've come to expect. Thus, it was a nice way for me to pay tribute to someone whose films I only saw in the preceding decade.