Fighter Ku Ru-Zhang (Tony Liu) is banished from his town after killing a man in a brutal fight. Despite killing his opponent in self-defence, Ku’s father thinks it’s best he leaves, to save shaming the family. Vowing to never fight again, Ku discovers purpose when he comes to care for the wife and daughter of a recently passed man he met on his travels. However, Ku soon finds he must put his fighting skills to good use once again when the town he is now living in with them is threatened by a dastardly martial arts master (Kim Ki-Joo) and his two deadly thugs (Sammo Hung and Wilson Tong), who are in town to win the local martial arts competition at whatever the cost.

Lesser-known Golden Harvest flick that gives ‘Fist of Fury’ and ‘Way of the Dragon’ alum Tony Liu an early leading role, benefits from a brisk pace and ample fight action come the final stretch. Lensed in South Korea, the production features some great location work and shot composition, certainly come the finale set around the martial arts tournament. It takes a while to get to the tournament-based action, the drama preceding this not always igniting the narrative. Tony Liu is fine as the lead, though his character’s decision to give up fighting means it’s also a while before he puts his fists to good use: save for an early creative scuffle where he takes on a gang of goons, all the while keeping his hands in his pockets!

The film greatly benefits from the presence (both in the front and behind the camera) of an early in his cinematic career Sammo Hung, great as one of the snarling henchmen of the big bad. While earlier in his career, Hung still confidently choreographs some inventive action, giving both himself and Liu a surfeit of slick scraps. There’s also a cool knife throwing female villain thrown in to spice up the action, and the film really comes alive when either Sammo or his inventive fight action are on the screen.

A rather by-the-numbers old school Golden Harvest produced fight flick, ‘The Manchu Boxer’ is nevertheless worth a watch thanks to some decent martial arts action and a fun bad guy role for Sammo Hung. It also looks fantastic thanks to Eureka’s new restoration and is included in their new Sammo Hung ‘Triple Threat’ pack which also includes his films ‘Paper Marriage’ and ‘Shanghai, Shanghai’ (reviewed elsewhere on this site).