''Last Hurrah for Chivalry'' is a 1979
Hong Kong martial arts film
Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese culture, Chinese and Culture of Hong Kong, Hong Kong cultures including Chinese opera, storytelling an ...
written and directed by
John Woo, who also producer with
Raymond Chow. The film stars
Damian Lau and Wei Pai. The film is a precursor to Woo's
heroic bloodshed films. The film was released on 11 November 1979.
Plot
''Last Hurrah for Chivalry'' is a story about two killers for hire in ancient
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. The two assassins are master swordsmen with no allegiance. They decide to help out a local merchant, seeking revenge against a
kung fu master. The plot contains multiple twists of deception, leaving characters wondering who to really trust. The story ultimately ends with a revelation as to who truly has honor.
Cast
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Damian Lau as Tsing Yi
*Wai Pak as Chang San / Cheung Sam
*Bonnie Ngai as Sau Sau (The courtesan)
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Lau Kong
Lau Kong () is a Hong Kong actor who worked on the network TVB.
Biography
Little is known of Lau's private life, but he has been acting since 1976, when he first joined the now defunct network Commercial Television, he later joined RTV (now AT ...
as Kao Pang / Ko Peng
*
Hoi Sang Lee
Lee Hoi-sang (born April 15, 1941) is a Hong Kong martial arts film actor and martial artist, known for his roles in ''The 36th Chamber of Shaolin'' (as Abbot Li Hai Sheng) (1978), '' Shaolin Challenges Ninja'' (1978), ''The Incredible Kung Fu M ...
as Pak Chung Tong
*Fung Hak-on as Pray / Let It Be
*Chin Yuet-sang as Sleeping Wizard
*Cheng Lui as Chen Guan Wu
*Wang Kuang-yu as Wang
*
Alan Chui Chung-San
Chui Chung-San (often known as Shu Zhong Xin, Hsu Zhong-Xin or Alan Hsu; 16 August 1952 – 2 November 2022) was a Hong Kong actor, director, choreographer, martial artist and stuntman. He was known for being an action director and stuntman. Ch ...
as oriental fighter / bodyguard
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Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
as Pak Chung Tong's man
Production
The film is a tribute to director
John Woo's mentor,
Chang Cheh. The stylish appeal also came from
Akira Kurosawa influences. The main character Tsing Yi is an inspiration taken from the real-life assassin
Jing Ke, who is historically remembered for his failed assassination attempt of
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor ( ...
. The year the film was released is also the same year John Woo met
Tsui Hark.
[Woo, John. Elder, Robert K. John Woo: Interview. University Press of Mississippi. .]
Box office
''Last Hurrah for Chivalry'' had mediocre box office numbers.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Hurrah for Chivalry
1979 films
1979 martial arts films
1970s Cantonese-language films
1970s Hong Kong films
Films directed by John Woo
Golden Harvest films
Hong Kong martial arts films
Kung fu films
Wuxia films