THE IRON MAN is another low rent kung fu adventure from Jimmy Wang Yu. Made after his split from the Shaw Brothers studio, this one's a very cheap Taiwanese/South Korean co-production which once again involves our hero having a hand cut off. It happens when he's a kid, and his family are also massacred by the Japanese, causing him to go on a life-long path of revenge. He also has a nifty bionic hand which he beats people with. This is essentially a series of fight scenes which don't really make much of an impact, suffering from sloppy choreography and a definite lack of finesse. The events depicted might be violent but they're certainly not realistic. Lung Fei once again makes a decent villain and there's a fun bit with motorbikes, but generally this is a poor show, even for Wang Yu fans.
3 Reviews
Fans of Jimmy Wang Yu only, to watch once and done
ckormos119 October 2019
I first watched this movie back in August 2015 and wrote a review but could not find the movie listed here on IMDB. Now I find it along with two user reviews. I appreciate jddog130's review for clarifying the title problems. Fans of this genre are well aware of this and are often left scratching our heads and wondering exactly which movie we are watching. Bey Logan had that problem in one of his audio commentaries. He acknowledged the movie had titles problems then made his choice for a title but he chose wrong. I can add this movie has also been titled "A Dollar a Fist".
My copy is a digital file made from an Ocean Shores 1980 VHS. This plays on a HDTV as a square shaped video with poor resolution and English dubbing. The English is done by the "A team" of voice over actors.
It opens with murder, rape, and child abuse which results in the child losing his left hand from the evil Japanese guy's sword stroke. I would bet the farm the child grows up to be Jimmy Wang Yu and I would win that bet. This time Jimmy forgoes the one armed fighter bit and just wears a black glove supposedly covering a prosthesis.
Jimmy wants to make his way to Japan for revenge against the big boss. The story stagnates for a while when it becomes all about gambling and two girls. When the fights resume it is like watching the same fight over and over. Perhaps even the director became bored and added a motorcycle chase to the final fight sequences. It didn't work.
At this point in time the only person watching this movie would be a hard core fan of martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984 who wants to watch every movie made by the great Jimmy Wang Yu. I am such a fan. I watched the movie, wrote my review, and I have no intention of ever watching this below average movie again.
My copy is a digital file made from an Ocean Shores 1980 VHS. This plays on a HDTV as a square shaped video with poor resolution and English dubbing. The English is done by the "A team" of voice over actors.
It opens with murder, rape, and child abuse which results in the child losing his left hand from the evil Japanese guy's sword stroke. I would bet the farm the child grows up to be Jimmy Wang Yu and I would win that bet. This time Jimmy forgoes the one armed fighter bit and just wears a black glove supposedly covering a prosthesis.
Jimmy wants to make his way to Japan for revenge against the big boss. The story stagnates for a while when it becomes all about gambling and two girls. When the fights resume it is like watching the same fight over and over. Perhaps even the director became bored and added a motorcycle chase to the final fight sequences. It didn't work.
At this point in time the only person watching this movie would be a hard core fan of martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984 who wants to watch every movie made by the great Jimmy Wang Yu. I am such a fan. I watched the movie, wrote my review, and I have no intention of ever watching this below average movie again.
The Iron Man 1973
jddog13017 April 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Another movie starring Jimmy Wang Yu made only months before "Beach of the War Gods" and three years before any "One-Armed Swordsman" or "Master of the Flying Guillotine". The credited cast shown here (IMDB) is Yu Wang (Jimmy Wang Yu), Li-Min Chang (Cheung Lee-Man), Bin-hwa Lee (Lee Bin-Hwa) and Fei Lung (Lung Fei). I'm not sure about Lee Bin Hwa... Maybe she played the mother in the very beginning, but the other actual credited female is Tung Fong Mei-Fung (known here as Mei-fung Tung Fang). Anyway.....
When the movie starts we find our hero Chin (Jimmy) as a little boy (played by Kam Ting-Hsun). The Japanese (Lung Fei and thugs) come to the house, kill his parents and chop his hand off. Then "Bam" the opening credits roll and the little boy is now a grown Chin looking for revenge with the faces of his enemies burned into his brain.
Chin now has a fake hand covered by a black glove and goes on a killing spree of Feng's (Lung Fei) associates and tries to stop Feng's arranged marriage.
The fights are decent, there's stabbing, slicing, shooting and even poison darts... and there's a bit more nudity than usual. I'm up in the air on this one and thinking about it remains 50/50 for me but leaning more towards 4 - 4.5....
Also... I hear that this movie is also being distributed with the title "Tough Guy" (which isn't listed here or anywhere that I've seen). If that's the case, then it could cause some confusion. There's Tough Guy 1972 aka Revenge of the Dragon, Kung Fu's Hero 1973 aka Tough Guy, Tough Guy 1974 aka The Black Dragon, Duel at Tiger Village 1978 aka Tough Guy and Tough Guy 1997 Directed by Ka Ka and stars Woody Chan Chin-Pang, Xu Jing-Lei (Jinglei Xu), Yu Rong-Guang (Rongguang Yu) and Billy Chow Bei-Lei. So... as long as you keep an eye on the director and cast, you'll know which "Tough Guy" you have or viewed.
When the movie starts we find our hero Chin (Jimmy) as a little boy (played by Kam Ting-Hsun). The Japanese (Lung Fei and thugs) come to the house, kill his parents and chop his hand off. Then "Bam" the opening credits roll and the little boy is now a grown Chin looking for revenge with the faces of his enemies burned into his brain.
Chin now has a fake hand covered by a black glove and goes on a killing spree of Feng's (Lung Fei) associates and tries to stop Feng's arranged marriage.
The fights are decent, there's stabbing, slicing, shooting and even poison darts... and there's a bit more nudity than usual. I'm up in the air on this one and thinking about it remains 50/50 for me but leaning more towards 4 - 4.5....
Also... I hear that this movie is also being distributed with the title "Tough Guy" (which isn't listed here or anywhere that I've seen). If that's the case, then it could cause some confusion. There's Tough Guy 1972 aka Revenge of the Dragon, Kung Fu's Hero 1973 aka Tough Guy, Tough Guy 1974 aka The Black Dragon, Duel at Tiger Village 1978 aka Tough Guy and Tough Guy 1997 Directed by Ka Ka and stars Woody Chan Chin-Pang, Xu Jing-Lei (Jinglei Xu), Yu Rong-Guang (Rongguang Yu) and Billy Chow Bei-Lei. So... as long as you keep an eye on the director and cast, you'll know which "Tough Guy" you have or viewed.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
