Oh! It has finally arrived! This was my first response when I heard that this year’s Shaw Brothers retrospective would be showing The Invincible Fist. The film has been immortalized in the pantheon of cult films a long time ago. In Korea there are many fanatics of this film, and for the longest time, cheap pirate copies have been circulating among fans. Finally fans of this film have the chance to watch the film in a movie theater. When the film first opened in Korea, it was a dubbed Korean dubbed, and at the time, hard-core Hong Kong cinephiles considered dubbed films as fake. And thus the initial reception to the film was not positive. (The version that opened in Korea was the Taiwanese version. And for some inexplicable reason, when the video was released, it was the Hong Kong version. The two versions are not that different, except that the Taiwanese version is slightly longer.) Furthermore, Wang Yu does not star in this film, but Li Ching of Susanna fame stars. This was deemed a little strange. (Martial arts film fans during this time did not watch any films starring Li Ching. The reverse was also true.) The Invincible Fist became a sort of cult film. A series of robberies occur in the town. Tieh Wu Ching, who works at the police bureau, strives to find the perpetrators. In the process he learns that Ma Wei Chia and his three martial arts expert followers are behind the crimes. Ma Wei Chia’s true identity is unknown. Tieh Wu Ching seeks out the four of them with his subordinates. The film features duels between Tieh Wu Ching and the martial arts experts. The duels are by no means extravagant, but nevertheless very impressive. Furthermore, the film has a very interesting sub-plot. Tieh Wu Ching and Li Ching fall in love. But Li Ching is the daughter of Ma Wei Chia, and Ma Wei Chia loves his daughter dearly. This gives the duel between Tieh Wu Ching and Ma Wei Chia a certain tension. Furthermore Li Ching does not know that her father is a famous kingpin, nor does she know that her lover is about to have a duel with her own father. Tieh Wu Ching, knowing the father’s love towards the daughter and her misperception about her father, asks Ma Wei Chia to a duel in a secluded area. The last duel - no doubt filmed at an indoor set - is amazingly surreal with snow flurries everywhere. Though not his finest film, The Invincible Fist should be remembered as director CHANG Cheh’s version of a martial arts melodrama film. In this world, everything has an end. But the film is not filled with typical CHANG Cheh visions: the ending does not show the despair and emptiness of the leading actors as if they were committing suicide; rather the ending is hopelessly warm. In a word, this film is not a historical martial arts film, but a romantic martial arts film. Of course there’s nothing wrong with it, just that that’s the reason for the film’s cult status. (CHUNG Sung-ill)