Last Hurrah for Chivalry is an early film by famous action director John Woo, made in 1979.
This early piece of Woo’s work is about a man named Ko, who decides he wants to avenge his father and the honor of his family. This is all motivated after his wedding which is interrupted by a man with rather offensive gift – a bloody pig’s head! The head is delivered by Pak Chun-Tong, who decides he wants to retake the Ko’s house as it was stolen from him by Ko’s father many years ago.
After successfully taking back his home, Ko is left wanting revenge. After being told his mind and heart are not pure by his master, he is then forbidden to do battle with Pak Chun-Tong. Ko then sets out to find someone to exact his revenge for him, and ends up with two highly skilled sword fighters.
One of the swordsman is generally a good and honorable man, caring for his sister and helping those in need. The other is a drunk but has equal ability to his counterpart.
Inevitably the two men come across Ko as he tries to hang himself. It is then they promised to avenge him and head off to attack Pak Chun-Tong and take back the house.
Another Revenge Flick…
Yeah, it’s your usual Kung Fu revenge story with the minor difference – two other guys are doing the avenging as opposed to main guy himself (Ko). While some scenes aren’t necessarily bad to watch, the movie seems to unfold at a creeping pace to begin with and there’s very little pace behind the initial story telling.
One thing I will say though, is that although it is very standard and similar to other movies, there is a twist at the end of the film – which again is a pretty standard twist. (spoilers), it turns out Ko is really the villian in this instance and the two men are really just used.
I find this whole twist pretty funny since he probably could have defeated Pak Chun-Tong himself easier than trying to defeat the two men he hired and simply ignored his master. Either way, this movie isn’t really known for it’s story, but more the swordplay.
The Martial Arts and Action
Some of the action is pretty standard while some is a step up form the typical 70’s action flicks Hong Kong seemed to pump out.
The action is mostly swordplay and it is choreographed and performed excellently, with the best scene being a one on one fight in the middle of the film (in my opinion). As the movie progresses the finale seems to resort to using a lot of wire work, which was a little disappointing.
Ultimately it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. The highlight was the swordwork but I just couldn’t seem to get sucked into this one. You may disagree, but I don’t think I’ll be recommending it to anyone – some may like it though, so each to his own!
On DVD –
Region 1 (US & Canada)
Last Hurrah for Chivalry
Region 2 (UK, Europe, etc)
Last Hurrah For Chivalry
Region 4 (Australia, New Zealand, etc)
Last Hurrah for Chivalry
