The Sword is a 1980 Hong Kong wuxia film co-written and directed by Patrick Tam and starring Adam Cheng.[1]
| The Sword | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Traditional Chinese | 名劍 |
| Simplified Chinese | 名剑 |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Míng Jiàn |
| Jyutping | Ming4 Gim3 |
| Directed by | Patrick Tam |
| Screenplay by | Lau Shing-hon Clifford Choi Wong Ying Patrick Tam Lo Chi-keung Lau Tin-chi |
| Story by | Wong Ying |
| Produced by | Raymond Chow |
| Starring | Adam Cheng Norman Chu JoJo Chan Tien Feng Bonnie Ngai Eddy Ko Lee Hoi-sang |
| Cinematography | Bill Wong |
| Edited by | Peter Cheung |
| Music by | Joseph Koo |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Golden Harvest |
Release date |
|
Running time | 86 minutes |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | Cantonese |
| Box office | HK$2,646,769 |
Plot summary
editLegendary swordsman, Fa Chin-shu finds the Qiwu Sword and takes it to a blacksmith to get it mended. The blacksmith tells him that the sword brings a bad omen because it was forged with hatred and that Chin-shu should discard it or he might die by the sword if he uses it. Chin-shu decides to not use it but gives the sword to his close friend, Yuen Kei for safekeeping before retiring.
Lee Mak-yin, a swordsman who greatly admires Fa Chin-shu and wishes to find him so that he can challenge him to a duel. On his journey to search for the retired swordsman, he meets a woman Fa Ying-chi who was pursued by an enemy. Mak-yin saves her by fighting off the enemy. Ying-chi decides to accompany Mak-yin on his travels since she’s headed in the same direction. They stop by an inn for the night where Mak-yin runs into Yin Siu-yu, whom he used to have feelings for. Siu-yu tells him that she is married to a man named Lin Wan in an arranged marriage set up by her parents. Lin Wan’s bodyguard Tit-yee attacks Mak-yin and the two fight but Lin Wan arrives to call off the attack. Lin Wan, now jealous of his wife’s relationship with Mak-yin, orders his bodyguard to kill him. Later that night Tit-yee attacks Mak-yin and wounds him but he barely manages to escape.
He is then found by Yuen Kei who lets him stay at her house and nurses him back to health. Yuen Kei receives a message that Chin-shu’s daughter has been kidnapped by an enemy to lure him out to fight. Mak-yin agrees to save Chin-shu’s daughter as a way to thank Yuen Kei for saving him. Yuen Kei gives him the Qiwu sword to fight with. It is then revealed that Fa Ying-Chi is the daughter of Fa Chin-shu.
Mak-yin kills the enemy and safely returns her to her father. Upon meeting Chin-shu, he makes an offer to challenge him to a duel because he admires him a lot and wants to test his sword skills. Chin-shu accepts and tells him that they will duel in three days. Ying-chi feels betrayed and thinks that Mak-yin only used her to get to her father. Three days later, Mak-yin and Chin-shu duel and Mak-yin slightly wounds his opponent. Chin-shu admits defeat but Mak-yin still feels unsatisfied. Yuen Kei later reveals to Mak-yin that Chin-shu has been ill for some time.
Tit-yee sneaks into Chin-shu’s home one night as he is recovering, kills him and steals his sword, the Hanxing sword. Ying-chi believes that it was Mak-yin who killed her father and vows to avenge him. Yuen Kei, overwhelmed by guilt that she gave Mak-yin the Qiwu sword and feels responsible for Chin-shu’s death that she committed suicide. Mak-yin goes to tell Ying-chi that he couldn’t have killed her father since he didn’t wound him severely but Ying-chi doesn’t believe him. Tit-yee then arrives and attacks Mak-yin but Mak-yin kills him with the Qiwu sword. Before he dies Tit-yee reveals that Lin Wan was behind this. Mak-yin and Ying-chi go to confront Lin Wan. He admits that he had Chin-shu killed to get the Hanxing sword, now he just needs to kill Mak-yin to get the Qiwu sword so he can have two of the strongest swords in the country. After an intense battle between Mak-yin and Lin Wan with both taking damage, Mak-yin manages to kill Lin Wan. He then finds Siu-yu dead as Lin Wan had killed her. Mak-yin breaks down in tears as Ying-chi walks away without saying a word, realizing her mistake. In the final scene, Mak-yin takes the Qiwu sword to a cliff and tosses it into the ocean.
Cast
edit- Adam Cheng as Lee Mak-yin
- Norman Chui as Lin Wan
- Bonnie Ngai as Yuen Kei
- JoJo Chan as Yin Siu-yu
- Tien Feng as Fa Chin-shu
- Eddy Ko as Chan Tit-yee
- Hoi Sang Lee as Chou Huan
- Ng Tung as Wang Shi-qi
- Lau Yat-fan as Old pigeon man
- Lau Siu-ming as Caretaker
- Chui Kit as Fa Ying-chi
References
edit- ^ Sabrina Qiong Yu - Jet Li: Chinese Masculinity and Transnational Film Stardom 0748645489 2012 "Two pioneers of the Hong Kong New Wave, Tsui Hark and Patrick Tam, chose to start their directorial careers with wuxia films – The Butterfly Murders (Tsui Hark, 1979) and The Sword (Patrick Tam, 1980) –"
External links
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