History Film / MasterOfTheFlyingGuillotine

* PublicDomainSoundtrack: Most of the film's soundtrack is made up of {{Krautrock}} songs, by Music/{{Neu}} and Music/{{Kraftwerk}} in particular.

Master of the Flying Guillotine is considered a classic martial arts movie and has influenced many films of the genre that followed. It enjoyed a recent surge of popularity when ''KillBill'' referenced the villain's {{leitmotif}}, an excerpt of the song "Super 16" by Neu!.

* [[FountainOfExpies Iconic Characters]]: Several characters actually went on to be {{Expy}}s in other martial arts movies. Some of them got [[{{Expy}} expied]] into {{Fighting Game}}s making this a very influential film.

The film concerns Yu's one-armed martial arts master being stalked by an Imperial assassi] named Fung Sheng Wu Chi, the master of two fighters (the Tibetan Lamas) who were killed in the previous film. When the One-Armed Boxer is invited to attend a martial arts tournament, his efforts to lay low are unsuccessful when the assassin soon tracks him down with the help of his three subordinates competing in the tournament: a Thai boxer named Nai Men, an Indian named Yoga Tro La Seng, and a Japanese kobujutsu user nicknamed "'Wins-without-a-knife' Yakuma."

* IconicCharacters: Several characters actually went on to be {{Expy}}s in other martial arts movies. Some of them got [[{{Expy}} expied]] into {{Fighting Game}}s making this a very influential film.

* TryingToCatchMeFightingDirty: "Wins Without a Knife" has the decency to look shifty after pulling out his {gasp!) knife.

* {{Leimotif}}: Fung Sheng Wu Chi has a grinding, droning theme song taken from a song by the Krautrock band Neu! that is quite noticeable for a period martial arts film.

* FiveBadBand: Well, Four Bad Band at least.
** BigBad: Fung Sheng Wu Chi, the eponymous master of the flying guillotine
** TheDragon: Nai Men, the young Thai boxer who comes off as closest to Fung Sheng Wu Chi's right hand man.
** TheEvilGenius: "Wins without a knife" Yakuma, relying more on [[TryingToCatchMeFightingDirty trickery]] than on physical power or martial arts skill to win.
** TheDarkChick: Yoga Tro La Seng, standing apart from the group through being the only one showing [[ExtendableArms powers]] other than improbably cool martial arts skills.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin
* ExtendableArms: La Seng, the Indian fighter.

The film concerns Yu's one-armed [[MartialPacifist martial arts master]] being stalked by an [[ImprobableWeaponUser Imperial assassin]] named Fung Sheng Wu Chi, the master of two fighters (the Tibetan Lamas) who were killed in the previous film. When the One-Armed Boxer is invited to attend a martial arts tournament, his efforts to lay low are unsuccessful when the assassin soon tracks him down with the help of his three subordinates competing in the tournament: a Thai boxer named Nai Men, an Indian named Yoga Tro La Seng, and a Japanese kobujutsu user nicknamed "'Wins-without-a-knife' Yakuma."

The title refers to the assassin's unique weapon, the so-called "[[RuleOfCool Flying Guillotine]]" which resembles a hat with a bladed rim attached to a long chain. Upon enveloping one's head, the blades [[OffWithHisHead cleanly decapitate the unlucky victim]] with a quick pull of the chain.

Master of the Flying Guillotine is considered a classic martial arts movie and has influenced many films of the genre that followed, like Bloodsport. The TournamentArc trope may have its roots in this movie.

It was paid homage in Quentin Tarantino's film KillBill, which briefly used the film's droning theme music, an excerpt of the song "Super 16" by Neu!, during the House of Blue Leaves sequence.

The StreetFighter character Dhalsim's abilities also resemble those of Yoga Tro La Seng from the film, with both characters using a yoga-based fighting style and having an unnatural ability to extend their limbs to attack. The Indian is played by a Chinese man in [[BlackFace blackface]]. It's pretty surreal in the dub version see this man talking with a faux Indian accent.

''Film/TheGuillotines'' (2012) is a loose {{remake}}. This time, there's a whole squad of flying guillotine masters, secretly working for the Qing Empire by killing off dissidents the best way they can. When Tian Lang, TheMessiah of LaResistance flees their custody while capturing one of their own, it's up to the Guillotines Squad, led by Nala Leng and followed by ObstructiveBureaucrat Haidu, to track him down to a dirty little village in the barren wasteland, where the truth is waiting for them.

* AwesomeButImpractical: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os9q0VUIn9M The Flying Guillotine in]] RealLife. Though Fung Sheng Wu Chi makes it look easy to use.

* BaldOfEvil
* BeardOfEvil

* TryingToCatchMeFightingDirty

* GuiltByCoincidence: Fung Sheng Wu Chi will kill every one-armed man he comes across until someone tells him that he's got his man.

* GuiltByCoincidence

** ImprovisedWeapon

A {{Remake}} (''The Guillotines'') was released in 2012. Instead of StreetFighter, think RurouniKenshin - there's a whole squad of flying guillotine masters, secretly working for the Qing Empire by killing off dissidents the best way they can. When Tian Lang, TheMessiah of LaResistance flees their custody while capturing one of their own, it's up to the Guillotines Squad, led by Nala Leng and followed by ObstructiveBureaucrat Haidu, to track him down to a dirty little village in the barren wasteland, where the truth is waiting for them.

!! The 2012 {{Remake}}:

* ActorAllusion: Li Yuchun (Musen) played with bladed projectiles in ''FlyingSwordsOfDragonGate''.
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:One of the Guillotines is sentenced to be ripped apart by five cows. Not whipped or anything, they have to be ''pulled'' in the proper direction by farmers. Possibly the most boring display of LaserGuidedKarma ever.]]
* AndThatLittleGirlWasMe:
--> '''Tian Lang''': For selling that book, the father was sentenced to DeathByAThousandCuts, and his four sons were to be beheaded. Except for the youngest, who was just turned 16, and spared the blade... but how could the boy live on, when all his family was gone? ''And yet, I did''.
* ChekovsGun: The papercuts decorating the village turn out to be a cipher - covering the coded letters with them reveals the hidden message.
* DevilInPlainSight: Leng's childhood friend Haidu, now a regular Imperial officer, assigned to observe the Guillotines on their sortie. They don't trust him for a moment. [[spoiler:And they were right.]]
* TheDungAges: The little village, filled with nothing but Han Chinese refugees forced out of their lands by the Manchurian Empire, is ''particularly'' dingy.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:The surviving Guillotines.]]
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Tian Lang believes the Qing army's massacre of refugees can only be appeased with his death.]]
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:...sadly it doesn't prevent them from finishing off the Guillotines squad. Leng may have survived, but it's implied he's next.]]
* MundaneUtility: One of the Guillotines kills time by throwing rocks across water, which ''skip about twenty times.''
* OrphanageOfFear: The Guillotines Squad is chosen from orphans and trained to kill all their lives. In a huge subversion, the Guillotines squad turns out to be anything but apathetic in private (they're still killing machines mind you).
* RemakeCameo: More of a Remake Supporting Role for Wang Yu, the chief of the Guillotines squad.
* ShowWithinAShow: The shadow puppet shows about Tian Lang could count.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: The Guillotine squad's token DarkActionGirl Musen.
* SoLastSeason: Invoked as a plot point. The Qing Empire has been planning to phase out the Guillotines and introduce ''firearms.''
* TechnologyPorn: How the flying guillotines work.
* ThrowTheDogABone: One of the Guillotines gets pickpocketed, and responds violently - until he realises the bugger has several children to feed, and takes back just his ID, leaving them the money.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Tian Lang, claiming to be TheMessiah, has long hair and facial hair that make him look like {{Jesus}}. There's even a robe that may remind some of the poster for TheGreatestStoryEverTold. As if to nail it home, he's shown claiming he will return when they haul him off to be executed. (It's done with a jailbreak, but still.)

** ''MythBusters'' took a crack at creating a functional Flying Guillotine as well. Tory actually gets one to work, though it's not nearly as elegant. They said it'd be a good assassin's weapon, but not a particularly good combat one.

A {{Remake}} (''The Guillotines'') was released in 2012. Instead of StreetFighter, think RurouniKenshin - there's a whole squad of flying guillotine masters, secretly working for the Qing Empire by killing off dissidents the best way they can. When Tian Lang, TheMessiah of LaResistance flees their custody while capturing one of their own, it's up to the Guillotines Squad, led by Nala Leng and followed by ObstructiveBureaucrat Tuohai, to track him down to a dirty little village in the barren wasteland, where the truth is waiting for them.

* DevilInPlainSight: Leng's childhood friend Touhai, now a regular Imperial officer, assigned to observe the Guillotines on their sortie. They don't trust him for a moment. [[spoiler:And they were right.]]

A {{Remake}} (''The Guillotines'') was released in 2012. Instead of StreetFighter, think RurouniKenshin - there's a whole squad of flying guillotine masters, secretly working for the Qing Empire by killing off dissidents the best way they can. When Tian Lang, TheMessiah of LaResistance flees their custody while capturing one of their own, it's up to the Guillotines Squad, led by Nala Leng and followed by ObstructiveBeaurecrat Tuohai, to track him down to a dirty little village in the barren wasteland, where the truth is waiting for them.

A {{Remake}} (''The Guillotines'') was released in 2012. Instead of StreetFighter, think RurouniKenshin - there's a whole squad of flying guillotine masters, secretly working for the Qing Empire by killing off dissidents the best way they can. When Tian Lang, TheMessiah of LaResistance flees their custody while capturing one of their own, it's up to the Guillotines Squad to track him down to a dirty little village in the barren wasteland, where the truth is waiting for them.

* TheDungAges: That little village is ''particularly'' dingy.

A {{Remake}} (''The Guillotines'') was released in 2012. Instead of StreetFighter, think RurouniKenshin - there's a whole squad of flying guillotine masters, secretly working for the Qing Empire by killing off dissidents the best way they can. When TheMessiah of LaResistance flees their custody while capturing one of their own, it's up to the Guillotines Squad to track him down to a dirty little village in the barren wasteland, where the truth is waiting for them.

A {{Remake}} (''The Guillotines'') was released in 2012.