Boxer Rebellion is a 1976 Shaw Brothers film directed by Chang Cheh, starring Alexander Fu Sheng, Chi Kuan-chun and Leung Kar-yan as a trio of sworn brothers caught during the titular Boxer Rebellion, when the Eight-Nation Alliance invades Manchurian China in 1900.
Revolving around the uprising of the Boxers, their growing, cult-like influence convincing thousands and thousands of peasants to purge Western influence out of China, then under Empress Dowager's rule, had resulted in retaliation from the various foreign nations occupying the Far East. The Alliance of Eight Invading Nations, consisting of Japan, Russia, England, France, Germany, the United States, Italy and Austria-Hungary had decided to use the Boxer's presence as an excuse to launch their invasion, and three martial artists and Shaolin practitioners - Tsang Hin-Hon, Shuai Fang-Yun and Chen Chang - are inevitably caught in the heat of war.
Compare and contrast 55 Days at Peking.
Tropers Rebellion:
- Affably Evil: General Waldersee, who maintains a degree of respect towards Tsang and Shuai, even allowing them to leave the besieged capital unharmed without sending his troops after them.
- Bayonet Ya: Most of the invading foreigners uses bayonets, resulting in plenty of bayonet-stabbing action.
- Bittersweet Ending: There is nothing the heroes Tsang Hin-Hon, Shuai Fang-Yun and Chen Chang can do for Peking. The city is captured after the war, and the best outcome they have is fleeing to the outskirts to begin a whole new life for themselves.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Each faction of the invaders wears different-colored uniforms; white for the Japanese, black for Germans, red for British, and so on.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: The heroes can take on massive numbers of gun-wielding foreign soldiers, simply with their kung-fu... if the script calls for it.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Boxers' first assault on the Japanese is a total catastrophe, suffering hundreds of casualties onscreen while barely taking down a fraction of the Japanese. Their numbers and training doesn't mean a thing considering their enemies have heavy machine-guns...
- Dressing as the Enemy: Tsang and Chuai, after the fall of Peking, dons disguises from Japanese soldiers to blend in with the invaders, which are too busy looting the ruins of the city. And also tricking a platoon of Germans into starting a firefight against several Japanese soldiers.
- Epic Movie: This is pretty much director Chang Cheh's vision of the film, depicting the real-life fall of Peking under the Manchurian government in the hands of invaders, based on a real-life event. Chang stated in his memoirs that he "he really poured his heart into Boxer Rebellion ", and given the amount of sets and extras, the sheer scale of it's action scenes, and having a runtime of over two hours, it shows.
- Groin Attack: Tsang finishes off a Japanese soldier after subduing him by kicking his nuts in.
- Historical Villain Downgrade: On both sides, the titular boxers, and the invaders.
- Real-life members of the Boxer Rebellion are willing to openly attack Western missionaries on sight and commit wanton acts of massacre for no reason, due to their members' indoctrination since recruitment, which aren't shown in the film.
- The movie severely downplays the involvement of the eight nations involved in the invasion, mostly with the Japanese and Germans being depicted as masterminds of the assault.
- The Mole: Li Jung-Ching, appearing to be allied with the three sworn brothers, is actually a traitor and informant willing to sell out his country.
- Self-Destructive Charge: The titular Boxers have trained their entire lives to battle foreign invaders, have the courage, determination, their leader whipping them into a savage frenzy the night before the invasion on the Japanese fort, having strength in numbers... and they're all equipped with peasant's weapons, such as machetes, hatchets, short swords and spears. The Japanese have machine-guns. It goes as horribly as expected.
- Set a Mook to Kill a Mook: Tsang and Chuai, disguised as Japanese soldiers, deliberately guns down a couple of passing Germans, having the entire German platoon chasing after them. The Germans then ends up running into another unrelated, real Japanese troop... and proceed to fire upon each other.
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: On the real-life Siege of the International Legations
in 1900. With the story focusing on three best friends being caught in the fall of their home country.
