Not to be confused with the vape brand
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.Jade Tiger is a 1977 wuxia film directed by Chor Yuen, released by Shaw Brothers, boasting several of the studios' leading stars in key roles, including Ti Lung, Yueh Hua, Lo Lieh, Shih Szu, Derek Yee, Norman Chu, and several others.
Ti Lung plays Zhao Wuji, a swordsman who, on his wedding day, caught the news of his father-in-law's assassination. Cancelling the wedding to investigate, Zhao ends up in a conspiracy between two warring clans, the Tang Family Sect led by Master Tang Ao (Yueh Hua) and the Zhao Clan, with the rules of clan successorship being inscribed in a scroll written by Zhao Wuji's father, hidden in a Jade Tiger.
Notably one of the more complicated, talky wuxia films, with more emphasis on drama and conspiracies rather than direct action. But on the other hand, there's a dude with exploding eyeballs.
Jade Tiger contains examples of:
- Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Of all the wuxias made by Chor Yuen, this is one of the more drama-orientated ones (and that's saying a lot!), with plenty of dialogue and talky scenes between all that fighting.
- Attempted Rape: Subverted. Zhong, the servant of the Zhao family, appears to be a lecher who tries to rape his paralyzed mistress, Qian-qian, before he gets interrupted. But in actuality, he's releasing the pressure point that is holding her in place so that she can escape.
- Blind Weaponmaster: Master Lu, the blind leader of the beggar clan.
- Blood from the Mouth: More than one poisoned victim ends up puking blood in this film. And occasionally in fight scenes, enemies whacked by Zhao Wuji's staff will cough up blood, too, confirming that despite using a blunt weapon, Zhao Wuji is still a capable killing machine.
- Coordinated Clothes: The Tang siblings, Tang Ao and Tang Yu (Yueh Hua and Shih Szu) are always clad in identical white robes when appearing together onscreen.
- Ending Memorial Service: For Tang Ao.
- Ensemble Cast: The entire film is filled with the Shaws' leading stars at the time, and they all have key roles in the film.
- Eye Scream: One that happens off-screen, though; audiences never see what happened to Master Liu prior to the film, but when he appears the first time, his eyes are completely missing, save for two black sockets.
- Fake Defector: Zhong, the servant of the Zhao family, appears to have betrayed his clan, but is secretly waiting for a chance to hep his mistress escape, even at the cost of his life. Too bad his masters are in the blind about his allegiance...
- Improbable Weapon User: Master Lu's choice of flung projectiles, are his own glass eyeballs, which can explode upon hitting it's target. Yes, this movie has exploding eyeball projectiles.
- In a Single Bound: This being a wuxia, expect plenty of characters defying gravity just by jumping.
- In the Back: Zhong gets skewered through the back by his own mistress, Qian-qian, who had mistook him to be a traitor, after she was freed from being paralyzed. She only realized Zhong was only pretending to be a traitor after landing the killing blow. Oops.
- MacGuffin Title
- Murder by Mistake: This is how Zhong, the loyal servant of the Zhao family, meets his end in the hands of Qian-qian, his mistress, while he's attempting to save her.
- Never Trust a Title: You might be misled by the title that the Jade Tiger is an important artifact of sorts, or some kind of plot-related MacGuffin. Natch, it's the scroll in the tiger that is important, that Zhao Wuji must get his hands on. The tiger gets smashed after showing up for a few seconds and is never mentioned for the rest of the movie.
- Poisoned Weapons: The Tang clan specializes in these, including poisoned darts, blades, projectiles, and even handy vials of liquid then can easily slip in their target's meals.
- Pressure Point: Qian-qian gets paralyzed and captured alive by Tang Chueh in this manner, having her nerve points poked which causes paralysis. She gets freed by Zhong, the loyal servant of the Zhao family who pretends to be working for the Tang Clan.
- Self-Immolation: The Challenger played by Derek Yee who, upon being defeated by Zhao Wuji, activates his inner chi which sets himself on fire, in a Better to Die than Be Killed moment.
- Sword Fight: Plenty, mostly from Tang Ao and Tang Chueh.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: This is the method used by Zhong to subdue Qian-qian's captors.
- Wedding Smashers: Zhao Wuji's father-in-law is murdered on the night of his wedding, forcing the ceremony to be cancelled as he embarks on a bitter quest to seek the killers responsible.
- We Hardly Knew Ye:
- Subverted with Dugu Sheng, the martial artists played by Norman Chu, who battles Zhao Wuji in the Action Prologue pre-opening titles. Despite his claims that the battle will be to the death, after being defeated by Zhao Wuji, Dugu Sheng is instead given a second chance to bail, at which point he leaves the film. Cue titles.
- Played straight with the Challenger, played by Derek Yee. He have a few minutes of screentime and an epic battle with Zhao Wuji... and dies after setting himself on fire in the aftermath of losing a duel, before the first act is over.
- Wuxia
