The Brave and the Evil is a 1971 Taiwanese Martial Arts Movie directed by and starring Jimmy Wang Yu and Polly Shang Guan.
A legion of bandits led by Master Chou terrorizes the countryside. When a legion of cavaliers transporting a shipment of silver to the city are assaulted by Chou's minions, with the silver robbed and every member of the cavaliers massacred, the daughter of the cavalier leader, Hung Tien-Chiao (Polly Shang) vows revenge. Along the way she stumbles into Iron Palm Ma (Jimmy), a swordsman who had his own score to settle with the bandits.
Now multiple movies deep into his career, his status as an icon of martial arts established, and taking a stab directing, one can only expect how death-heavy a movie from Jimmy "Human Thresher" / "Body-bag Filler" / "Man-shaped Murder Machine" Wang-yu can get, couldn't they?
NOTE: Try playing a Drinking Game with a friend, for every time Jimmy Wang-yu / Polly Shang-kwan killed a mook. A conservative estimate of 80 shots (each) before the end credits start rolling sounds about right...
The Troper and the Evil:
- Action Girl: Lady Hung Tien-Chiao, daughter of the deceased Master Hung, who can kick as much ass as Iron Palm Bai.
- Actor Allusion: In the final battle, Iron Palm managed to overpower Master Chou using a sword-lock, disabling his opponent allowing Iron Palm to go for the kill. Incidentally enough, Jimmy's breakthrough role in One-Armed Swordsman have him trying to overcome an identical sword-lock.
- Badass in Distress: Right before the third act, Lady Hung Tien-Chiao gets captured alive by the bandits, is put through Cold-Blooded Torture, and needs to be saved by Iron Palm. And even as he got her out, he cannot prevent her from succumbing to her injuries.
- Big Badass Battle Sequence: The movie opens with a big battle scene when Master Chou and his bandits ambush Master Hung's cavaliers for the silver in their carriage, with plenty of onscreen deaths right away in the first half of the movie, culminating in Master Chou and his entire platoon of cavaliers dying in battle. It gets progressively bloodier from that point.
- Braids of Action: Lady Hung Tien-Chiao has two running down either sides
of her neck. - Carry a Big Stick: While fighting Chou's minions, Hung Tien-Chiao has to contend with a number of bandits armed with spiked staffs. She managed to retrieve a spiked staff for herself and use it to smack down a row of enemies.
- Dual Wielding: All three Mook Lieutenant Bandits use weapons on both hands.
- Eyepatch of Power: Iron Palm's getup for infiltrating the bandit fortress involes having an eyepatch over his right eye. And to prevent his disguise from being exposed, he even pasted a fake wax injury under that eyepatch, making it look like he's really blinded in his right eye.
- Fearful Symmetry: Seen in the final duel between Iron Palm and Master Chou. Doesn't it look cool?
- Impostor-Exposing Test: Attempted, when Iron Palm infiltrates Master Chou's legions disguised as a bandit leader with an eyepatch, one of Master Chou's first requests is for Iron Palm to remove his eyepatch. Luckily Iron Palm is smart enough to have a fake eye injury pasted under that patch.
- Imposter Forgot One Detail: Completely averted. The imposter thought of every detail. (See above)
- Money Mauling: After Iron Palm defeats Bandit Li Erh-You, he takes out the five silver pieces Li gave him much earlier in the film... and hurls them all into Li's face, impaling his forehead and cheeks with coins. Which somehow kills him.
- Keystone Army: After Iron Palm ultimately kills Master Chou, the remaining bandits in the fortress doesn't pursue Iron Palm, instead allowing him to leave.
- Knows the Ropes: Hung Tien-Chiao, while fighting against a legion of bandits, faces a few of them who attacks her using flaming, burning ropes. They come from each corner of the courtyard in an attempt to entangle her using those, which she barely managed to escape from suffering burns in the process.
- Mook Lieutenant: There are three lieutenants among Master Chou's henchmen, Bandit Hsi Fei, Bandit Li Erh-You and Bandit Liu Piao, whom are constantly seen leading lesser minions in attacking.
- One-Man Army: Both Iron Palm and Hung Tien-Chiao can fight dozens of enemies at once, each of them taking names by the multiple dozens.
- Storming the Castle: Iron Palm Bai at the end of the movie, charging into Master Chou's fort alone and killing everyone there, after Hung Tien-chao's death.
- What a Drag: Hung Tien-Chiao's first onscreen kill, one of the bandit leaders which she cathces in the neck via lasso, and then drag him behind her horse for a distance killing him.
- Whip Sword: Iron Palm's preferred weapon is his trusty belt-sword, tucked in his clothing, which proves to be extremely useful for ambushes.
- You Killed My Father: Lady Hung Tien-Chiao's reason for trying to kill Master Chou, is to avenge her father who died in the ambush caused by Chou and his bandits.
- Zerg Rush: Attempted by the lesser bandit mooks when it comes to fighting Hung Tien-chiao or Iron Palm. It doesn't work, but it does allow the two main characters to add multiple dozens to their respective kill-tallies.
