He's the one with a cap, if anyone's curious.
The Eunuch is a 1971 Shaw Brothers martial arts movie starring Chung Wa and Lisa Chiao, and long-time villain actor Jason Pai as the titular character.
Lord Kuei Teh Hai, an Imperial Eunuch bestowed full authority by the court, intends to usurp the throne and eliminate every member of the ruling family that potentially gets in his way. A young prince, Zhu-jin (Chung Wa) finds himself targeted for death by Lord Kuei and his soldiers, and must team up with the righteous swordswoman Yen Yen (Lisa) to defeat Lord Kuei.
Somewhat unusual for a movie of its type, for most of the running time the film is told from the eponymous eunuch's perspective, to the point where he's a Villain Protagonist and central character for the audience to follow.
The Eunuch contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Yen Yen, played by Lisa Chiao, who can effortlessly take down multiple of Lord Kuei's men in fight scenes.
- Antagonist Title: The title refers to Lord Kuei Teh Hai, an evil eunuch plotting to usurp the throne for himself.
- Cool Old Guy: Master Man, the Badass Teacher to Zhu-jin and Madam Kun-erh, who provides a Secret Test of Character later in the film. Both of them are elderly, but capable of kicking plenty of ass and fighting faceless mooks.
- Eunuchs Are Evil: Especially if they're given full authority of power over the court!
- Family Extermination: One that opens the film; after a failed attempt on his life, Lord Kuei finds out the official responsible personally, confronts him, and kills his entire family for good measure.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: This is the fate of the official's son early in the film, after Lord Kueh personally killed the official and his wife, by flinging the boy into the direction of a vertically-held pike. Both halves of the kid lands separately.
- Hidden Weapons: Early on in the film, a failed assassin disguised as a waiter tries to kill Lord Kuei using a blade hidden in a fish.
- Martial Arts Staff: The preferred weapon of Master Man Gongsun during training sequences, and when fighting Lord Kuei's soldiers.
- Nonchalant Dodge: Lord Kuei tends to do this durting his fight scenes, to deliberately mock his opponents' skills and show off his superiority in battle.
- Sword Fight: The ultimate Duel to the Death between Lord Kuei against Yen Yen and Zhu-jin.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Kicking works too, when Zhu-jin ultimately takes down Lord Kuei by kicking his sword into his opponent's midsection. And for good measure, nailing him with a horizontal tackle so that he ends up pinned against a wall, fifteen meters above ground level.
- Wire Fu: Typical for wuxia of its time.
- Would Hurt a Child: Lord Kuei doesn't even hesitate when killing the official's son early in the film. By vivisection.
- Wuxia
