That sword's not golden!
The Golden Sword is a 1969 Wuxia film produced by Shaw Brothers, starring Cheng Pei-Pei and Kao Yuen. Unusually for a movie of this type starring Cheng Pei-pei, the movie emphasizes more on dramatic elements and feels more like a conspiracy thriller rather than the straightforward ass-kicking martial arts movies Cheng was known for at that time of her career.
A swordsman, Yu-feng (Kao Yuen), is travelling through the snowy northern lands of China seeking his long-lost father, before meeting Jin-feng (Cheng), daughter of a powerful beggar clan ruling the north. They inexplicably falls for each other while facing off an ambush from three deadly murderers who wants them dead, and she decides to follow him along with his quest which will take years and years...
The movie is notably one of Sammo Hung's earlier roles, as an uncredited extra in one fight scene.
The Golden Sword provides the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Jin-feng, as portrayed by classic Cheng Pei-pei.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Yu-long is polite, friendly, charming, a Nice Guy in general, who offers food and shelter to Jin-feng when he assumes she’s just a lonely beggar, and he kicks plenty of ass when needed, as well as being capable of taking plenty of names in swordfights.
- Blood from the Mouth: The 7th Lady dies in this way after deciding to commit suicide in the ending by hitting an inner qi pulse point in her heart.
- Dances and Balls: There’s a big dance scene when the Beggar Clan invites Yu-long and Jin-feng to spend a night with them around a fireplace.
- Diner Brawl: A typical scene in wuxia, Yu-long beats up several punks when they try to threaten him in the middle of his meal.
- Disguised in Drag: Jin-feng’s first scene where she meets Yu-long have her dressed in men’s clothing and a headscarf hiding her hair. She remains silent even when Yu-long addresses her as "young man" and invites her to ride along with him.
- Disappeared Dad: Yu-long’s quest have him travelling through the land to seek his long-lost father, for the past 10 years.
- The Dreaded: The Three Cripples. When crashing the party of the beggar clan, the moment the trio reveal themselves, everyone present in that scene immediately falls silent.Clan Leader: "You’re the Three Cripples!"Everybody Else: (Stunned Silence)
- Dual Wield:
- Two of the three members of the Three Cripples uses two weapons. Their one-eyed leader uses dual spiked clubs and the disfigured middle one uses two Deadly Disc. Of course, the one-armed youngest member doesn’t follow this trope due to having only one arm.
- Jin-feng herself uses twin curved blades, during the scene where she challenges and absolutely destroys the Three Cripples.
- Eyedscreen: The scene where Jin-feng confronts the cavalier leader have the camera focusing up close on their eyes, firstly on hers, and then his.
- Gratuitous Ninja: The Elite Mook soldiers of the Dragon Gate clan are all clad in black, wearing face-concealing masks and can fly through the air just by leaping. They’re practically ninjas without being explicitly referred by name.
- Grim Up North: Much like another Cheng Pei-pei wuxia, Shadow Whip, the entirety of this film is also set in the Northern Chinese border where it’s cold and snow-covered throughout the year.
- Handicapped Badass: The Three Cripples, a trio of mercenaries and vicious murderers who are crippled In Name Only. They respectively lack an eye, an arm, and a half a face, but can kick all kinds of ass and are perfectly capable of leaving behind dead bodies everywhere they go.
- Improbable Chopsticks Skill: Yu-long displays some impressive skills with his chopsticks by using it to grab a mook’s sword being swung towards him, and holding it in place.
- In a Single Bound: This being a wuxia, most characters can leap twenty feet into the air with a single leap. Yu-long notably can jump from ground level to his second-storey bedroom while carrying Jin-feng on his back.
- Lady of War: The 7th Lady who leads the Dragon Gate Clan.
- Latex Perfection: The seemingly innocuous Keeper Pang turns out to be Lu the Saintly Swordsman, a warrior assumed dead after being missing for 30 years, who had infiltrated the camp under the guise of a common old man with a latex mask over his face.
- Mugging the Monster: A bunch of thugs in the tavern tries to intimidate Yu-long, and ends up having him beat the snot out of all of them. With only a pair of chopsticks as his weapon.
- Nice to the Waiter: Yu-long, in the tavern scene after beating up mooks.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Jin-feng, when posing as a simple-minded, if inquisitive beggar, whose mannerisms resembles a complete simpleton. But when the Three Cripples tries challenging her, they learn the hard way why they should Beware the Silly Ones.
- One-Armed Warrior: One of the Three Cripples is down an arm, but is still every bit as much of a vicious killer as his companions.
- Piggyback Cute: Happens during the inn scene where Yu-long finds Jin-feng shivering in the cold outside, and he offers to carry her up to his own room. All this happens without him realizing she’s actually a woman.
- Samus Is a Girl: Yu-long, after discovering Jin-feng’s true identity the following morning after spending a night together with the beggar clan.
- Snake Pit: The Dragon Gate clan had a pit full of serpents littered with skeletons of their previously-disposed prisoners, which they threaten to drop members of the beggar clan into during the interrogation scene.
- Split Screen: Used in a Time-Passes Montage depicting Jin-feng and Yu-long travelling through the land, where the screen shows them going through FIVE
◊ settings simultaneously. - Terrible Trio: Among the villains are a trio of brothers called the Three Cripples, whom are three disfigured killers clad entirely in black, uses unique weapons and kills plenty of challengers who crosses their paths.
- White Shirt of Death: The 7th Lady wears an entirely white long robe, which ends up getting stained with her own blood flowing out her mouth as she expires.
- Wire Fu
- Wuxia
