The Fate Of Lee Khan (1973) - A Review

 

The Fate Of Lee Khan is an artistic wuxia film.

The Fate Of Lee Khan is a Hong Kong wuxia movie released in 1973, and stars Li Li-hua, Ying Bai, Tien Feng, Angela Mao Ying, Hsu Feng, Roy Chiao, Wei Ping-Ao, and Han Ying-chieh. The legendary King Hu directed the movie, with Sammo Hung as martial arts director.

These women kick so much butt!

In The Fate Of Lee Khan, Li Li-hua plays Wan Jen-Mi, the innkeeper of the Spring Inn in the Shaanxi province of China. She is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Mongol General Lee Khan (played by Tien Feng) and his crew; his sister Lee Wan-erh (played by Hsu Feng) and his second in command, Tsao Yu-kun (played by Roy Chiao). Lee Khan is traveling to the Spring Inn to get a map that reveals the location of the Chinese rebel forces that were stolen. Wan Jen-Mi has four women (Angela Mao plays one of them named Hai Mu-tan) who serve as waitresses at the inn, and they put up with a lot of unruly customers.

Three customers are particularly noteworthy: Wang Shih Cheng (played by Ying Bai) is the most civil, polite, and generous customer there. Wen Mei-Chi (played by Wei Ping-Ao) is a rude, drunk, and horny old man constantly grabbing at the waitresses. Sha Yuan Shan (played by Han Ying-chieh) is an incredibly rude traveling musician. As you can guess, almost every person in the inn is not who they say they are...

Lee Khan (in the middle) and his sister are quite the intelligent villains.

The Fate Of Lee Khan is a classic King Hu film. King Hu is a well respected Hong Kong movie director, writer, and actor who gets compared to Akira Kurosawa. You can see in this movie how talented he is. The acting is really good! Very realistic, subtle performances. The cinematography is excellent as well. Even though most of the movie takes place in the inn, the way it is shot and all the colors on display never make it boring. The scenes shot outside are great as well, the final battle takes place on a beautiful mountain side. The story (which was written by King Hu and Chung Wang) is very interesting. It held my attention the whole time, and there are no superfluous scenes. This movie is really good!

I will admit, back in the day, I always avoided renting this movie at the local video rental store. Looking at the cover and reading the description, I thought it was going to be an old-fashioned boring movie. Decades later, I find out I was wrong! It is old-fashioned in some respects, but in a good way.

Angela Mao showing who's boss at the inn!

Admittedly, there is not that much action in this movie. What action there is, is pretty decent. The legendary Sammo Hung choreographed the fighting in this movie. Since this is a wuxia film (think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), all of the fights involve swords or other weapons. The characters don't fly around like in many other wuxia movies, but they do jump a lot, and they jump two stories and above with ease! It is cool to see them do those jumps without wires as well (trampolines were used).

This movie was made early in Sammo's choreography career, so it isn't what you would think of as Sammo Hung-style fights. There are some trademark hard hits in the final fight scene, though! Angela Mao (she played Bruce Lee's sister in Enter The Dragon) gets to strut her stuff in this movie, especially in the finale. Hsu Feng as Lee Khan's sister is especially vicious in her fight scenes (as well as in her character). The fights aren't intricately choreographed, but they are still fun to watch. It is cool to see early Sammo choreography, and how much he evolved in such a short time.

In conclusion, The Fate Of Lee Khan is an interesting, compelling movie. I do recommend it, heartily! Just be warned that it is not full of action, it is a movie filled with tension. The action is good, but it is not the modern Hong Kong style we all know and love. Watch this movie to see what King Hu is all about!

Reviewed by David Williams