Ti Lung's first leading role, and he's got the abs to prove it.
King Eagle is a 1971 Shaw Brothers film directed by Chang Cheh, and is notably Ti Lung's very first starring role, after all his earlier films are as extras or playing second fiddle to his best friend/frequent co-star, David Chiang.
When Chin-fu (Lung), the legendary King Eagle, saves a clan leader from an assassination attempt, he ends up being dragged into a clan war after both the clan leaders' daughters fell for him (the Shaw Brothers' resident "deadly doll" at the time, Li Ching, notably plays both sisters).
King Troper:
- Always Identical Twins: The sisters 7th Chief An Yuk-Lin and 8th Chief An Bing-er.
- Fearful Symmetry: When the twin An sisters fights each other and clashes, one frame is shot in this manner. This one
◊ to be precise. - Hero of Another Story: There are plenty of swordsmen and warriors in the story who were skilled in their own right, but doesn't get featured as prominently as the protagonist Chin-fu. Special mention to Fu-Er, the warrior in the opening sequence who kicks plenty of ass but then dies before the opening titles.
- Hook Hand: One of the bandit leaders have a hook where his left hand used to be.
- Human Shield: In the final battle, Chin-Fu grabs a random mook as shield against a dozen poisoned darts.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: The fate of the villainous sister, An Yuk-lin, by having her throat clawed out by one of her underlings.
- Kid Amid the Chaos: In the middle of a battle in the streets, an out-of-control wheelbarrow ends up rolling down a slope and nearly crushes a little girl that for some reason is still loitering about outside (despite how everywhere is deserted due to the presence of multiple bandit mooks and warriors). Due to Improbable Infant Survival, the little girl survives despite having her leg pinned down by the wheels, but the same thing cannot be said for the two warriors who stopped fighting to save her.
- Lady in Red: Of the two An sisters, An Yuk-er wears red for the entirety of her screentime, and she is the more sultry and seductive of the two.
- Left Stuck After Attack: Downplayed, when the bandit leader whose weapon is a clawed gauntlet tries to take a swipe at Chin-fu, Chin-fu dodges it and causes his opponent's weapon to get stuck on a tabletop. The bandit simply rips the tabletop off.
- Mirror Match: Invoked, when the twin sisters An Yuk-Lin and An Bing-er take son each other in a Sword Fight. They're both played by the same actress, by the way.
- Power Fist: One of the bandit leaders Chin-fu battles wears a spiked gauntlet with metal claws adorning his fingers.
- Red Baron: Chin-fei the swordsman is known in the martial arts world as the titular "King Eagle".
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The sisters, An Yuk-lin and An Bing-er. See Lady in Red for a hint to tell which sister belongs to which trope.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: This being a movie with Ti Lung in it, that's a requirement. Here, he gets to show off his abs while nursing his injuries near a lake.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Fu-Er, the swordsman who gets killed in the Action Prologue. He only has a handful of lines, kills maybe ten mooks before he expires, and is quickly forgotten afterwards.
- Wire Fu: Which allows Chin-fu to leap all over the place, much like flying, befitting his nickname the "King Eagle".
- Wuxia
