The One-Armed Swordsmen is a 1976 wuxia movie starring Jimmy Wang Yu and David Chiang as the titular one-armed warriors. Despite the return of both star actors, this installment is not a sequel to Yu and Chiang's prior One-Armed Swordsman stories as they both play new characters.
In this movie, a mysterious villain is assassinating martial artists in a village with his missing arm as the only clue to his identity. Given the many different one-armed warriors in said village, there are many suspects for the mystery killer.
This film provides examples of:
- Casting Gag:
- Fong Ping and Li Hao are the titular swordsmen respectively played by Jimmy Wang Yu and David Chiang, the titular stars of One-Armed Swordsman and The New One-Armed Swordsman.
- Lo Lieh, who played a minor villain in One-Armed Swordsman, is the villain once more in this movie.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: During the scene where Fong Ping and Li Hao fight each other, how do audiences tell them apart, considering they're both swordsmen short of an arm and using identical swords? Well, Fong Ping wears black and Li Hao wears white.
- Die, Chair, Die!: Fong Ping, when confronted by a group of thugs during the tavern fight, simply draws his sword, makes a few flashy moves, and a second later a table near him collapses and falls apart.
- Eye-Obscuring Hat: Fong Ping's wide-brimmed straw hat, which covers his forehead and eyes.
- Gratuitous Ninja: Some of the enemy fighters in this installment are clad in ninja outfits, including face-obscuring masks.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Played straight during the tavern fight. The bandits attacking Fong Ping and Li Hao are armed with all kinds of weapons, including clubs, halberds, spears and chains, while Fong Ping and Li Hao use their trusty swords.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Fong Ping and Li Hao. in that order.
- The Snack Is More Interesting: Fong Ping and Li Hao casually sip on their wine while nimbly dodging multiple mooks' unsuccessful attempts to attack them. After finishing off the last mook, both of them actually did a "cheers" toast with each other!
- Whodunnit: The villain is a one-armed swordsman just like the protagonists, and his identity is not revealed until the climax.
