Flower Monk Lu and Lin-chong. Their spears' sizes are directly proportional to their lust for blood.
Pursuit is a 1972 Shaw Brothers film starring Yueh Hua (Come Drink With Me) and Fan Mei Sheng, based on the character Lin-chung
, from the classic 14th-Century novel The Water Margin.
Lin is a commander of his army and a decorated soldier, who returns home to his wife after years on a campaign. But the son of the local Senator, Gao Ye-nei, lusts for Lin's beautiful wife, and decides to frame Lin for theft in order to claim her for himself.
Yueh Hua would reprise his role as Lin-chung in The Water Margin, released a year later.
Pursuit contains examples of:
- All Monks Know Kung-Fu: The monks of the monastery certainly do, especially Lin-chung’s best friend and comrade, Flower Monk Lu.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Flower Monk Lu may be a huge brute, but he’s also a jolly fellow who enjoys a nice round of wine, and loves hanging out with his buddies. Just DON’T threaten his friends in front of him.
- Boxed Crook: After being framed for theft, Lin-chung ends up in this state before being saved by Lu.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Lin-chung is subjected to being brutally beaten by sticks while facing the magistrate, in an attempt to force him into his False Confession.
- Corrupt Politician: Senator Gao is willing to frame Lin-chung for murder and theft in order to get Lin out of the picture while attempting to have Lin’s wife for himself.
- Driven to Suicide: Lin-chung’s wife chose to stab herself over getting raped by Gao Ya-nei at the end of the film.
- Fat and Skinny: Flower Monk Lu and Lin-chung. They’re inseparable throughout the entire movie.
- Frame-Up: What happens to Lin-chung after the second act, arranged by Senator Gao.
- Grim Up North: Much of the movie’s second half is set in the north, which is constantly snowing and freezing. Most of the characters, from mooks to named protagonists wears heavy furs throughout the film, and one of Lin-chung’s brief fights occurs in the midst of a blizzard.
- Hate Sink: Gao Ye-nei, the son of Senator Gao, is a pervert and Spoiled Brat who believes he’s entitled to have everything. Lusting after Lin-chung’s beautiful wife, he attempts to rape her, and when Lin-chung caught him in the act and demands him to leave, Ya-nei then lies to his father Senator Gao about Lin-chung being disrespectful to the magistrate, causing Lin to be arrested and framed for theft. While Lin-chung suffers multiple rounds of torture from the corrupt officials, Gao Ya-nei continuously tries to force Lin’s wife to accept him, ultimately kidnapping her when she refuses. When Lin-chung finally escapes prison, Gao decide to simply send assassins after him, and attempts to rape Lin’s wife once again until she is Driven to Suicide. Yep, really not a nice guy…
- Human Hammer-Throw: During the rescue attempt, Flower Monk Lu, thanks to his Super-Strength, managed to send a mook flying several meters through the air simply by flinging him. Said mook ends up crashing into a tree where he gets snagged by the waist between two thick branches and dying.
- I Have Your Wife: Lin-chung’s wife gets kidnapped by Senator Gao’s minions towards the end of the film, forcing Lin to finally go on a Roaring Rampage of Rescue that entails him in killing over thirty villains in the end. He almost made it, but… the key word is, almost.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Gao Ya-nei ultimately receives the tip of Lin-chung’s silver spear through his gut, as part of his well-deserved Karmic Death.
- In the Hood: Lin-chung in the climax of the movie wears a face-obscuring fur hood over his usual clothing. And in the final scene when confronting Senator Gao, he wears a dark hood to conceal his identity.
- Kevlard: Flower Monk Lu can take hit after hit and continue in his fights, thanks to his absolutely massive gut.
- One-Word Title
- Rage Breaking Point: Lin-chung spends the entire movie being framed, oppressed, beaten up, put through torture, all which he swallows with pride. But the moment his wife gets kidnapped, he completely loses it, going after the minions of Senator Gao responsible, and end up killing dozens and dozens of them in an extended climatic finale.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Hotheaded, brutish Lu, who fights first and ask questions later is the red, calm temperamental ex-military commander Lin-chung is the blue.
