The Winged Tiger is a 1971 Shaw Brothers martial arts film starring Chan Hung-lit.
A manual written by the King of the Martial World, containing the ultimate knowledge of becoming a supreme and invincible fighter, has been revealed to the public. To prevent the manual from falling into the wrong hands, the King had it separated into halves, consisting of odd and even numbered pages; and the Flying Hero Guo Jiou Ru is determined to track down both halves before a ruthless warlord named the King of Hades can retrieve them.
David Chiang, fresh off the height of his career in the critically acclaimed Vengeance! (1970) and the box office hit The Heroic Ones, shows up in this film, surprisingly as a bit henchman who opposes the hero, a rarity at that point of his career.
Contains Examples of:
- Cape Wings: Flying Hero Guo Jiou Ru got his name from the capes built in his robes, which allows him to glide after leaping into the air.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: In the final battle, Flying Hero Guo is the only one who wears white, while King of Hades and his mooks all wears black or dark brown. Subverted when Flying Hero Guo duels Golden Face and Jade Face, with all of them wearing white.
- Decoy Protagonist: The film begins with an Action Prologue featuring the first Winged Tiger, Teng Fei, effortlessly killing a band of challengers, setting him up to be the titular hero. Only that's not the case, shortly afterwards Flying Hero Guo Jiou Ru comes over to challenge him. Soon afterwards, Teng Fei is dead, and Flying Hero Guo is the new Winged Tiger.
- Dual Wielding: Both Winged Tigers wield twin daggers in their fights, easily taking names every time.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": While the film's prominent characters all have names, they simply go by their nicknames most of the time instead. Not only does this apply to the film's hero, but also to Jade Face Bai Yun-sheng, Iron Hand Zhao Bi, Golden Face Liu Kun and the first Winged Tiger, Teng Fei.
- Fake Ultimate Mook: Jade Face, played by David Chiang, who gets plenty of screentime, is shown having plenty of authority among the King of Hades' minions, is hyped up to be a dangerous opponent... and in the final battle, he gets run through the midsection by Flying Hero Guo's sword without putting up much of a fight.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Golden Face Liu Kun and Jade Face Bai Yun-sheng by Flying Hero Guo.
- In a Single Bound: Another wuxia film that follows this trope to a T, although this one is justified by Flying Hero Guo having a hidden cape in his golden robes which catches air for him, allowing him to glide after jumping off a great height.
- Light Is Not Good: Played straight with Jade Face, The Dragon, who is dressed in white robes, an albino, and frequently carries a white folding fan.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Big Bad is called Master Yin, the King of Hades.
- One-Man Army: Flying Hero Guo can take down plenty of mooks all by himself.
- Protagonist Title: Flying Hero Guo Jiou Ru is the titular Winged Tiger.
- Single-Stroke Battle: The finale when Flying Hero Guo and the King of Hades stares down at each other after a lengthy fight, each holding a sword, and charges ahead. Flying Hero Guo wins by impaling the King of Hades fatally.
- Sword Cane: One of the King of Hades' henchman, You Ming, uses his walking stick which hides an extendable blade as a weapon in the final battle.
- Wuxia
- You Kill It, You Bought It: Flying Hero Guo becomes the new legendary Winged Tiger after killing the former holder of the title.
