The Sentimental Swordsman is a 1977 wuxia film written and directed by Chor Yuen and produced by Shaw Brothers. Based on the Xiaoli Fei-dao (小李飛刀 "Li, the Little Flying Dagger") Taiwanese bestselling series of novels by the writer Gu Long, the movie chronicles the adventures of the eponymous martial artist and swordsman, Li Hsun-huan, known as "Li the Little Flying Dagger". Boasting a massive cast from Shaw Brothers' stable of actors, including Ti Lung, Derek Yee, Yueh Hua, Alexander Fu Sheng, Kara Wai, Li Ching, Fan Mei-sheng, Anthony Liu and several more, the movie is a box office success, known for being the highest-grossing Shaw Brothers film in the studio's history, spawning a sequel and an In Name Only follow-up.
The legendary warrior, Li Hsun-huan (Ti Lung), known from his moniker "Flying Dagger Li", was once a famed martial artist and warrior of the jiang hu, but after losing the woman he loves because of his pride, he have since given up his dreams and plans for becoming the top of all martial artists. Roaming the lands with his protégé, Ah Fei (Derek Yee), Li have to contend with the old rivals of his past while being reluctantly dragged into a martial arts conspiracy, namely one revolving around the ownership of an indestructible, all-powerful, yet weightless armoured shirt. And on top of the list of martial arts rivals after him, is the dreaded Master Long Xiao Yun (Yueh Hua).
Unusually for Shaw Brothers, despite the film's success, a sequel was released four years later in 1981 (a somewhat long gap, considering they tend to release follow-up movies between 6 months and 2 years apart), creatively titled Return of the Sentimental Swordsman. This time, Li Hsun-huan and Ah Fei are challenged by another elite assassin, Jing Wuming (Fu Sheng), who originally wants Li dead, but soon they're forced to put their differences aside to battle the powerful Money Clan.
The third and last movie, Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman, released a year later in 1982, somehow doesn't have Ti Lung's character, Li Hsun-huan, from the first two movies. Instead, Ti Lung plays Chu Liu-xiang, a character he portrayed earlier from Clans Of Intrigue, which was somehow (for reasons unknown for over four decades) transplanted into The Sentimental Swordsman installment of films. If one were to consider the films to be in the same universe, then this could be Shaw Brothers' attempts at Canon Welding between two otherwise unrelated roles from one of their leading men, Ti Lung, from two originally unrelated franchises.
The Sentimental Swordsman movies contains examples of:
- Addled Addict: Part of Li Hsun-huan's backstory; after forsaking the woman he loves because of his pride, Li can only find comfort in alcohol. See one line below.
- The Alcoholic: Li Hsu-huan tends to spend most of his time not kicking ass drinking himself under the table in taverns. Unfortunately, most of his challengers tends to find and confront him while he's deep in booze.
- Badass Cape: Li Hsun-huan dons a magnificent black cape that matches his clothing. Most of his opponents have similar capes as well, which is pretty much a given for wuxia.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Most named characters wears ornate, coloured robes for ease of differentiation, but the Return of the Sentimental Swordsman have a rather blatant moment where the black-clad Li Hsun-huan fights Lu Fengxian the White Gown in a snowy arena. The black and white juxtaposition really sticks out.
- Combat Hand Fan: Li Hsun-huan's preferred weapon when he's not using throwing knives.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Played straight with Li Hsun-huan's preference of dark robes and capes.
- Enemy Mine: In two movies, Li Hsun-huan have to ally himself with assassins otherwise sent to kill him - Long Xiao-yun in The Sentimental Swordsman, Jing Wuming in Return of the Sentimental Swordsman - because they're facing the same enemy.
- Ensemble Cast: Ti Lung, Derek Yee, Yueh Hua, Alexander Fu Sheng, and practically every major name in Shaw Brothers plays a major role in these movies.
- Gratuitous Ninja: Numerous mooks in the first movie are dressed up as ninjas, usually in night ambush scenes.
- Grim Up North: Much of both movies is set in the Chinese-Mongolian border, where it's constantly in the winter.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Li Hsun-huan is a devil with throwing knives, never missing a single shot. He's even good with knife-shaped objects, like an icicle.
- Improvised Weapon: In the first movie, villain Long Xiao-yun managed to counter Li Hsun-huan's throwing knife attacks with a magnetic shield. But Li managed to get around it by throwing an icicle together with his last knife, killing his opponent via ice in the throat.
- In a Single Bound: Li Hsun-huan, and basically every named martial artist character, can traverse long distances with a single leap.
- In Name Only: Perils of the Sentimental Swordsman, despite the title and having Ti Lung in the titular role, does not feature Li Hsun-huan at all; instead the movie features Chu Liu-xiang, another swordsman character portrayed by Lung. Presumably there is a confusion among Shaw Brothers' higher-ups regarding the character and roles, resulting in another Ti Lung character from a different franchise getting transplanted into the otherwise unrelated Sentimental Swordsman series.
- Kick the Dog: A rather literal example in Return of the Sentimental Swordsman; Li Hsun-huan tries convincing several of his companions that they've been set up in a tavern, and the meat buns they're being served are actually poisoned, by throwing one of those to a random passing dog. Sure enough, the dog gets poisoned and killed on the spot.
- The Lancer: Ah Fei, the plucky Tag Along Kid sidekick character from the first two films, a young martial artist who follows Li Hsun-huan for his own reasons. He can hold his own exceptionally well even in big fight scenes and has the second most amount of character development after Li Hsun-huan.
- Logical Weakness: Played with in the climatic duel of The Sentimental Swordsman; in the final battle, Long Xiao Yun managed to counter Li Hsun-huan's throwing knives with a magnetic shield, which absorbs every knife Li had flung towards his direction. So when the fight inevitably leads outside, Li throws his last knife - together with an icicle - at Long Xiao Yun. The magnetic shield catches the knife, but the icicle goes into Long's throat.
- Of Corpse He's Alive: The first movie has a scene where Li Hsun-huan and his travelling companions enters a tavern full of people, but for some reason is entirely quiet, with the occupants merely sitting in circles, nobody touching their foods. Then Li notes that everybody's dead - they're merely propped in their seats to look like they're alive, because it's a trap.
- Poisoned Weapons: The swords and daggers of the Black Snake cult members are tainted by snake venom.
- Protagonist Title: The Sentimental Swordsman refers to Li Hsun-huan.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Long Xiao-Yun, the main villain and Li's final opponent of the first movie, wears pink.
- Red Baron: The hero's name is Li Hsun-huan, but everyone who knew him, allies and enemies alike, all calls him "Flying Dagger Li".
- Revenge of the Sequel: Close enough, with Return of the Sentimental Swordsman.
- Snakes Are Sinister: The first movie features the villainous Black Snake Sect, whose motif are based on snakes, and frequently use snake venoms in their weapons to poison their enemies.
- Sword Fight: No wuxia is complete without at least a dozen of these.
- Walking the Earth: Most of Li Hsun-huan's life consists of him roaming the jiang hu seeking challenges to pass his time.
- Wuxia
