Duel to the Death | |
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![]() Theatrical poster | |
Traditional Chinese | 生死決 |
Simplified Chinese | 生死決 |
Hanyu Pinyin | Shēng Sǐ Jué |
Jyutping | Sang1 Sei2 Kyut3 |
Directed by | Ching Siu-tung |
Written by | Ching Siu-tung David Lai Manfred Wong |
Produced by | Raymond Chow |
Starring | Norman Chui Damian Lau Flora Cheong-Leen Eddy Ko |
Cinematography | Danny Lee Lau Hung-chuen |
Edited by | Peter Cheung |
Music by | Michael Lai |
Production company | Paragon Films Ltd. [1] |
Distributed by | Golden Harvest |
Release date |
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Running time | 86 minutes |
Country | Hong Kong |
Language | Cantonese |
Duel to the Death is a 1983 Hong Kong martial arts wuxia film directed by Ching Siu-tung in his directorial debut, and written by Siu-tung, David Lai and Manfred Wong. It stars Norman Chui, Damian Lau, Flora Cheong-Leen, and Eddy Ko. The film was released theatrically in Hong Kong on 13 January 1983.
In the 16th century, during the Ming dynasty era, every ten years the greatest swordsman from Japan faces the greatest swordsman from China in a duel to the death for their nation's honor. As a duel approaches, Chinese champion Ching Wan (Damian Lau) and Japanese champion Hashimoto [a] (Norman Chui) uncover a plot to rig the fight.
Ching Wan, known as "Lord of the Sword", is a peaceful and contemplative martial artist who has trained with Shaolin monks as well as a mischievous hermit. By contrast, Hashimoto is a pitiless yet honorable samurai. One night after drinking with his compatriots Hashimoto is engaged by a masked assassin, after a brief but intense clash Hashimoto wins but realizes he inadvertently killed his sensei; his master using his death to cement the Samurai's resolve as a final lesson before the duel.
Throughout the days leading up to the duel, ninja led by a Japanese official under orders by the Shogun of Japan collude with the Chinese wardens to kidnap famous fighters and sabotage the duel for Hashimoto so that Japan may study and improve upon their martial arts; as well as that the head of a famous Chinese sword school can credit his students as champions of China upon Hashimoto's death. The honorable samurai, however, does not go along with the plan, Hashimoto instead wants a fair duel. Ching Wan as well rebuffs his Chinese compatriots, telling them that they are only pawns in the Shogun's plan.
Together, Ching Wan and Hashimoto fight the various conspirators and manage to free the captives. Afterwards, Ching Wan sees no point in going forward with the duel, having grown weary of the bloodshed the duel had fueled, but Hashimoto believes it his duty to complete what he had journeyed out to do, and kills Ching Wan's master to force his hand. The two warriors engage in a gravity-defying sword fight around a rocky coastline.
In one final charge, both swordsmen mortally wound one another, Hashimoto cutting off his opponent's left hand fingers and right arm, while Ching Wan spears the samurai through the gut; both warriors getting gravely injured in the process. They then gauge each other with a glare before quietly staring out into the ocean from opposite directions, with Hashimoto stabbing his own foot with his sword to stand up and Bo Ching-wan holding his missing arm. As each men wait to see who will fall over dead first, the story ends with no clear winner.
Duel to the Death was released on January 13, 1983. It grossed a total of $HK 5,158,322. [1] In the Hong Kong film magazine City Entertainment Film Biweekly , a reviewer complimented the film as "quite outstanding" praising the editing and refreshing action scenes while finding that some characters were not drawn out enough. [3] It was screened at the 30th Hong Kong International Film Festival in April 2006 as part of "A Tribute to Action Choreographers" event. [4]
In 2014, Time Out polled several film critics, directors, actors and stunt actors to list their top action films; [5] Duel to the Death was listed at 92nd place on this list. [6] In the publication's subsequent list, published in 2020, the film was listed in the 100th position. [7]
Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
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Hong Kong Film Awards | 1984 | Best Editing | Peter Cheung | Nominated | [8] |
Best Action Choreography | Ching Siu-tung | Nominated | |||
「生死決」是程小東的第一部導演作品,而且相當突出,這是一部刀劍武俠片,講中日兩大高手為本國武術名譽決生死戰,卻受到日本將軍的阻撓,使他們無法公平地正式交手。導演是武術指導出生,所以有很多打鬥鏡頭,設計新穎,特技做得不錯,拍攝手法爽朗,剪接恰到好處,所以流暢,還能帶出中日兩國對勝負及武術的不同看法,很有張力,只是當中有些人物描寫得不太足夠