QUEEN OF FIST (山東老娘)
aka KUNG FU MAMA
dir. Chien Lung, 1973
Taiwan. 89 min.
In Mandarin with English subtitles.
FRIDAY, MAY 9 – 5 PM
SUNDAY, MAY 11 – 5 PM
SATURDAY, MAY 24 – 10 PM
“It’s not nice to fool with mother… The meanest mother of them all!”
When an axe gang murders a young boxer and kidnaps his sister, their elderly mother travels from Shandong to Shanghai to seek revenge on the gang’s vicious Boss Lu. Her arrival is met with derision from the gang, but little do they know that the sweet little old lady standing before them is really a tough-as-nails kung fu master, ready to kick some serious ass to protect her family.
A solid Taiwanese basher with a matronly twist, launched into the stratosphere by a powerhouse performance from Hsieh Chin-Chu. Hsieh, a star of wuxia serials in the 1940s and 50s, was well into her 60s when she took on the role of the incomparable Mother Ma. Although the film was released under multiple different titles between Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the U.S., we here at Spectacle prefer to run with the literal translation of its Chinese title (and riff on the similarly-named Shaw Bros. classic), “The Granny from Shantung”.
Be sure to bring your most badass 奶奶 out to a special Mother’s Day screening on Sunday, 5/11!
Special thanks to Far East Flix.