Once Upon a Time in China

Aug 15, 1991

2h 13m

★ 7.1

Never was a Hero needed more...

Overview

Set in late 19th century Canton, this martial arts film depicts the stance taken by the legendary martial arts hero Wong Fei-Hung against foreign forces' plundering of China.

Genres

Action

Drama

Production Companies

Paragon Films

Orange Sky Golden Harvest

Once Upon a Time in China Trailers

Cast

Wong Fei Hung

Jet Li

Leung Foon

Yuen Biao

Buck Teeth So

Jacky Cheung Hok-Yau

13th Aunt

Rosamund Kwan

Porky Wing

Kent Cheng Jak-Si

Ling Wan Kai

Yuen Gam-Fai

Iron Robe Yim Chun Tung

Yen Shi-Kwan

Naval Commander Lau

Lau Shun

Grand Uncle Chueng

Wu Ma

Shaho Gang Leader

Yau Gin-Gwok

Yim's Opponent

Yuen Cheung-Yan

Governor

Karel Wong Chi-Yeung

Lau Leung-wah plays the titled character, a Chinese Robin Hood who robs the rich to help the poor. She is an early Republican Era Mulan, who switches effortlessly between charming gentility and agile ferocity, and Lau personifies her character's duality with a balance of grace and vigour. Chang Cheh, on the verge of fostering seismic changes in cinema with his martial-arts machismo, pens a script that captures the spirit of changing Chinese womanhood, underscored by a conflict between Black Butterfly and her father, a veteran detective.

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