THE 14 AMAZONS (1972)

THE 14 AMAZONS (1972) – This often-overlooked Hong Kong martial arts film was directed and written by Cheng Kang and produced by the iconic Shaw Brothers studios. The 14 Amazons is a female-centric take on China’s historical Yang Family, many of whom were accomplished generals over the centuries.

Obviously, embellishments and outright myths have mixed in with whatever the real stories of the Yang generals may have been. During the past thousand years or so countless novels, plays and operas have been produced about this family, their deeds and their intrigues.

Believe it or not, The 14 Amazons was one of the first modern-day big-screen productions about the storied Yangs and takes a unique approach. Many of the previous adaptations of the saga led up to the valiant and/or tragic death of one of the Yang generals in battle or otherwise.

This 1972 film starts out with the death of one of the Yang men and proceeds from there. By this point there are so few male Yangs still alive that the wives, sisters, and other female relatives of the late hero band together and set out for revenge.

Political corruption prevents the Yang women from getting the Emperor’s okay to use the Imperial Army, so they decide to handle things themselves. The ladies pointedly ignore insults like “This fight wouldn’t be a job for women. It’s a task for generals!” and go into action.

The 14 Amazons is indeed a martial arts movie, with masterfully staged fight scenes as the title characters wreak bloody havoc on their family’s foes, but most of the fights are martial arts as in swordfights and spear fights with only a comparative few hand-to-hand clashes.

Fight choreography from Leung Siu-Chung and Tony Ching Siu-Tung is excellent, including the large-scale set pieces. Oddly, the uniforms worn by the enemies of our heroines vaguely resemble department store Santa Claus costumes in some scenes, but otherwise everyone’s outfits are very impressive. 

In an interesting gender-flip for a 1972 effort, the few brave men in the lives of the fourteen woman warriors are basically sidekicks who support their fierce lady loves and often sacrifice their own lives to advance the women’s revenge quest.

A virtual Who’s Who of Hong Kong action actresses star in The 14 Amazons. Lisa Lu Yan portrays She Tai Chun, the aged Grand Dame of the Yang ladies; Ivy Ling Po plays skilled strategist Mu Kwei Ying and Lili Ho Li-Li is Yang Wen Kuang, with some of the other Yang women being played by Shu Pei-Pei, Wang Ping, Liu Wu-Chi, Karen Yip Leng-Chi and Li Ching.

This movie is very impressive and deserves much wider renown. It is a genuine epic, not merely an action film. The 2011 remake Legendary Amazons is much better known, but in terms of quality there is little separating the two versions. 

FOR MY REVIEW OF KUNG FAUX (2003) CLICK HERE.