Lady Whirlwind (1972) Poster

(1972)

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7/10
Lady Whirlwind
ebiros27 December 2012
This is a Golden Harvest movie starring Angela Mao. One thing to note is that early Golden Harvest movies had very good quality, and it is recommended that whenever possible, they should be viewed in remastered DVD. The difference between the original and the faded copy is like night and day, and drastically changes the viewing experience.

Released in the United States as Deep Thrust, the shabby title doesn't do justice to the action contained in this movie. Angela Mao explodes with her signature moves in this movie. Did she learn new style of martial arts within a year of making this movie ? It seems likely as her previous movie "Hapkido", and this movie has drastically different level of moves compared to her earlier movies.

This movie, Hapkido, and When Tae Kwon Do Strikes all has similar looks and feel to the story and appearances. Anti-Japanese sentiment is strong on all three movies, but this is probably due to the bombastic success of Fist of Fury starring Bruce Lee from a year earlier. the scene where Bruce Lee destroys the sign that says "No dogs and Chinese allowed" really caught on at the time.

This movie is a step down in production for some reason from the previous "Hapkido", and looks almost like a Shaw Brothers film. The good is as mentioned earlier, Angela Mao's moves are fantastic in this movie, and she was in the height of her beauty in 1972.

It would have been better if there were more of Angela Mao's action in this movie, but even as it is, it's still a very good kung fu movie, and is recommended for viewing.
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6/10
Literally Everyone Was Kung Fu Fighting
gavin694221 April 2014
"Miss Tien, thank you for saving me." "Forget it. I just didn't want somebody else to kill you!"

This film was directed by Huang Feng (who made 18 films in the 1970s alone), and stars Angela Mao. Not sure if Mao is well known outside of martial arts circles (probably not), but she probably should be -- why let Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee get all the credit?

Although I know very little about the martial arts film genre, I feel like this might be one worth seeing. If for no other reason than the fact that literally everyone is kung fu fighting -- there are hardly any scenes without a dozen guys trying to defeat Lady Whirlwind (and losing).
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7/10
recommended for all fans of martial arts movies
ckormos124 June 2013
Raymond Chow's upstart company sure played it smart with this movie. He used Chang Yi as the male lead. Chang Yi was an established Shaw Brothers actor doing martial arts films since about King Cat in 1967 but was shelved due to new talent such as David Chiang and Ti Lung. Next add Pai Ying for the bad guy. He's another Shaw Brothers actor who did a fine job as an evil eunuch in the 1971 "The Eunuch". Sammo Hung was the martial arts choreographer and with some side burns (quite stylish in 1972 but ridiculous otherwise) he got good screen time as a co-villain. Bruce Lee had just done "Fist of Fury" so add the theme of evil Japanese to the mix. (Actually the movie still works fine without the subplot, but why not?) With all that foundation, the only risky element was casting Angela Mao as the hot kung fu chick female lead. That was really no risk at all. Angela was fabulous despite the otherwise impression that the entire movie was done in one take. Yes, the whole movie seems to have been made with a budget for the price of the rolls of film with just a few dollars left over to pay the crew. Nevertheless, here I am 40 years later and watching it for the second time and enjoying every minute of it. Certainly recommended for all fans of the genre and my rating here is 7.0
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A good film for Angela Mao Ying, though she's not the star...
kragshot1 March 2004
As this is an old film, there should be no harm in discussing what the film is about. Despite the film being advertised with Angela Mao Ying as the star, she plays a more subdued part in the film.

Mao (Miss Tien) plays a woman who is searching to take revenge on a man who abandoned her younger sister and because of the abandonment, eventually resulted in the girl's death. The poor doomed fellow has problems of his own because of a vendetta against gangsters. Mao, deciding that she would not be cheated of her vengeance, helps him against them, so that she would have the pleasure of killing him, herself. Furthermore, he has fallen in love with another girl who tags along with him. So, every so often, the two end up begging Tien to wait a bit longer before killing the pathetic guy.

The fellow starts the film as a lousy fighter, but eventually learns Tai Chi Ch'uan from an old herbalist. This stands him well to help him later in the film.

So, what happens next? Does he escape from the gangsters? Does Miss Tien get her revenge? Is this a pretty good movie?

Well, I can answer the third one. I found it enjoyable. The fight scenes were pretty realistic as this belongs to the "gritty" style of Martial Arts films. As for Mao Ying...she's always a pleasure to watch.
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7/10
Uneven, but a landmark
grumpynerd2 June 2014
When Angela Mao is off-screen, this movie is mediocre to a fault. Not bad, but of little interest to anyone but a serious Hong Kong movie geek. But when Mao is on screen, she's electrifying.

It's not just her charisma, although she's got buckets of that. She has a magnificent gift for selling a move that transforms what would be at best a serviceable fight scene into something riveting and dramatic. In the build up to her first fight in the casino, Mao flashes an ironically contemptuous sneer that sends icy chills down your spine. At the end of the fight she beats the crooked casino boss with a cold fury that's thrilling and appalling in its savagery.

What's really unusual is how the movie doesn't do anything to soften her character. Often the girl in these movies is there to be raped and killed so the hero can take revenge. Sometimes she's sifu's daughter, who fights pretty good for a girl but is ultimately there to be rescued from the boss. None of that for Miss Tien. She is Nemesis, come to punish the hero for his past misdeeds. The question is: will she let him live long enough to redeem himself by fighting the boss of his old gang?

This curious twist transforms a run-of-the-mill early 70s Kung Fu flick into something compelling and different.
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6/10
Lady Whirlwind
BandSAboutMovies4 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Angela Mao worked with director Huang Feng to create a series of martial arts films that are well-considered like Deadly China Doll, When Taekwondo Strikes, Hapkido and this movie. She's best known for her appearance in Enter the Dragon as Bruce Lee's doomed sister. After a career as a hard-fighting star, she moved to New York City in 1993 where her family runs several restaurants.

When Ling Shih-hua (Chang Yi) is left for dead by Yakuza attackers, he vows revenge as he is nursed back to health. His problems aren't anywhere near over because Tien Li-Chun (Mao) is here, demanding that he take his own life for leaving his sister and causing her suicide. He begs her for a favor. He must have his revenge before he dies. Of course, he gets beaten down again and she has to save him after he gets buried in the sand up to his neck. That means that she has to save him and help him to defeat his enemies, all so that she can be the person who gets the pleasure of killing him.

In our country, this was given a sexy ad campaign and called Deep Thrust - wink wink nudge nudge - and the tagline "the deadly stroke of bare-handed combat." It has no sexual content, so don't be fooled. It's about kicking some ass.

Besides that title, you know what else gets stolen? John Barry's score from Diamonds Are Forever. Georges Garvarentz's song "The Bulldozer Leads the Dance" is also in this, which doesn't seem like music for martial arts mayhem, yet there it is, right?

This movie inspired me. I must find more movies where Mao, who looks so prim, proper and ladylike, unleashes hell and decimates ten or more human beings at once. This also has a wise old man who teaches the male protagonist the Tai Chi Palm and the bad guys have a villainess who uses a whip, which is all I ask for in a movie.
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8/10
Angela Mao rules!
Woodyanders9 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Tien (Angela Mao, as fierce and magnetic as ever) arrives in town to exact revenge on Ling (a solid and likable performance by Yi Chang) for abandoning her pregnant sister and thus driving said sister to commit suicide. Although Tien agrees to help Ling take down the leader of a local gambling syndicate, she nonetheless still plans to avenge her sister's death which she holds Ling responsible for. Director Feng Huang, working from a taut and compelling script by Yi-chung Hua, relates the absorbing story at a quick pace and stages the rousing rough'n'tumble fights with brutal'n'bloody brio. Naturally, Mao handles her martial arts fights with characteristic poise and agility as she mixes it up with a bunch of guys all at once. Sammo Hung plays a sniveling thug who Mao beats the living snot out of. Moreover, the strong theme about honor and revenge along with a surprising element of compassion gives this picture additional depth and substance, with an especially unexpected, yet still satisfying conclusion. Joseph Koo's spirited score and Yu-tang Li's dynamic cinematography are both up to par. Recommended viewing for Mao fans.
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5/10
Watchable but instantly forgettable
gridoon202418 November 2008
"Lady Whirlwind" AKA "Deep Thrust" is a little better than another Angela Mao film released by the same company that I saw recently, "Deadly China Doll", because Angela is indeed one of the two main characters here and has several fight scenes. The bad news is, her and everybody else's fight scenes are generally mediocre, often spoiled by poor editing and ludicrous wirework. The good news is, Angela brings a relentless aggression to them that few other female stars can match. More good news: her character is a little more complex than usual for this genre - she begins as a revenge-obsessed woman but gradually becomes more compassionate. More bad news: it's exactly this compassion that doesn't allow her to have a climactic fight scene. A watchable but forgettable film on the whole. Gotta love the stolen score notes from "Diamonds Are Forever", though! (**)
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8/10
Lady Whirlwind
coltras355 December 2022
A man named Ling Shi Hao is left beaten by a mob of Japanese ner~do~wells. But rather than dying face down in the dirt, he is rescued by a woman, and nursed back to health..Years later, a mystery woman ( Angela Mao) comes to town and starts beating the living daylights out of the same Japanese mob who had beaten Ling, in order to get information as to his whereabouts. They know nothing, believing him to be dead these last few years, but just who is this mystery woman? Why is she looking for Ling? Soon enough, it transpires that she too is looking for Ling, in order to kill him! And when she eventually tracks him down on the remote farm she goes in for the kill..!

After a bit of conflict, Ling manages to convince his would be executioner to lay off him until he has had 24hrs to take revenge on the evil gang of Japanese mobsters that originally left him for dead.

Reluctantly she agrees, but is left ruing her decision, after he is once again bested and disappears into hiding before reappearing again, only this time with skills that might just help him win.. The final question of course being just who will side with who when the kick hits the fan?

Compared to Hapkido and When Taekwondo strikes, the fights here isn't as intense, but it's still good, especially when Angela Mao, in revenge mode, kicks and punches her opponents with abandonment. She acts quite well as the one-tracked minded lady who wants to kill Ling. What's interesting is that Ling is a hero, a guy who had made a mistake in the past. But Mao is too obstinate and filled with hate to forgive. After all, he was the cause of her sister's death. This is a rather sombre-toned tale that has some characterisation and some depth in its portrayal of honour and compassion.
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