“Returned Single-Legged Man” Theatrical Poster
AKA: The Korean Connection
Director: Lee Doo-yong
Cast: Han Yong-cheol, Kwan Yung-moon, Jeong Sonyeo, Lee So-yeong, Kim Mun-ju, Nam Chung-il, Bae Su-chun, Kwon Il-soo, Cho Chun, Elton Chong, Hwang Jang Lee, Nam Chung-il, Lim Hae-lim, Kim Ki-bum
Running Time: 88 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Being a fan of Korea’s martial arts output, which spanned from the 1960’s through to the 1990’s, has never been a particularly rewarding endeavour. Want to check out one of the titles from the 90’s? The only option available is to hunt down a rare domestic VHS release that definitely won’t come with any English subtitles (not to mention sourcing a VHS player!). Curious to see what the 70’s and 80’s had to offer? Chances are you’ll end up watching a horribly re-edited, chopped up, and dubbed into a completely different story atrocity that Godfrey Ho purchased the international distribution rights to, and changed to fit what he believes appealed to western audiences at the time. How about the 60’s? Forget about it, if you didn’t see it in a Korean cinema at the time of its release, chances are you never will.
One such title from the 70’s that I had the opportunity to check out many years ago was The Korean Connection. Released on DVD in the U.S. by Pathfinder Entertainment in 2003, it was such a dark (literally, not plot wise) incomprehensible mess that I felt sure it mustn’t have been the original version. In many ways, I probably have that DVD to thank for starting my journey to uncover the truth behind much of Korea’s so-called kung-fu flicks available in the west. It turned out its title wasn’t The Korean Connection at all, with its real one being the grammatically challenged Returned Single-Legged Man. A 1974 production, the Pathfinder DVD was missing 10 minutes from its 85-minute runtime, had been re-edited into a completely different story, and sounded like it had been dubbed by a group of softly spoken American college students.
The Korean Film Archive released Returned Single-Legged Man on VOD for a short period in 2011 without English subtitles, but it would take until 2022 for it to become available on their Korean Classic Films YouTube channel not only with English subtitles, but also presented in HD for the first time. For those who want to check it out, the video is linked at the end of this review. The 3rd of 6 movies the iron triangle of director Lee Doo-yong, star Han Yong-cheol, and choreographer Kwan Yung-moon would make in 1974, following The Manchurian Tiger and Bridge of Death, it would be Returned Single-Legged Man that cemented Yong-cheol’s action star status with Korean audiences (so much so that it spawned a thematic sequel, released less than 3 months later!).
Like all of their collaborations, Doo-yong and co. remain in ‘Manchuria western’ territory, with this time Yong-cheol playing an aimless drifter who chooses to drown his sorrows in the bottom of a soju bottle. Orphaned as a child, Yong-cheol has been raised by a feared gangster, however when he falls for a well-to do girl, her brother tells him the only way he’ll approve their relationship is if he turns his back on the gangster lifestyle he was brought up in. Being a romantic guy, Yong-cheol chooses love, and after a severe beating his adopted further agrees to let him leave his side, but only if he carries out one last job – intercept a well-guarded masked courier carrying a stash of money and steal it.
Yong-cheol makes easy work of the courier by knocking him out, however when the pair of Japanese accompanying him choose to kill the courier rather than let him live, removing the mask Yong-cheol is horrified to discover that it’s his future brother-in-law. Falling into despair he becomes an alcoholic recluse, however after discovering that his former fiancé has been forced to wed a sadistic Japanese against her will, he decides to pull himself together and go on a rescue mission to bring her back.
Returned Single-Legged Man brings a familiar roster of faces (and locations) from Doo-yong’s previous productions, with Bae Su-chun (Miss, Please Be Patient, Woman’s Martial Arts) back as a Japanese villain, and Kim Mun-ju (Gallant Man, Tarzan in Korea) also returning, this time as a heavy for hire. However we also get an early look at many of the familiar faces who’d continue to become genre mainstays over the next 10 years. The likes of Kwon Il-soo (The Postman Strikes Back, The Deadly Kick), Cho Chun (Eagle vs. Silver Fox, Deadly Roulette), Elton Chong (Invincible Obsessed Fighter, Magnificent Natural Fist), and perhaps most notably – Hwang Jang Lee (Tiger Over Wall, Dragon’s Claws), here in his screen debut – all make welcome appearances and get brief moments to strut their stuff.
Unlike The Manchurian Tiger, this time choreographer Kwan Yung-moon (My Young Auntie, Kung Fu Zombie) pulls double duty by also appearing in front of camera, playing a flute playing drifter who can deliver a mean kick (not to mention, his flute doubles up as a handy club to beat assailants with). He’s aided on choreography duty by Nam Chung-il (Golden Dragon, Silver Snake, Buddhist Fist and Tiger Claws) who also has a minor role, and is instantly recognizable as one of the lackeys that populates the background of many a Korean kung-fu flick. Despite how quickly these productions must have been turned around considering they made 6 of them in 1974 alone, the choreography here is notably a notch above The Manchurian Tiger.
Perhaps because of everyone becoming familiar with working together in such a short time, there’s a noticeable increase in speed and complexity, with a number of satisfying one (or two) versus many melees that flow well, accompanied by kicks being dished out left right and centre. There’s also the inclusion of acrobatics, with one fighter being particularly fond of somersaulting, combined with some nice reaction falls to add impact to the hits. One of the most iconic scenes deserves to be included in any discussion on 70’s martial arts movies, which sees Yong-cheol arrive at a remote bridge spanning a ravine. Decked out all in black like an early Man from Nowhere, he proceeds to walk across while taking on a small army of attackers led by Hwang Jang Lee, and doesn’t even bother to put down the bag that he’s holding. For scenes of pure bad assery, the sequence ranks highly regardless of genre.
The opportunity to have 3 legends of kung-fu cinema share the screen together in the form of Han Yong-cheol, Kwan Yung-moon, and Hwang Jang Lee certainly isn’t wasted, even if at the time they’d have no idea of their future status. Yung-moon gets to exchange kicks with both Yong-cheol and Jang Lee (which, despite being shorter, is far more entertaining than their fight in Blood Child 8 years later), while Yong-cheol looks close to realising his full potential as a screen fighter. In one scene he takes on a room full of attackers with just his kicks since his hands are tied behind his back, a whole 16 years before Donnie Yen would perform a similar fight in Tiger Cage II (and that was just against one person, although admittedly that person was Michael Woods). It’s a scene reflective of Korea’s boot work focused choreography of the era arguably being ahead of the Hong Kong basher style that still dominated the early – mid 70’s.
There is one rather large elephant in the room, in that after the scene where Yong-cheol has his hands tied behind his back, he’s punished by the Japanese who proceed to pummel his leg so that he can no longer use it (one character even says he’ll “never be able to use that leg again”). I’d assumed this scene is the origin of the ‘Single-Legged Man’ the title refers to, however shortly after we reach the finale, and Yong-cheol proceeds to kick seven bells out of everyone with both of his legs like nothing of the sort had happened. Perhaps it was due to a rushed production schedule, but still, it feels a little odd to overlook a plot point that relates directly to the title of the movie! Thankfully for fans of taekwon-action this will be a minor quibble, and considering I count myself as one of them, I’m willing to let it go. A classic of the genre, Returned Single-Legged Man is well worth checking out.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10
It was nice of those people to dig out this film and give it and HD transfer. I need to make some time for this film.
I remember you answered my question about this a long time ago, but I can’t find the review where you mentioned it. If it’s a Korean production, does it count as a “kung-fu film?” I always assumed Korean martial art films are Tae Kwon Do films, but since many of these actors train in various martial arts, and the films show various martial arts, I suppose they can be called any “fu.” 😛
Modern Korean action films seem to show a hybrid of martial arts as opposed to one kind, so I guess it’s a non-issue today.
Definitely check it out Andrew, and make it a double-bill with ‘The Manchurian Tiger’ for good measure!
Korea’s martial arts output was usually referred to as ‘taekwon-action’. Like you say though, while technically not kung-fu movies, towards the end of the 70’s and early 80’s with Dragon Lee busting out the mantis fist all over the place, I think it’s forgivable to refer to them as ‘fu flicks. Certainly Korean choreography later in the 70’s was being influenced by Hong Kong’s output (no doubt driven also by the countless number of co-productions that filmed there), however for the purest example of taekwon-action with no kung-fu in sight, I’d say Han Yong-cheol’s movies rank up there as the best.
as far as i know, many (if not most) actors in the 90s modern day action movies from HK are trained in karate rather than kung fu, so technically these are not kung fu movies as well but they are commonly referred to as kung fu movies.
it’s a bit similar with kickbox movies from the US, especially those with the well known tournament structure (for which “enter the dragon” and at least one jimmy wang yu movie served as the blueprint), “bloodsport” being a prime example: the fighters in those films display a vast array of fighting styles like karate, thai boxing, capoeira and many others.
Oh yes. Karate was a go to since that’s the first things that pops in anyone’s head when someone says “martial art.” Although those guys also trained in different martial arts to expand their repertoire. Good luck getting that stolen disk back!
“as far as i know, many (if not most) actors in the 90s modern day action movies from HK are trained in karate rather than kung fu…”
I’d say it’s the opposite. If I think of actors who were active in the 90’s HK contemporary action movie scene the first people who spring to mind are the likes of Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Vincent Zhao, Moon Lee, Cynthia Khan etc.
They all primarily had either a wushu, dance, or Peking Opera background, so if any of them did study karate it wouldn’t have been their main discipline, and I don’t think anyone would watch a 90’s HK movie and mistake the style on display as being karate.
I misread Ozzy’s post. I thought he was talking about Hollywood stars and I missed the “HK” part. I do think after Donnie Yen became well versed in his mother’s teachings and the Beijing Wushu Academy, he probably implemented some Karate techniques along with other styles in the 90’s, and of course continued to do so in the 00’s and 2010’s.
Although it is important to remember that even if it’s a different martial art, many techniques have the same principle. Chinese and Korean martial arts took inspiration from Japanese martial arts, and supposedly, Indian martial arts predates Shaolin.
Heads up!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg6_yPMn9Js