bob the moo
I've watched a few Shaw Brothers films recently and mostly enjoyed them and maybe it was this that meant I was a little disappointed with Mai Fu (or Ambush as it was called for me). The plot sees officer of the law Wan ChaoFan and his father being framed for a robbery they did not commit. With only his father's sword at the scene and the man nowhere to be found, retribution is aimed at ChaoFan, who flees in order to figure out who really stole the jewels so that he may get revenge and clear the Wan family name.The plot sounds simple enough and it jumps right into it in the way many of these films seem to. From here though it seems to be rather unnecessarily convoluted with other characters and detail that seem broke the flow up for me and hindered me getting into it as much as I would have liked. The murder of ChaoFan's uncle (Chief Fan HsiuHsiu) raises the stakes but the threads that come from this involving Fan's mistress and ChaoFan's cousin Ching Niang really don't work that well and generally it felt a bit loose. The basic simplicity meant following it was no problem overall, but some scenes had me wondering why they did this or included certain bits. The downside of the plot not really holding me was that the action also held me less.This was a shame because most of it is pretty good, but when I'm not really caring about who anyone is then it doesn't work as well. This doesn't apply to all of the action though and some of it was pretty good and well shot. The high point is the final fight on and around an old windmill. It is a two person fight and I liked it for it's simple black/white place in the narrative and the use of the set. Speaking of sets, the use of locations and buildings was really good here – plenty of convincing locations and all used well within the action sequences. Unfortunately the cast don't stand out too much – in particular I found Chao Hsiung to be rather stiff and unfriendly; if he cracked a smile during the film I must have looked away. He doesn't really have much charisma and at times I took him for a villain due to his rather morose performance. Yang Chih-Ching is good but underused in his role even if he does make for an good final fight. Ling Chiang is pretty cute but her character didn't work for me and I assumed that she existed almost wholly to provide nudity (which she does well admittedly). Lee Ching is the opposite by being overly simpering throughout – the film could have done without her character as she provided so little.The action sequences carry the film but they will not engage as much as they should mainly because the plot will not hold the attention. It is messy and doesn't flow, with elements that the film really would have been better without.
bickeler
I am not sure why the first reviewer was down on this movie (Bad popcorn?)at all. I would call this a smart ,exciting and well acted film. There are few bumps in the road a few of the characters in here should have been fleshed out a bit more. However the main story is rather good and keeps your interest as our hero Hsiung Chao plays a rather intelligent and able lead. It's actually nice to see a Kung Fu film especially from Shaw where the hero isn't just relying on brawn or skill but brains. This movie is also a bit of twist as our hero usually played bad guys and our villain Chih-Ching Yang usually plays good guys like someone master etc. Everyone in this is petty,shortsighted and greedy except our hero and his lady who are far from perfect themselves,what could be more realistic than that? The fight scenes are rather good and realistic except at the very end I think it was bit forced as far who gets who goes.
Brian Camp
AMBUSH (1972) is a run-of-the-mill Shaw Bros. swordplay/kung fu film that suffers from a convoluted plot and a third-tier cast. But it offers a host of exciting fight scenes involving multiple opponents and it makes extremely effective atmospheric use of standing SB sets. In fact, the whole thing plays as if the director was given an assignment to use a certain group of non-star actors and construct a story to make use of sets left over from other films.The plot has to do with a shipment of jewels stolen when one security bureau ambushes and slaughters another and then frames the slain security chief and his son for the crime. The son, Constable Chao Fan (Chiao Hsiung), then has to clear his and his father's name. It becomes quite obvious to everyone early on that Chao Fan's uncle, Chief Fan (Yang Chi-Ching), is the culprit, as we've already seen, and is in possession of the jewels, yet Chao Fan continues to blithely investigate all kinds of false leads, thus wasting a lot of narrative time. Characters pop up out of nowhere and then disappear for good as if they only had a day or two to film their scenes before returning to a more important film. Chao Fan has a mysterious ally who aids him, but only because he wants the jewels himself. In one confusing bit of business, Chief Fan's double-dealing mistress (Chiang Ling) tries to make off with the jewels, but it only became clear to me late in the film that the jewels she grabs are not the stolen ones everyone's looking for. Why even bring them into the story? Chao Fan is disgraced in the eyes of his beautiful cousin, played by Li Ching, and he makes ineffectual attempts to get back into her good graces. There's a scene in a seemingly haunted tomb that drags the pace down. It all culminates in a sword-and-kung-fu showdown at an abandoned windmill between uncle and nephew.There are no real stars in this, except for the leading lady, Li Ching (VALLEY OF THE FANGS, KING EAGLE, THE LONG CHASE), who is more of a constant damsel-in-distress here than a proactive heroine. The lead actor, Chao Hsiung, is rather dour looking and usually played bad guys (THE Chinese BOXER) or supporting roles, and doesn't make much of a hero. The rest of the cast consists of a handful of Shaw Bros. regulars, with the main villain role, Chief Fan, going to SB veteran Yang Chi-Ching, who usually played authority figures or townsmen (court officers, nobles, constables, restaurant owners, etc.) and didn't often get to be the head bad guy who fights the hero at the end. He was well into middle age here and he's doubled extensively in his fight scenes. Also on hand are Tung Lin and Wang Hsieh as two important villains who pop in and out at odd times; Chan Shen, another villain who pops up infrequently; and Dean Shek, usually assigned to comic relief, but cast here as a fighter who helps out the hero at key points.The saving grace of this film is the steady stream of action scenes choreographed by Hsu Er Niu (aka Simon Chui Yee-ang, aka Simon Hsu), who also choreographed the action for THE YOUNG AVENGER, DUEL FOR GOLD, BROTHERS FIVE, and THE FLYING GUILLOTINE, among others. He was probably Shaw's best fight director outside of Lau Kar Leung and Tang Chia and he does a great job here. The fighting is mostly swordplay, but also offers some straight hand-to-hand kung fu action. There are lots of opponents in the fight scenes and long takes and tracking shots, which pose greater challenges to the fight choreographer, but make for more exciting fight scenes. Many of the fights are shot outdoors, amidst some impressive sets. The final fight takes place on an abandoned estate with a tattered windmill figuring in the action. It gets pretty brutal on that windmill, as the fight persists long after the combatants get bloodied, bruised and maimed. It's a good finale but it would have been better if the build-up had been more compelling and if it had featured higher-profile fighting stars who were more forceful and charismatic (e.g. Yueh Hua and Ku Feng).
