The Golden Lion (C-Movie) (HK-Movie) (1973)

The divide between good and evil can be very thin, almost imperceptible to those who prefer painting the world in grand, all-encompassing strokes. The same goes for film, wherein some stories are told with clearly delineated sides while others adopt more nuance. Experienced director Ho Meng-Hua and screenwriter Patrick Kong Yueng cooperated in 1973 to make The Golden Lion, a movie in which the alignments within firm camps of good guys and bad are not well-defined, providing its story more texture than typical martial arts fare.

Dai Xioyao (Chiu Hung), better known as The Golden Lion, is a dastardly thief, wronging society’s elite and sharing with the poor and destitute. The burglar’s reputation precedes him, inflating his ego to the extent that he possesses the gall to sign his handle on the scene of his crimes.