# The Assassin (大刺客) (1967 film)
**The Assassin** (大刺客) is a 1967 Hong Kong color wuxia (Chinese martial-arts-hero fiction genre, code of honor and swordplay) film directed and written by Chang Cheh for Shaw Brothers, adapted from the story of the assassin [Nie Zheng](https://www.edgepedia.org/nie-zheng) in [Sima Qian](https://www.edgepedia.org/sima-qian)'s *Records of the Grand Historian* and starring Jimmy Wang Yu.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2018-11-1-4.html) It premiered in Hong Kong on 22 December 1967 in Mandarin.[2](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_5513768)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Chang Cheh[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2018-11-1-4.html) |
| Production | Shaw Brothers; producer Run Run Shaw; color, Mandarin[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2018-11-1-4.html) |
| Hong Kong release | 22 December 1967[2](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_5513768) |
| Running time | 112 minutes per the Hong Kong Film Archive; other databases list 117 or 121 minutes[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2018-11-1-4.html) • [3](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00186341) • [4](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-assassin-1967/) |
| Source | The Nie Zheng episode of the "Biographies of the Assassins" in Sima Qian's *Records of the Grand Historian*[2](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_5513768) |
| Principal cast | Jimmy Wang Yu (聶政), Tien Feng, Chiao Chiao, Li Hsiang-Chun, Wong Chung-Shun[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2018-11-1-4.html) |
| Key crew | Cinematography Kuang Han-Lu; editing Chiang Hsing-Lung; music Wang Chi-Ren[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2018-11-1-4.html) |
## Spoilers
### Story and its source
The film draws on the Nie Zheng (聶政) episode of the "Biographies of the Assassins" (刺客列傳) in the *Records of the Grand Historian*. In the LiTV synopsis, Nie Zheng of Wei (played by Wang Yu) avenges his slain martial-arts master and then lives in retirement in Qi. The guest minister Yan Sui (嚴遂) seeks him out, and the two loyal-hearted men swear brotherhood. Years later, after his mother's death and his sister's marriage, Nie resolves to give his life for the state, and he and Yan set out to assassinate the ambitious Han Kui (韓傀). Before the mission Nie spends a few last days with his beloved Xia Ying. He succeeds in killing Han Kui, but knowing he cannot escape, he gouges out his own eyes and cuts open his belly.[3](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00186341)
The adaptation departs from the historical record in a consistent direction. In Sima Qian's account, Yan Zhongzi asked Nie Zheng to kill Han Kui over a private quarrel between the two men, and the text says little about Nie's background. The film instead molds Nie into a man of principle and courage who accepts the mission out of gratitude for Yan's recognition and to resist the aggressive state of Qin, with the struggle against Qin supplying a backdrop of clear-cut right and wrong. The film also borrows elements from the [Jing Ke](https://www.edgepedia.org/jing-ke) story, including the farewell in white robes and the dagger revealed at the bottom of the map.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2018-11-1-4.html) The film critic Tsang Chiu-hang made the same point at a Hong Kong Film Archive forum: the original motive was personal spite, while the film turns Nie into a hot-blooded fighter against injustice who dies for Yan Zhongzi's appreciation of him.[7](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/18995340/19057014/newsletter85_c.pdf)
## Production
The film was made at the Shaw Brothers studio with Chang Cheh serving as director, screenwriter, and lyricist of its song.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2018-11-1-4.html) • [2](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_5513768) Assistant directors were Hsiung Ting-Wu and Huang Yuan-Shen, and the cinematography credit is shared between Kuang Han-Lu and Yuen Chang-Sam in some listings.[2](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_5513768) • [4](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-assassin-1967/) Chang Cheh's longtime action collaborators Tong Kai and Lau Kar-leung are credited on stunts.[4](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-assassin-1967/)
**The 1967 riots.** Chang Cheh later recalled that shooting took place while the 1967 Leftist Riots in Hong Kong were at their height: he had not yet moved into the Shaw dormitory, and on the way to work he encountered a homemade bomb. In his words, the passion, violence, and rebelliousness in *The Assassin* were clearly infected by the riots.[5](https://ent.ifeng.com/movie/baibuchuanying/special/shaoshiyingye) The Hong Kong Film Archive's filmography makes the same connection, citing Chang's essay "On Violence," in which he says the film's passion, violence, and rebelliousness were plainly marked by the disturbances.[6](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/rp-hk-filmography-series-7-2.html)
## Style and significance
The film is counted among Chang Cheh's major early works, alongside *The One-Armed Swordsman* (1967) and *Golden Swallow* (1968), in the decade from 1966 to 1976 when his creative energy and influence peaked.[8](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/rp-tv-film-veterans-19-2.html) Chang's wuxia films of this period built violent spectacle around lone male heroes, and *The Assassin* helped establish his signature themes of heroic sacrifice and masculine honor.[9](https://classickungfumovies.com/en-tw/products/the-assassin-a-k-a-ci-ke-daai-chi-haak-1967)
**The entrails battle.** In Chang Cheh's films, Nie Zheng, in white robes and carrying his qin, storms the chancellor's residence alone, staging the first "entrails-spilling battle" (盘肠大战) of Chang's career, the wounded-hero set piece of blood-soaked white garments that became one of his trademarks. At the same time the camerawork deliberately imitated Fei Mu, taking *Confucius* as its model, with frequent static setups, low-angle shooting, and little camera movement, so that the youthful passion and tragedy are wrapped in a formal, archaic visual style.[5](https://ent.ifeng.com/movie/baibuchuanying/special/shaoshiyingye)
A scholarly reading of the film places it directly in its political moment. Luke White, a film scholar at [Middlesex University](https://www.edgepedia.org/middlesex-university), argues in *Asian Cinema* (2015) that *The Assassin*, produced at a key point in Chang's early career and in the increasingly violent 1960s swordplay genre that led to the kung fu film of the 1970s, should be read against the 1967 riots, a watershed in Hong Kong's modern history, and through [Frantz Fanon](https://www.edgepedia.org/frantz-fanon)'s account of the effects of violence on the colonial subject, with a close relationship between Chang's cinematic violence and the political violence erupting at the moment of production and first reception.[10](https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/ac.26.1.79_1)
## Later history
The film circulated internationally under several titles, including *The Great Assassin*, the Korean release title 대자객, and Spanish and Portuguese titles *El asesino* and *O Assassino*.[4](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-assassin-1967/) It had a theatrical re-release in Turkey on 12 February 1973 and appeared on DVD in Brazil on 3 August 2012.[4](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-assassin-1967/) The Hong Kong Film Archive screened it in a Mandarin print with Chinese and English subtitles on 6 May 2018.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2018-11-1-4.html)
## References
1. [大刺客, Hong Kong Film Archive programme page](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/tc/web/hkfa/pe-event-2018-11-1-4.html)
2. [邵氏兄弟电影目录(1952-2003), The Paper](https://m.thepaper.cn/baijiahao_5513768)
3. [大刺客 The Assassin, LiTV](https://www.litv.tv/movie/watch/VOD00186341)
4. [The Assassin (1967), Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/film/the-assassin-1967/)
5. [百部穿影特刊：邵氏出品 必属佳片, ifeng.com](https://ent.ifeng.com/movie/baibuchuanying/special/shaoshiyingye)
6. [香港影片大全第六卷（1965-1969）前言, Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/rp-hk-filmography-series-7-2.html)
7. [Newsletter 85, Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/18995340/19057014/newsletter85_c.pdf)
8. [张彻──回忆录・影评集 代序二, Hong Kong Film Archive](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/sc/web/hkfa/rp-tv-film-veterans-19-2.html)
9. [The Assassin (1967), Classic Kung Fu Movies](https://classickungfumovies.com/en-tw/products/the-assassin-a-k-a-ci-ke-daai-chi-haak-1967)
10. [Luke White, "A 'narrow world, strewn with prohibitions': Chang Cheh's The Assassin and the 1967 Hong Kong riots," Asian Cinema 26.1 (2015)](https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/ac.26.1.79_1)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1960s › Released 1966 to 1969*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license