# The Postman Strikes Back
**The Postman Strikes Back** (巡城馬, *Xun cheng ma*), also released as **The Postman Fights Back**, is a 1982 Hong Kong martial arts adventure film directed by Ronny Yu, starring Leung Kar-yan as a courier in early Republican China who is hired to deliver a mysterious sealed cargo across dangerous mountain country.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083348) • [2](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3340019/why-ronny-yus-postman-fights-back-starring-leung-kar-yan-unusual-wuxia-gem) Produced with the involvement of [Yuen Woo-ping](https://www.edgepedia.org/yuen-woo-ping)'s Peace Film Production and Golden Harvest, it is an unusual entry in the Hong Kong action genre, built less as a kung fu showcase than as what Yu and commentators have called an "Eastern Western".[3](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2023/09/the-postman-fights-back-88-films/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 巡城馬 (*Xun cheng ma*); English titles include The Postman Strikes Back and The Postman Fights Back[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083348) |
| Director / year | Ronny Yu, 1982; Hong Kong release June 4, 1982[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083348) |
| Production | Peace Film Production and Golden Harvest; Yuen Woo-ping initiated the project and produced[3](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2023/09/the-postman-fights-back-88-films/) |
| Cast | Leung Kar-yan, Chow Yun-fat, Cherie Chung, Eddy Ko, Fan Mei-Sheng, Yuen Yat-Choh[4](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-postman-fights-back/) |
| Setting | Early years of the Chinese Republic, around 1913[5](https://cityonfire.com/the-postman-strikes-back-1982-review/) |
| Running time | About 87 to 90 minutes depending on the cut (Hong Kong cut 90 min, export cut 89 min)[3](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2023/09/the-postman-fights-back-88-films/) |
| Hong Kong box office | HK$3,430,366, 48th place for the year[6](https://kungfutube.info/22427) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and cast
Leung Kar-yan plays Courier Ma, a postman who travels the region delivering parcels while the spread of railroads threatens to make his occupation obsolete. His friend Yao Jie (Yuen Yat-Choh) wants to take a well-paid but suspicious delivery job for Hu (Eddy Ko) and needs Ma's help, so Ma joins him. The job is to carry four cases that must never be opened to a rebel leader, with delivery required within seven days. The pair team up with the explosives expert Bu (Fan Mei-Sheng) and the smooth operator Fu Jun ([Chow Yun-fat](https://www.edgepedia.org/chow-yun-fat)), assigned by Hu himself. On the journey they are followed by Guihwa (Cherie Chung), who wants help returning to her village, and they cross paths with Li Fu (Kuk Jeong-Seok), who wants to stop the cargo from reaching the rebel leader.[3](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2023/09/the-postman-fights-back-88-films/) • [4](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-postman-fights-back/)
The backdrop is the early Republic of China, when warlords opposed Dr Sun Yat-sen's government and armed gangs roamed the northern mountains.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083348) Chow Yun-fat, four years before his breakout role in *A Better Tomorrow*, plays second fiddle to Leung in billing but brings the charisma that reviewers repeatedly note as threatening to steal the show.[5](https://cityonfire.com/the-postman-strikes-back-1982-review/)
## Production
In 1982 Ronny Yu had only a couple of directing credits to his name. Yuen Woo-ping asked him to shoot the film for Yuen's company, Peace Film Production, with Golden Harvest producing. Yu, who loved American westerns, saw the project as a chance to make a film close to that genre, and worked on the script with Chan Kiu-Yin and Chiu Kang-Chien. Golden Harvest scrapped his first draft, but elements of his Eastern-Western concept, closely inspired by *The Wild Bunch*, remained in the finished film.[3](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2023/09/the-postman-fights-back-88-films/)
The Yuen clan's presence is strong on both sides of the camera: Yuen Woo-ping produced, Brandy Yuen handled action direction (with Yuen Shun-Yi) and played a bit part, and Yuen Yat-Choh took a substantial supporting role.[4](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-postman-fights-back/) • [5](https://cityonfire.com/the-postman-strikes-back-1982-review/) The film was shot largely in South Korea, and its imposing, partly snow-covered landscapes are one of its most visible assets.[7](https://www.actionfreunde.de/the-postman-fights-back/)
## Style and action
The film is deliberately light on conventional kung fu, particularly in its first half, which sets up characters and story through small set-pieces rather than extended combat. Neither of the two leads was martial-arts trained, so Yu and Woo-ping built the action around more unusual devices: a fight on a frozen lake against ice-skating villains, explosive carnage aided by trained rats, and a ninja showdown in the finale, followed by a *Wild Bunch*-inspired climactic massacre.[3](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2023/09/the-postman-fights-back-88-films/) Reviewers have also singled out the film's use of a machine gun and dynamite, weapons rarely seen in kung fu films of the period.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/postman_fights_back)
The film's hybrid identity is its defining trait. The [South China Morning Post](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-china-morning-post), speaking with film historian Frank Djeng, describes it as an "Eastern Western" in which Yu goes deeper than the usual borrowing of Western elements, effectively making a proper Western in a martial-arts setting.[2](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3340019/why-ronny-yus-postman-fights-back-starring-leung-kar-yan-unusual-wuxia-gem) Other critics place it between the old-school Shaw Brothers style and the Hong Kong New Wave, calling it an odd but engaging transitional film.[9](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/postman_fights_back.htm)
## Reception and censorship
The film was only Yu's third feature, and reviewers have noted that his inexperience shows in the non-action stretches.[5](https://cityonfire.com/the-postman-strikes-back-1982-review/) In Hong Kong it earned HK$3,430,366, placing 48th for the year.[6](https://kungfutube.info/22427) On IMDb it holds a 6.1/10 rating from about 784 users.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083348)
In the United Kingdom the 1982 cinema release, distributed by Sino Cine Co Ltd, received cuts as part of classification; the BBFC-recorded cinema version ran 87 minutes 22 seconds.[10](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/the-postman-fights-back-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmdu1odg) IMDb notes that the UK cinema version was cut to remove nunchaku footage, while later DVD versions were uncut.[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083348)
## Home video
88 Films released the film on Blu-ray in 2023, from a 2K scan of the original 35mm negative, including both the Hong Kong and export cuts and an English dub.[3](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2023/09/the-postman-fights-back-88-films/) • [11](https://customers.mvdb2b.com/s/ThePostmanFightsBack/US88FB024) The release carries an audio commentary by Ronny Yu with the film historian Frank Djeng.[2](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3340019/why-ronny-yus-postman-fights-back-starring-leung-kar-yan-unusual-wuxia-gem) Reviewers of the disc describe the film as an underrated action movie of 1980s Hong Kong cinema that rewards being watched as a western-inspired adventure rather than a kung-fu fest.[3](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2023/09/the-postman-fights-back-88-films/)
## References
1. [The Postman Strikes Back (1982), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083348)
2. [Why Ronny Yu's The Postman Fights Back, starring Leung Kar-yan, is an unusual wuxia gem, South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3340019/why-ronny-yus-postman-fights-back-starring-leung-kar-yan-unusual-wuxia-gem)
3. [The Postman Fights Back – 88 Films, Blueprint: Review](https://blueprintreview.co.uk/2023/09/the-postman-fights-back-88-films/)
4. [The Postman Fights Back (1982) Review, Far East Films](https://fareastfilms.com/review/the-postman-fights-back/)
5. [Postman Strikes Back, The (1982) Review, cityonfire.com](https://cityonfire.com/the-postman-strikes-back-1982-review/)
6. [ポストマン・ファイツ・バック／巡城馬（1982）ゴールデン・ハーベスト大全, Kungfu Tube](https://kungfutube.info/22427)
7. [The Postman Fights Back, Actionfreunde](https://www.actionfreunde.de/the-postman-fights-back/)
8. [Postman Fights Back, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/postman_fights_back)
9. [The Postman Fights Back (巡城馬) (1982), LoveHKFilm](https://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews_2/postman_fights_back.htm)
10. [The Postman Fights Back, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/the-postman-fights-back-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmdu1odg)
11. [The Postman Fights Back, MVD Entertainment Group](https://customers.mvdb2b.com/s/ThePostmanFightsBack/US88FB024)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Martial arts films › Released 1943 to 1985*
*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