This brutal fight film adapts the proverbial rise-and-fall gangster formula to the mean streets of 1930s Shanghai. Chen Guantai plays a poor hick from Shandong (“Shantung” according to the old Wade-Giles romanization) whose fearsome boxing ability allows him to muscle his way to the top of the Shanghai underworld. Bursting with typically Zhangian bloodshed and distinguished by Chen’s authentic kung fu technique (the film proved to be the star's breakout vehicle), Boxer also features Shaw luminaries David Jiang as a charismatic gangland don and Jing Li as a principled songstress. Among its highlights that have inspired a host of imitators: an iconic match between Chen and a Russian wrestler, and ruthless hatchet-wielding thugs, most recently revived as the “axe gang” in Stephen Chow's comic tribute to the martial arts cinema, Kung Fu Hustle.