‘You Fight Like A Girl’ Compilation

While there’s been much ballyhoo and fair criticism over recent action blockbusters’ reticence to feature female characters who are as engaging and badass as their male counterparts, this wasn’t always the case. True, there’s always been a gender gap and imbalance between how often women find themselves in need of rescuing and the frequency in which men are the ones high kicking and quick punching in films. But there’s no need to assume that it’s just a tradition to avoid casting the fairer sex in physical, action-oriented roles. “You Fight Like A Girl”, a brief but highly energetic and highly entertaining compilation from Analog Video Shop, proves this.

Assembling fights from seven Hong Kong titles of the ‘80s and ‘90s, the mix shows just how badass women have been in the street level martial art world (not even including the wuxia films where all sorts of flying warrior queens wreak havoc on baddies). The clips feature incredible performances by Michelle Yeoh, Cynthia Rothrock, Yukari Ôshima, Moon Lee, and Kara Wai who go for broke and give it their all in spectacular and brutal fashion. And since they are Hong Kong productions from the 1980s, it’s highly likely that a bunch of the punches and kicks are for real and the actors still hit their choreography perfectly despite the fact that they must have been in excruciating pain. For those interested and want to follow up and watch the films from which these sequences are derived, the list of movies featured are (in order):

1. DYNAMITE FIGHTERS (1987)

2. RIGHTING WRONGS (1986)

3. MILLIONAIRES’ EXPRESS (1986)

4. FIGHTING MADAM (1987)

5. KICK BOXER’S TEARS (1992)

6. TOP SQUAD (1988)

7. THE GODFATHER’S DAUGHTER MAFIA BLUES (1991)

Also, this should be a good reminder that while Michelle Yeoh is a legendary asskicker of the highest order, she’s also not the only Asian action heroine over 40. It seems like most studios are not aware of this fact given how often she is plugged into that role for works like SHANG-CHI, GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE, and the like. Again—no disrespect to Yeoh and she is clearly the most famous of this group; but it would be nice to see other actors used in some of these roles going forward. If you dig the compilation, and the channel as a whole, please consider supporting it by backing the Psychotronic Video Shop Patreon found here.