| The Brave Archer and His Mate | |||||||
| Native Name: |
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| Director: | Chang Cheh | ||||||
| Producer: | Mona Fong | ||||||
| Story: | Louis Cha | ||||||
| Screenplay: | Ni Kuang Chang Cheh | ||||||
| Starring: | Alexander Fu Sheng Philip Kwok Gigi Wong | ||||||
| Music: | Eddie H. Wang | ||||||
| Cinematography: | Cho Wai-kei | ||||||
| Editing: | Chiang Hsing-lung Lee Yim-hoi | ||||||
| Studio: | Shaw Brothers Studio | ||||||
| Runtime: | 100 minutes | ||||||
| Country: | Hong Kong | ||||||
| Language: | Cantonese Mandarin | ||||||
| Gross: | HK$1,627,031.00 | ||||||
The Brave Archer and His Mate, also known as The Brave Archer 4 and Mysterious Island, is a 1982 Hong Kong film adapted from Louis Cha's novels The Legend of the Condor Heroes and The Return of the Condor Heroes, the first two books in he Condor Heroes Trilogy of novels. The Brave Archer and His Mate is a direct sequel to The Brave Archer, The Brave Archer 2 and The Brave Archer 3, being an adaptation of the final part of the Legend of the Condor Heroes novel and the first part of The Return of the Condor Heroes novel, with the same director, writer, and cast. Little Dragon Maiden (1983) unofficially continues the story where The Brave Archer and His Mate leaves off, though everyone behind and in front of the camera is different.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong return to Peach Blossom Island and are shocked to see that Guo's first martial arts teachers, the "Seven Freaks of Jiangnan", have all been murdered except for Ke Zhen'e. Guo Jing is tricked into believing that Huang Rong's father, Huang Yaoshi, is responsible for the murders and he attempts to avenge his teachers by fighting Huang Yaoshi. The intelligent Huang Rong eventually uncovers the truth and reveals that the murders are actually part of a plot masterminded by Ouyang Feng and Yang Kang. Ouyang and Yang want to make Guo Jing and Huang Yaoshi kill each other and Yang can learn Ouyang's newly mastered skills from the fake copy of the Nine Yin Manual.
Yang Kang gets his retribution eventually and dies in the Temple of the Iron Spear. He had fathered a child with Mu Nianci, and Mu entrusts their orphaned son, Yang Guo, to Guo Jing and Huang Rong before she dies as well. The film's setting moves to eighteen years later on Peach Blossom Island, where Yang Guo is now a grown-up. Guo Jing and Huang Rong have a teenage daughter, Guo Fu, and Guo Jing has also accepted two young disciples, the brothers Wu Xiuwen and Wu Dunru. Guo teaches the Wu brothers martial arts, but refuses to teach Yang Guo, because he is afraid that Yang Guo will follow his treacherous father's footsteps.
Yang Guo develops a rivalry with the Wu brothers and Guo Fu and he leaves the island. Yang meets Ouyang Feng, who has become insane after practising the skills in the fake copy of the Nine Yin Manual. Ouyang likes Yang Guo and teaches Yang his "Toad Skill". Yang begins to suspect that Guo Jing and Huang Rong might be responsible for the death of his parents, after listening to Ouyang Feng's incomplete account of the story. The situation is resolved eventually by Guo Jing, who brings Yang Guo to the Quanzhen Sect to be tutored in martial arts and moral principles by Yang Kang's former teachers.
Guo Jing and Yang Guo arrive at Quanzhen Sect's headquarters and see an ongoing battle between Quanzhen and some intruders, led by Huodu and Da'erba. Huodu and Da'erba attempt to break their way into a tomb near Quanzhen's headquarters, but Guo Jing and Yang Guo thwart their plans and defeat them.