Lethal Lady International Sales Poster

When Sammo Hung launched his then girlfriend, later wife, Joyce Godenzi as an action star, he pulled out all the stops. Sammo had his former Opera school classmate Corey Yuen direct and choreograph the movie. Given that Godenzi was not a major name, Golden Harvest surrounded her with established players, including major stars Carina Lau and Tony Leung. Sammo himself has a cameo as a police superintendant, and even has a brief fight scene.

The movie was shot on locations in Hong Kong, and on studio sets left behind from Jackie Chan’s film ‘Miracles’.

The plot owes a little to a reversed version of Lynda Laplante TV series ‘Widows’, in that a husband gets killed in the line of duty, and his wife sets out to take down the criminals who murdered him. Godenzi’s main fighting opponent in the film, Filipino bodybuilder/martial artist Agnes Aurelio, later moved to the US and became a confidante of director Oliver Stone, appearing in his film ‘JFK’.

Godenzi, who had never trained as an actress or as a martial artist, really delivers the goods as an action lead, though Hong Kong audiences never embraced her the way they did Michelle Yeoh. The film has gained a fan following worldwide, where it is better known under the title ‘She Shoots Straight’.

Reel East is happy to celebrate this lost classic with this large format international sales poster: