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My Young Auntie (1981)
What happens when you mix a screwball comedy, a fish-out-of-water story, and a hysterically overpowered martial arts heroine? My Young Auntie, my favorite Shaw Brothers movie.
This month's sponsor: CELESTIAL PICTURES
For the next month, you'll be getting twice-weekly illustrations from RP. Half of those will be pioneering butt-kicking ladies of the early martial arts movies of the Shaw Brothers.
The 14 Amazons (1972)
When virtually all their family's male heirs were wiped out, the 14 widows of the Yang clan did not mourn. They did not hide. They got revenge.
Executioners from Shaolin (1977)
Groins as strong as steel, kung fu stances that keep women's legs closed, androgynous martial arts masters -- this seminal action movie has a lot to say about the sexes, but not what you'd expect.
Come Drink With Me (1966)
One of the great early entries of martial arts cinema, this movie stars -- to the bafflement of its villains and possibly its audience -- one of the most legendary female kung fu stars of all time in her breakout role.
Random Princesses
Isabel Godin des Odonais
To reunite with her husband, she went on a months-long trek through the jungle -- and was the only survivor.
Olympias of Macedon
The much-maligned woman fought tooth and nail to position her son, Alexander, to become "the Great" - and herself in the process.
Zelia Nuttall
This single mom developed the field of Mexican archaeology, while fiercely protecting it from the sleazy and opportunistic.
Sybil Ludington
To warn against the incoming British, this teen girl staged her own midnight ride - far longer and more dangerous…
Vasilisa Vasilyevna
When the Tsar became hellbent on nailing down her gender, this clever gender-nonconforming heroine kept him guessing to the end.
Nellie Bly
Daring journalist who infiltrated insane asylums, exposed slavery rings, and raced around the world in under 80 days.
Yaa Asantewaa
As an old woman, led an incredibly successful rebellion against British colonialism, known as The War of the Golden Stool,…
Man-deok Kim
When famine hit Jeju island, where she'd been exiled since birth, this prostitute-turned-businesswoman spent her fortune to feed everyone.
Riina
When flying cannibal ghosts kidnapped two women, there was no man that could save them. But there was a woman.
Naziq al-Abid
She traded a life of privilege for one spent fighting for justice on both literal and political battlefields so tirelessly that even exiling her five times couldn't keep her down.