I'm guessing that not too many kung fu movie legends hail from Scranton, Pennsylvania, but that's the birthplace of Cynthia Ann Christine Rothrock. The statuesque (34C-25-34 according to paparazzi nudity rag Celebrity Sleuth) Cynthia - Cindy to her friends - holds five Black Belts in styles as varied as Tang Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do, Wu Shu, and Eagle Claw and Northern Shaolin kung fu styles. Her skill with Chinese weapons like double broad swords, staff, Nine-section Steel Whip Chain (without a doubt my favourite weapon name ever) and Iron Fan, not to mention various Kobudo and Bugei weapons, enabled Cindy to become World Karate Champion in both forms and weapons for five consecutive years starting in 1981. Neither category is split according to gender, so in an interesting precursor to her movie career Cynthia had to beat a bunch of guys to win.

Meanwhile, over in Hong Kong strange things were afoot. Producers Sammo Hung and Dickson Poon had an idea for a movie about two tough-yet-sexy female cops. Sammo wanted to show women kicking Triad ass, while Poon saw it as a good opportunity to advertise the clothes and accessories available in his chain of department stores. One of the cops was to be portrayed by a young Malaysian dancer who would later become known as Michelle Yeoh. Sammo wanted an actress who would contrast to the dark-skinned, dark-haired Michelle, and after seeing Cynthia in a Kentucky Fried Chicken commercial he invited her to Hong Kong.

The resultant movie goes by many names; Yes Madam, Police Assassins, In The Line Of Duty 2, and overall it's a patchy effort that relies far too much on stupid comic relief and a ridiculous number of Poon-approved costume changes. The one thing that sets it apart is the blistering final action sequence. Yeoh and Rothrock take on a house full of machete-wielding stuntmen as well as two of the great Hong Kong screen villains, Chong Faat and Dick Wei. As well as launching the careers of Yeoh and Rothrock the movie also gave birth to a whole new genre, the girls with guns movie. This opened the door for a whole host of fighting babes including Moon Lee, Cynthia Khan (who's screen name came from Cynthia's first name and Michelle's, then known as Michelle Khan, surname), Yukari Oshima, Michiko Nishiwaki, Sharon Yeung, Karen Shepard and Steamed Prawn favourite Sophia Crawford.

Although Yeoh has had the more enduring career, for my money it's Cindy that really lights up the screen in Yes Madam. Lighting fast, precise and with a power that defied her stature, Cynthia laid waste to the Hong Kong stunt guys around her. The moment when she spins a bamboo pole around in the palm of one hand, before whipping it behind her into a badass butt-kickin' stance, became a Cindy trademark. Cynthia made such an impression on the Hong Kong audience that she went on to play more heroic babes in movies like Blonde Fury a.k.a. Lady Reporter, The Inspector Wears Skirts, Prince Of The Sun and the bloody marvellous Righting Wrongs alongside Yuen Biao. This is even more impressive considering that at the time, Gweilo martial artists were invariably only cast as villains. Yet here was a distinctly Caucasian American blonde playing the good guy, or rather girl.

After a handful of movies Cynthia returned to the US, where she teamed up with Enter The Dragon director Robert Clouse for the China O'Brien movies. Though the two movies themselves are really not very good (Cindy, Richard Norton and Keith Cooke Hirabayashi join forces to beat up rednecks) they were a video rental smash with audiences unaccustomed to seeing sexy blondes who could kick guys through walls. Cynthia has been a direct-to-video Legend ever since. I for one adore her and her signature kick the 'Rothrocket'. So here is my little tribute to the delightful Cindy, a collection of reviews examining in minute detail some of her American films. It's DTV cheese with added sex appeal and a BITCH of a spinning roundhouse...

Dave Thomas, 8^th July 2003