Hapkido (1972) March 10, 2010
Posted by Cal in : 1970s films, Kung Fu , trackbackDirector: Wong Fung Main cast: Angela Mao; Carter Wong; Sammo Hung; Wong In-Sik Territory: Hong Kong
Three Hapkido students (Mao Ying, Carter Wong and Sammo Hung) travel back to China from Korea to start a new school to fight the oppression of the Japanese controllers. Mun Wei (Sammo Hung) is a young hotheaded fellow though, and soon attracts too much attention to himself by fighting with the brash, thuggish students from the Black Bear school (which is owned by the occupying Japanese). Violence escalates, and Yu Ying (Angela Mao Ying) takes matters into her own hands.
The plot of Hapkido is obviously the weakest link as it is an almost direct copy of Fist of Fury. Even Ngai Ping-Ngo shows up as virtually the same slimy collaborator character he played in Bruce Lee’s classic, making me wonder briefly if this was intended to be a prequel to Fist of Fury. The one thread of originality is in the use of a foreign fighting style (Hapkido, obviously) as the basis for the film. So instead of the Chinese versus the Japanese, we have the Chinese and the Koreans versus the Japanese. And how do the Japanese fare in all of this? Well, pretty badly, obviously. Mind you, it should be remembered that World War II films from the west from the era depict the enemy in similarly simplistic ways.
Angela Mao prepares to dish out the Iron Rod of Death
What makes Hapkido a standout essential classic is (surprise, surprise!) the fight scenes. Considering that this film was made in 1972, the choreography (provided by Sammo Hung) is fast moving and exciting – especially the finale, which sees Whang In-Shik and Angela Mao dismantle the rival school (and its personnel) in an unforgettable manner. If for no other reason, this film is essential for seeing Whang In-Shik on the side of the heroes for once!
Star Angela Mao Ying gets to show her stuff quite well. Seeing as how this film was made in the same year as Lady Whirlwind, it’s surprising that there’s so much difference between the choreography for the two films, and Mao herself seems so much more dynamic in this movie. It’s so clear that a lot more time and effort went into making this, and the effort pays off.
I don’t know what it is with Angela Mao films, but like The Himalayan, there are many stars-in-waiting playing bit parts in this. Most will already know that Jackie Chan appears (and provides at least one of the more painful-looking stunts), but there are others. See how many you can spot!
While Hapkido is definitely derivative, it has to be remembered that it is also extremely good fun, and contains some of the best moves on celluloid from the period. At the risk of being controversial, I’d say the action in Hapkido equals, if not surpasses, that shown in some of the movies by the Little Dragon. That’s quite some recommendation.
Comments»
What release do you have of this movie? I’ve been wanting to watch this for ages.
And how have you been?
Its a great film, one of my faves. The story is rather hackneyed, but the conviction of the actors is what sets it apart. The sheer energy of the thing is infectious.
I had the HKL DVD but sold it on because the mono track goes out of sync in one of the fights - and the 5.1 track was awful as usual. On the whole, a good release though!
Thanks for the comments guys. Good to see you on here again Shawn!
Yes, it is the HKL DVD that I have. I don’t remember the audio going out of sync though. This happened on an old VHS release of Chinese Boxer and it was most off-putting!
I do like Hapkido very much and it was nice to finally see it a couple of years ago. Apparently, this is one of those films that has only been available on dodgy, low quality bootlegs for years. It’s worth more than that!