Cub Tiger from Kwang Tung (c.1971) August 27, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Action, 1970s films , 8 commentsDirector: Ngai Hoi Fung Main Cast: Jackie Chan; Chan Hung Lit; Shu Pui Pui; Tin Fung Territory: Hong Kong
The widely held belief of Cub Tiger from Kwang Tung is that some of it was shot, the production ran out of money and the whole thing was abandoned and forgotten about until Jackie became a star, whereby some new (Jackie-less) scenes were filmed to create Master with Cracked Fingers (AKA Snake Fist Fighter). Jackie Chan himself, it seems, also holds this belief.
However, the truth is this film was undeniably completed (it has a beginning, a middle and an end), and watching it now is an eye-opener. This is a pre-New Fist of Fury starring role for Jackie (billed as Chan Yuen Lung – “Yuen Lung” being Sammo Hung’s old opera name) and I’m pretty sure it has no precedent. The film itself is almost immaterial when compared to its historical significance, and that’s just as well as it isn’t that good. Following the template made by The Big Boss, Lung (Chan) stands up to a bunch of local hoodlums but is forbidden to fight by his father. Cue lots of agonising “should I fight, or should I do what my father wants?” internal struggles from the young (and I mean young) star. The script tends towards sentiment and melodrama too much for my liking, and I sometimes felt I was being repeatedly hit on the head by moral dilemma after moral dilemma.
But Jackie’s litheness startled me after watching latter-day efforts like The Tuxedo – he flips, gambols and jumps about all over the place like the star he would become. I hadn’t seen this film before, but I had seen Master with Cracked Fingers. I only saw it once, but rather enjoyed it despite feeling that something wasn’t quite right about it (I don’t think I even twigged that it wasn’t Jackie in the newer material – I was very much a novice at that time). Maybe the extra material added another dimension (well, Yuen Siu-Tin was involved, so it’s possible) but Cub Tiger from Kwang Tung is a very forgettable entry in the genre if judged on its own merits.
But if you’re a Chan completist like me, you’ll probably find this movie pretty fascinating. Hong Kong movie information is hard to substantiate, but I think this was made around the time of Not Scared to Die and Police Woman (actually, this film has the same director as the latter) but Chan had relatively minor roles in those films. Even though the movie is less than stellar, the moves and a little of Chan’s impish humour is there. If you’re new to Jackie Chan, get his better films first (anything made between 1978 and 1991 would be a good bet), but if you’ve explored his Lo Wei films and want to know where it really all began, then this is a must.
No review of the film is complete without at least mentioning the state the film’s actually in. Even at its best, the picture quality is pretty rough, and the print has severe wear to it. The screen is cropped (I don’t know why) and this has resulted in the obliteration of some of the original subtitles. To get around this, the option of watching the film with “extra subtitles” is given on the Rarescope DVD – remastered, removable subs that appear every time the originals are at least partially obscured by the cropping. It’s a nice touch (I know a lot of companies wouldn’t have bothered) but it can be a little distracting for the eye to keep switching between two sets of subtitles – especially when you can still read the original text and the remastered subs say something quite different!
The DVD has one surprise up its sleeve – someone’s personal camcorder recording of Jackie’s appearance at a movie screening in Britain around the time of Mr Nice Guy. This footage made me remember why I like Jackie the man and why I’m slowly getting sick of my own countrymen and our loutish behaviour. Jackie is heckled throughout the appearance by catcalls of “let’s see some moves” (are these people really fans?) and is asked by Toby Russell (of “Eastern Heroes” fame - I’m pretty sure it’s him anyway) when he’s “going to make Drunken Master 3” (despite the Jackie-less but definitely official Drunken Master 3 coming out the same year as its predecessor). Jackie smiles and is extremely gracious throughout despite the lack of manners being shown to him and the awkward silences that ensue when it becomes clear he’s not going to start doing his Drunken Monkey routine. He’s a class act, and perhaps the only good thing to come out of his international success later in that decade was that he wouldn’t have to do crap like that anymore.
Le Cercle Rouge (1970) August 13, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Thriller, 1970s films, Non-Asian , 10 commentsDirector: Jean-Pierre Melville Main Cast: Alain Delon; Gian-Maria Volontè; Yves Montand; André Bourvil Territory: France/Italy
“The Buddha took a piece of red chalk and drew a circle, saying: “When men, though unaware of it, must meet again some day, anything can happen to any one of them and they may follow diverging paths to the given day when, ineluctably they will be reunited within the red circle.”
This quote, attributed to Rama Krishna (but, like the quote opening Le Samouraï, was entirely made up by Melville) starts Le Cercle Rouge, a heist thriller attempting to emulate the great American crime thrillers but with a uniquely French flavour.
Alain Delon is Corey, a man given information prior to his release from prison about a possible heist target. Meanwhile, Vogel (Gian-Maria Volontè) escapes from custody from Le Commissaire Mattei (André Bourvil) and sparks an extensive hunt. The two men don’t know each other, but are thrown together when Vogel hitches a ride in the boot of Corey’s car. Together with Jansen (Yves Montand), an alcoholic sharpshooter with some severe personal demons, they execute a daring jewellery heist. Always one step behind, though, is Mattei.
Melville does another fine minimalist job here. The recurring theme seems to be that all men are guilty. One character opines: “They [men] come into the world innocent but it doesn’t last”. With comments like that, it’s not surprising the film has a very dark, nihilistic feel to it.
All of the characters seem damaged in some way. Corey is obviously nursing a broken heart on release from prison – although he never utters so much as a word on the subject during the entire film, Vogel is on the run from the law and might in fact be innocent of the crime he is supposed to have committed, and Jansen sees a menagerie of nasty creepy-crawlies and reptiles every night coming out of his bedroom cupboard. Even the policeman Mattei seems to have a very limited private life with just his three cats for company.
Again, the film has little dialogue, and whole minutes go by without anyone uttering a single word. Although the film is essentially about a jewellery heist, this does not actually happen until quite late in the film. Until then, it’s all about the characters as they travel from Marseilles to Paris (oh, and there is one shot of the Eiffel Tower in this film!). The actual heist section reminded me for some reason of the underrated John Woo film Once a Thief, although this is obviously a lot darker in tone than Woo’s light comedy thriller.
The performances are top notch, with Delon looking suave despite an ill-advised moustache. Gian-Maria Volontè will be familiar to anyone who has seen the first two films in Leone’s Dollars trilogy, and turns in a fine performance here. The real star, though, as far as I’m concerned is Montand as Jansen, who, after pulling off a spectacular feat of shooting, denies himself a drink but instead is content with a sniff from his hip flask. Le Cercle Rouge is great to look at, with fantastic cinematography and great camerawork. It’s also great to listen to, with a memorable jazzy soundtrack typical of the period that always invokes warm pangs of nostalgia from me even though I didn’t actually live through the period.
Dark, nihilistic, subtle, and oozing class, Le Cercle Rouge is a crime thriller unlike anything I’ve seen before and will probably reveal even more gems on future viewings.
Lam Suet-o-meter: Zero - for now. However, with Johnny To directing a remake, I’d be disappointed if he doesn’t show. With it being an English-language movie, though, I’m not sure how big his role could be. Fingers crossed…
Actually, the prospect of To directing a remake of this film conflicts me a bit. I hate remakes as a rule, but the prospect of To doing it does interest me a bit. I would have preferred it if it was a Hong Kong movie, though.
The Savage Five (1974) August 7, 2008
Posted by Cal in : 1970s films, Kung Fu , add a commentDirector: Chang Cheh Main Cast: David Chiang; Ti Lung; Danny Lee; Chen Kuan Tai; Wang Chung Territory: Hong Kong Production Company: Shaw Brothers
A small township’s sleepy and peaceful existence is brought to a brutal end when a gang of bandits happen to stop there after raiding a major bank. Their prize - a large safe - is brought in with the idea that someone can open it for them and burn off the seal from the gold bars held within. The bandits terrorise the town with ruthless efficiency, raping and killing with wonton abandon until their wish can be fulfilled. Against this, a few men band together to save the town from a devastating fate: a failed kung fu practitioner (Ti Lung), a woodcutter (Chen Kuan-Tai), a blacksmith (Danny Lee) and a kung fu acrobat from out of town who is recuperating from illness in the town’s inn (Wang Chung). There’s also a petty thief with an elusive past (David Chiang), who seems to have made a home in the township stealing chickens and generally making a minor nuisance of himself. But he’s a coward and can’t be much use to them - unless the secret he’s hiding proves to be the key to the township’s survival…It’s said that the inspiration to the Savage Five lies with Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (which is no bad thing), but this also has a lot of similarities with the Spaghetti Westerns of the early 70’s. In fact, the style of the score of this film is slightly reminiscent of the genre, and wouldn’t have been out of place in one of Sergio Leone’s classics.
The pace of the film is excellent, and is tense and exciting throughout with just one predictable twist along the way. I just love the characters and what they bring to the film, but particular mention must go to Wang Chung’s kung fu acrobat. When we meet him, he’s ill (probably with the ‘flu) and being chucked out of the town’s inn by the bandits (who want the place to themselves). He misunderstands the situation and thinks the innkeeper wants him out because he’s ill. The resulting dialogue between him and the innkeeper really helps the viewer bond and sympathise with the townsfolk’s fate.No-one lets the side down in this film, and I truly believe there’s no more exciting experience in Hong Kong cinema during the early 70’s than to see Chen Kuan-Tai going completely apeshit on a bunch of bad guys with some sharp piece of hardware. And guess what? He doesn’t disappoint!
In amongst all of this you also have some great heroics. For this, you’ve got Ti Lung and Danny Lee, who serve as the film’s underdogs who are willing (if need be) to sacrifice themselves for the town. And then there’s the wildcard – Mr David Chiang – who appears to be a no-good thief from out of town who is content to steal chickens and trick the farmers with a winning smile and a few conciliatory words.There’s your “Five” from the title, and you have to wonder what the bad guys were thinking, going against such a crowd. My only gripe with this is that the townsfolk are rather robotic and unemotional (they tend to “gang” together and don’t really exhibit human behaviour at times). Everything else is just sheer class, from the script to the performances. The action scenes kick in after about the half hour mark – this is mainly a story-driven film up to this point. After that, they are plentiful and damn good for their day (as usual, Lau Kar-Leung is one of Chang Cheh’s choreographers).But it’s simply the few-against-many angle that really satisfies. The good guys are very good, that bad guys are VERY VERY bad, and you are left with no doubt as to who you want to win this clash.Highly recommended!
Enter the Fat Dragon (1978) July 16, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Comedy, Action, 1970s films , add a commentDirector: Sammo Hung Main Cast: Sammo Hung; Peter Yang; Luk Chu-Sek; Leung Kar-Yan; Lee Hoi-Sang; Lam Kin-Ming; Ankie Lau Territory: Hong Kong Production Company: Fung Ming Motion Picture Co.
Rotund swine-handler, country bumpkin and Bruce Lee fanatic Lung (Sammo Hung) comes to Hong Kong to help out at his uncle’s street cafe, where he inadvertently causes more trouble than he’s worth. Throw in a counterfeiting gang, a disturbed Mr Big with some issues of his own and a trio of “international” fighter bodyguards and you have Enter the Fat Dragon.
The only real criticism you can make of Enter the Fat Dragon is that it could have been even more fun if a little more effort had been put into it. The plot is a little random, but everything else is so much fun it’s positively infectious. In an age where Bruceploitation movies were still being churned out on a production line, this parody is a breath of fresh air.
Actually, parody is not quite the right word – it’s not a straight send up of Lee’s movies (although most are referenced at some point) but rather a loving homage. Sammo’s facial expressions are spot on as he imitates the Little Dragon throughout the film and ironically does some of the best impressions I’ve seen of the man. The character of Lung is one of Sammo’s more likeable creations; a country bumpkin who tries not to be gullible but always ends up being taken advantage of.
The humour for the most part is some of the best you’ll find in Hong Kong films from this period, and there are many comic set pieces that deliver the chuckles. Straight-faced Roy Chow is an obvious highlight, as well as a bizarre turn by Peter Kwan as the villainous but troubled Professor Pai. The usual sight gags and misunderstandings are all here but delivered in such a way as to be entertaining despite the predictability of it all. One memorable gag sees Kao (Luk Chu-Sek), after being lured into the underworld, take Sammo on a taxi ride. However, Sammo doesn’t get in the car and has to chase the cab on foot, periodically catching up with Kao who is oblivious to the situation and keeps up a steady steam of dialogue with the increasingly out of breath Sammo. Another highlight occurs when Sammo takes on a “real” Bruce Lee-alike in a film studio – an unusually surreal scene as two men take the guise of Lee to fight each other.
Sammo’s fight choreography is perhaps not as polished as it would become in the 80s but the film does not suffer as a result and there are many highlights. Frequent Sammo collaborator Leung Kar-Yan appears as a henchman as does a blacked-up Jim Kelly-esque Lee Hoi-Sang. The appearance of an actor in black face is sure to raise eyebrows these days but I think the motives were pretty sound here and there doesn’t seem to be any obvious negative stereotyping. In reality, it wouldn’t fool anyone and is actually pretty funny. Also look out for an appearance by Yuen Biao, Mars and Mang Hoi as stuntmen in the opening sequence.
Enter the Fat Dragon is one of the increasing number of Sammo’s films that are difficult, if not impossible, to get hold of these days. Although not as obvious a career highlight as films like Millionaire’s Express, Pedicab Driver or Wheels on Meals, it is still a hell of a lot of fun and should be seen by anyone with a fondness for the portly pugilist. Oh, and if you can track down the original English dub, that’s worth looking at too if only for one deadpan line delivered on behalf of Roy Chow that had me laughing out loud with its dryness.
Onna Hissatsu Ken: Kiki Ippatsu (Sister Street Fighter: Hanging By a Thread) (1974) July 2, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Action, 1970s films , add a commentDirector: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi Main Cast: Etsuko Shihomi, Masashi Ishibashi, Yasuaki Kurata Territory: Japan Production Company: Toei
The next Sister Street Fighter film off the Toei production line is Sister Street Fighter: Hanging By a Thread (a title that doesn’t seem to have any real relevance, incidentally). Already, you can see the formula: beloved relation/friend of Koryu kidnapped or working against their will, heinously evil crime lord with crazy henchmen, fights galore and sexploitation. What sets Koryu off this time is the murder of a police detective in Hong Kong, who kept evidence in a role of microfilm in his false eye (no, seriously!).
The villain in this instalment is a diamond smuggler, who uses young ladies to hide diamonds in their…well, let’s just say these ladies are sitting on a lot of money. He collects martial artists to do his dirty work, and employs them to eliminate Koryu when she starts to get too close to his operation. And if the bad guys weren’t weird enough in the original, the ante has been upped in this episode with the inclusion of an alcoholic parrot-wearing freak of a doctor who I couldn’t tell was wearing blackface or not.
Toei certainly liked to recycle their actors a lot, and a staple of this series seems to be recurring performers returning to play different roles. Masashi Ishibashi returns as lead thug in a role almost identical to the last movie. A real shot in the arm, though, is the inclusion of Yasuaki Kurata as a kind of rock star-styled thug for hire.
You are probably thinking it all sounds a little too similar to Sister Street Fighter, and you’d be absolutely right – and it suffers from much the same problems. The script is unengaging and derivative of its predecessor (most of the time, this feels like nothing more than a remake of the first film) and the same shaky camerawork gets in the way of the fight scenes. However, I enjoyed this sequel slightly more than the original and this is mainly down to Yasuaki Kurata’s involvement. His character is the only one to have any kind of depth (although I’m using the word “depth” very loosely) and his abilities are astounding. I’d go as far as to say he’s never looked better.
Etsuko Shihomi also has some great fight scenes, and again handles the nunchaku like a demon. Plus there’s more sleazy 70s sexploitation in this as well as some nasty gore and torture scenes. That, coupled with the bizarre plot of the film and the freaky characters makes me doubt the sanity of the makers of these films. But that’s always the appeal of these crazy 70s actioners.
Onna hissatsu ken (Sister Street Fighter) (1974) July 1, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Action, 1970s films , add a commentDirector: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi Main Cast: Etsuko Shihomi, Masashi Ishibashi, Emi Hayakawa, Sonny Chiba Territory: Japan Production Company: Toei Company
I’ve been quite looking forward to seeing this series of films since seeing Etsuko Shihomi in action in the relatively weak final entry of the Street Fighter series. She was, for me, easily the best thing in that film, and I was wondering how she’d fare given top billing.
The usual problem of poor scriptwriting get things off to an inauspicious start when we see a stock shot of Hong Kong followed by a cop telling Koryu Lee (Shihomi) that her brother has gone missing in action while investigating a drug lord’s island fortress. I really find these films that don’t have plotting “foreplay” a real grind. There’s no introduction of character, no preamble, and basically no way for the viewer to engage in the film. The first part of the film is a collection of scenes and fights without much cohesion or meaning.
This is more or less countered, however, by the craziness of events later on. It’s evident the scriptwriters were more than a little familiar with Enter the Dragon, and Sister Street Fighter is a wacked-out version of the Bruce Lee film with a plethora of screen crazies. It’s hard to decide to whom the title of weirdest character should go, but I’d have to settle for a whole team – the Quentin Tarantino-sounding Amazon 7, who wear leopard skins, boxing boots, fishnets and white masks (well, presumably if you go out dressed like that you’re not going to want people to know who you are). There must be something weird in the air at the moment throwing all these Amazon women at me (see Fantasy Mission Force), but I’ll tell you one thing for sure – one of this gang is definitely not a woman!
Street Fighter stalwart Masashi Ishibashi appears as does Sonny Chiba himself, although neither in their previous roles. Sonny Chiba’s appearance here seems mainly to endorse the new franchise, but his scenes are some of the best of the film. That’s not to say Shihomi can’t handle herself well, it’s just that some of the fight scenes are so badly shot it draws the attention away from the action. When the camera’s wobbling around so much, it’s hard to focus on what’s going on. However, there are some gems here, including a blistering nunchaku duel that ups the adrenaline level nicely. But this doesn’t seem to quite resolve itself as the scene ends rather abruptly and her foe doesn’t show up again.
When Koryu discovers her brother’s being used as a pharmaceutical guinea pig, along with the plan to smuggle drugs in wigs (and the less said about that the better), she decides to storm the drug lord’s fortress and this starts the big climax. Again, while competent (if a little bizarre and fragmented), the culmination isn’t quite as exciting as I’d hoped, with a very strange wirework finale. What I really loved though was the brilliant show-stopping back-to-front man (fans will know what I mean) that was hilariously sick.
It definitely gets more fun as it goes on, and the menagerie of weirdoes on display will ensure it will get an occasional viewing, but Sister Street Fighter is all surface and no depth, and feels every inch the speedy production it was.
Chokugeki! Jigoku-ken (The Executioner) (1974) June 12, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Comedy, Action, 1970s films , 3 commentsDirector: Teruo Ishii Cast: Sonny Chiba; Makoto Satô; Eiji Go; Yutaka Nakajima Territory: Japan Production Company: Toei Production Ltd
It’s been a long time since I’ve done a Sonny Chiba film on here. Although it seems like I’ve not been watching them, I have in fact been on a steady diet of Chiba since watching The Street Fighter way back on my first post for this blog. I’ve bought so many boxed sets of Chiba’s films that I now have no less than three copies of Killing Machine, two copies of Bullet Train, and two versions of Virus (which isn’t really a Sonny Chiba film but that doesn’t stop companies including it).
No, the reason I’ve not been writing about them is because so many of them (apart from the Street Fighter films) leave me completely cold. I think it’s something to do with the storylines and the scripts – something always feels a little “off” to me. Chokugeki! Jigoku-ken is no different – a disgraced police officer recruits a bunch of criminals to break up a drug ring – but at least it does have a certain flair.
Chiba is Ryuichi Koga, a trained ninja – although his “backstory” consists of a few short generic training sequences before we see him as a man, leaving his master. Along for the ride is a ruthless assassin (Makoto Satô), an overly horny murderer awaiting execution on death row (Eiji Go) and, to provide eye-candy, Street Fighter co-star Yutaka Nakajima.
The first indication that something’s slightly amiss is the introduction of Makoto’s character, which is borrowed almost directly from the introduction of Lee Van Cleef’s character in The Good the Bad and the Ugly. Well, if you’re going to borrow, I suppose you borrow from the best. However, Ryuichi then springs Eiji Go out of prison with the exact same chewing-gum-in-a-lock gag from obscure Hong Kong movie Interpol 009, which I just happened to have watched a few weeks ago. Odd.
Although the characters are strange (the horny ex-prisoner is particularly annoying and I’m still not sure why Yutaka Nakajima was in the film other than for her considerable beauty) and the story a little dull, it is a cut above a lot of similar fare as it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The comedy, although lowbrow, is actually pretty funny most of the time.
And then you’ve got the action sequences, which Chiba handles as well as you’d expect. They’re the highlight of the film, of course, and in that respect Chokugeki! Jigoku-ken is a winner, with fights breaking out on a regular basis. One pleasant surprise is the inclusion of Kurata Yasuaki, who will be instantly recognisable to every Hong Kong action film fan on the planet. Mr Kurata was the go-to guy for decades when Hong Kong filmmakers wanted a Japanese martial artist, and he even got to play non-villains once or twice. His place in Hong Kong cinematic history is secured with appearances in films such as Heroes of the East, Millionaire’s Express and Fist of Legend, and apparently he’s a really nice bloke too. I don’t know why, but I was actually surprised to see him in a Japanese film!
If you take away the fights, though, you can’t help but think this is all routine stuff. I know great scriptwriting isn’t the thing most people associate with action movies (especially from this part of the world) but it would have been nice to have something interesting to hang the fight sequences on other than some (admittedly funny) comic moments and quite a lot of gratuitous nudity.
This is definitely another example of a great film if you’re in a very undemanding mood. Just don’t expect cinematic gold. Oh, and by the way, does anyone want to buy a couple of copies of Killing Machine?
The Big Boss (1971) May 3, 2008
Posted by Cal in : 1970s films, Kung Fu , 4 commentsDirector: Lo Wei Cast: Bruce Lee; James Tien; Han Ying-Chieh Territory: Hong Kong Production Company: Golden Harvest
Cheng Chiu On (Bruce Lee) goes to Thailand to help out in an ice factory. Trouble breaks out in the form of a labour dispute, but Cheng cannot retaliate because of a promise he made to his mother not to get involved in fights. The situation turns sinister, though, when Cheng realises that the ice-packing plant is actually a cover for a drug distribution operation.
Reviewing The Big Boss seems a bit pointless as, let’s face it, everyone’s already seen it. However, it’s been so damn long since I’ve seen the film that I felt compelled to write about it after seeing it again. There are numerous reasons why I don’t watch this one too often, but a couple of reasons stand out. The first is that there doesn’t seem to be a satisfactory version available. The Hong Kong Legends DVD of a few years back had a Cantonese track, which I thought was a step in the right direction, but gone was the funky theme tune and incidental music. In its place was something that seemed really out of place, including, in places, the use of a section of Pink Floyd’s Time. Now, don’t get me wrong, I really love Pink Floyd, but I don’t think it fits a Bruce Lee movie, especially seeing as how it was recorded a good couple of years after the film was shot. The other main reason is that, well, I just don’t like the movie very much.
To solve the audio conundrum, I did a thing you’ll probably never hear from me again – I watched the English dub. It was worth it to hear the theme tune and all the old music again, and I found listening to the corny voices a bit of a novelty – especially when the kindly old uncle slips out a “why, if I was ten years younger…!” when appraising young Mei Lin (Maria Yi). Lecherous old devil! Anyway, I’m not sure if this was the old dub that used to grace the old Rank videos as I seem to recall a place where James Tien was talking to the manager of the ice factory and their dialogue getting so muddled the voice actors ended up swapping characters. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know what I mean! And why does the Boss’s son ask to borrow 2,000 Yen from his father? I thought this film was set in Thailand, not Japan!
It is a bit like heresy criticising a Bruce Lee film, but The Big Boss has not aged very well. This is partly down to the curious mismatch of cinematic styles used in the movie. This was 1970, and Hong Kong action movies were undergoing a radical change away the Wuxia Pian style of action involving trampoline jumps and feats of superhuman agility towards a more realistic depiction of fighting. The Big Boss sits uncomfortably between two stools, still using some of the old cinematic tricks while building on the foundations laid by The Chinese Boxer and Vengeance! and the result occasionally looks messy and not a little silly.
The plot is not terribly interesting either. Basically, it involves a drug operation fronted by a ice manufacturing plant (until I watched this film, I had no idea some people actually made ice for a living!) and workers go missing periodically when they’re knocked off by the boss or his henchmen. Cue lots of concerned co-workers running about as one looking for their missing friends and so forth. The acting’s pretty atrocious, too – I love the twin gasps of shock when the manager explains to the two naive workers what the factory actually produces, and look out for a very young Lam Ching-Ying and his attempt at portraying “thoughtful contemplation” in one scene.
But the main problem is the fact that Bruce Lee does nothing for the first 43 minutes. Until then, this is really James Tien’s movie, and decent though the guy is (here his character seems to be a kind of saint-in-waiting), who really wants to see a James Tien movie? This is done partly to tease the audience. The hype over the first Bruce Lee movie was immense and so instead of saturating the movie with Bruce, he is dished out sparingly. Instead of rushing into fights, Lee looks mournfully at his mother’s pendant and remembers his promise to not get into trouble. Of course, the pendant eventually shatters and Lee feels this breaks his obligation to the promise – and he finally springs into action.
After Lee loses his pendant, it’s like the film loses a lead weight around its neck and things definitely take off. It’s just damn shame that it took so long, though. The film’s action is surprisingly brutal for the time, even compared to the glossier Shaw Brothers films. The tone and content is sometimes puzzling, though – even now I’m not sure if that part where Bruce knocks one of the gang through the wooden wall, leaving a perfect, cartoon-like outline behind is supposed to be funny or not.
It’s things like that that definitely draw attention to Lo Wei’s abilities as a director. While there are moments of pure bone-headedness (remember the death of the prostitute, who evidently doesn’t see her assassin coming?), there are touches of subtlety you wouldn’t really associate with the director. I like the moment early in the movie when Bruce nonchalantly steals a glance at Maria Yi, only to find that she is already looking at him, leading him to look uncomfortably away. Also, the scene that juxtaposes Lee’s sumptuous meal with the boss and his apparent “selling out” with the simple fare of the honest workers is surprisingly good and probably allegorical of something I can’t quite put my finger upon. There are also some scenes of effective tension later on when Lee discovers the slaughter of his comrades.
I enjoyed The Big Boss a lot more than I expected this time around, and a lot of that is down to my choice of watching it with the original music. Watching it now, as a UK citizen, it’s ironic that the film seems the least “complete” of the Bruce Lee films now as it was by far the least censored in this territory in the bad old days when even muttering the word “nunchaku” was likely to result in a cut. While it is definitely not a great movie, I can at least understand why it was such an exciting moment in Hong Kong cinema. One thing I’ll never understand, though, is why the bad guys chop up the bodies of the workers and encase them in ice instead of just disposing of them so they can’t be found by a vengeful Bruce…
Heaven and Hell (1978) February 2, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Horror, 1970s films, Kung Fu, Wacko, Supernatural , 3 commentsDirector: Chang Cheh Cast: Lee I-Min, Sun Chien, Phillip Kwok, Chiang Sheng, Lo Meng, Fu Sheng Territory: Hong Kong Production Company: Shaw Brothers
A man and woman are kicked out of the Court of Heaven on trumped up charges of bringing shame onto the Kingdom. Reincarnated as a taxi driver, Xin Ling (Lee I-Min) courageously takes on and kills a gangster harassing Chen Ding (Fu Sheng) and his sweetheart (Jenny Tseng), but is himself mortally wounded in the conflict. Now sent to hell, Xin Ling applies for leniency when the annual heavenly Buddha happens to appear pretty much as soon as he gets there. In another stroke of luck, the Venoms themselves are in hell and keen to get out, and the heavenly Buddha allows them all to fight their way out.
The more perceptive of my readership have probably noticed a leaning towards the “spooky” in my Hong Kong film viewings of late, and I’ve always had a bit of an interest in this film as it looked like a wacky bit of fun. The reality, though, is a film just a bit too out there for my tastes.
You can’t fault the film for being different. We start off in heaven in this three act film, a section which of course has a strong fantasy feel to it, and reminded me a little of the film Na Cha the Great. It soon becomes apparent that the first two sections of the film are just setting the scene for the “Hell” part as the “Heaven” section barely lasts ten minutes before switching to modern day Earth. The Mortal World is the most striking part of the film visually, which, for reasons unfathomable to me, is portrayed in a kind of theatrical way as a stage play complete with stylised sets and props (and a couple of musical numbers from Jenny Tseng which are surprisingly not too bad). Fu Sheng takes on a gang of dancers pretending to be thugs in a fight scene without sound effects of any kind and with visible lack of contact. It’s a very brave style choice, and definitely something I’ve not seen before. Unfortunately, I don’t think it really pays off. The film then confusingly switches to a more realistic, external setting for the encounter between Fu Sheng, Lee I-Min and the gang boss played by Kong Do.
The lion’s share of the screen time goes to the Hell sequence, but this is interspersed with flashbacks to various periods in the world’s history when the Venoms’ backstories are told. Hell itself is primarily made up of cheesy sets, cheesy costumes (Hell’s workers are kind of like human pigs) and ultra cheesy lighting. There are a few torture scenes and a little moralising along the way, but basically, the Hell sequence is just a prelude to the introduction of the Venoms and the film becomes a Kung Fu-fest from there on in. While the Venom stories are good, the whole film just descends into a fragmented mess and I couldn’t wait for the whole thing to finish.
You could walk in on Heaven and Hell at various points and think you’re watching a fantasy film, an avant-garde 70’s pop art piece, a comedy, a horror, a period Kung Fu flick, a modern day actioner and a musical variety show. With so many elements involved, it was sure to turn out badly, and Heaven and Hell was a real struggle for me to sit through. You’ll never see another film like it, but that’s meant more of a warning than a recommendation.
The Pirate (1973) November 21, 2007
Posted by Cal in : 1970s films, Kung Fu , 4 commentsDirector: Chang Cheh; Pao Hsueh-Li; Wu Ma Cast: Ti Lung; David Chiang; Tin Ching; Fan Mei-Sheng Territory: Hong Kong Production Company: Shaw Brothers
Pirate Chang Pao-Chai (Ti Lung) springs a leak after an otherwise successful raid on a foreign ship. He goes ashore to get materials to patch his ship up, where he encounters corrupt Qing officials and poor, oppressed peasants. Being a good man at heart, he decides to help out and becomes an even bigger outlaw in the process.
Try and guess if you can spot what the problem with The Pirate is going to be from the plot synopsis above. No, I’m not saying it’s unimaginative and formulaic (although it is). That’s right – hardly any of it takes place at sea! Actually, I’d say there are fewer sea scenes than in that other pirate film that never was, Project A. Trouble is, though, that Project A didn’t suffer as a result. This does.
Things start off promisingly enough. There’s a battle between the pirates and a ship full of…erm…rather Chinese-looking Englishmen. The ships are great though, and there are some big explosions going on. However, land is always in sight, which does spoil the effect somewhat. It’s not piracy on the high seas so much as piracy in a bit of a bay somewhere. Never mind, I thought, maybe things will pick up later…
It’s always a welcome change to see Ti Lung take the starring role for once instead of David Chiang (who’s given a “guest starring” credit but does feature quite heavily). It seems like I’ve seen a million of these Ti Lung/David Chiang films, but in truth I’ve probably only seen about five-hundred-and-eighty-thousand or so. For this, Chang is “Jointly Director” (as it says in the credits) with Pao Hsueh-Li (who worked on many other Chang Cheh films in co-directing capacity) and jack-of-all-trades Wu Ma.
The three directors do not improve anything, and were probably only utilised to speed the process up to knock this out as quickly as possible. The story is a real letdown. Ti Lung as Chang is utterly unbelievable as a pirate when he comes ashore because he’s such a compassionate character and always looking out for the peasants, which seems totally at odds with the whole point of being a pirate. Things do improve toward the end when he starts beating up the bad guys, but it’s too little too late and can’t save the movie. When the film ends, we get a little epilogue which tells us that Chang Pao-Chai was a real person and what happened to him after the (highly fictionalised, I suspect) events depicted in the movie. Well, fancy that.
The only other notable element is Dean Shek. In one scene, he appears to be unaware he’s being filmed, and if you watch him later in the film he has a brief background action scene and it is blatantly obvious he hasn’t got a clue what he’s been asked to do and looks incredibly uncomfortable.
There are bucketfuls of historical epics from Chang Cheh during the early to mid 70’s, but I’d say this is probably the worst of the lot. For completists only.