While preparations are being made for the second part of my Wang Lung-Wei article, I thought I would just post something up that I've been thinking about for a long time. Hong Kong films are known for many things but one aspect I enjoy are the theme songs that usually accompany the film. What's more impressive is that more often then not those songs are sung by the actors appearing in the movie. So I thought I would post my top ten Hong Kong Movie Theme Songs.
Number Ten: Winners & Sinners
Number Nine: The Young Master
Number Eight: A Better Tomorrow 2
Number Seven: Project A
Number Six: A Chinese Ghost Story
Number Five: Full Contact
Number Four: Aces Go Places
Number Three: Inferal Affairs
Number Two: Police Story
Number One: Fist of Fury
That's all for today, see you all with part two of the article soon!
We enter the final week of the Mao March Marathon and this week I'll be taking a look at what is arguably one of Angela's most popular movies among fans. It is of course, Broken Oath!
Angela is Liu Jie-Lian, a woman out to avenge the death of her father. With the help of a pickpocket and an undercover Imperial agent, she uses her deadly skills in Kung Fu to do what she does best. Beat the living crap out of anyone stupid enough to go up against her.
As I mentioned at the beginning, Broken Oath is arguably one of Angela's most popular movies and for good reason. With a plot line that owes more then a little to the classic Japanese revenge movie Lady Snowblood and some tremendous fight choreography from Yuen Woo-Ping, it's easy to see why this is such a big hit with fans. Angela plays the type of character she was best know for. An extremely focused, angry and deadly female who can take a beating as well as give one back. She gives it her all and the end result is a performance that is played with complete conviction and is ultimately satisfying to watch.
Supporting her are, as you'd expect, a group of very familiar faces. Liu Jun-Guk plays the mischievous pickpocket helping Jie-Lian in her mission. He was very likable but it was apparent he wasn't a fighter so he didn't really get to fight anyone. Wang Lai plays Jie-Lian's Godmother and gives a very good performance throughout. Also appearing is Bruce Leung as a super kicking Imperial Agent and Chan Wai-Man as the bad guy out to kill everybody. Also Sammo Hung and Han Ying-Chieh turn up as two bad ass bodyguards who get to kick some serious ass during the run time. Everyone fulfills their roles competently and maintains the same level of quality in the other Angela Mao Golden Harvest productions.
Out of all the movies I've reviewed this month, Broken Oath by far has the most varied in terms of the martial arts action. Yuen Woo-Ping not only gives us a number of traditional empty handed fights but a good quantity of weapons fighting is thrown into the mix. Working along side veteran actor/fight director Hsu Hsia both men show that two heads can be better then one and combine their talents to create some truly memorable action scenes. There's a wonderful scuffle in a forest which we see the introduction of one of Angela's character gimmicks in which she uses scorpions to disable and frighten the enemy. I loved this as you never really saw anyone else use this kind of idea in any other movie at the time and it's just one of many great ideas which were used in Broken Oath.
One thing is immediately noticeable about the action is the speed in which they are choreographed. During this time while fight choreography was incredibly intricate and well executed, Fast is not a word I would normally associate with it. That's not the case here. The movements are incredibly fast when compared to films such as Hapkido or Lady Whirlwind. Not so fast that it becomes distracting in any way but fast in a way that becomes quite impressive to watch. It doesn't take a genius to work out who might of been the champion of going in this direction. Yuen Woo-Ping was always an action director wanting to try new and interesting things with each film he made. Whether it's with traditional Snake Fist martial arts put together with the completely fictitious Cat's Claw Kung Fu in Snake In The Eagle's Shadow or mixing Tai Chi and Drunken Fist in Drunken Tai Chi, Sifu Woo-Ping was always trying to stay ahead of the curve when it came to action film making.
Speed seems to be the thing which we find him experimenting with here. Putting together a complicated sequence of moves is one thing but to push it that little bit further by making a little bit faster and tighter and it gives it just that little touch of realism. Not too realistic, after all this is a 70's Kung Fu picture we're talking about here but enough so that it makes it stand out from the crowd. There are a number of very well done and very memorable fight scenes throughout. A fight which sees Angela use a Bo staff is very good with some good moves shown throughout. Chan Wai-Man goes up against Fong Yau in a fight which sees Chan dish out some nasty looking blows to the head. I liked this one especially as it showed why Chan Wai-Man is one of the more under appreciated Kung Fu stars of this era. Woo-Ping and Hsu Hsia obviously saw something in him that could be put to great use here and he gets to show some very impressive punching combinations that compliment his hard hitting style.
If you ever talk to fans about Broken Oath one thing they will inevitably say is how Broken Oath has one of the best final reel fight scenes of it's time. Having watched it, I would whole-heartedly agree. Everyone involved and I mean everyone gets to really show their stuff. An excellent scene sees Kuo Cheng-Yu fight a fire breathing Han Ying-Chieh. Kung Fu bad guys always had some sort of gimmick during this time. I think it mostly stemmed from the type of Kung Fu action pictures Shaw Brothers were making at the time. Han's gimmick is that he breathes fire but also wears a pair of steel toes caps. It's a short scene but both men get to make a wonderful Kung Fu fight. Angela uses double short swords against a starknife wielding Sammo Hung and this is why Broken Oath has such a good reputation as a weapons film.
You can see both Angela and Sammo really trying to push themselves to do the choreography justice and it's an excellent fight and reminds me while I prefer more grounded swordplay to that of the fantasy style seen in films such as Swordsman II. Not that there's anything wrong with that style of action. Each type have their pro and cons but to me movies like Broken Oath are more to my liking when it comes to on-screen martial arts. If seeing Angela take on Sammo wasn't enough, we have Chan Wai-Man fight Bruce Leung. Broken Oath is a good example of why Bruce Leung, much like Dorian Tan, was one of the more under appreciated boot men of this era and had the talent to hit it big but for one reason or another never did. Leung's fight with Chan is excellent with Chan using some stiff looking kicks and punches and Leung really showing his knack for fancy kicks.
Broken Oath is a fantastic piece of late 70's Hong Kong martial arts cinema and is a definite must see if you like Golden Harvest or Shaw Brothers movies. Having this as the film to conclude the Mao March Marathon has been wonderful and I can only hope that I'll be able to review more of Angela Mao's films in the future. So that's it. Thank you all for coming onto my blog week after week. Be sure to keep checking for more reviews, retrospectives, columns and articles throughout the coming weeks and months.
Welcome to week three of the Mao March Marathon and I'm going to looking at another of Angela Mao's Golden Harvest films. This week it's Lady Whirlwind!
Mao plays Tien, a martial arts expert who is looking to avenge the death of her sister after she was abandoned by Ling (Chang Yi). Ling himself was thought to have been killed at the hands of a group of criminals but he was nursed back to health by a young woman named Wang (June Wu). Tien discovers him and wants to fight to the death but not before agreeing to go after the criminals who went after him in the first place.
Lady Whirlwind marks the film debut of Angela Mao and straight away you could see why she become extremely popular with local audiences and fans overseas. That cold stare which she would use to great effect in her other movies was something that started right here in this very film. Also her formidable skills in martial arts get to be an excellent showcase of just how talented Angela was and how it's a shame she never really got to be part of the Shaw Brothers stable of actors (Rumor has it that this was something she was considering before she retired) as she would have probably made some absolutely classic films that would have been added the studio's legendary catalogue of film titles.
Still, regardless of what could have happened, we as fans have to make do with the films Angela did make and for a female star of this era the number of them which are considered the best by fans are quite surprising. Especially when you begin to realize just how many of them were made under Golden Harvest and also how many of them featured action direction by Sammo Hung. I would definitely say that Angela never looked better when she worked along side Sammo. These were two individuals who really did harmonize well with each other and Lady Whirlwind is yet another example of their really good chemistry.
The interest thing I found most about this film was there seemed to be a real effort to actually tell a story as opposed to the norm which was create a slim premise that will carry itself from one fight scene to the next but here that doesn't seem to be the case. Chang Yi's character Ling in particular seems to have been fleshed out to a degree more then other films (Except those being made at Shaws where the story had just as much priority as the action scenes) that his character goes from being completely one dimensional to a man who feels guilt for what he's done in the past but knows he must face his demons in order to exorcise them. Golden Harvest made the right move by giving the role to Chang Yi. A familiar face to fans of Kung Fu Cinema, Chang Yi is a Taiwanese actor who appeared in dozens upon dozens of films throughout his career, making ten films in 1979 alone. That's what always impressed me about actors working in Hong Kong during this era, they hardly ever went without work.
Ling's conflict goes up well against the single minded determination of Angela's character Tien. Here is a woman who will stop at nothing to avenge her sister, even if it means pissing off a bunch of shady criminals in the process. This was a great way to debut her and she jumps right into the role and handles it with such enthusiasm. The same can't be said for another of the other actors however. While all competent in terms of the acting, none of them have a strong connection like the two leads.
What would a Angela Mao movie be without a copious amount of Kung Fu action? Lady Whirlwind is fit to burst with action much like the other films I have previously reviewed. Like those other two films, Sammo Hung was also the action director. Here he takes a different approach. Instead of using traditional martial arts techniques, he seems to go for a more realistic brawling vibe. These aren't martial arts duels, these are down and dirty street fights. The moves themselves may not look pretty but they look painful but at the same time have a pace, rhythm and energy that accentuates the skills of the actors involved. Watching some of the fights, you can't help but feel that Sammo was perhaps taking a few ideas from King Boxer. In particular Chang Yi's use of the Iron Hand technique which was used by Lo Lieh. Sammo doesn't rip the whole thing off move for move but it's evident that perhaps he was trying to understand what audiences liked and what was successful and this is him trying to experiment with that.
Angela also gets to really cut loose with an outstanding opening brawl inside a gambling den. Much like the brawls in which she cleans out the Dojos in When Taekwondo Strikes and Hapkido. Here Angela takes out a group of bad guys where she displays some great fist and leg techniques and gets to clash once more with Sammo. This fight goes all over the place, even spilling out into the street. The fact they choose this to be Angela's very first fight in her film career shows that Golden Harvest were confident they would have a star on their hands. Chang Yi also gets a few good fights under his belt, his fight against some bad guys in the very reliable Tea House setting sees him taking on all comers, including Yueng Wai. It's a terrific fight and features some really solid stunt falls and some nice bright red fake blood. Angela also goes one on one with Chin Yuet-Sang who appears as a Japanese Karate expert. You have too keep your eyes on Angela as it shows she could memorize long takes of moves, especially those featuring lots of kicks.
Toward the end we get to the see the fight that the film has been building towards. The clash between Tien and Ling. The fight didn't go on as long as I would have liked but here we have two martial artists really getting to show their stuff. Angela and Chang give us what is a hell of a good throw down and further cements Sammo as a fight choreographer who was really trying to trying new things with each film he would make.
There's plenty fighting throughout that makes Lady Whirlwind an extremely good film for this era. Fans of the classic Shaw's bashers such as Chinese Boxer, King Boxer and Boxer From Shantung will be doing themselves a great service by seeing this. Lady Whirlwind is an important film as it features the debut of Angela Mao as well as shows us a young Sammo showing us that he would be a force to be reckoned with in later years.
Join me next week when I'll taking one last look at another from Angela's filmography at the conclusion of Mao March Marathon.
We head into the second week of the Mao March Marathon looking at another Golden Harvest classic starring the first lady of Kung Fu Angela Mao, Hapkido.
Angela stars along side Carter Wong and Sammo Hung as three Chinese students living in Japanese occupied Korea studying Hapkido. After getting into a fight with a group of Japanese, their master (Ji Han-Jae) urges them to return to China to avoid the authorities but also establish a school in an attempt to spread the word of Hapkido. Before long Sammo is involved in a brawl with a local Japanese school setting off a course of events which will ultimately push our heroes' martial skill to the very limit.
If it's one thing that can be said about Angela Mao is that during her career she made some damn good movies. Hapkido is without a doubt one of them. Utilizing much of the same cast and crew that featured in When Taekwondo Strikes, Hapkido is another solid effort, although it should be mentioned this was made before that particular film. It would be difficult for a fan of the genre to watch this and not find anything they would like. This flick is jam packed with a hell of a lot of fight scenes to satisfy even the most hungry of martial arts junkies. Everyone and I mean everyone gives it their all to deliver a sometimes brutal and excellently paced film.
Like When Taekwondo Strikes, Hapkido concentrates on the Korean martial art in which the film derives it's title from. The difference between this particular style and Taekwondo is that Hapkido uses a lot more close quarters moves such as joint locks, throws and take downs as well as using kicks and various punching combinations. It's just the right kind of style that looks good on screen and everyone in the cast does a truly fantastic job of displaying it. Angela Mao in particular gets to really tear through the various bad guys as she takes on anyone who thinks they can beat her.
Storywise it's something that was very much trying to capitalize on the the success of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury. Downtrodden Chinese kicking ass against an oppressive Japanese enemy. A lot of these films round this time used the Japanese this way. Despite World War II having ended almost three decades earlier, the people of China and Hong Kong were still traumatized from it's occupation by Japanese military forces. So when Bruce came along in Fist of Fury and defeated them in combat, it transformed him from movie star to the closest thing their society had to a real life superhero. Producers decided to see just how much mileage they could get out of the evil Japanese gimmick and movies like Hapkido were pushing the trend.
Nowadays it seems kind of cheesy but like I said the Chinese people still held a lot of resentment over what had happened during WWII so to them it felt like they were finally getting their comeuppance. The film even shares a few similar story beats with the Bruce Lee classic. In particular a scene which sees Angela take on a Dojo of karate students. The camerawork and the poses which Angela uses strike a startling resemblance the classic Bruce Lee bout. She really was being sold as the female version of Bruce and movies such as Hapkido solidified that image.
The cast is pretty good for a movie made around this time. Angela does a great job in both the dramatic and action packed fighting. Carter gets to do a lot more then he later would in When Taekwondo Strikes and shows that he can be a good dramatic actor at times. Sammo plays the hothead of the three and doesn't get the display any of the charisma which would make him a much beloved figure of Hong Kong Cinema later in his career but he does a good enough job. Being an early 70's Hong Kong movie a whole roster of familiar faces crop up. Wei Ping-Ao, Gam Dai, Kok Lee-Yan, Nancy Sit and whole host of recognizable faces show up to lend a hand to the acting. Wei Ping-Ao in particular essays his role from Fist of Fury and skewers it slightly just to make him ever so slightly more despicable.
There wasn't one bad actor in the whole bunch which very much surprised me. As there was some horrible acting in display in the last movie I watched as part of the marathon.
As mentioned before, Hapkido is positively dense with fist and foot action. It's a safe assumption that you'll be waiting no longer then ten minutes before the next thrown down kicks off. Sammo was in charge of the action and it shows. There is an incredibly good opening display of Hapkido shown by Ji Han-Jae. Master Ji was a key figure in introducing the art to the world and here he demonstrates some solid technique using various locks and throws. The way he handles himself and the expertise put on display let the audience know he is the real deal and Hapkido is a martial art that should be taken seriously. So much so that he actually comes off as quite intimidating which I'm sure was the intended effect of the scene.
There are a number of stand out fight scenes. Just watch the fight between Sammo and Bruce Leung, better known the audiences as the bad guy in Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle. Sammo gets to really let his fists fly and completely dominates Bruce in such a way that audiences were getting a glimpse of the future of Hong Kong Action Cinema. He doesn't use any really flashy moves but his punches and kicks look really powerful even more so when you couple it with Sammo's burly physique. Carter Wong also gets to really flex his fists when he has a really great fight against Pai Ying. While it's a fight in which Carter ultimate loses, it shows that he could handle himself and really knew how to do a good kick that looks great on camera.
Angela however is the one that gets to really shine bright. Her fight against Jacky Chen gets her showing what she can really do when given some good choreography to work with. It starts off as a weapons fight with a Japanese Katana against a metal rod then quickly moves into an empty handed fight before finishing off with Angela getting some creative use out of an umbrella. It's here that you begin to see Sammo really using his head and trying to come up with unique and interesting ways to portray fighting on screen. He also gets Angela to use that trademark ponytail of hers as a makeshift whip. Clever little things like that are what make Chinese Martial Arts Cinema so much more entertaining then anything Hollywood could have come up with at the time.
With all these brutal brawls breaking out it leads us right to a stunning finale which sees Angela getting help from none other when Wang In-Sik in a rare good guy role. His sharp features and stern expression made him much suited to playing the bad guy but here he's fighting for the side of good for once. His fight against a group of Karate students show why he was one of the more underrated boot men of the genre and it's a definite must-see it goes with out saying.
Hapkido has a place on my list of Top Hong Kong Films Ever Made and it just makes the Mao March Marathon all the more enjoyable. If you haven't seen it, go do yourself a big favor and hunt down the DVD right away as you'll have a real good time, I promise you.
Join me next time wen we'll in the third week of the Mao March Marathon. See you then folks!
Welcome to the beginning of the Angela Mao March Marathon were each week I will be reviewing a film starring the Taiwanese female fury that is Angela Mao every week throughout March. To kick off the marathon I'll be taking a look at a true cult classic that is When Taekwondo Strikes!
During the Japanese occupation of Korea during World War II, martial arts master Li (Jhoon Rhee) leads a rebellion against the Bansan Karate House. A secret organization tasked with destroying anyone going against the Japanese government. Li enlists the help of a Chinese Hapkido expert Lady Heung (Angela Mao) to rescue a priest who has been imprisoned for hiding one of Li's students, Kim (Carter Wong). Things soon take a turn for the worse when Li is captured and Kim and Heung are forced to flee to China with the priest's niece, Mary (Anne Winton) in tow. The three then decide to mount a rescue plan and take down the Bansan Karate House.
I have to start by saying how much I thoroughly enjoyed this. When Taekwondo Strikes is a great example of early 70s traditional martial arts action. The interesting thing about this one is instead of using Chinese martial arts, the primary style here is the Korean kicking style of Taekwondo. This film along with another film by the same production team, Hapkido brought Korean martial arts to the masses. It also helps that both films are just damn good to watch. Storywise, it's pretty average. You'd struggle to find any film during this era in which the story wasn't the same as hundreds of other movies made during this time. That's fine with me though. Long as the action is good then any shortcomings in terms of the plot line are easily forgiven.
One of the film's greatest strengths comes from the cast. Angela Mao acts opposite a number of familiar faces. Carter Wong, Sammo Hung, Wang In-Sik, Kenji Kazuma, Gam Ke-Chu. All appear in the main cast. Also, making his one and only appearance in a motion picture is Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee. World famous Taekwondo practitioner and father of Philip and Simon Rhee. If ever there was a film about Taekwondo that required his skill, it was this one. Another unfamiliar face is Ann Winton, the trailer boasts she's a blackbelt but apart from that I can't seem to find any information about her. I'm guessing that maybe she was a student of Rhee's who somehow got involved with the film. Given that it was an early 70s Hong Kong picture as you expect the acting is extremely uneven for most part.
Angela does give a surprisingly good performance, it has to be said. It was obvious that Golden Harvest were trying to market her as a female version of Bruce Lee. Fortunately they don't have her try to imitate him in any way shape or form but the way she fights and ways she moves, you just know that was the type of image they were trying to invoke. She plays the righteous hero role to a tee but she does actually deliver her lines with a serious conviction that it was easy to see why audiences seemed to warm to her straight away. Carter Wong appears with all the youthful bluster he can manage. He was always a pretty average actor but a very competent screen fighter so he fills his role quite adequately. Sammo Hung plays a bad guy and has a few scraps through out. Wang and Kazuma play the bad guys but they don't act, they just give people shifty looks and bust a few moves.
However the worst actors in the entire movie have to be Master Rhee and Winton. As skilled as they both are in fighting, it's obvious that neither of them are actors. Rhee tries his damnedest in the many scenes he has but he's not all that entirely convincing but he more then makes up for it when he starts beating people up. Winton just looks uncomfortable and gives a rather dry delivery of her lines and tries to look sad but comes off as kind of awkward and clumsy. Still, this was to be expected given the era which this film was made.
Thankfully the film more then makes up for this in the action stakes. Choreographed by Chan Chuen and Sammo Hung (Although it's obvious from the choreography who was in charge here) we're treated to many slap bang martial arts throw downs and this where the cast gets to really shine. Angela was always a very impressive screen fighter. Audiences know her as the ill-fated sister of Bruce Lee's character in Enter the Dragon but it was in films like this and Hapkido where she really got to do her thing. Lashing out with some impressive kicking combinations she handles herself incredibly well. There's a particularly good scene in which she takes on Sammo in a noodle restaurant. It begins as a full out brawl with Angela knocking everyone on their arse (including a very young Yuen Biao) and moves onto a very quick but tightly choreographed sword fight between her and Sammo. You can see the two of them could work well together and were able to make each other look good in front of the camera.
Everyone else is also surprisingly good. Carter doesn't get to do much, he has a fight at the beginning and doesn't fight again until very near the end but he does get to throw some nice looking side kicks. Anne Winton comes off a bit stiff and misses her mark more then a few times but she has an excellent fight with Sammo and it's here that you can tell that he was the one in charge of the fighting. It was the fast fist exchanges and powerful mid-kicks, moves which tend to be his trademark, that made it quite obvious. When Taekwondo Strikes is proof that even at this point in his career Sammo really knew what he was doing when it came to action directing. Master Rhee also gets to really show what he can do, especially during the finally against Kazuma. It's a fast, brutal and hard hitting fight and is definitely worth checking out.
When Taekwondo Strikes is a classic martial arts film truly deserving of it's cult status. A solid leading performance from Angel coupled with brilliant fight choreography provided by Sammo raises it above the the many films released during this film and is strongly recommended by me if you haven't already seen it.
Now it's time for the third and final part of my retrospective look at three key films starring the wonderful trio of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. In my previous installment I talked about Wheels on Meals and despite the many times I've seen it, I was still flawed by how amazing the action scenes were and the fight between Jackie and Benny Urquidez is by far one of my all time favourite martial arts fight scenes. This week I'm going to take a long look at the final film to star all three of the Three Brothers; Dragons Forever.
With Wheels On Meals having been a massive success, Golden Harvest thought they would try and continue the trend and put together another film using most of the same cast and crew. A story was put together which would see the three leads play against type. Jackie, who often portrayed himself as the underdog hero fighting for justice would play a skirt chasing lawyer who had no qualms about using under handed tactics to win cases. Sammo, who often played timid characters during this point in his career was a conniving arms dealer and Yuen Biao would play a cat burglar who was mentally disturbed. An interesting idea and one which ultimately works in the film's favor.
Jackie plays Jackie. Yep, that's his character's name. A lawyer who is having lunch with a female witness for a case he is working on when a group of thugs turn up and try and intimidate her. Jackie leaps straight to the rescue and makes quick work of the attackers. Right from the off director Sammo is establishing the kind of action we will be seeing. This time the style of choreography seems to concentrate more on impactful and painful looking kicks and punches as opposed to the lightening fast exchanges used in Wheels on Meals. It's not a particularly long scene but Jackie gets to indulge in his penchant for using props by throwing chairs and leaping across tables.
After he rescues the witness she slaps him in the face for not acting quick enough. It's here that Jackie's character isn't as morally upright as his other characters which he's played before and promptly slaps her back and verbally berates her before walking off. Later we see him in court representing a criminal who he is able to get off charges. While the previous scene established he's not the typical boy scout, we see here that Jackie's character is conflicted as he is visibly upset at having to defend such a repugnant character. He even goes so far as to assault his client when the Judge's back is turned. Realistically there's now way a lawyer would be able to do something like that but of course this film has one of the most lenient and tolerable judge's I've seen so who am I to argue.
Leaving the courtroom he then has a meeting with another client. A local chemical company is being sued by a fishery over allegations that they have polluted the water. Jackie is hired by the chemical company in hopes that he can convince the fishery to settle out of court. He holds a meeting with the owner of the fishery Miss Yip played by Deannie Yip. As you would expect she has no interest in settling and vows to take the case through. It's during this scene that Jackie meets Ling played by Pauline Yeung. Ling is an environmental scientist who intends to testify on Yip's behalf, she's also her cousin. After a swift rebuke from her, Jackie decides to put a plan together that will hopefully result in the case never being put in front of a judge.
He recruits his friend Wong Fei-Hung (Sammo) we're introduced to his character in a scene in which he is selling guns to a pair of criminals intent on robbing a bank. When it turns out that they won't pay him, Sammo doesn't hesitate to knock them on their arses. One thing has to be said about Dragons Forever is that it doesn't waste too much time getting to the next action sequence. Sammo knew what his audience liked (most of the time) and giving them lots of action to watch was one thing he was certain on. The fight scene itself is short but it's tightly edited and there's some nasty throws being used.
Wong meets up with Jackie who gives him the task of getting close to Miss Yip in an attempt to try and coerce her into selling her business. He wastes no time by moving in next door and introducing himself to her when he pretends to mistake her house for the one he just moved into. I liked this scene because right away you can see that both Sammo and Deannie have good chemistry. Both actors had previously worked together on Carry On, Pickpocket (A great 80's action comedy that's worth seeing) and The Owl Vs Bumbo (A not so great 80's comedy that isn't worth seeing) so they seemed to play off each other quite well. Not long after we are introduced to the final of the three leads Tung Te-Biao played by, you guessed it, Yuen Biao.
He returns to his home during the night to find someone has forced their way inside. Climbing through the roof he attacks his would be assailant only to discover it's Jackie. Right away we know there's something not quite right about him. It turns out that Jackie wants to use Tung's skills as a burglar to plant a bug in Miss Yip's home in the hopes of being able to gather some information that he may be able to use against her in the case. Tung reluctantly agrees and soon we see him infiltrating Miss Yip's apartment. Unfortunately Wong spots him and watches him closely.
Inside we get to see Biao's talents for acrobatic tumbling as he tries to find a good hiding place for the listening device. One thing I found odd was despite being a professional burglar instead of choosing dark clothing that would avoid him from being seen, he decides to wear a bright yellow jumper. Of course, it was the 80's and primary colours were worn a lot and also Biao's character is kind of a nutjob so I suppose it makes a little sense but not much. Wong rushes in thinking he's robbing the place and they have a little fight. This time it's mostly played for laughs with Yuen trying his best to wriggle out of Wong's grasp but his escape is cut short when Yip smashes a vase over his head.
Jackie bails him out prison and bumps into Yip and Ling. Jackie tries to ask Ling out and again and she agrees. Thinking she would be able to get more information out of him. This is where we get a real treat of a scene. Jackie is busy entertaining her at his home and he soon finds out that Tung is hiding in his bedroom. Not long after Wong shows up and is forced to hide them both or his whole plan would be exposed. We get an excellent mix of action and physical comedy and what I like most about this scene is that you could show this to anyone from any country, regardless if they could understand the dialogue and they would completely understand what was happening. That's one of the toughest aspects of comedy in getting it to translate and physical comedy always works and this particular scene is no exception.
Later on we see the three of them trying to let bygones be bygones and go for a drink. Here we meet the main villain played by Yuen Wah. After some expository dialogue we get yet another fight scene when a rival gang come in and try to kill Wah. You get the feeling that with each scene that Sammo is building them up and up. Each fight becomes faster. harder. more painful. So you can imagine by the time we reach the end just how brutal things are going to get. The next day Jackie takes Ling for dinner on a yacht. It's not long before Jackie receives a visit from what I like to call the Big Bad Guy Brigade. Which consists of such Hong Action bad guys like Dick Wei, Chung Fat, Fung Hak-On, Lau Kar-Wing, Wong Yu, Meng Hoi and a few others.
The choreography is pure Jackie all the way. You see him climbing up stairs, leaping across tables, rolling across the ground. Everything you expect Jackie to be doing in a fight like this, he does and it's a great fight, especially given the talent involved. At this point though, this is when we get into cheesy Hong Kong romantic territory, which isn't something I care for much. We get the montage of Jackie and Ling going on various dates to the soundtrack of a Canto Ballad. It always annoys me when this happens but since it's over fairly quickly it's not as irritating as I usually find it.
Sadly Jackie's happiness doesn't last long when Tung tries to kill Ling. The reason for this is that two scenes were filmed in which Tung see's a psychiatrist played by Stanley Fung. The second scene he is being robbed and the robber, with Tung thinking he is his shrink tells him to kill her. So him suddenly wanting to do that seems a little out of context with the removal of those scenes. As a result of Tung's attempted murder, Jackie's plot to get information and Wong's plan to get Yip to sell her business are exposed. As you'd expect the women aren't happy and this causes the three friends to duke it out Hong Kong action style.
I loved this fight, still do. It's so perfectly done and it's such a shame we never saw all three do more of this in other films. Their timing is spot on and is a hell of a thing to see these three "brothers" fight each other in such a vicious way. This ends up causing a rift between them and they go their separate ways. Wong however still feels guilty and confronts Miss Yip about his feelings. After accepting his apology he agrees to help her get evidence that will help her win the case in court.
Tung agrees to help and they both sneak into the factory and split up. Wong finds a hidden entrance and discovers that the factory is in fact a front for heroin manufacturing. He is discovered almost immediately and is captured. Meanwhile Jackie is in court and is about to cross-examine Ling only to ask her to confess her love for him. Now at this point another other judge would not be tolerating such ridiculous behaviour but since we have the friendliest movie judge ever he just goes with it. As you'd expect it goes exactly the way you think it will but once we've got that out of the way Tung meets up with Jackie and tells him Wong is in trouble.
With Ling in toe they head to factory and find their way into the heroin plant. At this point the film wastes no time in giving what the audience has been waiting for. Jackie and Biao leap into action. Biao goes up against the man who would go on to take Dick Wei's mantle for Villain of Choice in the 90's, Billy Chow and Jackie has to take in Yuen Wah. They're both excellent fights and are certainly more hard-hitting then anything that has come before, especially when one stunt sees a poor bloke slam his head and neck into the floor. How they didn't get seriously damaged by that bump I have no idea.
What makes this fight different to Wheels on Meals is fundamentally choreography. While that film had them throwing lightening fast exchanges, this time they're out to really hurt each other with stiff kicks to the chest and some nasty fists to the face. Each move looks like it hurts and it should as they really had to push the bar further because they had set it so high last time. I already explained Benny is the real deal and even he was impressed with how well Jackie handled himself the few times they actually made contact during some of the moves
As you'd expect after getting a hell of a beat down Jackie is able to push himself beyond the limit and manages to get the victory over Benny. With the bad guys defeated and everyone saved that ends the film. So too does my retrospective on three films that are some of the best in which all three stars have ever made. Sadly this was to be their last collaboration. There was attempt made in the 90's to get all three involved in a film but Jackie couldn't be a part of it and so that film later become Don't Give A Damn, with Takeshi Kineshiro filling in Jackie's original role.
If you're wondering when the film came out if it was a hit, well, this may shock you but no it wasn't. Expert Bey Logan theorizes the reason the film didn't live up to expectations had a lot to do with the characters they played. Hong Kong audiences were very particular about the roles their stars played and weren't very receptive whenever they tried to play against type. Still, all parties involved should be proud of the final film.
So that's that on my three part retrospective, it's been an absolute blast going back and watching these bona fide genre classics and being able to share my thoughts with you. I hope you enjoyed reading these articles as much as I enjoyed writing them. Until next time, my friends.
Here we go. Part 2 of my retrospective in which I'll be taking an extended look at three films starring the triple threat of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. Last time I revisited the film Project A for the first time in many years and it was an incredibly enjoyable experience. Let's see if I can carry on that enjoyment with Wheels On Meals.
After the massive success of Project A Jackie, Sammo and Yuen wasted little time in gearing up for their next project. This time it would be Sammo in the director's chair and much like Jackie had done with Project A he decided to do something different. So he thought it would be a good idea to shoot the film on location in Barcelona, Spain with interiors being filmed in the Golden Harvest studios in Hong Kong. It was decided that the film be called Wheels On Meals instead of the other way round as two other films by Golden Harvest; Megaforce and Menage A Trois had been box office flops and they felt the letter 'M' would be bad luck.
Joining them would be Spanish actress Lola Forner playing the love interest and American martial arts champions Benny "The Jet" Urquidez and Keith Vitali playing the henchman of the main villain played by Spanish actor Jose Sancho.
With an exotic location, a great cast and some solid action the final result was a film that was an even bigger hit then Project A and further cemented Jackie,'s, Sammo's and Yuen's reputation as three of the biggest stars in the Hong Kong film industry during the 1980's.
Jackie and Yuen play Thomas and David a pair of fast food chefs who travel round Barcelona selling food to locals and tourists. It's established very early on the film when the two have a morning spar just what we're in for. The timing of both men are absolutely incredible and it's hard to imagine anyone else being able to pull of that same rhythm and speed in which they both effortlessly pull off.
After that nice little sequence we see both of them plying their trade out of a yellow van. We're shown that both men are known to the community and get along with them. This was something Sammo wanted to emphasize in the film and give it a more international flavour. It's not long before trouble appears in the form of a motorcycle gang led by the late Blackie Ko. Ko had made a reputation for himself as someone who was able to direct and perform vehicle stunts so whenever you saw a high profile action film that was made in the 80's and featured any kind of vehicle stunts, more often then not those scenes were directed by him.
Afterwards we meet Sammo's character Moby. He's a private detective who ends up being hired by a rich business man to locate a woman who is the heir to a large fortune. Moby agrees and sets about trying to find her. It's here we see Sammo sporting a a rather nifty jerry curl hairstyle. Hairstyles and playing with his overall look was something of a running theme in his films as he was always trying to find ways of making himself look different. The odd thing is he doesn't look too out of place with it. After all it was the 1980's and odd hairstyles was one of the many things that decade is remembered for.
Thomas and David pay a visit to David's father played by Paul Chang who is an a mental institution, it's here they meet Sylvia (Forner) who is the daughter of the woman David's father is in a relationship with. Quite how two mentally ill people are able to have a relationship within the hospital is never fully explained but it doesn't matter because thinking about that in this type of movie would be just silly. Besides, this scene also features comic actors Richard Ng and John Shum. There's a nice little exchange of dialogue between Ng and Jackie in which he explains there's a difference between having severe mental and emotional problems and being stupid and the way Ng delivers it with such a deadpan expression is absolutely priceless.
Later that night, Thomas and David are in the red light district (hookers have to eat, right?) and Thomas catches Sylvia who as it turns out is posing as a prostitute in order to rob her clients. Unfortunately she's caught red handed when trying to lift a man's wallet and flees, hiding in the boy's fast food van. Feeling charitable they take her to their home and let her stay the night. Here we get to see Jackie and Yuen's comedic interplay as they try and act all suave around Sylvia. It's all very silly Hong Kong humor but it did make me chuckle as Jackie and Yuen know how to play it exactly right without it becoming too farcical.
The next morning the boys awake to find that Sylvia has robbed them of their money and stolen their neighbor's car. Shortly afterwards Sylvia arrives home and finds a group of thugs waiting for her. It's revealed that she is the woman Sammo has been tracking and someone is after her for her inheritance. In the midst of their attempt to capture her, Sammo arrives, having just been robbed by her minutes before. We get this short but very nicely choreographed brawl, which leaves Sammo with another of his trademarks, a black eye.
Realizing he may be way over his head he decides to approach Thomas and David, having discovered their connection to her and asks for her whereabouts. They don't say anything and leave Moby to fend for himself. This was actually a disappointing scene. For one, it takes place in a night club and usually when we see these three in a night club, three things tend to happen. Dance off, Fight scene or a combination of the two and we don't see that here and instead we get a scene which Sammo's character inadvertently offends the Spanish patrons of the club. It was short but it did serve the purpose of showing that these three characters know each other but still, a bit of action couldn't have hurt.
Upon leaving the club they bump into Sylvia and they take her to their home again. After the obligatory heartfelt moment in which Sylvia explains why she's a thief we're treated to that all important moment in 80's Hong Kong comedies, the cheesy montage sequence. It's exactly what you'd expect to be but it gives Sammo the opportunity to show off some landmarks in Barcelona. Not long afterward Sylvia is found by the same thugs who tried to grab her earlier and this leads from some painful kicks to said thug's faces delivered by Sammo and Yuen and we jump right into an excellent car chase sequence.
I mentioned earlier that Blackie Ko directed the vehicle stunts and it's obvious from the way it's filmed and edited that he must have enjoyed putting it together. As the car tears through the streets we get some lovely shots of Barcelona's famous landmarks, well, if you're shooting a film in Spain you're damn well going to show off. It's a great scene and shows that Hong Kong movies can do more then just martial arts action. After escaping they all manage to get home but soon Urquidez and Vitali show up and we get the first round between Jackie and Yuen against Urquidez and Vitali.
Urquidez and Vitali are no strangers to the movie scene. By this time in their career this was one their earliest roles. Urquidez had appeared in the film Force: Five directed by Robert Clouse and Vitali had appeared in Revenge of the Ninja. So they were already familiar with the way martial arts was filmed for screen. The fight itself is short but boy oh boy does it look painful. Jackie and Yuen especially take some nasty looking kicks to the chest.
Our heroes manage to give the bad guys the slip but the next day Sylvia and her mother are kidnapped. I have to give Urquidez and Vitali credit. They don't waste time trying to correct their mistakes. Most movie henchmen could learn a lot from these two. This leaves Thomas, David and Moby with no choice but to rescue them. Here we see that they are holed up in a castle and all three make their way inside using different methods. As you'd expect they're all caught and we end up seeing what is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best and I mean this, the best one on one martial arts fight scenes ever recorded.
Now having said that it would be understandable if you thought I might be hyping it up but I'm not neither men have ever looked better. One thing I've noticed about Jackie is that while he looked amazing in many of the fight sequences he did in his own films he never looked better then when he was working under Sammo. As I mentioned in my previous review, both men (along with Yuen Biao) grew up together and attended Yu Jim-Yuen's Peking Opera School. They had practiced and honed their craft since they were children, they all had this understanding and knew each other's strengths so well. It seemed Sammo was able to tap into just that little extra skill in Jackie's move set and could use it to great effect.
Which is why Urquidez makes the perfect opponent. For those who may not be familiar with Benny Urquidez. He grew up as part of a very athletic family. His mother was a professional wrestler and his father a boxer. His siblings were all black belts and Benny would go on to earn them in nine different forms of Karate. In 1974 he decided to pursue a career in the full contact scene. Throughout his career he would rack up an impressive score of 200 wins and 0 losses, including 63 title defenses and 57 knockouts. To add another string to his already impressive bow he is the only professional fighter to hold six titles in 5 weight divisions for 24 consecutive years. So early on in his career it was easy to see why he would want to be in movies.
Benny is the real deal and he made the leap to film fighting effortlessly. His fight with Jackie is intricately choreographed with both of them actually hitting each other during some of the exchanges. It's painful to watch but also astoundingly done. Vitali also gets his moment to shine going up against Yuen Biao. Here we get something a little different, instead of the brutal street fighting of Jackie and Urquidez we get a more acrobatic scene which sees Yuen leaping over tables and chairs trying to avoid Vitali's brutal kicks. It's fast, snappy and compliments the previous fight nicely.
Finally to cap off what has already been one of the finest finale's in Hong Kong action history we get what are essentially the desserts with Sammo taking on the main villain. Sammo combines traditional Chinese sword fighting with European fencing and it's an excellent way to end what has already been such a good film.
So there we have it, Wheels On Meals. I had a great time with this one and having been able to go back and watch it again has been a lot of fun. I had forgotten just how brutal the fight scenes are and the brawl between Jackie and Urquidez holds a high place on my list of top martial arts fight scenes ever. If you have haven't seen it yet then can I say you will be in for one hell of a good time. Join me next time for part 3 where I'll be taking a look at another action classic, one which will see our fearless trio play against type and take on the combined might of Yuen Wah and Benny Urquidez in Dragons Forever.
Welcome everyone to my three part retrospective in which I will be discussing three different films all starring the triumvirate of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. Firstly I will be taking a lengthy look at Project A. Way back before the film was made Jackie's last film Dragon Lord had been a box office failure. Stuck in a rut he wanted to try some fresh ideas rather then keep rehashing the same period Kung Fu films that had helped make his career but was now on the verge of breaking it.
So with his production team they con-cocked a film which would pay tribute the swashbuckling, high adventure films that were made in Hollywood while combining Hong Kong stunts and fight choreography. At first the film was titled Pirate Patrol but worried that other producers would rush out and make other pirate movies they opted for the rather vague title of Project A. To help make the film Jackie brought on board Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. It was well known that all three had grown up together and attended Opera School under Master Yu Jim Yuen, going on to work in the film industry on a long list of films.
The result is an absolutely amazing mix of action, comedy and stunt work that still holds up after all these years.
The story centers around Dragon Ma (Chan) a sergeant in the Hong Kong coast guard at the turn of the 20th century. After he and the other guards get into a pub brawl with local police they're disbanded and absorbed into the force. Not long after that pirate San-Pao (Dick Wei) starts attacking ships in the nearby South China Sea and Dragon must face up to the task of taking him down.
So, right away we have a story and setting that is very different to anything done before. More contemporary action films had been made around this time but none had ever explored a period in Hong Kong's history quite like Project A did. While it isn't historically accurate that doesn't stop it from being a unique looking film for it's time. It makes great use of Macau's Portuguese 19th century architecture creating the illusion this is all taking place in Hong Kong at that time.
Moving from the locations onto the actors. Jackie Chan heads an all-star cast flanked by the afore mentioned Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. Each actor plays to their archetypal screen personas. Jackie is the under-dog hero fighting for justice, Sammo is the crafty schemer and Yuen is the stoic one. These were character traits they had all established in their previous work and very much continue that trend with Project A.
There's also a good supporting cast of Hong Kong movie mainstays such as Lee Hoi-San, John Cheung, Kwan Hoi-San, Lau Hak-Suen and many more familiar faces make the odd appearance throughout. They all fulfill the roles they've been given and help move the story along at a decent pace.
The film starts out with Dragon Ma getting a chewing out from the local police chief for failing to capture a group of pirates that have been terrorizing ships travelling to and from Hong Kong. He retreats to the local pub with his coastguard buddies where they endure verbal abuse from a group of Police officers. Hong Tin-Tsu(Biao) enters and gradually joins in with the teasing that culminates in Dragon being tripped up, inadvertently spilling beer all over Hong. Ma tries to apologize but Hong doesn't listen and the two end up fighting and soon a full-on brawl breaks out.
This all serves as a great way to establish the kind of action the film had. Gone are the traditional Kung Fu forms and simple editing. Here we see high impact kicks to the chest and chairs being smashed across people's heads. This was the new type of action for what was a new era of Hong Kong filmmaking. This type of hyper-kinetic fighting had begun with films like The Prodigal Son but it didn't take full form until Sammo Hung directed Winners and Sinners, it was then the new style had firmly established itself and would continue to be the trend for the remainder of the 1980's.
As punishment for the fight the coastguard is disbanded and they are absorbed into the police force to undergo training by Hong. This is where Chan's flair for physical comedy starts to show. Chan was always eager to have his films not only be popular with local audiences but also overseas. He had made previous attempts at trying to break the US market with films like Battle Creek Brawl and The Protector but the directors he worked with would not allow him to show his full potential and thus those films were complete failures. So when Jackie returned to Hong Kong he set about showing how his movies should be made.
The problem was, working in the Hong Kong film industry meant that a lot of the scripted gags may be lost in the translation for those who may not speak the language so he decided to tap into his love of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd and thrown in some good ol' slap stick.
This seemed to pay off as his films during the 80's always seemed to be hugely successful on the local market and make a decent amount overseas. During Ma's investigation in locating a wanted murderer, he meets Fei (Sammo) a reformed thief who's looking for a quick way to make some money and decides to help him out. After Ma finds the killer he soon realizes that the police force may be corrupt, he quits and decides to do things his own way.
This leads to a plot involving stolen military weapons which serves as a way of progressing the story to it's logical conclusion. Although along the way we're treated to one of the best chase scenes in film history. Making full use of Macau and the famous Golden Harvest studio back lot, Chan runs around streets and back alleys, avoiding the bad guys and throws in some nice stunt work involving bicycles. It's a fantastic sequence to watch and is one of my all time favourites.
if it's one thing Project A is most known for, it is a rather hard-hitting stunt which starts out as a simple but effective fight inside a clock tower. Jackie is pushed out of the tower and grabs onto the clock face, dangling 60 feet above the ground. As you'd expect he loses his grip and plummets straight down, tearing through three canopies as a way to break the fall. What makes it all the more impressive is that Chan did it three times. The first proves unsuccessful with him clipping the side of the last canopy and not breaking through. The second saw him land directly on his head but the third proved successful enough.
It seems everyone involved was so impressed the latter two takes were edited into the final film just to show the audience that what they were watching was really happening. It's absolutely astounding to watch and stands as Jackie's most impressive single stunt sequence.
Eventually the story leads us to a point where Ma manages to infiltrate San-Pao's hideout posing as a gangster. At first everything goes as planned but it's not long before he's rumbled and we get an absolutely knock down, drag out, slap bang, hell of a finale which we see Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao take on Dick Wei. An actor who had already established himself in the 70's had gone on to become a staple of the 1980's Hong Kong action scene with appearances in Winners and Sinners and Carry On, Pickpocket. This was just one of many films he would go on to appear in.
Timing is everything and not a truer word can be said about Project A. All involved push themselves beyond the limit and deliver an intricately choreographed fight sequence, some excellent stunt falls and a nice sword fight between Sammo and Wei. Definitely one of the best three on one fights put to film.
So, given that this film was dealing with what was a new style of filmmaking and a historical setting not shown before you would be wondering if Project A was a success? You bet it was. After it was released it went on to gross HKD$19,323,824. It's success also spread to Japan, where reportedly the Emperor was so impressed that he demanded a sequel. Which did happen but I may talk about that one another time.
For now I will end part one of my retrospective by saying that watching Project A again after all this time as been a real treat. I got that same feeling I did when I was 17 and convinced my older brother to lend me the extra cash so I could buy the DVD and then sitting at home and being absolutely blown away by it. A great film, with a great cast that should not be missed. Be sure to join me in part two of my retrospective in which I'll be discussing Wheels On Meals.
