Crystal Fist (1979)

Crystal Fist (1979)
Aka Jade Claw
Chinese Title: 奇招
Translation: Strange Trick

 

Starring: Billy Chong, Simon Yuen Siu-Tin, Chiu Tit-Who, Addy Sung, Brandy Yuen
Director: Hua Shan
Action Directors: Brandy Yuen, Corey Yuen, Yuen Shun-Yee, Chin Yuet-Sang

 

So according to Clive Gentry III in Jackie Chan: Inside the Dragon, this film stands as the best film to use the so-called Seasonal Formula, even surpassing the two films that inspired it: Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow and The Drunken Master. Having watched as much of these films as I have, I can only state here that I think said remark is a bunch of poppycock. Perhaps I’ve simply seen too many kung fu comedies, and thus a movie *really* has to Wow me to get my attention, but despite some good fights in the last 20 minutes or so, I didn’t find this film much to write home about.

We open with a kung fu fighter (Hau Chiu-Sing, Stroke of Death) getting ambushed by three other fighters, including a deaf boxer (Brandy Yuen of the Yuen Clan) and a bline one (Addy Sung, who helped choreography Chong’s Kung Fu From Beyond the Grave). They’re led by Master Yen (Chu Tit-Wo, Cheung Man’s father in Last Hero in China), and they have a bone to pick with their victim. Apparently, the guy they’re triple teaming, along with his master, fought the three and were the ones responsible for the two crippled guys’ afflictions. Well, Hau Chiu-Sing’s character is murdered, and he leaves behind an orphan son, Ah Wen, who’ll grow up to be Indonesian martial artist Billy Chong.

Ah Wen shows up one day at a martial arts school, looking for work. He initially tries to fake his way into a job as an assistant instructor, but the other two assistants (Dean Shek look-alike David Wu Dai-Wai and the rotund) Lun Ga-Chun call his bluff and get him beat up. The master, however, takes pity on him and is willing to give him room and board and lessons, if he agrees to do all the menial tasks at the school, including assisting the school’s cook (Simon Yuen). Sounds similar to Chin Fu from Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, doesn’t it?

The relationship between Ah Wen and the cook is initially antagonistic (sound like Drunken Master to you?), but the two begin to warm up to each other. Ah Wen discovers that the cook is actually a master of the Eagle’s Claw and tricks the cook into teaching him kung fu. Things are going well at first, until some random fight with a Russian boxer (Alexander, who played James Bond in Dragon Lives Again) catches the attention of Master Yen (see SITES). Yen and his entourage ambush him and thoroughly humiliate him (see DM), causing him to go back to his master in shame. The cook teaches him a second style, as only the Eagle claw style isn’t enough for Master Yen’s Double Phoenix technique (see SITES, where the Snake Fist isn’t enough for the Eagle’s Claw, but needs to be complimented by the Cat’s Claw). Now Ah Wen is ready for revenge, plus he can get win back his boss’s school in the process—it’s since been taken over by the blind and deaf masters.

As one might expect, there’s not much original in this film and it follows all the expected beats of its predecessors to a T. That alone is enough to put this below Jackie Chan’s Seasonal Films in terms of quality, Billy Chong’s fighting skills notwithstanding. If we look at the better examples of the post-Drunken Master kung fu comedies, like Daggers 8 and Hell’s Wind Staff, those all had a little something to set them apart. Moreover, those films also had the good sense to spread the fight action evenly among their 90-minute run-times, as opposed to this one, where it doesn’t get real until the last 20 minutes. When I saw Daggers 8 back in 2010, I think it officially marked the moment that I got tired of these late 70s/early 80s kung fu comedies. But now, after watching sub-par movies like this and Drunken Master, Slippery Snake, I appreciate it a lot more.

The action is pretty good, although only the last three fights or so are really worth it. It’s basically a reunion of the action directors from Hell’s Wind Staff, so you can trust that it will be of fairly high quality. However, lead villain Chu Tit-Wo is really no Hwang Jang Lee, which dampens some of my enthusiasm for the final fight. And if it that weren’t enough, some the action, especially when Billy Chong takes on Addy Sung and Brandy Yuen before the climax, is too undercranked. What I liked most about the action is that the action directors, principally those of the Yuen Clan, were more well-versed in Northern styles, so the Eagle Claw on display is more authentic Ying Jao Pai than the Southern Eagle Claw that we get in a lot of these movies. Generally speaking, Northern Eagle Claw uses all five fingers, whereas the Southern variations, which show up in Taiwanese styles and whatnot, use a three-fingered claw. So I liked that particular detail.

I know this film has a positive reputation among fans, but it just didn’t do it for me. Maybe if I had seen it 15 years earlier, I’d appreciate it more. But these days, these Seasonal Film rip-offs really need to surprise to get a positive reaction from me, and this one brought no surprises whatsoever to the table.