Ninja Heat (1972)

Ninja Heat (1972)
aka: Ninja Terminator; The Black List
Chinese Title: 黑名單
Translation: Blacklist

 

Starring: Chan Sing, Henry Yu Yang, Michael Chan Wai-Man, Fong Yau, Louise Lee, Si Ming, San Kuai, Chieh Yuen, James Yi
Director: Lo Mar
Action Director: Leung Siu-Chung

Despite having some impressive names in the cast, a relatively well-known director among fans—Lo Mar is best known for his Shaw Brothers kung fu comedies like Five Superfighters and Boxer from the Temple—and a veteran fight choreographer whose claim to fame is that he’s the father of a famous Brucesploitation actor, Ninja Heat is the sort of low-budget early 1970s basher that would be nothing but a forgotten entry in the Hong Kong Movie Database (and the IMDB as well). That is, were it not for one simple fact: the film has lapsed into the Public Domain and thus has shown up in the Martial Arts 50 Movie Pack released by Mill Creek. That 50 movie pack is the sort of think you’d pick up on a whim because you liked a few movies in the collection and it was cheap enough to justify getting 40 other movies you knew nothing about.

The plot is the definition of simple. Chen Sing plays Zhao Yinglong, a man incarcerated for a crime he didn’t forget. After serving a six-year sentence for armed robbery, he gets out and meets his brother Yinghu (Henry Yu Yang, who starred alongside Chen Sing in The Bloody Fists).  Yinghu has figured out the names of all those who not only framed Yinglong, but who murdered their mother while he was in the big house. And to add insult to injury, Yinglong’s girlfriend (Louise Lee) has married one of the guys on the Zhao brothers’ black list, Guan Dong (Fong Yau, also in The Bloody Fists), and had a child. So the movie moves in 20-minute increments, with the Zhao brothers finding one of the guys on the list, getting in some kung fu fights, and ultimately killing them.

The goofiest aspect of this film is how each death ends with the villain in question imagining the woman in his life before he expires. One villain has a vision of his fiancée—or secondary girlfriend—running toward him in a wedding dress. Another villain sees his girlfriend in lingerie writhing around on a bed, occasionally exposing a nipple. A third villain (Michael Chan Wai-Man, of Spirits of Bruce Lee) yearns for his family and even staggers back home to see them before he succumbs to his thrashing.

So yeah, the plot is straightforward to the point of distraction with a thin veneer of unintentional goofiness and sleaze on top. We do get a scene at a strip club, run by Michael Chan’s character, in which the plot stops for a few minutes so we can see a stripper’s routine. Shortly thereafter, a bar fly (Anna Ho Na-Na, who played similar roles in Illicit Desire and The Monk) takes Yinglong to her house, where she seduces him. In this sequence, she’s dressed in only a lace jacket and panties.

The action comes at a constant clip, courtesy of Leung Siu-Chung. Leung is the father of Leung Siu-Lung, aka Bruce Liang, and had a strong career behind the camera with about 60 films as the fight choreographer. Siu-Chung’s best films are probably Bruce Lee—The Man, the Myth and Sun Dragon. His work here is a mixed bag. On one hand, the fights have that early 70s basher energy to them which was absent in a lot of the later shapes-based combat. On the other hand, there’s a paucity of technique on display, to the point where every fight feels like a brawl from your average John Wayne movie. Chen Sing is the only member of the cast who can kick well onscreen. Compare with lead villain Fong Yau, who’s style in this film is very kick-heavy, but who looks like he’ll lose his balance every time he lifts his leg and struggles to get his feet above stomach level. Even Michael Chan, a real-life Triad with extensive training in Northern Style kung fu and who was a kickboxing champion off the set, looks sloppy in his big fight with Chen Sing. It’s a striking example of how this movie had oodles of talent in front of and behind the camera, but simply failed to use any of it properly.