Showdown at the Equator (1978)

Showdown at the Equator (1978)
Chinese Title: 過江龍獨闖虎穴
Translation: Cross the River and Dragon Alone

Starring: Lo Lieh, Nora Miao, Bruce Leung Siu-Lung, Larry Lee, Ng Ming-Choi, Fung Ngai, Tong Tin-Hei
Director: Gwan Jing-Leung
Action Director: Ng Ming-Choi

 

While certainly entertaining (at least in spurts), Showdown at the Equator features two important bait and switches. First, the film suffers from some terrible B-movie titling. You see, the title suggests a Central African, Indonesian or Northern Brazilian setting. Any one of those places would certainly make for a unique kung fu movie experience, although Indonesia would most likely be the place that the filmmakers would have money to film. Sadly, the movie is set in Hong Kong, rendering the English title completely null. I can’t blame the writer, as the Chinese title translates into something akin to “Martial Law Armed Venture”. The second lie is in the casting, which places Lo Lieh in top billing and Bruce Leung Siu-Lung in third place. That’s not very accurate, as Lo Lieh’s role amounts to little more than a glorified cameo and Leung Siu-Lung in a supporting role.

The movie opens up with a non-sequitur action sequence in which a couple of guys drive up to a building and make a beeline to a room where some schmo is hurriedly packing his suitcase. A fight—complete with the most primitive early 70s basher choreography—breaks out and goes on for almost five minutes until the suitcase guy is knocked off the roof to his doom. I *think* this scene is referenced later on when Leung Siu-Lung, who plays an undercover cop, is asked by his superior to investigate the murder, but it’s quickly forgotten about. The next scene takes us to a restaurant where much of the action will take place, owned by some guy and his daughter, played by Nora Miao. The local gang shows up and demands “insurance” money, tearing up the place when the owner won’t pay up. They’re visited later by a loner (frequent Leung Siu-Lung collaborator Larry Lee) who offers to help them out. He first beats up the employees of the gang leader’s bar, and then the gang leader and his men when they come back to the restaurant to settle accounts.

Well, that gang leader is actually a low-level enforcer in a larger racket that the police want to take down. His boss is a bald fellow (Tong Tin-Hei) who runs a casino. In turn, he answers to Fung Ngai (who played the overweight sensei in Fist of Fury), who in turn, answers to the mysterious figure known only as “Steve” (Lo Lieh, whose name is spelled “Law Lieed” in the opening credits). As it turns out, Larry Lee is an undercover cop trying to bust the gang, but his boss (whose assistant, interestingly enough, is not Chinese, but Indian) wants to find out who the big kahuna is before making his move. In any case, there a bunch of fights and Larry has his cover blown and Nora Miao is kidnapped in the most unconvincing scene of the movie: Nora has already established herself as a top fighter in this movie, but the villains  grab her arms and drag her to a waiting car in broad daylight. Couldn’t she just karate chop the piss out of these guys?

And then there’s Bruce Leung. Early in the movie, we meet his character, who apparently is an undercover cop posing as a mechanic who’s being courted by Fung Ngai’s men. An early scene with his mother suggests that he’ll be one of the main characters. His cover is blown in the first act, mainly because his idiot boss (also Larry Lee’s boss) has the unfortunately habit of meeting his undercovers for status updates in public places. Nice work, stupid. But after that, Leung’s character just sort of appears occasionally and doesn’t do much…until the climax, when he takes over and the final fight revolves solely around him and Lo Lieh. That’s some weird (re: bad) writing right there, folks.

Obviously, films like this live or die on their action and this one gets a solid B. The action duties are given to Ng Ming-Choi, a heavyset fellow whom perceptive fans will recognize as being one of the Japanese students in Fist of Fury and one of the guards that Bolo Yeung kills in Enter the Dragon. He also doubles as a thug in this movie. The fights are of the basher style popular in the early 70s, but which had more or less fallen out of favor by 1978. The first fight is something out of a Jimmy Wang Yu film, but thankfully things improve once the more talented people get involved. Most of the fights belong to Larry Lee, whose the main star of the movie, despite being fourth billed. He looks pretty good in his fights: he’s fast, intense and his kicks reach a decent height. His punches are mainly Mississippi Haymakers, but there’s more power behind them than your average early 70s chopsockey.

Despite the bulk of the fighting going to Larry Lee, it’s Bruce Leung whose fights really stand out. He only has three (two of which are in the last 10 minutes), but his kicks are quite good. I liked his alternating-feet roundhouse kicks, which he pulled off in rather quick succession. Even cooler is watching him perform some pre-Ip Man machine gun punches during his initial fight. He doesn’t quite match Donnie Yen for quantity, but it’s still pretty neat to see something like that in a 70s movie. Also impressive is Nora Miao, who steps on the scene fighting off thugs with nunchaku! She doesn’t perform any flashy moves, but she chops and ridge hands her opponents like she means it (her natural (and cute) scowl helps sells the intensity of her blows).

I’m disappointed that there wasn’t more from Bruce Leung Siu-Lung and the finale is a bit disappointing, especially when they interrupt the Leung/Lo Lieh fight for a car chase involving a VW bug, but the movie wasn’t a total waste. The fights range from pretty good to quite impressive and the cast is solid as well. Not particularly memorable, but I think hardcore old school fans should find something to enjoy here.