Sunday, March 20, 2022

The Star, The Rogue, and the Kung Fu Kid (1977

The Star, The Rogue, and the Kung Fu Kid (1977)
Chinese Title: 武師,花旦,大流氓
Translation: Martial Artist, Vivacious Female[1], Big Gangster

 



Starring: Leung Siu-Lung (Bruce Liang), Michelle Yim, Wang Lai, Kwan Chung, Ku Feng, Tony Leung Siu-Hung, Addy Sung
Director: To Man-Bo
Action Director: Leung Siu-Lung

 

This obscure film from the latter part of Leung Siu-Lung’s old school career actually turned out to be one of his absolute best, at least out of the movies of his that I’ve seen. It’s supposedly based on real-life events in Bruce Liang’s life, although I wonder if there were so many well-choreographed fights in his real life.

The story is pretty simple. Leung Siu-Lung plays a man named Chang, but I’ll just call him Bruce for short. Bruce is an action choreographer and martial arts actor on the TV circuit. One day he steps in when an up-and-coming actress, Shen Ming-Ming (a HAWT! Michelle Yim), is being harassed by a bunch of hooligan-types working for a Triad who has his dirty mits in the entertainment industry. Bruce and Shen eventually start spending time with each other, much to the chagrin of Ming-Ming’s mother (Wang Lai), a lazy gambling addict who thinks she has the right to make all decisions regarding her daughter’s professional future.

Worse than Bruce’s potential mother-in-law is the aforementioned Triad boss (Kwan Chung), who probably is given a name, but whom I’ll refer to as Weinstein Fong. Fong has somehow determined that his life will not be complete until he beds Ming-Ming, and won’t let a low-caste kung fu actor like Bruce stand in his way. Whether it be staging accidents onset, attempted framings or flat out kung fu ambushes, nothing is below Weinstein in his mindless quest to get into Ming-Ming’s panties.

There are some dull spots, a few soap opera moments of pure melodrama, and some dodgy editing at the end that confuses how the main conflict was resolved, but for the most part, I was entertained throughout the film’s brief 82-minute run time. I did like the pseudo-“behind the scenes” look at making kung fu TV in Hong Kong. Much like Black Belt, there’s an interesting scene where Ming-Ming’s current studio heads try to guilt-trip her into renewing her contract, which is about to expire. I also find it interesting how kung fu actors are treated by people in the business as a lower caste, as if dating a rich businessman, producer or director was the supreme goal for an up-and-coming actress.

Exploitaiton fans will get their fill with a random strip club sequence early on, followed immediately by a sex scene between Kwan Chung and Lam Yeung-Yeung, who plays a slutty wannabe actress who thinks she can use her vagina to get to the top (incidentally, Yeung-Yeung’s filmography suggest that she quickly got pigeonholed into “sexy” roles in movies like Sensual Pleasures and Erotic Dreams of the Red Chamber). I sort of feel sorry for her character, as she hangs out with the Triad guy and his men all the time, and they never think twice about calling her a talentless tramp who can’t act. And yet she sticks around probably because she doesn’t feel there’s any other path she can make it.

There are a handful of fights, all of which involve Leung Siu-Lung save one, in which Lee Ka-Ting, in a cameo as Michelle Yim’s fight choreographer, exchanges some blows with Ku Feng, the wastrel father of one of Yim’s co-stars. Leung’s kicks are on full display here, and they look great. While he does throw his fair share of Mississippi haymakers, he also does a lot of machine gun punches, and some interesting blocks that look like they were adapted from the snake style or wing chun. There are surprisingly fast and agile exchanges of hand-based attacks, especially by 1977 standards. The finale has him taking on numerous attackers, including Ku Feng and his own little brother, Tony Leung Siu-Hung, who busts out the sai swords. Leung Siu-Lung, instead of wielding the expected nunchaku, uses a chain whip for part of the climax. He doesn’t do anything flashy with the weapon, but the change of pace is welcome. I’m tempted to place this above the finale of Call Me Dragon (it certainly beats his work in Broken Oath) because there’s less running and better handwork.

This is a particularly rare film, but one worth checking out.


[1] - Refers to a type of female role in traditional Chinese Opera.

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