Killer Elephants (Thailand, 1976)
Original Title: ไผ่กำเพลิง
Aka: Rumble the Elephant; Bionic Heroes; Kill for the Truth
Starring: Sombat Methanee, Yodchai Meksuwan, Kanchit Kwanpracha, Pipop Pupinyo, Dam Datsakorn, Sayan Chantaraviboon, Kom Akadej, Aranya Namwong, Naiyana Shewanan, Mayurachath Muarnprasitivej
Director: Kom Akkadej
Thomas Weisser's Asian Cult Cinema has an entry for this in its traditional kung fu movie section, which is misleading. This movie is more of a general action film, with a few brawling-style fights complementing the other types of action. It is a Thai production, one of few that seemed to get picked up for international distribution the way it was, instead of chopped up and spliced with footage of Caucasian actors doing things, as Filmark often did. That said, some of alternate titles suggest that it did get picked up by IFD or Filmark at one point, which the website Thai World View confirms that it was IFD who had it dubbed and exported. I watched this via the Wu Tang Collection on Youtube, although viewers who do not wish to support that channel can find it as a double feature on the Brooklyn Zu Collection disc of Dragon Snake Fist.
The film starts off with a bang, in the form of a policeman, Chow Ming (Yodchai Meksuwan), getting cut off on the highway by a bunch of hooligans in a truck. He tries to flag them down, but it quickly escalates into a gunfight(!), complete with the truck guys throwing barrels of gasoline into the road and blowing them up with shotgun blasts. Three gas explosions are enough to stop Chow Ming, who is visited on the side of the road by an old friend, Kau Fei (Sombat Methanee). Kau Fei tells them that these truck ruffians are working for The Boss, whom Kau Fei would like to eliminate. Chow Ming tells Kau Fei to stay out of police business, and Kau Fei directs his pal to the local lumberyard. Chow Ming goes there and a fight breaks out, with Kau Fei showing up at the last moment to save his friend's kiester.
From there on out, there is a semblance of a plot. The story is something like an old west film about rival cattle barons, except the good baron has a herd of elephants at his disposal. This is actually a great intimidation tool, although the dialog never clarifies whether it has to do with their size and durability, or if even Thai hoodlums are afraid to attack a sacred animal. The evil cattle baron--the Boss--does wicked things like burn down the local village and steal Kau Fei's girlfriend, Shu (Aranya Namwong). The movie never explains why his men burn down the village, I guess that is just something bad guys do. This leads to protracted gunfights in the sticks between the two sets of characters. Kau Fei eventually steals back Shu and gets her pregnant. When she has her baby, the police show up at the hospital to take her and bring her back to her "real" husband, the Boss. But Kau Fei has an elephant attack the hospital and get her to safety. The Boss is eventually killed by Evil Mustache Guy, Mau Tien (Dam Datsakorn), and he kidnaps Shu and the other village women.
All of this leads up to a climax on the border of Thailand and...another country (Vietnam? Malaysia?). The finale feels like two Jackie Chan movie setpieces squashed together, those being the monster truck destruction derby of Mr. Nice Guy and the Thai village shootout of Police Story III: Supercop. There are lots of thatched huts being blown up with grenades and shots being fired on both ends. Meanwhile, the titular elephants are also knocking over huts and causing general mayhem as well.
It is a little hard to talk about the story because it doesn't make a lot of sense. Chow Ming at one point is charged with arresting Kau Fei, partly because the police is corrupt, but also because he...uh....kidnapped(?) Shu. That part wasn't well explained. I'm guessing that Kau Fei had dated Shu, but she was forced to marry the Boss. And that would make her the boss's property. So, that would mean that when Kau Fei snatches her from the boss's mansion, that would be a form of kidnapping? Maybe it made more sense in Thai. The dubbing also doesn't explain the power dynamic between The Boss and the evil Mau Tien.
There are a few fight scenes, but they are staged more like a lively Western brawl (with a few kicks thrown in) than a martial arts film. There are lots of explosions, burning buildings to save people from, and lots and lots of firefights. You have villains who ride into action on horses and heroes who ride into action atop elephants while brandishing M-16s. The gunplay isn't John Woo, but it's more along the lines of the shooting in, say, Eastern Condors.
The whole thing is just mediocre in the end.
Original title: Onna hissatsu godan ken
Starring: Etsuko Shihomi, Mitchi Love, Ken Wallace, Masafumi Suzuki, Masako Araki, Iwao Tabuchi, Yoshiki Yamada, Takanori Oya
Director: Shigehiro Ozawa
The fourth and last film in the Sister Street Fighter series is actually unrelated to the other three. Lee Koryu, the half-Chinese, half-Japanese ass-kicker has now been replaced with Kiku Nagazawa (still Etsuko Shihomi), a young single karate instructor in Kyoto whose dad is a successful (if henpecked) kimono designer. Kiku gets dragged into the world of cops (represented by Takagi, played by Tsunehiko Watase) and drug dealers on account of a close friend, Michi (Mitchi Love, of the Super Sentai series "J.A.T.Q. Blitzkrieg Squad").
Michi is a half-white daughter of (presumably) an Okinawan prostitute. She has a half-brother, Jim (Ken Wallace), who is half-black. The two are very close, having both endured bullying in their hometown on account of their half-breed status. Unbeknownst to Michi, Jim is working as a karate hitman for a drug ring, who uses a low-budget movie studio as a front for their activities. When Jim is seen by Takagi murdering an American narcotics agent, his employers have him snuffed. Michi tries to kill one of the head drug dealers, but gets herself kidnapped instead. It's at this point that Kiku gets involved, going undercover at the movie studio in order to find Michi.
The first three films were fight fests that were plotted so that everywhere Shihomi's Lee Koryu went, she'd get ambushed and a karate fight would break out. This is more of a crime drama, with Kiku being a passive observer of the events going on until the last 20 minutes or so. There are some fights involving Ken Wallace in the first half, but most of it is trying to tell a story of drug dealers and the Law's investigation into them on a (relatively) realistic level. Sorry, I prefer bad guys with outrageous collections of martial arts enforcers--including a screaming "nunchuck" guy in a black mesh shirt--in my Etsuko Shihomi films. I liked the premise for the finale: the heroine taking on the cast and crew of a low-budget jidai-geki film, including guys with katana blades. But the camerawork is a bit obstructive, especially when they are fighting in close-quarters in the narrow hallways of the prop room. And there are no trademark Street Fighter deaths here. And the final shot is both ambiguous and unsatisfying.
Michi is a half-white daughter of (presumably) an Okinawan prostitute. She has a half-brother, Jim (Ken Wallace), who is half-black. The two are very close, having both endured bullying in their hometown on account of their half-breed status. Unbeknownst to Michi, Jim is working as a karate hitman for a drug ring, who uses a low-budget movie studio as a front for their activities. When Jim is seen by Takagi murdering an American narcotics agent, his employers have him snuffed. Michi tries to kill one of the head drug dealers, but gets herself kidnapped instead. It's at this point that Kiku gets involved, going undercover at the movie studio in order to find Michi.
The first three films were fight fests that were plotted so that everywhere Shihomi's Lee Koryu went, she'd get ambushed and a karate fight would break out. This is more of a crime drama, with Kiku being a passive observer of the events going on until the last 20 minutes or so. There are some fights involving Ken Wallace in the first half, but most of it is trying to tell a story of drug dealers and the Law's investigation into them on a (relatively) realistic level. Sorry, I prefer bad guys with outrageous collections of martial arts enforcers--including a screaming "nunchuck" guy in a black mesh shirt--in my Etsuko Shihomi films. I liked the premise for the finale: the heroine taking on the cast and crew of a low-budget jidai-geki film, including guys with katana blades. But the camerawork is a bit obstructive, especially when they are fighting in close-quarters in the narrow hallways of the prop room. And there are no trademark Street Fighter deaths here. And the final shot is both ambiguous and unsatisfying.
Original title: Shorinji Kempo: Musashi Hong Kong ni arawaru
Starring: Ken Kazama, Junko Igarashi, Henry Yu Yung, Wu Chung-Hin, Chui Meng, Yi Feng, Tien-Hsi Tang, Simon Yuen Siu-Tin, Chow Siu-Loi, Fung Ngai
Director: Nanbu Hideo
Action Director: Ng Ming-Choi
The IMDB lists this as a sequel to Sonny Chiba's famous The Killing Machine, although this was produced by Shikoku Ofuna, as opposed to Toei. Our hero is Musashi Yamanaka (Kenji Kusuma, of The Street Fighter and When Taekwondo Strikes), a shorinji kempo expert who has left Japan for Hong Kong in search of a worthy opponent. Musashi quickly falls in with millionaire Chow Yin-Nin (Fist of Fury's Fung Ngai), who has been a harrassed by a kung fu gang led by Wu Chung-Hin (Henry Yu, of Fists of the Double K and The Awaken Punch). Musashi accepts a position as Yin-Nin's bodyguard and also strikes up a friendship with a Japanese singer, Reiko (Junko Igarashi, of Hito Goroshi).
Musashi and Wu Chung-Hin eventually have a throwdown, which leaves both men seriously injured. The circumstances behind the fight lead Musashi to suspect that Reiko has some sort of connection with Chung-Hin--they're ex-lovers. Musashi learns that his boss is actually the owner of a series of opium dens throughout Hong Kong. Also, Chung-Hin is seeking revenge against Yin-Nin for murdering his father years before. Musashi is captured and tortured by the bad guys, and eventually switches sides...
There are a handful of fights in this, possibly choreographed by Seven Fortunes member Ng Ming-Choi (King Hu's Legend of the Mountain and Raining on the Mountain). The best fight is between Musashi and Wu, which is pretty good. The other fights are pretty short, including the finale, which is underwhelming. After all the stuff that the good guys go through, I was hoping for a longer, more violent climax with our hero crushing heads and taking names. He dispatches all of his opponents in a couple of hits, which is boring. There is a chaotic fight in the hallways of an apartment building, featuring guys with nunchaku. Also, Yuen Siu-Tin shows up in an extended cameo as a wise monk.
Musashi and Wu Chung-Hin eventually have a throwdown, which leaves both men seriously injured. The circumstances behind the fight lead Musashi to suspect that Reiko has some sort of connection with Chung-Hin--they're ex-lovers. Musashi learns that his boss is actually the owner of a series of opium dens throughout Hong Kong. Also, Chung-Hin is seeking revenge against Yin-Nin for murdering his father years before. Musashi is captured and tortured by the bad guys, and eventually switches sides...
There are a handful of fights in this, possibly choreographed by Seven Fortunes member Ng Ming-Choi (King Hu's Legend of the Mountain and Raining on the Mountain). The best fight is between Musashi and Wu, which is pretty good. The other fights are pretty short, including the finale, which is underwhelming. After all the stuff that the good guys go through, I was hoping for a longer, more violent climax with our hero crushing heads and taking names. He dispatches all of his opponents in a couple of hits, which is boring. There is a chaotic fight in the hallways of an apartment building, featuring guys with nunchaku. Also, Yuen Siu-Tin shows up in an extended cameo as a wise monk.
Original Title: 대탈출 (Daetachul)
Translation: The Great Escape
Starring: Kao Chiang, Hwang In-Shik, Choe Min-Gyu, Kim Ki-Joo, Lee Ye-Min, Han Myung-Hwan, Lee Seok-Goo, Jang Jeong-Guk, Jo Choon, Hong Seong-Joong
Director: Kim Shi-hyeon
Action Director: n/a
Two men are riding through Manchuria, carrying what appears to be a coffin on one of their horses. After riding through a village in which all the inhabitants appear to have been slain, they stop to rest. They get in a fight and there is only one survivor, whom I think is played by Lee Ye-min. He arrives in a town and visits a nightclub, where the singer, Grace (Jang Soon-ja), gets his attention. This angers the club owner, Mo-Kei (Kim Ki-joo), and a fight breaks out. Although the stranger is initially victorious, the tables turn when the local Japanese official, Suzuki (Hwang In-sik), shows up with his men. The stranger is ultimately imprisoned.
Also imprisoned with him is a fellow named Kang (Kao Chiang), who turns out to be a member of the Chinese resistance. The stranger gives him a map to where the gold--the contents of the coffin--has been hidden. Shortly thereafter, the stranger is executed, but not before Kang escapes. Kang finds the gold and takes it to a farm, where he steals a pig, kills it, guts it, and hides the gold inside, transporting it downstream--something similar happens in Ming Patriots. Kang is captured by Mo-Kei and Grace, who want the gold for themselves. They travel downstream, with Suzuki and his men following behind...
The HKMDB mistakenly identifies this with the South Korean film A Wandering Hero (1975), which has the same director, some of the same cast, and a similar premise. The two movies are different, with A Wandering Hero known in Korean as 방랑의 영웅 (Banglang-ui yeong-ung). This movie is available on Youtube via the notorious Wu Tang Collection, although I wonder if the censor blurs in the film's sex scenes were added by them, or by Korean censors. Pity, since Jang Soon-ja is very pretty in this.
The action is okay, but spoiled by the frequent excessive undercranking. I mean, it reaches levels that makes Donnie Yen's 1990s output look restrained in comparison. Hwang In-sik kicks up a storm at the end, fighting Kim Ki-joo and then Kao Chiang, but ends up being less impactful than his other films because he is unnecessarily sped up. The film also suffers from a lot of missing frames, which makes regular scenes (and their accompanying music or sound track) look choppy. Thankfully, those flaws become fewer as the film progresses.
Also imprisoned with him is a fellow named Kang (Kao Chiang), who turns out to be a member of the Chinese resistance. The stranger gives him a map to where the gold--the contents of the coffin--has been hidden. Shortly thereafter, the stranger is executed, but not before Kang escapes. Kang finds the gold and takes it to a farm, where he steals a pig, kills it, guts it, and hides the gold inside, transporting it downstream--something similar happens in Ming Patriots. Kang is captured by Mo-Kei and Grace, who want the gold for themselves. They travel downstream, with Suzuki and his men following behind...
The HKMDB mistakenly identifies this with the South Korean film A Wandering Hero (1975), which has the same director, some of the same cast, and a similar premise. The two movies are different, with A Wandering Hero known in Korean as 방랑의 영웅 (Banglang-ui yeong-ung). This movie is available on Youtube via the notorious Wu Tang Collection, although I wonder if the censor blurs in the film's sex scenes were added by them, or by Korean censors. Pity, since Jang Soon-ja is very pretty in this.
The action is okay, but spoiled by the frequent excessive undercranking. I mean, it reaches levels that makes Donnie Yen's 1990s output look restrained in comparison. Hwang In-sik kicks up a storm at the end, fighting Kim Ki-joo and then Kao Chiang, but ends up being less impactful than his other films because he is unnecessarily sped up. The film also suffers from a lot of missing frames, which makes regular scenes (and their accompanying music or sound track) look choppy. Thankfully, those flaws become fewer as the film progresses.
aka Martial Mates
Original Title: 흑룡강
Translation: Black Dragon River
Starring: Casanova Wong, Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang Lee, Jo Choon, Jang Jeong-Guk, Lee Ki-Yeong, Kwon Il-Soo, Jeong Jin-Hwa, Jang Choon-Eon
Director: Kim Seon-gyung
Action Director: Richard Nam Choong-Il
This film is notable for being the first starring role for Wang Ho aka Casanova Wong, whose only earlier credit was a smaller supporting role in Gate of Destiny (1974). It is also notable for being one of Hwang Jang-Lee's first projects after The Secret Rivals and probably the earliest film to have him in a nominal good guy role. The director, Kim Seon-gyung, did a number of martial arts films in the 1970s, like Black Dragon; Four Masters; and Magnificent Wonderman.
The film is set in Manchuria circa 1932, when the Japanese are still trying to set up Manchuko. There is a farm owned by a Korean Taekwondo master (Hong Seong-joong, of Stoner and The Skyhawk), whose laborers are also his students--the senior student is Il-jae (Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang-Lee). The only laborer on the farm that is not allowed to study is Gyung (Casanova Wong, of The Mighty Four and Duel of the 7 Tigers), who is an orphan adopted by the master. He is betrothed to the master's daughter, Oh-kran (Jang Soon-ja), and the heir to the farm, but the master refuses to teach him. That does not keep him from learning in secret and getting good at it. But after a fight with the local Japanese thugs, Gyung is more or less forced to pack his bags and leave.
Gyung wanders around and finds himself at a Japanese karate dojo run by Jo Choon (Kill the Ninja and Kill the Shogun). Jo, for once in his career, actually wins a fight and takes Gyung as a student. Sadly, his "karate" "training" consists of him running and screaming blind-folded through a forest trying not to run into trees. When that's done, Gyung becomes a tool of the Japanese (led by Jang Jeong-guk, of Duel at Devil Hill and Hand of Death) to beat up the local masters and harrass the local farmers into giving up their land. The farmers go to the Korean Master to help them, but having been kicked out of Korea, he doesn't want to risk getting kicked out of Manchuria, too. But when the farmers find out that the Japanese secret weapon is a Korean, they come down hard on the Master. He sends Il-jae and Oh-kran out to find Gyung and bring him back. And if they can't convince him, Il-jae has to kill him...
The film's structure is a little strange. The first act revolves only around Gyung, played by Casanova Wong. The second act focuses on Il-Jae and the daughter's journey, with only a few cut-aways to Gyung, who's gotten into drinking to make up for his loneliness. The third act focuses on the build-up to the characters' final showdown, which is partly derailed by Jang Soon-ja's (and her dubber's) overracting and screaming. There is a fair amount of fighting, choreographed by Richard Nam, who also plays a samurai. Casanova Wong gets the best showcase, with his spin kicks and forward-jumping spin kick getting showcased. "Human Tornado," indeed. Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang-Lee gets more fight time than in his other Korean movie appearances up to this point and does well, although he doesn't quite get the showcase for his infamous aerial boots like in his best Hong Kong movies. There are a few token attempts for Korean Taekwondo actors to fake kung fu, since the film is set in Manchuria. But fans of Korean Taekwondo cinema should enjoy this.
The film is set in Manchuria circa 1932, when the Japanese are still trying to set up Manchuko. There is a farm owned by a Korean Taekwondo master (Hong Seong-joong, of Stoner and The Skyhawk), whose laborers are also his students--the senior student is Il-jae (Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang-Lee). The only laborer on the farm that is not allowed to study is Gyung (Casanova Wong, of The Mighty Four and Duel of the 7 Tigers), who is an orphan adopted by the master. He is betrothed to the master's daughter, Oh-kran (Jang Soon-ja), and the heir to the farm, but the master refuses to teach him. That does not keep him from learning in secret and getting good at it. But after a fight with the local Japanese thugs, Gyung is more or less forced to pack his bags and leave.
Gyung wanders around and finds himself at a Japanese karate dojo run by Jo Choon (Kill the Ninja and Kill the Shogun). Jo, for once in his career, actually wins a fight and takes Gyung as a student. Sadly, his "karate" "training" consists of him running and screaming blind-folded through a forest trying not to run into trees. When that's done, Gyung becomes a tool of the Japanese (led by Jang Jeong-guk, of Duel at Devil Hill and Hand of Death) to beat up the local masters and harrass the local farmers into giving up their land. The farmers go to the Korean Master to help them, but having been kicked out of Korea, he doesn't want to risk getting kicked out of Manchuria, too. But when the farmers find out that the Japanese secret weapon is a Korean, they come down hard on the Master. He sends Il-jae and Oh-kran out to find Gyung and bring him back. And if they can't convince him, Il-jae has to kill him...
The film's structure is a little strange. The first act revolves only around Gyung, played by Casanova Wong. The second act focuses on Il-Jae and the daughter's journey, with only a few cut-aways to Gyung, who's gotten into drinking to make up for his loneliness. The third act focuses on the build-up to the characters' final showdown, which is partly derailed by Jang Soon-ja's (and her dubber's) overracting and screaming. There is a fair amount of fighting, choreographed by Richard Nam, who also plays a samurai. Casanova Wong gets the best showcase, with his spin kicks and forward-jumping spin kick getting showcased. "Human Tornado," indeed. Legendary Superkicker Hwang Jang-Lee gets more fight time than in his other Korean movie appearances up to this point and does well, although he doesn't quite get the showcase for his infamous aerial boots like in his best Hong Kong movies. There are a few token attempts for Korean Taekwondo actors to fake kung fu, since the film is set in Manchuria. But fans of Korean Taekwondo cinema should enjoy this.
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