It opens to Lo Lieh fights Michael Chan. Michael flees. Lo wants the kung fu finger book that is associated with Bruce Lee. (Bruce Lee never had a finger style so this is wrong and not even needed. The kung fu book that everyone wants is a standard plot.) He sends men out to get the guys who seem to have it but they fail. They capture Old Snaggletooth who says "I honestly don't have it". I for one believe him. Does this guy look like he knows kung fu! (Slight spoiler here - Turns out I was wrong. He did have the stupid book hidden under his bed. Well, he certainly doesn't know kung fu!) Next, Bruce Le enters the movie. My initial impression – he is shorter than Nora Miao and scrawny too. He is looking for his sister who is being sold by her boyfriend to pay his gambling debt. (I always liked this use for ex- girlfriends.)
I knew in advance this was one of the worst martial arts movies ever made. My mission is to watch every martial arts movie made between 1967 and 1984. I did my job and watched it. This was the longest 90 minutes of my life. I have been in the dentist chair for the same amount of time and it seemed shorter and less painful than watching this movie. Nevertheless there are some takeaways.
First the clothes, if you can imagine a man wearing a pink plaid peppermint strip wide collar suit coat. I love the clothes. Men's clothes are so boring today. If I could wear something like that again I would wear it and I would go shopping for more ever week.
Second there was the "ring of fire" moment. A flammable substance was spread in a circle and ignited with actors in the center. Yes, it was a windy night. That scene ended rather abruptly as the wind blew the flames higher and toward the actors. Just before any clothes caught on fire - cut! I wonder how many ended up in the hospital?
What makes a movie seem like an eternity? Actually this is a simple effect to achieve. It works like this. Someone hands Lo Lieh a book and tells him that is the finger book. Cut to a girl walking down a stair case then across a room then up to Lo Lieh. She smiles, puffs her cigarette and finally asks, "What is that?" Lo says, "It's the finger book" for her benefit and not for the benefit of anyone watching the movie because we already know what the book is! This movie is filled with scenes of people walking into rooms, down hallways, then sitting on couches before they say two words to each other. There is even a scene where two girls are bored and watching television. Why? Clearly the people making this movie had no idea how to film the time between the fights.
Finally there are the fights and Bruce Le He had bit parts in earlier movies and his first lead was in "The Dragon Dies Hard". In that movie he plays not Bruce Lee but a fan investigating his death. This movie is the first attempt to replace Bruce Lee with Bruce Le. Let me make this clear if it isn't obvious. Bruce Le looks nothing like Bruce Lee. When he tries to look like Bruce Lee he looks even less like him. When he tries to copy his martial arts he fails. He has minimal martial arts skills. He is short, scrawny and not good looking. Lo Lieh is also short but Lo Lieh does not look short because he has great screen presence. Bruce Le has nothing a leading man needs to be a leading man. Plus his fighting skills are below those of the stunt men in this movie like Lam Ching Ying. I cannot imagine any reason for Bruce Le to be selected to have a speaking part in a martial arts movie much less a lead. Actually there is no clear lead in this film. That is always a mistake but there was a time in movie making history when it was erroneously considered a good idea. In the final fight sequence Bruce Le stunk. The nunchucks were pathetic. On the other hand Michael Chan and Nick Cheung Lik certainly pulled their weight.
I rate this a three out of ten. One for the peppermint stripe suit, two for the ring of fire, and three for the final fight sequences that did not include Bruce Le. Don't watch it. No one should ever watch this movie. I can only recommend this for the brain dead.
I knew in advance this was one of the worst martial arts movies ever made. My mission is to watch every martial arts movie made between 1967 and 1984. I did my job and watched it. This was the longest 90 minutes of my life. I have been in the dentist chair for the same amount of time and it seemed shorter and less painful than watching this movie. Nevertheless there are some takeaways.
First the clothes, if you can imagine a man wearing a pink plaid peppermint strip wide collar suit coat. I love the clothes. Men's clothes are so boring today. If I could wear something like that again I would wear it and I would go shopping for more ever week.
Second there was the "ring of fire" moment. A flammable substance was spread in a circle and ignited with actors in the center. Yes, it was a windy night. That scene ended rather abruptly as the wind blew the flames higher and toward the actors. Just before any clothes caught on fire - cut! I wonder how many ended up in the hospital?
What makes a movie seem like an eternity? Actually this is a simple effect to achieve. It works like this. Someone hands Lo Lieh a book and tells him that is the finger book. Cut to a girl walking down a stair case then across a room then up to Lo Lieh. She smiles, puffs her cigarette and finally asks, "What is that?" Lo says, "It's the finger book" for her benefit and not for the benefit of anyone watching the movie because we already know what the book is! This movie is filled with scenes of people walking into rooms, down hallways, then sitting on couches before they say two words to each other. There is even a scene where two girls are bored and watching television. Why? Clearly the people making this movie had no idea how to film the time between the fights.
Finally there are the fights and Bruce Le He had bit parts in earlier movies and his first lead was in "The Dragon Dies Hard". In that movie he plays not Bruce Lee but a fan investigating his death. This movie is the first attempt to replace Bruce Lee with Bruce Le. Let me make this clear if it isn't obvious. Bruce Le looks nothing like Bruce Lee. When he tries to look like Bruce Lee he looks even less like him. When he tries to copy his martial arts he fails. He has minimal martial arts skills. He is short, scrawny and not good looking. Lo Lieh is also short but Lo Lieh does not look short because he has great screen presence. Bruce Le has nothing a leading man needs to be a leading man. Plus his fighting skills are below those of the stunt men in this movie like Lam Ching Ying. I cannot imagine any reason for Bruce Le to be selected to have a speaking part in a martial arts movie much less a lead. Actually there is no clear lead in this film. That is always a mistake but there was a time in movie making history when it was erroneously considered a good idea. In the final fight sequence Bruce Le stunk. The nunchucks were pathetic. On the other hand Michael Chan and Nick Cheung Lik certainly pulled their weight.
I rate this a three out of ten. One for the peppermint stripe suit, two for the ring of fire, and three for the final fight sequences that did not include Bruce Le. Don't watch it. No one should ever watch this movie. I can only recommend this for the brain dead.