The Man from Hong Kong (1975)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Directors:

Brian Trenchard-Smith
Yu Wang

Writer:

Brian Trenchard-Smith (written by)

Release Date:

August 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Adventure

Tagline:

Fast! Fierce! Fantastic! Nothing can stop . . . . The Man from Hong Kong

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | City | Kung Fu | Martial Arts | Australia

Cast

Yu Wang	...	Inspector Fang Sing Leng (as Jimmy Wang Yu)
George Lazenby	...	Jack Wilton
Hugh Keays-Byrne	...	Morrie Grosse
Roger Ward	...	Bob Taylor
Rosalind Speirs	...	Caroline Thorne (as Ros Spiers)
Grant Page	...	Assassin
Rebecca Gilling	...	Angelica
Frank Thring	...	Willard
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo	...	Win Chan (as Hung Kam Po)
Deryck Barnes	...	Veterinarian
Bill Hunter	...	Peterson
Ian Jamieson	...	The Drug Courier
Elaine Wong	...	Chinese Girl
John Orcsik	...	Charles (as John Orschik)
Geoff Brown	...	Thug

Also Known As:

The Dragon Flies (USA)
Zhi dao huang long

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

Hong Kong | Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Finland:(Banned) (1989) | Singapore:M18 | Australia:MA (DVD) | UK:X (cut) | Australia:R | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Sweden:(Banned) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Australia

Company:

Australian Film Development Corporation, The

Trivia:

An Australian Hip Hop group called 'Katalyst' used many parts of this movie for their video clip of 'Uprock This'.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! (2008)

Soundtrack:

A man is a man is a man

Dumb but fun piece of 70s schlock

"The Man from Hong Kong" is the kind of film which could only be made in the 1970s. Jimmy Wang-Yu (hot off the success of "Master of the Flying Guillotine", one of the greatest martial arts films ever) and George Lazenby (wooden as always, best known for his one-off Bond role in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service") square off in this kitschy martial arts meets superspy nonsense. Wang-Yu is hired by Australian officials to investigate the smuggling of heroin from Hong Kong. It leads him to the wealthy but crooked business magnate played by Lazenby.

The film is absolutely ridiculous, but its nonstop entertainment from beginning to end. The martial arts fights never end and seem capable of occurring anywhere. Wang-Yu in particular never seems to lose a single fight. Speaking of never losing a fight, this has to be one of the most cold blooded and borderline fascistic police officers ever in a film. He has no problem with torturing the prisoners to get answers and has little regard for harming a passerby to bring down his targets. Unlike "Dirty Harry" though, he's never shown in a remotely negative light. Plus, he has an impeccable way with the ladies, managing to get them in the sack after only knowing them for about an hour or so! Between this and his ability to master sky-gliding, there's no stopping this machine. "The Man From Hong Kong" is a stupid film, but its quickly paced enough it doesn't really matter. (6/10)