Yu tou dai lao ben tu di (1978) User Reviews

Comedy clichés and kung fu barely beat the boredom out

[ckormos1 · 5/10 · 12 March 2016]

I have a 1978 Taiwan release date for this movie with Li Yi-Min, Peng Kong, Dean Shek-Tin, Wong Chi-Sang, Wei Pin-Ao, and others. It all starts with two men fighting over a jade horse. The man with the scar must be the bad guy. He is called Dead Eye. Li Yi-Min and his gang of misfits are out for the reward money and Mark Lung Goon-Mo is the policeman.

The comedy uses all the expected clichés like gender bending, obesity, horny post menopause ladies, ugliness, and slipping on a banana peel. The only comedy creativity was changing the cream pie in the face gag to a cow pie in the face gag. The fight choreography, though competent, seemed executed like a dress rehearsal rather than a final take. Nothing held my attention so I could have fallen asleep at any point with no regrets.

There are many familiar faces in this movie as most of the actors were in about 100 of these films but the only one I know by name is the acrobatic Li Yi-Min. The digital file copy is widescreen and dubbed in English. This movie has little to offer for only the hard core martial arts movie fans. I rate it below average for the year and genre.

Watch it if you can deal with an awful DVD

[DoctorMuffins · 7/10 · 6 August 2007]

This is a true example of the ultimate in '70s kung fu cheese. Some truly distinct, Road House-esquire sequences occur, including a fight with a cross-dresser, a scene with a fighter whose style involves trying to kiss his opponents, and a poetry competition for the heart of a woman. The action is cheesy but sometimes (but only SOMETIMES) inspired; however the video quality of the DVD is absolutely awful. Obviously, no one involved in this film thought that the low-budget feature would ever be needed in the future, so the video has degraded very much over time. If you can look past the horrible DVD quality, this one's good for a Friday night laugh-a-thon with friends.

The 3 Stooges Learn Kung Fu

[dafrosts · 5/10 · 19 February 2018]

The Wushu in this movie is...lacking to say the least. You will not se the usual talents of Li Yi-Min here. However, the slapstick comedy is worth watching and rewinding to watch certain scenes a second time. There is so much comedy in this, hopefully all intentional. A bean curd fight between Ah Chin (Li Yi-Min) and his besties leads to their being fired. The local brothel manager dresses in drag and uses "women's" kung fu in an attempt to beat one of the local thugs. A flamboyant thug sets his eyes on Ah Chin and is excited whenever he is slapped, especially if Ah Chin is doing it. AH Chin's bestie played by Cheng Fu Hung, has a quick wardrobe change while running away from the thugs that you have to rewind to make sure you saw his pants change colors. The final final fight is uhm, straight out of a Three Stooges performance. You have to watch it to appreciate it.

Slapdash Taiwanese kung fu

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 31 January 2018]

CRAZY GUY WITH SUPER KUNG FU is a typical low budget Taiwanese kung fu comedy heavily indebted to the Jackie Chan movies that were so popular during the era such as SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW and DRUNKEN MASTER. They even bring back Dean Shek in another annoying camp performance complete with ridiculous dubbing. This film has a couple of heroes going up against a cruel scar-faced criminal, but not before one broad comedy scene after the next has played out. There's toilet humour, gay stereotypes, and lots of annoying slapstick to wade through, and the bad news is that the martial arts isn't even all that great. The presence of the intensely likeable Li Yi-Min lifts the spirits a bit, but this is a sorely lacking film whichever way you look at it.

Greatest Kung fu film ever? No

[mongbandit · 10/10 · 9 June 2004]

Don't watch this film expecting great kung fu, I didn't and I loved it. After all it is from the 70s. The reason this film is so great is because it offers what most kung fu films don't', which causes you to p*** yourself laughing, after all what other kung fu films star fighters who can only fight while dressed up as women, or gays who fight while trying to kiss his opponent. This film has the one thing that I GUARANTEE is in no other kung fu film; A POETRY COMPETITION in a kung fu film. WHY? no good reason, just ebcause some fat guy wants to marry someone else's daughter, but it's beautiful. Only a fat Chinese guy can come up with a poem that goes; Servants pass wing so the Horse runs away But the smell still remains And at £5.99 its a bargain, BUY IT!