Xue han jin qian (1983)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Shu Tong Wong

Writer:

Alfred Cheung (writer)

Release Date:

22 March 1983 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A family of stuntmen suffer the trials and tribulations of their trade.

Plot Keywords:

Stuntman

Cast

Man Yee Chan
Yun-Fat Chow	...	Bullet (as Chow Yun-Fat)
Tiet Wo Chu
Kau Lam	...	Bullet's Father

Also Known As:

Blood Money (International: English title)
Bloody Money (Hong Kong: English title)
Hardworking Money
Hong Kong Specialist (USA) (video title)
Huet hon gam chin (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

A solid B-movie.

Made when Chow Yun-Fat was 28 years old, when "Bloody Money" was released he already had hundreds of television episodes and a fair number of films behind him. That experience shows in this interesting, if a bit depressing, film about a family of stuntmen.

CYF portrays Bullet, the handsome younger son of a veteran stuntman. Bullet and his older brother Chin live in a tiny flat with their father in poverty. With the Hong Kong film industry in a slump, especially in regards to the kung-fu movies which had been their bread and butter as stuntmen, times are hard for the family. Things become worse still when two homeless relatives seek refuge in the household, living illegally in Hong Kong without immigration papers.

When Bullet is offered a movie contract from a Taiwanese studio he is glad that he now has the chance to bring some money into the household and support his aging father, but this idea is met with resentment and jealousy by the older man; he is not quite ready to admit that he is no longer able to perform the hair-raising stunts that once made him famous. After Bullet leaves for Taiwan to find success in films, his father finds out to the family's sorrow that his abilities as a stuntman will no longer see him through.

Though there are some silly plot-twists and an apparent disregard for the fact that Bullet ends up marrying his first cousin, there is some solid acting in this film which make it worth watching. The scenes between Chow Yun-Fat as Bullet and Lam Gaau as Bullet's father are low-key, very realistic and well played. Some of the mannerisms, body language and depth of expression which would come to characterize Chow Yun-Fat's performances in later years are already evident here; this is no longer just the good-looking soap opera star with a flair for acting, but a solid talent on the rise.

Though this title has been available on "underground" copies for quite a while, it has recently been re-released by Pearl City on VCD. The video quality is excellent for a film of this era. The audio is also good. The subtitles (white), in both English and Chinese, are readable, though a bit small.

For someone interested in the early career of Chow Yun-Fat, but not quite interested enough to suffer through some of his early Goldig exploitation films, this is a good start and a chance to see one of the most talented actors of the modern era before he became a global superstar.