Long xing tian xia (1989)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Hark Tsui

Writers:

Kee-To Lam (screenplay)
Tai-Muk Lau (writer)

Release Date:

26 May 1989 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action

Plot:

Uncle Tak, the old martial-arts master and medicine in normal life has severe problems with his former student Jonny...

Plot Keywords:

Master | Bus | Martial Arts | Bank | Fight

Cast

Jet Li	...	Jet
Wah Yuen	...	Uncle Tak
Crystal Kwok	...	May
Jerry Trimble	...	Jonny
Anne Rickets	...	Anna
Rueben Gonzáles	...	Cito
Guy Fadollone	...	Ruben
Derek Annunciation	...	Mouse
Henry Penzi	...	Mouse
Michael Burke	...	Oscar
Camille Carrigan	...	Jeannie
Wayne Post	...	Jimmy
Pamela J. Anderson	...	Coach
George Cheung	...	Paul
Steven Ho	...	Jonny's Student

Also Known As:

Lung hang tin ba (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
The Master (Hong Kong: English title)
Wong fei hung

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and some language.

Runtime:

Brazil:92 min | UK:89 min

Country:

Hong Kong | USA

Language:

Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | UK:18 | USA:R

Company:

Paragon Films Ltd.

Trivia:

Jet Li broke his right wrist during filming, necessitating some very creative fight choreography in the climactic battle.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In the scene where Johnny and Jet fall through the roof of the building into some sort of attic, you can see the blue padded mats that they are supposed to land on before the scene cuts and you see them landing on hard concrete.

Quotes:

May: [May has Jet arrested for trespassing in Uncle Tak's shop but gets him out on bail and tries to talk to him] Jet! I went through a lot of trouble to bail your out of there. Some thanks would be appreciated.
Jet: So why you lock me up then?
May: [dryly] Well look, you asked for it.
Jet: [calmly] No.
May: Look, it's my job to look after the shop, okay?
Jet: [Jet's not listening to May, he's trying to concentrate on what happened to Master Tak] I worried that... Master Tak got hurt in a fight.
May: [frustrated] You Chinese men and all your stupid fighting! It's what ruins our reputation here in America!
[...]

harking back to chop-socky

this is tsui hark's tribute to the 'golden age' of hong Kong chop-socky kung-fu films. although set in los Angeles, tsui makes sure he has most of the better known clichés at work here - the 'school-against-school' clash, the reluctant fighter who wants to avoid violence, the training sequence, questions of loyalty between masters and students, etc.

the film, to be properly appreciated, has to be seen in this light. it is not intended to be a typical jet Li film or typical tsui hark film; it's intended to be a Bruce-lee-clone-film of the later '70s.

in fact in some ways this reminds one of 'Ta e kou' aka 'the godfather from hong Kong' aka 'the godfather squad' starring Bruce Liang, a little known - but surprisingly effective - chop-socky effort to cash in on lee's 'return of the dragon'.

given that, the Li-tsui movie has to be given credit as both amusing and entertaining for fight fans - the kung-fu here is really top-notch.

one word of caution - the violence here goes over the top once or twice, and the film really needs to be seen by mature audiences, especially those familiar with the genre it pays tribute to.