Xiangang xiao jiao fu (1974) User Reviews

Too Many Oh, Come On Moments

[dafrosts · 7/10 · 26 July 2018]

I adore Bruce Leung Siu-Lung and Kurata Yasuaki. The plus was Mang Hoi as Bruce's little brother, Stone/Ah Shi. The concept seemed plausible. A Drug Cartel hires Italian Mob Boss Don Caro to knock off Interpol agents to halt investigations into the Cartel. Things go well for Caro until Wang Liu (Siu-Lung) saves an Agent. Blowing up the dog was over the top. Sadly, the plot goes downhill from there.

Wang Liu, with little brother Stone/Ah Shi (Mag Hoi) in tow, heads to Italy to "make a movie". Wang Liu easily spots and eliminates the worst assassins I have ever seen outside a "comedy". Caro refuses to dispatch the obviously best choice to eliminate Wang, his filial son Sakada (Kurata). Sakada has mad skills. Nearly as good as Wang's. Caro prefers to continue permitting his most inept son, Cani (Mario Cutini), to attempt fulfilling the assignment. The decision costs Cani to lose in the end. BTW - the gun Cani uses to shoot at Wang isn't the same one Wang returns.

Wang is blackmailed into helping Caro with a diamond deal, in exchange for Ah Shi's life. The deal goes well, but Ah Shi is still killed, prompting Wang to seek revenge.

I don't get the fight between Wang and Sakada , on any level. Sakada keeps running away. Why? These are men capable of an incredible fight, yet Sakada keeps running away. The coliseum scene is hard to watch, aside from the annoying echo. They run more than they show off their skills.

Someone explain the snow. There's no sign of it the entire time they're in Rome. Sakada runs away from the coliseum and BOOM - snow.

The men exchange a few blows while running through the snow, but nothing spectacular. The whole "snow fight" was unnecessary.

The finale is another eye roller. Yet another gun that never requires reloading is used. The red mini car would have exploded long before it finally came to a stop, if that many rounds had actually been fired at it. Wang kills Don Caro using a tiny han gun, then picks up Don Caro's weapon and unleashes round after round into Caro's dead body.

Bruce Leung Siu-Lung, Kurata Yasuaki, Mang Hoi and The masked Thugs - Tony Leung Siu-Hung & Lam Hak-Ming are the reasons I give this a 7. Plot wise, it deserves a 3.

Italian crime meets chop socky; bodies abound

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 17 August 2016]

In the early '70s some crazy stuff was coming out of Italy. The martial arts craze was a big influence and even led to a mini-genre, that of the "kung fu spaghetti western". However, LITTLE GODFATHER OF HONG KONG is the only Italy/Hong Kong collaboration I know that mixes in the martial arts genre with the then-hot polizia (or crime thrillers) that were flooding the screens in Italy. Here, a family of the Italian Mafia find themselves up against a Chinese movie star and martial artist, who unwittingly gets involved when he thwarts an assassination attempt made by them on an Interpol agent.

What follows is a plot spread very thinly, which is basically an excuse for a series of well-staged fight sequences. But when these scenes take place at some of Rome's most gorgeous locations, you won't hear me complaining. In particular the final shoot-out takes place in a beautiful valley and is a treat to watch. In fact I knew I was in for a good time from the opening scenes of this film, which depict a series of staged assassinations taking place in various countries - one involves an exploding dog! What follows is a cool car chase with stunts, scenes of Wang's family and friends being bumped off and Wang gradually eliminating Carro's evil family - first his three sons, then finally Carro himself. The bad guys fight back by attacking Wang with an exploding camera, electrocution, shoot-outs, you name it, but being a Chinese martial artist he is always one step ahead.

Bruce Liang (real name Liang Hsiao, renamed to cash in on the obvious success of Bruce Lee) is Wang (not WONG!), playing very much a simple Bruce Lee-type role. He's charismatic, agile, a high-kicker, and everything you could want from a martial artist. He's ably supported by the likes of the beautiful Shirley Corrigan as an actress (who unsurprisingly appears naked in the bathroom) and screen heavyweight Gordon Mitchell, playing an evil Nazi complete with fake German dubbing! Mitchell's death in particular is a good one, as falling from a high tower he turns into an unconvincing dummy before hitting the ground below.

The fight sequences are well-staged and make good use of props, with one baddie's head being burnt off in a fireplace, another being fried by electricity, and some blood and violence on top of that (including a few neck-breakings for good measure). Despite a high body count for the good guys (basically Wang is the only one left standing!), the film has a jovial tone throughout and never takes itself too seriously - for example the scene in which Wang takes down a pair of Russian thugs. Therefore it's good fun for kung fu addicts.

Released by Cannon

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 18 August 2022]

Xiangang xiao jiao fu was released in the U. S. by Cannon as The Godfather Squad.

Cops and Interpol agents are being killed all over the world by the Carrol crime family. Wang Liu (Bruce Leung) saves one of them in Hong Kong and gets targeted by the Carrols, who decide to make a kung fu movie in Italy and cast Wang Liu in what they hope is a snuff film.

The best part of this movie? Gordon Mitchell showing up as Carrol's adopted son Duke, a man who still has his German army uniform. It's wild seeing someone I knew from giallo and westerns fighting in a kung fu movie.

Shirley Corrigan (The Crimes of the Black Cat, Dr. Jekyll vs. The Werewolf) shows up, as does Maria D'Incoronato (Concorde Affaire '79).

Big exploitation points for having the Pope appear by way of shooting him outside of a Vatican office and then using stock footage and editing to get him into the film. Also: someone gets kicked into a fireplace and I am all for that.

In the "so bad it's funny" category...

[hungoverblacksmith · 1/10 · 27 March 2005]

Although giving the film a paltry "1" rating, I should perhaps add that if your rating scale is for, say, films that are so bad they are quite hilarious, then this one might rate an "8" or "9". And that is, of course, why we suffer through such escapades of cinematic ineptitude, because in these trying times of world strife and (to crib Tom Lehrer) "universal brouhaha" it is always nice to find a chuckle in films with no pretensions to grandeur, quality, or even basic talent.

"Little Godfather" is one such film. Highlights for me include: The "exploding dog" sequence near the start of the film- watch it slowly and laugh. Or the chase scene through Rome which suddenly ends up outside the city and in snow (even though there has been no snow through the entire film, and of course, no snow in the following scene). Or perhaps my favourite, the near-sentimental moment of the film when the arch-villain laments the passing of his son: just when you think there will be some emotional depth to the movie, his speech brings it all crashing back into overblown badness.

Grab some friends, have a beer, some popcorn perhaps, and let it wash over you. The fact that it is a "Wu-Tang Clan" DVD release only adds to the ridiculous ineptitude of it all. You can find 'em in the $2.88 bin at Wal-Mart. Better than spending $6 renting "The Day After Tomorrow"...

The bottom of the barrel for Bruce Leung

[ckormos1 · 1/10 · 28 August 2015]

By the first expository news flash there is no doubt this is a both nostrils stinker. There is a good reason for this. Hong Kong kung fu stars go to Europe on vacation and while they are there they throw together the cheapest possible movie to help pay the bills. This movie has so many low points it's hard to decide the lowest. Is it the exploding dog? Is it Bruce fighting at the coliseum pretending to be Bruce Lee and they even threw in the cat? Is it the pastey white stunt men who fall to the ground whenever Bruce throws a kick within a meter? My opinion the worst scene is when Kurata Yasuaki chases Bruce through the snow for about ten minutes and then they don't even fight! I gave it a "1" only because "0" was not an option.

Make no mistake: this film is absolute solid gold

[jplaneswalker · 10/10 · 15 December 2021]

It fills me with utmost mirth that some of the good reviewers on here have chosen to review this film as a "proper" film; make no mistake, as the title of this review says, this is in no way anything close to a proper film. It is an unmissable classic for those such as myself that revel in cinematic dirge, those who are prepared to sit through unimaginable celluloid torture just to learn one more endlessly quotable line or jam one more mind-bogglingly insane "WHY?" moment into our brains.

For me, this movie, which I know by the name "Kung Fu Executioners," is the utter pinnacle of the garbage goldmine. The other reviews have nailed some of its finer moments, yes, the exploding dog, which is seen in the first five minutes of the movie, is particularly memorable, but the truth is every seingle scene, line and shot is side splittingly hilarious. The dubbing is almost a parody of bad dubbing. The plot makes no sense whatsoever. Just check out Caro's cut price lawn furniture. If I told you that Carro had three sons, a gangster, a kung fu expert, and the "son of a top Nazi" you would think it sounded amusing, but to actually watch them in action is beyond imagining.

Okay, maybe I'm embellishing a bit, but in a world where we now make purposely "bad" films like Kung Fury and "rediscover hidden gems" like Miami Connection, it is criminal that this unbelievably hilarious mess doesn't get the recognition it deserves.