Close Kung Fu Encounter (1975) User Reviews

Close Kung Fu Encounter (aka Great Escape) 1975

[jddog130 · 5/10 · 11 June 2015]

Starring Ko Keung, Whang In-Shik, Jang Jeong-Kuk, Gam Kei-Chu, Lee Ye-Min and Bruce Cheung Mong.

The story starts out with two men traveling with horse and settle down for the night next to a fire they built. One stays up (on watch) as the other rests. After time, they switch positions and while the other rests, the one on watch attacks and tries to kill him, but fails. The next day the one sneaks into town, past the guards, posing as a woman carrying her husbands body for cremation.

This is when we meet Suzuki (Whang In-Shik), a Japanese chief of intelligence, who suspects they have just been tricked, thinking it may have been a man they've been looking for and not a woman. The stranger shows up in a bar and we notice another man is following him. Suzuki's thugs find the stranger in the bar and a big fight starts. Soon after, the stranger is captured and tortured by Suzuki to talk, then thrown into a prison cell, where the man that was following him is also at.

This is when we find out everything... The man that was following him was thrown into prison for getting caught screwing Suzuki's woman. The stranger is Commander Khan (Jang Jeong-Kuk) who is attached to the Nanking government on a mission to save some gold taken from the Japs. The man that's been following him is Kang Min Wu (Ko Keung), (referred to in this movie as Captain Wu or Mr. Kang) who has orders from the 6th army to help Commander Khan with his mission. Luckily, Khan slips Kang a map where the gold is hidden just before Khan is taken and executed, and Kang escapes from the prison cell (all of this happens in the first 15-20 minutes of the movie), so I will leave the rest to you.

Its a race to see who gets the gold with a few twists and turns along the way. For those looking for the movie where gold gets hidden in a pig, this is the one. Decent story, wish there was more fighting and better action when it does happen. Overall mediocre to me.

South Korean 1970s production as average stuff

[ckormos1 · 5/10 · 18 December 2019]

It opens with two guys on horseback ride into a desolate town. They hole up for the night but before dawn they start fighting each other. Next one of them disguises as a woman and sneaks into another town. Here we meet Whang In-Shik as a Japanese chief. The plot involves hidden gold and a race to find it. The pig is not above suspicion.

Whang In-Shik is a South Korean martial artist who was recruited into the movies by the Hong Kong director Huang Feng. In 1972 he put together his experiences in South Korea to make the film "Hapkido" . Whang In-Shik continued in supporting roles for about five years then retired to Toronto, Canada. Jackie Chan coaxed him back to Hong Kong to make "The Young Master". The final fight in this movie is certainly one of the greatest fights in martial arts movie history. Today, at 79 years old, Hwang In-Shik can be found at the Eagle Hapkido academy in Toronto teaching classes Monday through Friday.

My copy is a digital file that plays on a HDTV as wide screen with resolution no better than an old VHS tape. This is a salvage, not a restoration and has many missing frames and scratches but at least the color is still good. It is dubbed into English and the voice over actors do a good job.

I rate this movie as mediocre for the year and genre. The fights are standard fare, nothing impressive. The style is Korean martial arts with many kicks and throw downs but no ground fighting. Whang In-Shik's fights are slightly better because of his kicks. Guns are also involved and quickly disarming the shooter is the usual solution. There are no special moments.