Eastern Condors (1987)

A group of Asian prisoners is recruited, trained, armed and sent to Vietnam to destroy a stash of American weapons left behind after the Vietnam War before the Vietcong discover its location.

Director:

Sammo Kam-Bo Hung

Writer:

Barry Wong

Stars:

Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Biao Yuen, Haing S. Ngor

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sammo Kam-Bo Hung	...	Ming-Sun Tung
Biao Yuen	...	Man Yen Chieh
Haing S. Ngor	...	Yeung Lung
Joyce Godenzi	...	Guerrilla Girl #1
Chi Jan Ha	...	Guerrila Girl #3 (as Chi Chun Ha)
Ching-Ying Lam	...	Lieutenant Lam
Melvin Wong	...	Colonel Yang
Charlie Chin	...	Szeto Chin
Kwok Keung Cheung	...	Ching
Billy Lau	...	Ching (as Lan Guang Lau)
Woo-Ping Yuen	...	Yun, Yen-Hoy
Corey Yuen	...	Judy Vu (as Kwai Yuen)
Lung Chan	...	Potato Head
Wah Yuen	...	Giggling General
Yasuaki Kurata	...	General's elite soldier

Storyline

A motley group of Asian prisoners held in the US are given one chance for freedom. They are to go deep into Vietnam and destroy a secret depot of missles that the US left behind during the pull-out. The group, led by Lt. Lam and convict Tung, hook up with a trio of female freedom fighters and a happy go lucky martial artist named 'Rat'. The entire group is captured by the VC because one of them is a double agent, but they escape, cross an un-crossable bridge, and get to the secret base just ahead of the VC. By this point nearly all of the original group is dead, and it's up to Tung and Rat to fight the VC's leader, a bizarre giggling man who's lightning fast with martial arts.

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Plot Keywords:

group | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and some language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although considered "overweight", Sammo Hung is fully capable of kicking, punching, and flipping.

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Quotes

Ching: It's the Americans's fault. They got us into this. Idiot Americans, fucking America, goddamn America!
Ming-Sun Tung: When this is over, where do you think you'll go?
Ching: Back to America!

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Alternate Versions

Dubbed version changes characters names making all of the soldiers Chinese in origin while Cantonese version has some Vietnamese. Dubbed version also lacks a scene with the Lieutenant climbing a flag pole near the beginning and 2 brief instances of violence during climax.

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Connections

Featured in The Best of the Martial Arts Films (1990)

User Reviews

An explosive martial arts action classic.

In the early 90s, after reading a glowing review of the film in a fanzine, I shelled out mucho dinero for a pirated un-subtitled VHS copy of Eastern Condors. And even though I didn't have a clue what was being said, the movie blew me away with its OTT gung-ho action, bullet-riddled battle scenes and unbelievable martial arts madness.

These days the film is available on DVD remastered, fully restored and subtitled, so fans of fantastic fight action have no excuse for not checking out this marvellous movie.

Director and star Sammo Hung takes the basic plot of The Dirty Dozen (a group of criminals take part in a dangerous mission with the promise of freedom if they succeed), adds a touch of The Deer Hunter and Rambo, and throws in a ton of amazing kung fu to deliver one of the best Hong Kong flicks of the 80s.

Joining Sammo on his dangerous mission (into Vietnam, to destroy a hidden US munitions dump) are the brilliant Yuen Baio (as a Vietnamese profiteer dealing in smuggled goods), Oscar winner Haing S. Ngor, Lam Ching Ying, Yuen Woo-ping, Corey Yuen, Charlie Chin, and Sammo's real-life wife, the gorgeous Joyce Godenzi. Playing nasty bad-guys out to foil the mission are Billy Chow and the fantastic Yuen Wah. With a line up like that, and Hung calling the shots, excellence is almost guaranteed.

From the moment our 'heroes' parachute into a Vietcong infested jungle, Eastern Condors is non stop brutal action and unmissable fare for those who enjoy their war films violent and unfettered by serious political comment. The bad guys are pure evil (Wah's sniggering fan-waving general is as despicable as they come) and deserve to die. End of story.

And die they do: blasted by machine guns, knifed to death in guerrilla attacks, hacked by machetes, and even killed by imaginative use of jungle flora! In a blistering finale in an underground, missile laden bunker, the surviving good-guys take on the enemy in a vicious showdown that will leave you breathless. Yuen Baio and Sammo take the spotlight in the final fight against Wah and Chow, and the result is some of the best martial arts action ever committed to film. Baio's acrobatic skills are well showcased, whilst Hung, who slimmed down in order to be able to perform more incredible stunts, is on particularly fine form.

Only the occasional 'silly' moment (such as the death of a stuttering character who dies when he fails to reach twenty before opening his parachute), and the rather strange nutter played by Haing S. Ngor (I'm still not sure what the point of his character was) stop me from giving this top marks.

But 9/10 is nothing to be sniffed at, and any fan of the genre should definitely check this one out.

Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese English

Release Date:

9 July 1987 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Eastern Condors

Filming Locations:

Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Golden Harvest Company, Paragon Films Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1