Fen zhu chi lao hu

Fen zhu chi lao hu (1980)

Action, Drama • 1h 26m
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It starts with the usual demonstrations over the opening titles. At the kung fu school Chan Lau leads a class. A new guy is hired for the kitchen. New guy, Blacky Ko, feeds the beggar who warns him he is in a den of deplorables. Cut to Casanova Wong's street show. Chan Lau interrupts but Casanova wins the fight. In doing so he has revealed something about his style that involves the school's master. A scar on the new guy's arm is also linked to the past.The first 25 minutes were all comedy and then a serious revenge plot appears. But then the story goes to the old beggar and the comedy returns. I did not like the comedic parts and felt the comedic fights were not well choreographed and not well executed. Yet the serious fights were good, so go figure. The great Bolo Yeung lurks in the background and steps in to kill the wife. He returns for the final fight. Bolo made a career out of playing the big bad and usually dumb fighter. Heroes in these movies were never tall body builders. Bolo was the king of the scene showing how the smaller hero could overcome the larger opponent. I can recall only two fight scenes Bolo survived and one he actually won. That had to play on even the humblest man's ego so I have to give him credit for taking on that thankless role so many times and delivering a great fight every time. My copy is a digital file the size and shape of a VHS transfer but it was likely recorded from a television broadcast because the picture flips like the old television pictures used to do. It is English dubbed and the voice over actors are just one notch short of annoying. This movie is low budget, low quality, and uses scenes that have been done before over and over. It is only for the hard core fans who just never tire of it and I rate it straight average for the year and genre.

Hung-Chang Wang
Director
Hung-Chang Wang
Writer
Lung Yuen, Ho Wang, Phillip Ko
Starring

Language: Mandarin
Awards:
Country: Taiwan, Hong Kong
Metacritic Score:
DVD Release Date:
Box Office Total:

5.5

IMDb (49 votes)
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