More Dragon Pack fun! Dragon Lives Again!

I sat down to watch more Brucesploitation and finally caught up with THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN! The third film I've watched from The Return of the Dragon 4 Pack-this one is a classic.

Now, reviewing this movie would take about 4 hours, because there is so much great stuff to comment on. So, instead I'm going to throw a few words and names at you. All of this is in THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN!
Do you want to see Bruce Lee (who looks very little like "himself" and this is even explained in the film!) battle The King of Hell? Do you like the following?
Kung fu fighting! Kung Fu Popeye!!? Kamen Rider styled henchmen of hell...MEEP MEEP! James Bond. The Man With No Name. Caine from Kung Fu. Zatoichi. Emmanuelle attempting to sex the lord of hell to death! Guys counting the strokes to get there??? Gun fights! Fist Fights. Foot Fights. Nonstop jokes that will make you laugh and groan at the same time. And of course, the secret technique...THE THIRD LEG OF BRUCE!
Watch, enjoy and if you think I would steer you wrong, I invite you to at least watch the opening credits and see if this isn't the strangest thing you have watched in a while.

THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN!!

More Brucesploitation! Mission For The Dragon!

After reading through my review of the Dragon 4 pack I decided it was time for more Bruce(s) in my life. I popped in the RETURN of the Dragon 4 pack with high hopes. Disc 1 is a bit of surprise and a huge letdown at the same time.



Film 1... ENTER THE GAME OF DEATH! Now, you put a Bruce clone in a tracksuit (and this one has Bruce Le!) and I'm there. However, the transfer on the DVD was stammering so badly that it was unwatchable. Now, this may be a disc error or something on all copies. I'd guess the latter, because as Gordon Liu once said, "this is VideoAsia!" But here is a clip. Track suit? Check. Bruce Le? Check. Fights...I'd love to check it out!"

Side 2 features Dragon Lee in MISSION FOR THE DRAGON. Bonus! This is a Godfrey Ho signed film. So, I knew it would have some odd stuff at the very least, and it does in spades. A very typical film for most of the running time, it features two groups of people trying to solve a murder and out to gain vengeance along the way. Some talking takes place, but Dragon Lee and Carter Wong are both on show kicking people silly. I had my thoughts on who would be the bad guy in the end, and lets just say that the two guys in the previous sentence are your choices.


Easy choice eh?

But then the nonsense angles come crashing down. There is a haunted cave, a masked master, a "monster" in the worst fright mask since NINJA CLOWN and even a little romance. But where a Ho shows off best is in the action department...and this is no let down at all. Tons of undercranked fighting scenes are something I'm a sucker for, and the climactic showdown even involves a human disco ball!


Honestly, this isn't much a Brucesploitation film for 90 percent of the movie, but in the end, it has Dragon Lee using ALL the signature moves-so, on the list it goes!

Video quality..."This is VideoAsia" 3 stars. That means 1 star but stable by VA standards.
Can't wait to see if the other disc works! Brucesploitation and Beer...to be continued!

Bruceploitation 4 Pack from VideoAsia-Clone Fists Unite

Bruceploitation... a goldmine of kung-fu exploitation films for some, for others a dreaded blasphemy. In martial arts movie history, the exploitation of the image of Bruce Lee is a one of a kind phenomena that generated a slew of celluloid slaughters and beatdowns! Certainly, no other star could have started such a trend, could they? Can you imagine a world with Schwarzenegsploiters or Segalsploitation? I can't...but Bruce Lee, after a relatively short cinematic span really, spawned imitations, admirers and some of cult movies most far out features.

Bruceploitation comes in several savorable flavors and I think it's fair to break them down thus. First, we have the "bio-pic" style film. WHAT did Bruce Lee do before he was famous? And just as often...HOW did he die? WHY? Using every cinematic trick in the book these films don't particularly care about getting it right, as long as it's sensational and lots of punching and kicking is involved HK producers knew it would sell. To this day it still sells as the shelves of any electronics store or dollar disc Ebay store can testify . Slews of the bio-pics are still available, and must generate some sales. Most amusing to me is that "evil" film producers are quite common in these films...the exploiters love exploiting their own bad image in this case! It reminds of nudie film makers who then portray themselves as picking up girls at "fire sale" prices in order to not only film them naked and sell the pictures, but to take advantage of them as well!

Then we go into the "successor of Bruce Lee" mode. The best example of these come from Bruce Li's filmography (read this post by Linn Haynes for MUCH more on him!)...look to Exit The Dragon, Enter the Tiger for a fist smashingly good entry into the genre. The film's tagline bravely screamed out "The Dragon sends The Tiger on a fantastic mission...IF I DIE, FIND OUT WHY!" That about says it all. Also there are even films that have students of Bruce Lee passing about books of knowledge that the real Bruce never imparted. Many evil men want to exploit his work, and the Lee-Clone crew must stop that from happening.

And finally we have the most beloved Brucesploitation films...the whacked out stories...Clones of Bruce Lee has The Dragon's blood siphoned off after he dies to generate clones! Yep, you read it right...

The word "Bruce" became very popular in titles, making some very very odd marquees. Bruce Vs. Bill...who would care? But when you think of BRUCE LEE...then people starting putting the ass to seat. Names like Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Bruce Liang, Bruce Thai, Dragon Lee all strike a dreadful cord with some, but I swear to you, I'll watch ANY of these guys on any given day. Yes friends, I am a Bruceploit-A-holic. Personally, I'll take a Bruce Li flick over watching the few Bruce Lee movies because you can rely on some good fight scenes, berserk stories and the fact that he bears an uncanny resemblance to the man himself is a bonus. At the end of this review I've included some links for more on Bruceploitation-and anyone interested in seeing a whole new side of kung-fu films should check them out. Several pioneers in the field such as Carl Jones (owner of the Bruce Li fanzine), and Keith and William at the Bruceploitation page (one of the BEST sites on the web) can enlighten you, and hopefully tempt you into the lair of the not quite but kinda sorta Lee.

And that brings us to the Dragon 4-Pack released by VideoAsia on DVD about 6 years ago. Containing four films, it's hardly a 4 pack as the title offers, it's a single disc with two movies per side. You should be able to find this super cheap, and if you pay more than 2 bucks a movie I'd be surprised. And you get what you pay for. Sort of.

SIDE A-CLONES OF BRUCE LEE / BIG BOSS II

Clones of Bruce Lee-Make NO mistake, this is one bizarre film. Legendary in the Bruceploiters, Clones of Bruce Lee comes from UberProducer and all around mayhem starter, Dick Randall. The premise is as stupid as the film of course, but that is what gives off the aromatic charm the whole production gives off. When Bruce Lee is wheeled into the hospital and dies, the SBI (Special Branch of Investigations!) calls in Dr. Nye-a crazy scientist who cackles a lot. Of course they want him to clone Bruce Lee so that they can make then make the clones into special agents. Wouldn't that be your first thought? Yeah, mine too. Enter Dragon Lee, Bruce Le and Bruce Lai! Holy cow...the clones look pretty different from each other, you would never know they were all "clones!" Dragon's jumbo eyebrows and ten pound haircut, Le's shorter than the usual Bruce look...Ah well, they all have big sunglasses to even things out. A few training scenes, spiced up with scientific mumbo jumbo (you are under MY command...wah har har!) and the Clones get about the biz. Dragon (as Bruce #1) must stop the ever present evil film producer! No problem for him at all, he has LOTS of experience with these guys. Good fighting ensues. Then, Le and Lai meet up with another Bruce (sheesh, he isn't even a clone, but he has the sunglasses) as Bruce Thai joins the cast. This story is where the bizarre stuff really revs up in earnest. Bronzemen in tighty whity underwear go "clonk" under the fists of the furious dragonettes! Gonk GONG...GONG...Gonk. Even Enter The Dragon baddie Yang Tze (Bolo Yeung) shows up looking for a piece of Bruce once again. So many Bruces, so much Bolo. That man has scary lips...but I always enjoy seeing him.

Did I mention the best use of gratuitous nudity since Zombie Lake? No? You have to see it! A bunch of Thai women with very nice breasts rub oil on themselves and jump a passer by. The Bruces just kind of watch...hell, if I was Bruce Lee's clone, I'd want to at least break off a bit of spicy Thai peanut while I adventured. Anyway...Dr. Nye isn't playing with a full deck, and he pits Bruce vs. Bruce vs. Bruce to get a king Bruce to take over the world. Hey, it's nice to see Dragon Lee and Bruce Le go at it, this is an awesome scene! Let's just say the most obscure won't survive! Once all the magnetators (??) have been cut you can see this little gem of what the hell cinema. Clones of Bruce Lee is simply a film you have to see to believe, anyone who enjoys oddball movie making will get triple kicks out of this film. It's amazing it got made, it's amazing that Bruce Lee didn't rise from the grave to kick Dick Randall in the balls and it's fun as a basket of snakefists on a Saturday night after a case of cheap beer.

The DVD presentation is a damn pity though...with a full frame transfer that seems to have been done on a telecine operators first day, the action seems always to be where you can't see! AND to top it off, shamefully the movies sound goes out of synch over and over, with slight pauses to catch it up. WHAT? It looks fair at best (though for the price, it is at least stable)...why not just make sure that the "WHHHHAAAATAAAAAA" sound matches the onscreen action? I've seen several prints of this, and Sifu Linn provided me with a decent widescreen transfer some years back. Sadly, that cuts out the "your hurting my arm" whine at the end of the film, but is far preferable.

Big Boss II-Dragon Lee in a "sequel" flick that certainly doesn't feel much like The Big Boss...but it's a really good action film on it's own! Time to fight the "damn japs" again, and Dragon Lee does a fantastic job with a furrowed (huge) brow. Dragon is one of the guys who does his martial arts with little resemblance to Lee's fighting, and it makes for great screen battles. With the audio problems of Clones, this is the reason to grab the set... Balanced by good fighting and the occasional surprise (watch out for those flying needles of death!)-Big Boss II is a great bit of LeeFu. Bolo shows up in this one as well, sporting a little Hitler mustache no less! Odd... Dragon is moving on up my list of Bruce faves.

The DVD looks exactly like a VHS, but that is to be expected. Not great, but also not bad. Watch it first. Both films are from "Filmline Enterprises" and you'll notice a scene of Dragon Lee training is from Clones of Bruce Lee. Not too strange, until you also realize that "Gonna Fly Now" from ROCKY is playing under these push ups! Why waste a good bit of music theme theft if you can use it twice!

SIDE B-Bruce Lee's Deadly Kung Fu / Bruce's Fist of Vengeance

Bruce Lee's Deadly Kung Fu-AT LAST, Ho Chung Tao, better known as Bruce Li appears. This one is a bio-pic that just has a young Bob (uh..Bruce) discovering his own system (which looks unsurpisingly like a renamed Jeet Kune Do) and smacking around a bunch of white guys. Bob and his buddy look for work after losing the waiter gig they count on because tempers can't help but get lost and Bob loves to serve up "pepper chicken...good for gut-WHAM!" No matter where he goes, the evil whites and the guys who run the kung fu schools won't leave him alone. So even more fighting ensues. Li gets some first class support here though, as the walking deltoid Carter Wong joins the cast. Sure, many don't dig him, but I love Carter Wong's fighting style on film...and it's fun to see Li square off with him. AND then, the bootmaster himself, Hwang Jang Lee shows up wearing a cape!! He beats down Carter and Bob! Hell yeah...so it's up to Bob's new kung fu system to devise a solution to the furious feet of Hwang. Can he? Well...c'mon, he is supposed to be Bruce Lee right? It's a lot of fun getting there though-with fights, kid fu, t-shirt fu, kung fu outfit fu and the use of "Well my friend...what do you want?"

"My revenge!"

Another less than lovely (and more washed out than the previous two) VHS transfer. Not the best way to see Bruce Li for anyone who hasn't yet experienced the fun but sufficent at the right price. There must have been a run on black pants and white T-Shirts in the local mart that week...and the Shirts vs. Sweatsuits battles are always plentiful in this one. Look at Bruce Li though...he really looks like the Real Bruce Lee here in a big and scary way. Try Bruce Li in New Guinea first, but for a nice look at a Lee BioPic, this one is fairly satisfying.

Bruce's Fist of Vengeance-Maybe they hoped you wouldn't get this far. Bruce Le, the least of the Lee clones in my opinion, is in Manila (oh jeez...you know it's gotta be cheap, just ask Fred Williamson!) His buddy, Jack Lee is coming to town during a big tournament-and after Le gets his ass kicked, decides to bequeath his buddy with the secret book. It's always a secret book! Yes, the missing techniques of Bruce Lee will be revealed, though I'll be damned if we see them in the film, because nothing looks too impressive. Defining the ugly side of cheap Fu, this one looks horrid and has very few redeeming qualities. However, it's a must to at least skip to the section where Jack Lee is captured by the bad white guys and tied up, with his LEGS BEHIND HIS HEAD! They carry him around that way and it is damn strange looking. Also the token bad white dude is played by Ferdinando Baldi alumni, Romano Kristoff. Ah, it's a tournament film, it's a secret book film...it's earwax. It looks bad as well, but better than Bruce Lee's Deadly Kung Fu at least. Dim praise, dim film. Well, if you combine the two leads, you get Bruce and Lee out of the pseudonyms.

Overall, the Dragon 4 Pack is a nice Bruceploitation primer...and at the price, it can't be beat for diehards, all those who want to see something strange though...try and find a tape of Clones of Bruce Lee instead. You'll pay less and gain more! Videoasia disappoints with this one-letting synch issues blow what could have been a fine release for it's type. Given the amount of junk they would flood the market with-this one film and the sound issues may have been the most disappointing of all.

Bruce Li: In The Shadow Of A Master by Linn Haynes

I'm always amazed by the power of stored e-mail boxes. Many years ago I was on a hardcore Brucesploitation kick-right around the time I realized that I was destined to enjoy these films more than most Shaw Brothers films actually. Sifu Linn was working on an essay on one of the true kings of the beloved subgenre of kung fu films for Cave Of Kung Fu. I don't know if it ever found a home, but here is a great essay on Bruce Li. Another gift of information from the one and only Sifu Haynes. Enjoy, and watch a "Bruce" in his memory sometime!

Bruce Li: In the Shadow of a Master

by Linn Haynes

The man best known as Bruce Li was actually a fan of Bruce Lee seeking to follow in his idol’s footsteps. Along the way, unscrupulous producers and filmmakers made him into what many people considered a joke at the time. Though he started off as a poor screen fighter, hard work and dedication molded him into a screen presence in some of his later films. Seen today, his films often entertain and in some cases, can be considered minor classics of the chop-socky genre.

Born Ho Chung Tao, August 1950 in Taiwan, Ho discovered martial arts at a young age, taking Judo and Taekwondo classes in high school. After graduating, he entered college majoring in physical education with an emphasis on gymnastics. To make extra money, Ho worked as a stuntman with the Taiwanese Movie Association in the early 70’s. After the death of Bruce Lee, while everyone was looking for the next big thing, producer Jimmy Shaw was looking for someone to actually BE Lee. One of the directors Ho worked with suggested Shaw checkout the young stuntman. Shaw found Ho teaching physical education at a local high school. His film experience and facial resemblance to Lee impressed the producer and he signed Ho to a contract with Atlas International Pictures.

The first film they made together was Conspiracy (1973). Though rare in its original form, this film was re-edited and released later as the movie Enter the Panther (1976). The production is a pretty poor example of film making by any measure, depicting a plot by a man to cheat “Bruce’s” uncle out of a fortune in gold. With poor acting and martial arts, the film is something that should have stayed lost, but was pulled from the vaults when Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger (1976) was released. Footage shot between this film and the next would later appear in the movie The Real Bruce Lee which would be used to sell yet another Bruce Lee clone to the west, Dragon Lee.

The first true Bruce Lee bio-pic was Bruce Lee, A Dragon Story filmed in early 1974. This movie took a different tack from most of the Bruce Lee bio-pics that followed, by focusing primarily on Lee’s time in Hong Kong. The filmmakers went the extra mile by getting actors who were nearly identical to the people they portrayed for the Hong Kong scenes. Though heavy on melodrama, the basic formula for future exploitation biographies on Lee are all here. The original version of the film released in theaters and on video, had credits for a Nick Cheung film that were added on the beginning to hide the original production credits. According to interviews with the Ho in the 90’s, the plan was he would only make a film on the life of the late superstar and then move to straight kung-fu roles. The film studio had a different idea though and as a shade of things to come, credited Ho in the film as “Lei Hsiao Lung,” Bruce Lee’s Cantonese name.

The next pair of movies expanded the formula by having Lee be a smaller part of the narrative, instead of the focus of the movie. In Bruce Lee, Superdragon (1974), Lee’s ghost appears to Ho in dreams spurring him to find who killed him. Though the film has a decent cast, including John Chang, it’s far from a good film and Ho had not gotten his legs under him as an actor or an action star by this time. The follow-up, Goodbye Bruce Lee, His Last Game of Death (1975), was marginally more interesting. The production was credited upon release as a re-filming of Bruce’s final movie, Game of Death (1978) and was actually released about 3 years before Lee’s film. It appears the producers used pictures taken from on set of the original to create their version, but it is still argued they got shooting script for Lee’s movie from Golden Harvest. Regardless, the film shows Ho getting away from the awkwardness present in earlier films and becoming a more comfortable performer in front of the camera.


Contrary to popular belief, the Lee knockoff films did play in Hong Kong. Atlas even tried to depict Li as a “real” actor early on, having him show up for film openings, the Golden Horse Awards,(The Hong Kong equivalent of the academy awards), and the like. The films were just not as successful as they were abroad, specifically in the booming kung fu market of the US. According to Ho, he constantly urged the studio to make films without Lee image as a crutch. In early 1975, Atlas finally made a film that wasn’t a bio-pic and didn’t have Lee in it at all. Unfortunately for Ho, it was far from what he could have imagined as his first “clear” film. Bruce Lee Against the Supermen (1975), was without a doubt one of the craziest chop-socky films ever. Ho plays the "Kato" character (with a CAPE!) from The Green Hornet TV show, who must help a scientist who has discovered a way to create a synthetic food from oil. And the supermen of the title? Lung Fei and some acrobats in black jumpsuits. Considering Ho’s suit looks like the cheap knockoff it was and production values were nearly non-existent, this is in the higher realm of “so bad they’re good” Hong Kong films. To top it off, this marked the first time Ho was billed as Bruce Li. No other movie could’ve have made a more fitting beginning for the moniker.


The films made in 1976 showed an improvement for Ho and confirmed he could be a good martial artist and expand his acting chops beyond just playing second fiddle to Lee. The year began with Ho acting in one of only two period kung fu films in his career where he’d play someone not related to Bruce Lee. Ming Patriots (1976) tells the story of a young princess trying to escape the Ching army with Ming gold. This is the classiest movie Ho made during this period, with Shaw Brother's style production values and a stellar kung fu cast including Chang Yi, Carter Wong, and Judy Lee.
Showcasing excellent fight sequences directed by the Liu Brothers, this is without a doubt one of Ho’s best films. An unfortunate step back into bio-pics followed with He’s a Legend, He’s a Hero (1976) and The Young Bruce Lee (1976). The best that can be said about He’s a Legend, He’s a Hero, is the title music is catchy. The Young Bruce Lee is basically a remake of Bruce Lee, A Dragon Story (1974), but more interesting and less focused on melodrama. Neither of them could prepare the company for the success of Atlas’s next film however.

Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger (1976), directed by legendary chop-socky director Lee Tso Nam was the most successful film of Ho’s career up to that point. The story follows “Tiger” as he’s asked on the set of Bruce Lee’s newest film by the Dragon himself. “Lee” tells him he’s been getting strange phone calls and Ho is to become his successor if anything happens. Tiger later finds out Lee has just died and decides to investigate. Though the plot’s not that important, the film is a benchmark in Ho’s film persona.
Even with a Lee connection, the direction, choreography, and opposition(veteran villain Chang Yi) here are a marked improvement over Ho’s previous endeavors. The film was a hit and prompted future films to be released with “Tiger” in the title to trick filmgoers into thinking they were sequels to this film.

In Fist of Fury 2 (1976), Ho plays the brother of Bruce Lee’s character from the original who comes to Shanghai. Finding his brother’s school in a shambles and overran by the Japanese, he decides to unleash the fury of the fist one last time. Many of the actors from the original return, including Wei Ping Au, who again plays the weaselly Japanese interpreter who was killed in the first film! Working under the pseudonym To Po Lo, which he used many times, the film was actually directed by Lee Tso Nam. Though it’s a sequel to a Bruce Lee film, which is tantamount to sacrilege, this is a good film. The directing is sharp, Ho’s acting here is well above average, and he has a good foil to play against in the form of the villainous Lo Lieh. This was released theatrically in the U.S. under the title Chinese Connection 2. To further confuse matters, its sequel, Fist of Fury 3 (1979), was mislabeled as Fist of Fury 2 for its U.S. video release.

Released just before the end of Ho’s contract with Atlas, The Secret of Bruce Lee (1976) is yet another film based on Lee’s life, featuring the period he ran a martial arts school in California. Unfortunately the film is barely worth the time, it’s a typical chop-socky film in every way, with bad kung fu and Japanese masters wearing crazy wigs. The film is only notable as the Hong Kong debut of Korean super-kicker Whang Jang Li, who went on the make The Secret Rivals (1976) just a few months later.

His time with Atlas ended, director Ng See Yuen approached Ho with a contract. Pai Ming, the head of Eternal films green lighted the Bruce Lee bio-pic Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth (1976), and they wanted Ho to play the dragon once again. With one of the largest budgets for an independent kung-fu film at the time, international locations including filming at The Ice Factory in Pak Chong, Thailand from The Big Boss, the Coliseum in Rome from Way of the Dragon, Seattle and San Francisco to show Lee's early days in the U.S. and the tennis courts in Hong Kong that were the training grounds in Enter the Dragon), and the promise that he would be billed under his own name, Ho quickly signed with Eternal Films Company. Considered by many to be the definitive Bruce Lee bio-pic, this is without a doubt Ho’s best work onscreen at the time. He trained in Wing Chun two months prior with Yip Chun, the son of Bruce Lee’s teacher Yip Man, who also played his own father in the film. Ho even spent time studying film of Lee to copy his actions and speech patterns. The script like most bio-pics, is a letdown because of the large amount of misinformation, but the film itself became the measuring stick by which all Brucesplotation films were judged. It also marked the debut of a young Carl Scott, who Eternal discovered while filming in San Francisco, as one of Lee’s students.

Ho’s output over the next year featured the most unusual movies of his career for the independent Hai Hua Production Company. It seems filmmakers decided to craft productions in the mold of Bruce Lee Against the Supermen (1975), meaning each release got progressively weirder. Ho's next three films were lensed in Malaysia and teamed him with veteran Chen Sing for the films The Deadly Strike (1977), Bruce Lee: The Invincible(1977), and Bruce Li in New Guinea(1977). The Deadly Strike is basically a retelling of the Dirty Dozen, with Ho playing a sheriff sent to a jail to put together a group of prisoners who can bring down a local gang. Featuring wall to wall action and Lung Fei and Wang Yung Sheng in sympathetic roles for a change, this is a solid film. Bruce Lee: The Invincible features Chen Sing as a martial arts teacher who goes with his student (Ho Chung Tao) to bring an old pupil (Chan Wei Man) to justice. When his student points out the Master will be recognized in public, Chen dons a mask and another actor take his place for a portion of the film. The other actor? None other than Mars from Jackie Chan’s stunt team! Add slave trading and a pair of kung fu fighting gorillas to the mix and you have the makings of a trash classic. Bruce Li in New Guinea is even more bizarre featuring snake gods, wizards, and Bolo Yeung. Ho plays an archaeologist who travels to “Snake Worship Island” and gets the local princess( Danna Lei, a former Shaw Brothers starlet) pregnant. When the island wizard hears of this, he’s none to happy and he sends Bolo to settle the score. Though not highlights in Ho’s filmography, these last couple of films, are two of the most enjoyably loopy found in chop-socky cinema.

Concentrating on a modern, gritty style that would dominate many of his later films; Ho starred in Bruce Against Iron Hand (1977) and Image of Bruce Lee (1977). Lee Tso Nam directed Bruce Against the Iron Hand, again under an alias. Ho plays a cop on vacation in Hong Kong, who becomes intrigued by a series of murders perpetrated by a neck-puncturing killer played by Shaw Brothers great Ku Feng. The madman is a white slave trader who practices Iron Finger Kung Fu, which requires celibacy to perform. His one problem, he has a twenty-year old girlfriend who’s constantly wanting sex. This means every time she’s with a guy, he goes into a jealous rage and rips their throat out! With the help of super-kicker Bruce Liang, they try to bring the murderer to justice.

With what can honestly be considered one of the best intros to a modern day chop-socky film ever, The Image of Bruce Lee begins with a cop (Ho Chung Tao) trying to stop a man from jumping off a building. He manages to grab the man’s arm before he can fall ,but while pulling him up, he plunges to his death, leaving the cop holding a prosthetic arm with a file of top secret documents! Of course, the rest of the film can not live up to this incredible beginning, but it gets an “A” for effort. With a slutty Danna Lei teasing every man in sight, Bolo Yeung beating them up, and a sequence where Ho takes on a room full of karate fighters; there’s little doubt this is one of the wildest films in Ho’s filmography.

The crazy 1977 period over, Ho settled into making quality films again. A step up from his last few movies and a film that would mark the beginning of Ho’s best productions was Soul Brothers of Kung Fu (1978). Ho teams in this film with Shaw Bros. veteran Lo Meng as a pair of immigrants trying to make living in Hong Kong. They soon find work and a young American friend played by Carl Scott. When a woman he's in love with shuns Lo Meng, he takes to gambling and drinking. This downward spiral ends with him working for the local crime boss (Ku Feng) and sitting up a finale not soon forgotten in Bruce Li films. This film sets up the style of many of Ho’s future films featuring stories with sometimes downbeat conclusions. The script is good and the acting from all involved is above average. This is also one of only a handful of chop-socky films with two different endings. Had this not been a “Bruce Li” film, this would be remembered as a minor classic.

The first film of Ho’s career to break the one million-dollar mark in Hong Kong, Edge of Fury (1978) re-united Ho with director Lee Tso Nam. Though cursed with an irritating child actor for some of it’s length, the film is actually one of the better crime dramas from the period. Ho plays the chauffeur a Hong Kong businessman who turns out to be a drug smuggler. After his boss is captured in Thailand, fellow drug dealers played by Tommy Lee and Yasuaki Kurata figure the chauffeur must know where the drugs are stashed. Danna Lei is actually good in this as the businessman’s bitchy wife, but her sex scenes are cut from most versions.

Considered by many fans to be the quintessential Bruce Li film, Dynamo (1978) has a lot going for it. When a taxi driver (Ho Chung Tao) is pegged as the new kung fu superstar, a crusty martial arts master (Ku Feng) is hired to whip into fighting shape. A rival studio soon starts to chaff at the star’s success and decide to take him out by any mean necessary. The film is actually about Bruce Li for a change, or specifically, the creation of a star from the death of Bruce Lee. As such, it’s the role Ho Chung Tao seemed perfect for. The fight choreography by the Yuen Clan is top notch, thought Ho is doubled for some of the more acrobatic moves. But the secret of the film is it’s story, the chemistry between Ku Feng and Ho is excellent, as are the bits about the overwhelming power of fame. When the film ran out of money, two sequences from Bruce Lee: His Last Days and Nights starring Danny Lee was used to pad out the movie. The film is actually about Bruce Li. As such, it’s a role Ho seemed born to portray.

Often mistaken as being made the same year as Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger (1978), Return of the Tiger was actually made in 1978, with Paul Smith hot off his role in Midnight Express released the same year. The confusion comes from the filmmakers using some of the same locations as the previous film. Reunited with Jimmy Shaw, this time as director and producer Return of the Tiger (1978) is lacking the polish of Lee Tso Nam’s direction and is not nearly as good a film. The addition of kung fu star Angela Mao was welcome, but she does very little and the overall feel of the film was a step down. It must be admitted, the finale set in an industrial complex with Smith and Ho hitting each other with everything they have is certainly worth a view.

After a string of modern films, the decision to feature Ho in a period kung fu film made little sense, other than to jump on the comedy kung fu started by Jackie Chan with Snake in Eagle’s Shadow and Drunken Master. Fist of Fury 3 (1979) was a direct sequel to the pervious entry made years before. This finds Lee Tso Nam directing again under his To Po Lo pseudonym and even acting in a brief cameo as a kung fu teacher. The film takes place after the events of Fist of Fury 2, with Chen Shan (Ho Chung Tao) returning home with his brother’s ashes. He promises their mother that he won’t fight again, but when the Japanese hear he’s back, they’ll have none of it and decide to get to him before he can ruin their plans. Overall the film is a pretty humdrum sequel to what was one of the better Brucesploitation films. The direction of Lee Tso Nam is adequate, but the film is lacking to say the least.

Made directly after Fist of Fury 3, Blind Fists of Bruce (1979) was a more blatant attempt to follow in the footsteps of Jackie Chan. This movie teamed Ho up with Simon Yuen, who played Chan’s master in his early Seasonal films, and is an obvious Snake in the Eagle's Shadow clone. The movie is actually not bad for its type and less doubling than was typical for Yuen at the time (here he’s doubled by Chien Yuet Sun). Though Ho holds his own in the period setting against the villain Chang Tao and Korean kicker Tiger Yeung, the film is more or less a curiosity piece.

Ho’s next film was a return to modern day, and fairs much better than his previous efforts. The Three Avengers (1979) is an unusual combination of a modern day film mixed with elements of a kung fu comedy, which ALMOST works.

When two street performers (Ho and Chien Yuet Sun) decide to open a kung fu school, a local teacher (Lee Hoi Sang) decides to take the duo down a notch. When Chien is put in jail, Ho goes on to become a kung fu movie actor. Upon Chien’s release, the friends reunite, but it seems the teacher has not forgiven his grudge against them. Though set in the 70’s (wait for the disco scene), the fights are well staged by Chieh Yuet San and offer a good mix of old-school martial arts and modern street-fighting.

The last two films starring Ho before he retired were the pentacle of his film output and should be seen as the chop-socky classics they are. The first was The Gold Connection (1979), easily the darkest film of Ho’s career. While on vacation, some friends, find a chest of gold while scuba diving. Fearing repercussions if they take the loot, they decide leave it. A while later, one of them comes back and takes the gold. No sooner does he sell it off, then all hell breaks loose as the villains who smuggled the gold show up to collect. With enough twists and turns to fill a Hitchcock film, exciting fights, sleaze in all the right places, and a final fight sequence slightly influenced by the thriller Wait Until Dark (1967), this is without a doubt one of the best modern kung fu films made during the period.

Disgusted by the Hong Kong film establishment, Ho decided to make his own film about the rigors of the life behind the scenes. Ho’s final starring role was in Chinese Stuntman (1980), which he wrote, directed, and produced. A thematic follow-up to Dynamo, this film tells of the slow descent of a Hong Kong film star who’s no longer at the top. When a salesman (Ho) unknowingly sells insurance to unscrupulous filmmakers wanting to kill off their star, he winds up becoming a stuntman himself and learns the business of stardom is not all it’s cracked up to be. Using this basic premise, Ho takes us on a tour of the world of Hong Kong filmmaking circa 1980 showing us how the stuntmen truly worked and bled for their art. Here Ho created a film ahead of its time, as the world of Hong Kong stuntmen would not be the source of a film until Ah-Kam starring Michele Yeoh over 10 years later.

After the filming of Chinese Stuntman, Ho went back to teaching physical education in Taiwan. Aside from bit parts in a few films since, Ho retired from filmmaking after the death of his wife from cancer in 1985. Considering he was the star of over 30 films and one of the only martial arts actors featured in predominately modern films, there’s a good chance Ho could have made a transition from the kung fu era with ease. It seems his life was full of what ifs, and all that’s left is a smattering of good films and the honorable intentions of a man who simply wanted to follow his idol, and only to become trapped behind his shadow.

THE best opening song ever? Could be!!