San mao liu lang ji

Another selection from the Mill Creek 200 drive in cult classics box set.

A decent enough Kung fu movie. 3 orphans just trying to get by, end up involved in trying to stop a gangster.

Way better then it has any right to be. Kids and action movies rarely work. But this one manages just fine. The lead kid is outstanding and the fight scenes are very good. Everything is well choreographed and well filmed. The last fight is really well done lots of action and some well done stunts.

If you get the chance to watch this one and like Kung fu movies definitely check it out. Also goes by the title Kung Fu Kids Break Away.

Recommend for sure. You can do a whole lot worse.

Three street kids band together in order to make a living. They perform acrobatic acts and draw some attention; in doing so they displease a local bigwig who in turn is something of a criminal. Enter a mysterious stranger who comes into town and befriends the children but who also has his own secret plans.

This Hong Kong martial arts film relies more on comedy than most. This isn't surprising when you consider that three of its principal characters are children who regularly engage in kung fu combat against various adults who antagonise them. These fight scenes are made a little more distinctive on account of some impressive gymnastic moves carried out mainly by one of the boys. The action scenes do constitute the highlights of the film and, while this isn't anything too great, it has enough of a fun factor about it to make it an entertaining movie.

Most of the Kung Fu movies that have kids fighting against adults are unbelievably silly. This one is believable. It is still silly, but a lot of fun.

I will not try to figure out who is who from the names in the cast, but the young boy who seems to be the star is phenomenal. He does some gymnastics that are as good as anything you might see in an Olympic tryout. The fight choreography is better than almost any martial arts movie I have seen with the possible exceptions of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. I would guess this kid did the choreography since he is the one who does all the tumbling. I cannot figure his age, but I would guess he is less than 17 and more than 12. He is the bigger of the two boy stars.

The smaller boy also has some fun as he fights against everyone in the movie. The smaller boy has a sister who is the love interest for the son of the bad guy. Yep, it does get confusing.

The baddest bad guy looks something like Lee Van Cleef. He has a cohort who is the local town bully. There are about a dozen bad guys who have the town terrorized. Sort of a Hong Kong High Noon if you will.

I have no idea if this young guy star is a famous circus performer or where he came from, but I hope he still is active in action movies.

This one is well worth watching for any age. Even girls will like the love story, I think. The lead girl has fast hands and hot lips.

The end scene is nice with a reverse zoom from about a mile away after everyone who's supposed to be bad is dead. The good guys and girls mosey off into what looks like Utah or Arizona. It is probably the outskirts of Shanghai. Whatever.

This one is good.

Tom Willett aka Yonhope

This is a sprightly little film that follows the adventures of three young vagrants: San Mao, an athletic young man hoping to find his mother and who's teacher was shot during the war, Qu Pu Li, a clever and brash young fellow, and the oldest of the three, tomboy Zsa Zsa Meng. San Mao's wandering eventually leads him to meet and befriend the other two. Some time after banding together the always scheming Qu Pu Li comes up with the idea that he and San Mao perform as stunt men on the streets with Zsa Zsa Meng acting as a sort of hype man. As time goes on they become more and more of a bother to the General and his men until he finally sends his henchmen after the brats to teach them a lesson. At around the same time a mysterious loner codenamed Eagle (Casanova Wong) comes to town to try to prevent the General from making a deal with one Mr. Chu, and he ends up aligning himself with the youths as they have a common enemy. Things are made a bit more interesting by the General's son's attraction to Zsa Zsa Meng and the subsequent clashing of the motives of he and his father. I won't spoil the ending but I will say that it left me a bit um, emotionally confused, or conflicted, or . . . something.

There really isn't much on offer in the way of stupendous kung fu fighting. Casanova Wong does a fair job at making up for the film's lack of any recognizable and talented martial artists when given the chance but there are only three or four scenes where he gets to "spread his wings," so-to-speak, and kick butt. The end fight where he squares off with the General is mostly interspersed with scenes of the motley young trio taking on a big, lumbering, bald guy at their secret hideout. This switching back and forth between scenes, while not too sudden or frequent, served more to break up the flow of the final duel and spoil the excitement that one should be feeling at that point than to make me laugh at the kids and their endeavor. Still, this little bother didn't make me restless and/or hate the movie.

I'd prefer to think of this film as a comedy/adventure with some martial arts on display here and there, and fortunately it does alright in both categories. The English dub is actually pretty good and the picture quality itself is average or slightly above average for movies of this type (or at least it was in the version found on the Martial Arts 50 Movie Pack from Mill Creek Entertainment). Also, the full screen presentation doesn't hinder the action except for in a few minor instances. All in all I give it a 5 out of 10.