Blood Street

Leo Fong reprises the role of P.I. Joe Wong from LOW BLOW (indeed it was) in this direct-to-video action flick. Wong gets caught up in the middle of a gang war between Richard Norton and some Italian guy when the Italian guy's wife (Playboy Playmate Kym Paige) requests his services.

This is really Fong at his best/worst. There is the requisite voice over, which he delivers with no emotion, and fight scenes/shoot outs that are so clumsy and poorly filmed. But this is the Fong charm. He gets in lots of lovely shots of San Francisco and there are a few bits that are an absolute hoot, like when the sexy Paige attempts to seduce the not-having-any-of-it Fong. Fong staple Stack Pierce has a supporting role and martial arts fave Norton proves he is not above charity work by starring as the villain. Highly recommended for Fong-o-philes (© me sucka!).

Leo Fong is the King of American Kung Fu Movies and Guerrilla Film Making and he always delivers. Watching this movie is an indulgent taste of uninhibited and truly independent film making and the action scenes are shot with the classic techniques and without wires and special effects.

It's amazing that Leo Fong never sold out to the studio driven industry and ending up playing a serious of "character" parts, and instead he's held firm to his visions and created excellent, independent films for four decades.

If you think about it, he's an action star in his senior years who writes, directs and produces his own films - he's the Clint Eastwood of the independent film industry. He's also a pioneer of minority film making and guerrilla film making and he's increasing being recognized for his contribution to the history of cinema.

It proved to be a singularly implausible exercise resisting the bellicose charms of underrated, and overheated, 'Blood Street', a gnarly low budget actioner starring a deadly duo of pyrotechnically gifted fight technicians, sensei, Leo Fong and the estimable antipodean Kung Fu super-villain, Richard Norton, plus having the iconoclastic, Mr. Fong as the film's director guarantees that the engagingly rough n' tumble fight-flick, 'Blood Street' is an absolutely essential watch for all avid martial art maniacs!

Hardened gangster, skeevey wrongdoer, and powerful drug kingpin, Malcolm Boyd (Richard Norton) fatefully picked a fight with the 'Wong' guy, and I bet you all the ox manure in China that stalwart P. I Joe Wong will always get his man, more dogged than Sherlock Bones, spunkier than Harry Reams, and if y'all do Mighty Joe Wong wrong he's got a deadly, tibia-thrashing trick with a hickory stick that'll split your wig lickety split!!!!!

What started out as a routine case of a too-beautiful wife, Vanna (Kim Paige) and a missing ne'er-do-well husband Macdonald (Stan Wertlieb), very soon erupted into bloody B-Movie gangland war on the increasingly crimson streets of San Francisco! When rival drug barons, MacDonald and Boyd go at one another like blood-feuding gypsies, the steel-fisted Shamus, Wong finds himself dead bang in the squalling midst of a gruesome turf war with the icy blond, Vanna expertly playing one side against the other like some bodaciously put together card shark, but the one stubborn dick she can't handle, totally oblivious to her altogether deadly charms is the dynamite '2 hit Wong', his 1st hit opens up your noggin like a ripe cantaloupe and the 2nd hit is your comatose rear hitting the floor!

It's all in a day's work for the intractable, shotgun-blasting, lightning-fisted Kung Fu private Eye, rarely shaken but never stirred, 2 parts, Sam Spade and 3 parts, Bruce Lee, if you cross this savage, street savvy sleuth you're gonna be history! Leo Fong's bravura B-Actioner 'Blood Street' brings the street savvy 80s Kung Fu heat like no other, and super hard dick Wong just won't be beat!!!'

Though I don't clearly recall my past viewing of LOW BLOW, other people must have thought it memorable enough to warrant a sequel – BLOOD STREET. This one surprised me: even though my experience with Leo Fong's vehicles has been poor and diminishing the man's budget doesn't sound like a way to improve his output, his first shot-on-video adventure is an entertaining spectacle. Judged on its merits and on its own terms, this is an imperfect but ultimately fun little diversion.

The story: While investigating the disappearance of a missing millionaire (Stan Wertlieb), private detective Joe Wong (Fong) is drawn into a deadly gang war.

Features filmed on video inevitably remind us of home movies, and in that regard, many people would not enjoy "Blood Street" by default. However, the feature is photographed and edited with professionalism, and there are few instances wherein you wouldn't presume that this was created by pros. That doesn't save the picture from weak dialogue and an imperfect narrative structure (i.e. a needless flashback section and an embarrassing text scrawl opener), but the more you watch, the more its style seems natural. By its final third, the movie has become a jumbled flow of poorly-connected scenes, and though unprofessional, it's oddly harmonious in a careless kind of way.

Most importantly, the movie is fun. For all the faults with his final product, Leo Fong clearly had a ball shooting this and his enthusiasm is catching. There are plenty of unnecessary but amusing character embellishments to make you shake your head and chuckle. Joe Wong may be a homophobic chauvinist with sociopathic tendencies, but he can punch a thug so that the hat the dude's holding flies up and lands perfectly on his head. Speaking of punching, the action content is decent. There's no set standard here, with some scenes so bad they'll make you grimace while others are thoroughly satisfying. Leo Fong plays such an untouchable superman that he makes Steven Seagal seem modest, and while most of his brawls are forgettable, he has a surprisingly good bar brawl. Karate icons Richard Norton and Chuck Jeffreys show off a bit but are not used to nearly their fullest extent.

A strong supporting performance by Stack Pierce as a gang lord helps cement this one as an entertainingly average outing, and definitely the best Leo Fong vehicle I've ever seen. Nevertheless, there are much better karate flicks out there, so other than Fong's fans, the only people I can readily recommend this to are VHS collectors. Don't go out of your way, but if you happen across it and are open to a daring experience, give it due consideration.

This was great. We watched Low Blow, which was okay but the audio on the dialogue was far too low - I don't think we heard a single thing that Cameron Mitchell said. Thankfully in Blood Street the audio is a bit clearer. This time around the cover also at least somewhat reflects the film, unlike Low Blow (who is that guy and why is his arm like that?).

What can you say about a film of this calibre? There's too much to describe really, the highlight of it for me was the fact that Fong delivers the line: "Istilldontknowwhatchatalkinbout" not once, but twice.

Highly recommended if you're a fan of trash masterpieces like Deadly Prey (the king of trash action), Miami Connection, Samurai Cop etc. Viewing of Low Blow isn't necessary for continuity or anything. Does it add context and backstory to the character? Not really.

Enjoy.