Le Tigre sort ses griffes

This film begins with a young woman coming into a gymnasium and proceeding to beat up the men training there. When some members from management enter and ask her the reason for her actions a man from the bleachers named "Chang Hung" (Bruce Li) appears and says he wants to talk with the overall boss known simply as "Paul the Westerner" (Paul L. Smith). As it turns out, Chang Hung and his unnamed "female partner" (played by Angela Mao) are involved in a game of intrigue between two rival gangs who deal in drugs and he's playing both ends against the middle in an effort to eliminate the two of them. Now from what I understand this film is a sequel to "Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger" with Bruce Li trying to fill the void resulting from the death of Bruce Lee. Yet, while the first film suffered from mediocre acting, this film languished due to action scenes which were extremely long and utterly ridiculous. That being said, I was not impressed with this particular film at all and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

Fun little martial arts time-filler, with Bruce Li attempting to bring down a pair of international drug dealing operations by pitting one against the other.

Paper-thin plot is just an excuse for endless martial arts fight sequences, most are fairly well choreographed, some go on for such a long time, however, they become tiresome. Well photographed in Bangkok (?, at least, that is where the story is set) with a funny bit with a lubed-up Li fighting gargantuan-sized foe; and a good (if still slightly goofball) climactic battle in a warehouse with Paul Smith.

Print quality is surprisingly good also, without noticeable frames missing and awkward jump cuts, nor annoying clicks and pops on the soundtrack.

The most brutal action packed martial arts battle of the decade, Bruce Li, The Roaring Kung Tiger, faces his deadliest enemy.. the vicious and sadistic torturer from The Midnight Express. The Hoover Night Club in Bangkok is used to coverup the operations of the international narcotics group headed by an American, George Cross. A rival gang, run by a chinese, also tries to dominate the drug market in southeast Asia. Handsome professional killer Chang Hung, accompanied by his female assistant, arrives in Bangkok and smashes a Kung-fu school run by George. Tseng Tse-chan, leader of the chinese group, approaches Chang to eliminate george, but his price is too high. Unknown to him, Chang was hired by George to infiltrate Tseng' racket. The girl's job is to play the 2 rival gangs against each other..

This is one of the better Angela Mao movie from the late '70s. Since she stopped starring in Golden Harvest's movie, her movies weren't as well made or distributed. She seemed to be more focused on her domestic life, which probably was the right move since pure kung fu action movies were starting to be passe around the time this movie was made.

Bruce Li is probably the most type cast actor of all time, but he's a good actor in his own right, holding on screen presence with his handsome good looks, and good martial arts skill.

Making this a one of a kind movie is that both stars are starring together in this movie.

What's amazing about Taiwan producers and directors is the way they fail to capitalize on the on screen talent of their stars. They'd rather stick to their pat formula for making movies, rather than exploiting the often great talent of their stars. This movie is no exception and it just drags on with boring scenes of the bad guys talking to each other, then more talking, and then more, ......and more. Another thing is that the movie has no atmosphere to it at all. The scene goes from a cheap office to a dirty alley, to a worn down warehouse, and the likes. There's not a single beautiful scene in this entire movie.

Anyways, if a movie of this caliber is above average, you can surmise how bad some of the other Taiwan made Angela Mao movies are. Don't expect too much from this movie, as you see little of Bruce Li, and even less of Angela Mao.

There are better movies made of Angela Mao from Golden Harvest in the early '70s. They are recommended far more over this one.

Bruce Li and his plucky sidekick Angela Mao take on two warring cocaine rings in a variation on YOJIMBO set in modern Hong Kong.

I looked at the English-language version, and some interesting choices were made, like having the bands in a couple of scenes playing Motown. The translations were done to better effect than many in the era, so I wasn't left stonkered, but had the brainpower to look at the fight choreography; that is, after all, the main reason to watch this sort of movie. I found it was occasionally clumsily rendered -- as when a plate that Paul L. Smith is standing on has high voltage run through it, and he takes a couple of seconds to react. When done well, the choreography was done with a humorous tinge. People keep striking at Smith, and he ignores them like they are flies. Likewise, Li establishes his credentials as a great fighter by taking on Fu-Hsiung Cheng in an amusing mixture of formal competition, in which Li takes time out to oil his torso while his opponent waits in a distracted manner.