Lao jia lao nu lao shang lao

Though I love Hong Kong cinema made from the 1980s onward, I have to confess that I find offerings made in the 1970s interchangeable - and not in a good way. If you have seen your share of 1970s martial arts movies, much of what you'll see in this particular example will come across as not surprising in the least. The only novelty is to watch the movie to find elements that are unique, which isn't all that often. Though the fight sequences occasionally showcase an interesting martial arts move, they are otherwise standard stuff - and these fights are supposed to be the main selling point! The movie musical score is often a strange electronic melody, almost John Carpenterish in nature at times. Apart from what I mentioned, the only other unique element the movie has is that the current public domain print available uses some of the worst pan-and- scanning you have ever seen. I say skip this movie, unless you have for some reason a great interest in the star and Hong Kong cinema of this period - and even then you might find this tough going at times.

This film begins in Hong Kong with a chauffeur named "Fang Po" (Bruce Li) being informed that his boss has recently been arrested in Bangkok for attempting to purchase and then distribute a large amount of illegal drugs. This causes Fang Po's world to come crashing down on him because not only did he have a great respect for his boss but now everybody suspects him of taking part in the drug smuggling operation as well. Along with that a rival gang wants the drugs they believe were smuggled into Hong Kong and suspect that Fang Po knows where they have been stashed. And to make matters even worse, things become even more complicated when his boss' attractive "second wife" (credited simply as Dana) discovers that Fang Po was given a letter just prior to her husband's departure to Thailand which might have a direct impact on what she will inherit should he be tried and executed. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a rather uneven film which had an intricate plot along with a lot of martial arts action. Sometimes the action benefited the overall plot and other times it detracted from it to a degree. But what I particularly didn't care for were the scenes involving the young boy who played the boss' son which became quite annoying after a while. I was also somewhat disappointed with some of the martial arts scenes in which Fang Po was hit across the head with bats and metal pipes on a number of occasions but continued to fight on as if it didn't faze him that much. But I suppose it all goes with the territory. In any case, despite these flaws I still enjoyed this film to a certain degree and for that reason I rate it as about average.

Bruce Li is a chauffeur and is surprised to find his boss is arrested for drug dealing. That minor plot manages to really drag down the action sequences. Bruce gets to watch the bosses kid. Is there anything worse than a kid in a martial arts movie? Over and over again minor story issues seem more important to be repeated rather than just to move on. That's what the fast forward button is for. Bruce Li does a good job in the fights. He is fast, powerful, and pretty accurate. Kurata Yasuaki plays the same bad guy he has played in dozens of movies by now. The traditional final fight is well done. Overall I can't rate the movie any higher than plain old average.