Le héros du kung-fu

"The Black Dragon" is good goofy fun from that era in martial arts cinema when everybody wanted to cash in on the great success of "Enter the Dragon". This is obviously low budget, and is pretty crude, but it's lively and funny. The violence is potent enough to give the film a true visceral feel, and the characters are all quite easy to watch.

Jason Piao Pai plays Tai-Lin, a muscular hero who leaves his life as farmhand to seek fame and fortune in the Philippines. He befriends Siao-Mao (Ruel Vernal), a lowly street rat, and goes to work on the docks. He realizes that he is working for a crime organization that is smuggling opium, so he teams up with other local martial artists to teach his crooked boss and his cronies a lesson.

If you seek this out as a fan of four time world champion Ron Van Clief, be warned that he doesn't have much screen time. He's one of the other aforementioned martial artists; at first, he just seems like a troublemaker, but then you realize that he has an agenda. Ron is solid at kicking ass, but this really is Jasons' film, and he carries it quite well.

Of course, if you're watching the edited, dubbed North American release, there's a lot of entertainment value in the ridiculous performers doing the English language dialogue. These people are priceless. And the music is likewise a real hoot, as the filmmakers appropriate other scores, like the memorable 'Young and the Restless' theme and even Morricones' soundtrack for "Once Upon a Time in the West"!

A must for people who adore the cheesier side of chop-socky cinema.

Six out of 10.

I first watched this movie back on September 22, 2012 and posted a review here. I called the movie "Ong Bak 1974" because there seemed to be a few parallels, except no elephants. I found this movie on a $20 DVD along with 20 other movies. I rated it 7/10 for the year and genre and put it on my list to watch again someday. Someday came today.

There are at least seven martial arts movies out there with the title "Tough Guy, starting with a Chan Sing 1972 movie. Viewers probably watched this as "The Black Dragon". So if you watched a 1970s movie with a black guy fighting (the great Ron Van Clief) then we are talking about the same movie.

The story line here is actually similar to Donnie Yen's 1993 "Iron Monkey" in that there are two good guys with conflicting goals. Jason Pai Piao starts by thinking he is doing good for the other coolies on the dock until he finds he was tricked into working for the drug smugglers.

The fights had many "non-Asian" stunt men who could not measure up to their Asian counterparts and served more as punching bags or inert obstacles rather than as martial opponents.

Jason Pai Piao began his career in about 1969 as a stunt man and extra. In 1972 he starred in some South Korean movies. This seemed to be an attempt to launch him as the next big thing. That never happened but he continues to have a long and productive movie career. This movie is his first Hong Kong movie lead.

Ron Van Clief also began his movie career with this film. The film's alternate and more well-known title comes from Ron's nickname, the black dragon. "Brucexploitation" and "Blaxploitation" started together. Ron is also one of the first mixed martial artists. He started training in Goju-ryu than added Filipino stick fighting and jiu-jitsu. He even fought Royce Gracie in the 4th UFC. He lost to Gracie (like almost everyone did), but was only choked out (no broken bones).

I still rate this movie 7/10 and recommend it for all fans of the genre.

"Black Dragon," as it's known in the West, is a rare martial arts film that offers a lot more than great fight scenes. Unlike countless other kung fu movies from the 70's this one has a story that is as engaging as the stellar, high octane fight scenes on display. Jason Piao Pai plays one of the most likable characters in cinema history, as illiterate farmer Tai-Lin, who heads to the Philippines in hopes of escaping poverty. Once in the big city Tai-Lin must face thieves, drug smugglers and killers. The story becomes one of redemption, when he decides to take a street urchin under his wing after the guy tries to rob him...twice! Believing in his mother's advice that nobody is beyond help, his thieving sidekick eventually becomes a loyal friend and a good person. And when Tai discovers that his boss is using Chinese laborers to secretly traffic heroin to mainland China, Tai joins a rebel gang who are attempting to crush the drug syndicate. This is where Ron Van Clief comes in, as the muscle of this anti-crime cartel, and his martial arts skills are pretty ferocious; the guy is like a charging bull here. Of course Van Clief is presented as the central character on all the posters State Side, which is understandable for marketing reasons. No matter, Van Clief is still a strong presence throughout, and Jason Piao Pai easily carries the film with his charisma and incredible kung fu moves. Why this guy didn't become big the way Bruce Lee did is a mystery, because he really had the magic. Sadly "Black Dragon" is only available in various poor quality prints, although the one released on the 'Exploitation Cinema" label does preserve it's widescreen picture ratio. This movie is one of the undiscovered gems of the martial arts genre, featuring a fantastic story, likable characters and some truly bloody, mean spirited fight scenes. It's also got Ron Van Clief kicking serious ass, so fans of the genre should track this one down..