La Colère du dragon

There's no such thing as a good Bruceploitation film, but "Black Dragon vs. the Yellow Tiger" is a mess even by the low standards of its subgenre. Brawny Tong Lung (the brother of better-known Taiwanese martial arts film actor Alexander Lo Rei--not Kim Tai-chung, who later used the pseudonym 'Tong Lung' in "Game of Death II") stars in this sequel to Bruce Lee's "The Way of the Dragon". He plays Tang Fu, the cousin of Tang Lung, Lee's character in the original film. (Confused yet? Good.) An international crime syndicate is gunning for Tang Lung, and the group's Hong Kong representative mistakes Tang Fu for his cousin; eventually a wrestler, two karateka and, bizarrely, a fencer are called in to deal with the surprisingly formidable Tang Fu. It is the black karateka from the United States (Clint Robinson, a real-life tae kwon do instructor) who is our hero's final opponent. In what is perhaps the single funniest moment in the history of bad chop-socky dubbing, Robinson's character stands atop a pagoda and bawls, "Tang Fuuuuuuu! You now lookin' at the man who's gonna kill youuuuuuu!!" in a cracked voice that makes him sound like an 80-year-old sharecropper. It's hard to describe how unsophisticated this film is: fights begin without preamble; the opposing parties just sort of show up at one another's place of residence and start punching, kicking and shouting. The choreography is mostly decent, if not earth-shattering, but it's a wonder that Tong Lung didn't hurt himself swinging that nunchaku around. (He was pretty handy on a bicycle, however.) Filmed in 1974, "Black Dragon vs. the Yellow Tiger" was one of the earliest Bruceploitation efforts, released hot on the heels of Bruce Li's "The Dragon Dies Hard". But, unlike Li, Tong Lung bore little resemblance to Bruce Lee and would not forge a career in the subgenre. (Awkward as his performance is, however, Tong's not quite as bad as Dragon Lee, one of the later prominent Bruce Lee imitators.) The print available on DVD is very poor--almost bootleg quality, in fact--but students of the fascinating, if minor, cultural phenomenon known as Bruceploitation should see this film.

This Taiwanese extravaganza has all the flaws you could expect from an independent Karate-movie, but it has also a funny concept that could have been great in the Kung-Fu Comedy invented some year later: there's material for a spoof in the style of Sammo Hung's Enter the fat dragon, 1977, and I don't think that this WAY OF THE TIGER aka BLACK DRAGON VS YELLOW TIGER was playing too unintentionally. The plot is a clever joke: hero Tong Lung is a pupil/friend of Tang Lung/Bruce Lee and when the local crime syndacate learns that theyr Rome's branch was annihilated by the latter, they goes against the former, who promptly fights them generating a doubt: is he just a lookalike or the real Tang Lung? The Bruceploitation scheme lends to a final duel between the fake Bruce Lee against a western martialist (Afro-American Taekwando master Clint Robinson), just like Lee Vs. Norris in the original, but they are inside a pagoda, since Colosseum is not at hand. The poor tech values are in some way (of the tiger?) balanced by alot of action, and the presence of colorful personages as the english fence-master, the chinese wrestler and the usual Jap killer (played by the ubiquitous Enter the Dragon's extra Dai Ai Saan, aka Little eye), all adds a bizarre fun. There's also a rainy-night fight between Tong Lung and two american killers, a whiteman and an Afro, where the cheap photography makes almost impossible to distinguish the fighters, so all you can see are the white jackets of the killers dancing in the dark as if they were ghostly jackets with nobody inside. Actor-stuntmen Jackie Chen Shao Lung plays the gang henchman dressing a vest and a striped shirt, and he's a really good fighter. The whole thing is played for serious, but, as I wrote above, the intentional spoof is always around the corner. Released 2/26/73 and directed by Li Kuan Chang, later a director in Bruceploitation with Bruce Li/Ho Tsung Tao. Main star and bodybuilder Tong Lung (a nome-de-plume of course) was the real-life brother of Taekwando champion Aleaxander Lo Rei, later a star himself in the Ninja subgenre (Superninja, 1984). I rate this joke 6 just because oh his concept and some good action, even if the final duel at the pagoda is stolen from Lee-Norris almost frame by frame... well, you can't accuse the director of not having a good taste in copying!

Starting with the opening credits this movie seems to "borrow" some iconic scenes/sets and even the music from Bruce Lee's movies. It opens with a group of big shots at a meeting. They are discussing a man named "Tong Lung" who seems to be missing so they send their man to Hong Kong to find him.

Tong Lung was another martial artist/actor who seemed to come from nowhere to star in a handful of martial arts movies during the 1970s and then disappeared back to nowhere. I have not found any information about him other than his screen credits. I first reviewed him in 1972 "The Ferocious Brothers" which may have been his first movie. The 1972 date is questionable. I have almost all his movies. So far I have reviewed his performances from "competent" to "immediately forgettable". He does have the martial arts skills but all the choreography I have seen so far does not even try to be better than mediocre.

My copy is a digital file that plays on a HDTV as 4:3 video. The source is obviously an old VHS tape, probably a copy of a copy. The VHS source seems to be the most beat up and worn out film copy. Despite the poor condition I have actually watched worse. It is English dubbed. The movie seems to have been released in at least four other countries under various titles.

Tong Lung copies all of Bruce Lee's moves, expressions, fight sequences, and settings in this movie. How do you rate such a performance? Should he get credit for doing a good impersonation? Should he be criticized for doing a poor impersonation? Should he be sent to a special place in Hell for as much as daring to impersonate the great Bruce Lee? I don't want to get involved in this at all. This is just a below average movie for the year and genre. I do not recommend it. I watched it once, wrote my review, and I cannot imagine I will ever watch it again.

Watching this will give you the feeling one gets when you've been sold fake junk that is meant to deceive buyers. The movie was trying to make a good effort to copy bruce lee's movie with the roman coliseum fight with chuck norris in the hope of catching some crumbles profit. The final scene chinese temple is actually beautiful (yet they did not capture it well). In hinsight Bruce Lee himself and his movies were vastly overrated and anyone who is a fan of the 70's kung fu genre will know there are numerous movies and kung fu actors that were far superior to him on screen and in real life. What made Bruce lee success and fame was 1) it was a completely unknown genre in the west and he benefited from being the first to break in. 2) He was narcissistic to a pathological point. He knew no humility and this was the central point of all his movies. This total will is what fascinated (and his animal sounds antics). If you try not to blinded by these two factors then bruce lee was not as special as he decided he was. The bruce lee impersonator has flexible legs and good balance, that's enough already to make the kicks. The rest of bruce lee's style is speed and intensity of presence. Brawny Toong Lung is more laid back, his weight lifting physique slows him down considerably. He flexes his muscle for the camera. He is no kung fu expert alright. No weapon mastery, the choreography remains simple. The black dragon, a tae kwon do instructor african american, looks bad. It's a typical TKD academic type black belt with all the flaws and dead ends of his style. He has no boxing technique at all, his body even lack proper balance in his kicks. No comparison with TKD experts and a million miles away from legendary TKD grand master HJL. The hero has some charisma and his laid back character should have been used in some social life scene. This movie is bad and there is very little to enjoy in it. But i did like the temple architecture at the end.