Watched a decent little flick last night called Big Rascal (1979/80)
It stars Chi Kuan Chun as a dockworker whose martial prowess draws the attention of a crime lord. He hires him to protect his casino, and also hands a job to CKC's 'brother'. The crime boss and his right hand man contrive to get the brother to attack a rival brothel and restaurant, then inform CKC that his pal is in danger. CKC goes in, rescues his bro and smashes the place up, taking over in the process. Rival boss Kam Kong hires various thugs, including Pang Gang, to challenge CKC. Meanwhile, the bro romances a lonely female fighter who is out for vengeance.
It was a really nice little watch cos we both expected different things to what we got. VP expected a lame comedy, whereas I expected more of a basher. What we got was an early-twentieth century setting in a rural area, with a variety of fighting styles. There were some half-decent acrobatics, pole fighting, knife fighting, punch and block work, eagle's claw, tiger claw, snake fist and crane style. The fights were rather decent - the director and screenwriter was also CKC. There were some really tight, long cuts up-close, and CKC laid out the whupass with gusto. You can tell he was SB trained. The lass was decent (and hardly in any films) and more than held her own.
There were some lovely tracking camera shots - one fight in the restaurant had a superb panning shot up high, looking down at the combatants, in a long cut that passed by supporting poles. There was also a nice touch late on, where CKC had a super fight against one guy. Normally, when a couple of blokes are fighting in, say, a street, and the director wants to move to an open field, he'll have them leaping up; the camera following them, pointed at the sky; the sound of flapping coats, and bang, they'd be there - after one jump. This film had CKC and his enemy leaping on horseback for a long chase out of the town and to a field, fighting each other on the way. They then dismounted and carried on. It was a nicely-elaborated continuity shot, rather than the usual shortcut.
A good watch.
It stars Chi Kuan Chun as a dockworker whose martial prowess draws the attention of a crime lord. He hires him to protect his casino, and also hands a job to CKC's 'brother'. The crime boss and his right hand man contrive to get the brother to attack a rival brothel and restaurant, then inform CKC that his pal is in danger. CKC goes in, rescues his bro and smashes the place up, taking over in the process. Rival boss Kam Kong hires various thugs, including Pang Gang, to challenge CKC. Meanwhile, the bro romances a lonely female fighter who is out for vengeance.
It was a really nice little watch cos we both expected different things to what we got. VP expected a lame comedy, whereas I expected more of a basher. What we got was an early-twentieth century setting in a rural area, with a variety of fighting styles. There were some half-decent acrobatics, pole fighting, knife fighting, punch and block work, eagle's claw, tiger claw, snake fist and crane style. The fights were rather decent - the director and screenwriter was also CKC. There were some really tight, long cuts up-close, and CKC laid out the whupass with gusto. You can tell he was SB trained. The lass was decent (and hardly in any films) and more than held her own.
There were some lovely tracking camera shots - one fight in the restaurant had a superb panning shot up high, looking down at the combatants, in a long cut that passed by supporting poles. There was also a nice touch late on, where CKC had a super fight against one guy. Normally, when a couple of blokes are fighting in, say, a street, and the director wants to move to an open field, he'll have them leaping up; the camera following them, pointed at the sky; the sound of flapping coats, and bang, they'd be there - after one jump. This film had CKC and his enemy leaping on horseback for a long chase out of the town and to a field, fighting each other on the way. They then dismounted and carried on. It was a nicely-elaborated continuity shot, rather than the usual shortcut.
A good watch.
. Do debt collectors accept dvds as payment?
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