LEE ROCK

LEE ROCK

Hongkong 1991

Directed by Lawrence Lau Kwok-Cheung

Andy Lau
Cheung Man
Chingmy Yau
Kwan Hoi-San
Paul Chun-Pui
Ng Man-Tat

How do you remain honest in a fundamentally dishonest system? That's the question raised in Lawrence Lau's Lee Rock, a critically acclaimed 1991 docudrama that details the meteoric rise of its title character from humble beat cop to mega-powerful chief of police. In an HKFA-nominated performance, Andy Lau stars as Lee Rock, a barely literate street urchin who snags a job as a policeman for one simple reason: to put food on the table. At the academy, he learns there's more to being a police officer than he first realized. In a private talk with Lee's graduating class, a respected instructor (Eddy Ko in a cameo) gives his students a final piece of advice: the point of the game isn't to protect and serve, but to move your way up the chain of command. Sadly, this feat requires a lot of shady behavior, including both the giving and receiving of bribes. Not to participate in such actions, Ko's character tells them, is to condemn yourself to a pauper's grave.

At least initially, Lee Rock sticks to his ideals and declines every kickback that comes his way. And while his refusal to take bribes earns him the contempt of his fellow officers, it also garners him the respect and loyalty of Lardo (Ng Man-Tat), a street hawker who soon becomes Lee's trusted confidante. We also meet Rose (Chingmy Yau), the pinnacle of wide-eyed, pigtailed innocence, who loves Lee deeply, but has to keep it a secret from her authoritarian father (Wong Yat-Fei). When her dad learns of the relationship with Lee, he's less than thrilled with the fact that Rose's boyfriend is a policeman. While Rose's father despises cops for their corruption, he actually considers Lee to be even worse since all the honesty in the world won't put a roof over his daughter's head. Rose's father forbids a marriage, and soon enough, Rose is sent packing to a faraway place. A heartbroken Lee uses his police connections to search for her, but alas, has no luck in finding his lost love.

-

-

Eventually, the kindly—and only marginally corrupt—Sgt. Chan (Kwan Hoi-San) takes Lee under his protective wing, telling his young pupil, "All great men started small." Taking Chan's advice to heart, Lee vows to rise up the ranks of the department to become chief of police. The only obstacle in his way is Sgt. Ngan Tung (Paul Chun Pui), a morally bankrupt politico who will stop at nothing to destroy Lee's career. Just as Lee's job prospects begin to improve, things heat up in the romance department when he meets a knockout by the name of Grace (played with an alluring brashness by a poodle-skirted Cheung Man). The spoiled daughter of a big-time gangster, Grace provides a romantic entanglement for Lee that is virtually the polar opposite of his situation with Rose. Even so, the issue of money arises with Grace's father as well, but thankfully, this time Lee passes the test. Marriage, promotions, political maneuverings, riots, a hostage situation, and a surprise cliffhanger ending are just a sample of the events that unfold in this thoroughly satisfying motion picture.

Proving worthy of his Best Actor nomination, Andy Lau excels in the role of Lee Rock, playing him as the idealistic country bumpkin in the early portions of the film, yet modifying his portrayal ever so minutely as the character develops over time. Somehow, Lau is able to control his smarminess level, letting it slowly leak to the surface in tandem with Lee Rock's ascension to power. Similarly, the performances of Lau's fellow cast members are equally strong with too many fine turns to single out in the space of a single review.

Like life, Lee Rock unfolds in a series of random events, and it's this seeming absence of a hackneyed formula (save for the cliffhanger) that adds to the illusion of realism. And though the film's lack of trademark over-the-top action might disappoint viewers whose interest in Hong Kong films depends solely on the number of slow-motion gun battles, I found Lee Rock's relatively action-free narrative to be a refreshing departure from the mindless "Let's blow stuff up!" mentality that typifies many a cops 'n robbers flick. Underneath the romance and the drama, it's the ethical quandaries that Lee faces that provide the backbone of the film. It's a Catch-22: you can't clean up the streets as simple beat cop, but you can't move up the ladder unless you get your hands dirty. Unfortunately, it's only by taking kickbacks that Lee Rock is able to get ahead in the world. And consequently, the reachable goal here is not to become a force of good, but instead to be the lesser of two evils. It's the only way that Lee Rock can make some effective changes within a system that runs on corruption. Whether he ultimately becomes the solution or just another part of the problem remains to be seen; that answer lies in the sequel.

11th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards

• Winner - Best Supporting Actor (Kwan Hoi-San)

• Nomination - Best Picture

• Nomination - Best Actor (Andy Lau Tak-Wah)

• Nomination - Best Supporting Actress (Chingmy Yau Suk-Ching)

• Nomination - Best Screenplay (Chan Man-Keung)

• Nomination - Best Cinematography (Lee Chi-Hang, Andrew Lau)

• Nomination - Best Art Direction (Mok Siu-Kei)

SCORPIO

SCORPIO

USA 1973

Directed by Michael Winner

Burt Lancaster
Alain Delon

The prime minister of Eritrea is assassinated by political opponents, setting off a chain of events with global repercussions in the intelligence community. Burt Lancaster plays Cross, a CIA operative who dates back to the agency's earliest days as the OSS. Scorpio (Alain Delon) is a protégé of Cross, and one of Cross's best friends in a netherworld where everyone's allegiances, personal and political, are in question. Higher-ups within the intelligence agency decide that Cross knows too much and is better off eliminated; at first, Scorpio refuses the job until the CIA frames him on a phony narcotics bust and coerces him into the assignment. The two men play a game of global cat-and-mouse as Cross consorts with his Russian counterparts--fellow aging dinosaurs in a young man's game. Cross's links with the Russians go back to the days of the Spanish Civil War and the time when Cross was given the ironic label of "premature anti-Fascist" by the House Unamerican Activities Committee. The incredibly convoluted plot is rife with double-crosses and reverse double-crosses, in an environment in which nothing is quite as it seems and no one is to be trusted. Director Michael Winner infuses enough energy and excitement into the film's many action segments to make Scorpio worthy of comparison to John Frankenheimer's best political thrillers. Winner also throws in several curveballs, such as the zither music during a meeting in a Vienna café (shades of The Third Man) and the preposterous device of disguising Lancaster as an African American priest. Though not quite a classic, Scorpio is still an underrated espionage thriller that was well attuned to the political cynicism of the time.

PANDJI TENGKORAK

PANDJI TENGKORAK
(THE GHOSTLY FACE)

Indonesia/Taiwan 1972

Directed by Yang Sai King

Shang Kuan Ling Feng
Deddy Sutomo
Lenny Marlina

When a man acts as Pandji Tengkorak/Ghostly Face and kills a girl's father and steals his sword, she sets off for revenge. The girl (Shang Kuan Ling Feng) is unaware that Ghostly Face (Deddy Sutomo) isn't the killer, but has been set up by a a band of pirates. Along the way the girl rescues another girl who was taken by the pirates and the pair set off together to find out whats really going on.

-

Based on the popular Indonesian serial comic books by Hans Jaladara, PANDJI TENGKORAK was made entirely in Bali.

BORSALINO & CO.

BORSALINO & CO.

France 1974

Directed by Jacques Deray

Alain Delon

Riccardo Cucciolla

Adolfo Lastretti

Gabriella Farinon

Catherine Rouvel

Inspired by Eugene Saccomano's novel THE BANDITS OF MARSEILLES, masterful crime director Jacques Deray delivers the sequel to BORSALINO. Jean Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon starred in the original as partners in crime. Following the death of Belmondo's character at the hands of rival gangsters, Roch (Delon) returns here to extract revenge. Set in the south of France in the 1930s, the film follows its charismatic hero as he protects his underground empire against the Italian mob, all the while wreaking vengeance in particularly gruesome and innovative ways on those responsible for his partner's death. With a meticulously-assembled period set, beautiful photography of the picturesque landscape, and the director's deft touch with the material, this is an adept noir thriller that features France's swoon-inducing equivalent of James Dean. The amazing music done by Claude Bolling.

SHIRI

SHIRI

Korea 1998

Directed by Kang Jae-Kyu

Han Suk-Kyu
Choi Min-Sik
Song Gang-Ho
Kim Yoo-Jin

"Swiri recorded the Top Box Office in Korean Film history, breaking the Korean Box Office record of Titanic after 57 days in release. The unique combination of 51% action, 49% love helps Shiri become a movie that excites all strands of the audience's sensibility without a moment of relaxation!" The preceding paragraph was not just box-cover hype. This film delivers from start to finish.

Ryu and Lee are special agents of O.P., the nation's top secret intelligence service. The arms smuggler Lim is shot by a sniper in the street one day after volunteering to tell them some important information. From the scene of Lim's death, Ryu instinctively suspects the involvement of Hee, the best sniper of the 8th Special Force Unit of North Korea. She has previously assassinated many government officials and hid herself from the unrelenting pursuit of Ryu. Now she's back after one year.

-

-

Ryu and Lee investigate the death of Lim. In the process, they learn that Hee had tried to secure into her possession the CTX, the liquid bomb newly developed by the National Defense Lab with the help of Lim. Meanwhile, Park and the elite agents of the 8th Special Force succeed in seizing the CTX while it is being transported to the corps headquarters. While everyone is trying hard to retrieve the CTX, director Ko, Ryu and Lee are suspicious of each other, creating a delicate and suspenseful situation. While the situation eludes solution, the date set for the marriage of Ryu and Hyun approaches quickly. But their marriage may be another sign of impending misfortune

THE PROFFESSIONAL

LE PROFESSIONNEL
(THE PROFESSIONAL)

France 1981

Directed by Georges Lautner

Jean Paul Belmondo
Michel Beaune
Cyrielle Claire
Jean Desailly

Jean Paul Belmondo (Godard's Breathless) brings his smoldering intensity to French super-spy Joss Baumont, a top agent sent on a mission to assassinate a foreign dictator. But when the political winds change, and Baumont is double-crossed by his own government, revenge becomes the name of the game. Prison can't hold him and no one can stand in his way as Baumont lays down the gauntlet - he will carry out his assignment and someone must die! Director Georges Lautner delivers a taut, thrilling espionage drama with a sensational score from Ennio Morricone.

PROOF OF THE MAN

NINGEN NO SHOMEI (PROOF OF THE MAN)

Japan/USA 1977

Directed by Junya Sato

Yusaku Matsuda
George Kennedy
Toshiro Mifune
Mariko Okada

When an American is murdered in a Japanese inn, Tokyo police detective Munesue follows the trail of the killer to New York. There he is joined by a New York City detective named Shuftan and together they sort out the crime. The film had a brief run in the Japanese art houses back then, and never got a good U.S. booking for a big film from Japan in 1977. There is two version of the film, one is a Japanese print which runs more than 130 minutes, and a U.S. version, which was re-dubbed and addition scenes was added, and some Japanese scenes were cut out (Making Toshiro Mifune only appear once). The US version never got any theatrical booking as it came out on video in a small label in 1985.

--------

The film is about a Black man (played by singer Joe Yamanaka) murdered in Japan, and a cop (the late Yusaku Matsuda, star of Paramount film BLACK RAIN) is on the case to solve the mystery. He later goes to America to team up with George Kennedy, who later Yusaku realized is the man that killed his father in WW2 days. Many American actors like Broadrick Crawford, Theresa Merritt, Rick Jason and William Sanderson are featured in supporting parts. There is lots of well acted scenes, car chase in New York, and the film is like a big puzzle slowly being put together. The title song Mama Do You Remember was sung by Joe Yamanaka.

CITY ON FIRE

CITY ON FIRE

Hongkong 1987

Directed by Ringo Lam

Chow Yun Fat
Danny Lee
Carrie Ng

Sun Yeh

What's more important, loyalty or justice? That's the dilemma facing undercover cop Ko Chow (Chow Yun-Fat) in Ringo Lam's excellent crime drama City on Fire. The film is a definite must see for HK enthusiasts, if for no other reason than to witness what a Ringo Lam movie was like before he became Jean Claude Van Damme's director of choice.

Like Donnie Brasco and other films of its kind, City on Fire explores the internal ethical struggle for a policeman who get too close to his prey. The plot: after a fellow cop is knifed to death in the streets, detective Ko Chow is put on the trail of some jewel thieves by his world-weary superior, Inspector Lau (Sun Yeuh). Chow, however, has deep reservations about the assignment. "I fulfill my duties?" Chow complains, "But I betray my friends!" Despite his protests, Chow agrees to the job and attempts to befriend head crook Lee Fu (Danny Lee). After a few tense situations, Chow is eventually accepted into the Fu's confidence and asked to join in on the crew's next big score. As the two strike up a friendship, Chow's personal ethics are put to the test as he finds himself genuinely liking Fu, the very man he's supposed to arrest. Later, the climactic jewelry heist goes terribly wrong with bullets flying everywhere and bodies littering the streets. In the end, Chow is forced to make a definitive, but not surprising, decision on where his loyalties reside…with fatal results.

There have been many comparison made between this film and Tarantino's "re-imagining" (An unfortunate buzzword that emerged after Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes debacle. But I digress). Though similar in theme, City on Fire and Reservoir Dogs are dramatically different in execution. Whereas Quentin Tarantino's debut film had a sleek look and crackling dialogue, City on Fire does not—and that's not necessarily a criticism of Lam's flick. Tarantino's world is a kind of hyper-reality in which common thugs can riff on pop culture; Ringo Lam's domain seems a tad bit more realistic. The criminal element depicted in City on Fire operates in a grim, gritty underworld that's only shred of romanticism lies in the immutable loyalty between brothers. Same idea, different methods—but both pretty damn cool movies.

7th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards

• Winner - Best Director (Ringo Lam Ling-Tung)

• Winner - Best Actor (Chow Yun-Fat)

• Nomination - Best Picture

• Nomination - Best Actor (Danny Lee Sau-Yin)

• Nomination - Best Supporting Actress (Carrie Ng Ka-Lai)

• Nomination - Best Screenplay (Shum Sai-Sing)

• Nomination - Best Editing (Wong Ming-Lei)

• Nomination - Best Art Direction (Luk Chi-Fung)

• Nomination - Best Original Film Score (Teddy Robin Kwan)

• Nomination - Best Song ("Yiu Jaang Chui Faai Lok", performed by Maria Cordero)

THE KILLER

THE KILLER

Hongkong 1989

Directed by John Woo

Chow Yun Fat
Danny Lee
Sally Yeh
Chu Kong
Kenneth Tsang

The lead characters in John Woo's The Killer oscillate between searches for atonement and affect (the ability to do something that makes a permanent, tangible difference). John (Chow Yun-Fat) seeks (self-endowed) forgiveness for the wrong he has done Jenny (Sally Yeh), the taking of her eyesight. Li (Danny Lee) seeks a similar sort of self-endowed redemption for what he has done to John (bringing Tony Weng's men against him). The two, as John tells Li, are in a sense one another. John is a hitman still following the old code of honor; Li is a cop who breaks the rules when they conflict with his methods.

Sight is a running motif in The Killer. Jenny has lost her eyesight at the movie's opening, after an action sequence in which John kills a nightclub full of armed bodyguards. With the loss of her sight the viewer gains an awareness, the first evidence of John's code; John covers her eyes, both tending her wound and hiding her lack of sight from the audience's line of sight. John will continually conceal Jenny's increasing blindness, but from Jenny, not the audience (who upon recognizing John as compassionate come to identify with him). He lies when she asks him why the world has suddenly grown so dark, making excuses that he and the audience (and Li) all know to be lies.

Two such instances occur. The first is in John's apartment, after Li catches up to him for the first time and confronts him with gun and the potential of arrest. John tells Jenny that Li and he are old football buddies, loaded guns at arms' length. Jenny behaves towards them as if they truly were old friends, and Li a guest, offering him tea.

The second is in the church, the moment of total reconciliation between Li and John, in a siege scene strikingly similar in setup to the one performed by Chow and Lee in Ringo Lam's City on Fire (in which Lee plays the killer and Chow the cop out to bust him). But whereas Lam's inspector was an undercover agent wracked with the guilt of betraying his friend, Li has been open with John (though when we first see him he is on his way to an undercover assignment). Jenny claims everything has gone black; Li and John wave candles by her face to confirm.

Jenny's claim that all is black coincides not only with John and Li's union, but with Li's promise to John that if he dies his corneas will be saved for Jenny. At this point Li becomes, for the first time, concerned with the bystander in a way that has defined John's personality from the beginning. Li, when confronted by police officials for giving a nearby woman a heart attack while gunning down a fleeing cop killer, claims he doesn't give a damn about the woman, and that all that sort of concern does is make his job difficult. Li has come to embody what good is in John and lacking in himself, shortly after John did the same. John tells Jenny he had once thought the men he killed deserved to die, but now knows everyone has a right to live, a philosophy more in line with the one Li presents to John when confronting him outside Sydney's house, just before Weng's men lay siege. It should be noted the first scene occurs at night, the second in broad daylight. The darkness works as a metaphor for indistinction, but also for a sort of hierarchical reification, in which John's world view is held superior, both through its penultimacy and its locale; John becomes Li inside an assassin's house, Li becomes John inside a Catholic church.

Li takes on the role Sydney (Chu Kong) had once held, upon Sydney's redemption and subsequent death. In a single scene he and John kill more people than in all of Woo's American movies combined. John asks for guarantee that Li will uphold his promise twice, once in the heat of battle, once when they have cornered Tony Weng (Wing Cho Ip), who is holding Jenny at gunpoint. Between the two of them (now, at last, one) they sacrifice John's life, but in an ironic twist his eyes as well. John blindly crawls on his stomach, futilely searching for a now blind Jenny, futilely searching for John on her stomach. They pass each other, calling the other's name, until John falls silent and still, Jenny still crying out to him. Li runs Weng down, who is trying to turn himself in to a newly arrived battalion of police, where, in the presence of his superiors, he guns the crimelord down.

Jenny's final blindness is a recognition of John and Li's synthesis (when Li first approaches Jenny she mistakes him for John); John's blindness draws an association between him and Jenny. John has become the wounded bystander, not in his innocence, but in his purity (both operate as a sort of naïveté). John and Sydney, after John's botched attempt on the life of Tony Weng, speak of themselves as outmoded professionals, replaced by a breed of ruthless, codeless assassins who never take "the rules" into account. Li alone remains alive, though facing (extrapolatically) jail time. (Ironically, he catches John by becoming John; John would rather die before going jail, but by becoming Li does both, in the prophesied order.) Li emerges, compiling now all four characters (John and Jenny by association with John, Sydney in occupying his role), the only one not dead, and the only one not crippled at some time in his life. Li is perhaps the solution to the decay of the code, a man who is both investigator and vigilante, both cop and assassin, who both reveres and rejects the law as such.

----------

9th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards

• Winner - Best Director (John Woo)

• Winner - Best Editing (Fan Kung-Wing)

• Nomination - Best Picture

• Nomination - Best Supporting Actor (Paul Chu Kong)

• Nomination - Best Screenplay (John Woo)

• Nomination - Best Cinematography

(Wong Wing-Hang, Peter Pau Hei-Ming)

OEROEG

OEROEG

Netherlands/Indonesia 1993

Directed by Hans Hylkema

Rik Launspach

Martin Schwab

Jeroen Krabbé
Ayu Azhari

Adi Kurdi

In 1948, novelist Hella Haasse published a novel based on her experiences in growing up in Dutch Indonesia. Oeroeg captures the dilemma of those caught between the pretensions and culture of their Dutch homeland and their respect and affection for the native people of the colonies, and it has became a classic, with many editions printed. In this story, Johan (Rik Launspach), a European boy grows up on a plantation running and playing with his best friend, the son of the foreman, a native boy called Oeroeg (Martin Schwab).

He is only barely aware of the gulf that divides them, but gradually becomes more aware of it as he leaves to study back in the Netherlands. When he comes home, it is as a soldier in the army, who are in Indonesia to put down the local independence movement. Not only is Johan grieved to be taking arms against Indonesians in general, and distressed at the racism of his colleagues, but he has reason to believe that his old friend is now a leader in the forces he is obliged to fight. He goes on a mission into the jungle to find him.

STONE AGE WARRIORS

STONE AGE WARRIORS
(EKSPEDISI HARTA KARUN)

Hong Kong/Indonesia

Directed by Stanley Tong

Fan Siu Wong
Elaine Lui
Nina Li Chi
Advent Bangun
Dick Wei

Stanley Tong, in his directorial debut, announces the arrival of a thoroughly enjoyable new talent with a campy, comedic, stunt-filled thriller. Determined to discover if the man whose life she insured is really dead, Lucy Wong (Nina Li), an insurance investigator, travels to New Guinea - where he disappeared - with his daughter, Eko Nakamura (Elaine Lui), a kung-fu movie actress. The two women, aided by Lung Fei (Fan Siu-Wong), an able martial artist they meet along the way, brave warring aboriginal clans, treasure-hunting mercenary scoundrels, animal attacks, and other deadly perils of the jungle! Shot mostly in Indonesia, including the amazing shoots with the dragon komodos at Komodo Island.

CHINA WHITE

CHINA WHITE

Hong Kong/USA 1991

Directed by Ronny Yu

Russel Wong

Steven Vincent Leigh

Billy Drago

Lisa Schrage

Ku Feng

Shot in both English and Asian versions, this peculiar Hong Kong action film from Ronny Yu boasts the somewhat overstated Chinese title of Sky-Shattering Meeting Between Dragon and Tiger. While not exactly sky-shattering, the film was shot in several countries (the Netherlands, France, and Thailand) and features some fine combat scenes choreographed by Chris Lee. Russell Wong and Steven Vincent star as Bobby and Danny Chow, triad gangsters who hope to expand their business outside of Amsterdam's Chinatown area. Their Uncle Chi (Ku Feng) is against the idea, but is soon murdered by part of an international triumvirate including Vietnamese thug Phong (William Ho), Italian mafioso Scalia (Billy Drago), and Turkish crimelord Amead (Cahit Olmez). Bobby and Danny then head to Thailand to secure a source for opium, only to be tracked by Bobby's girlfriend, Anne (Lisa Schrage), who is in reality an undercover agent hoping to bring their activities to an end. Yu makes a brief cameo appearance, while Alex Man and Andy Lau appear in the Hong Kong version of the film, along with Shing Fui-on and Carina Lau in extended flashbacks to Bobby and Danny's childhood. The Asian version runs 104 minutes, while the English one runs 98 but also includes footage not found in the Asian cut.(Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide)

THE BRAVE ARCHER

THE BRAVE ARCHER

Shaw Brothers 1978

Directed by Chang Cheh

Fu Sheng

Tien Niu

Ku Feng

Kuo Chui

Danny Lee

Wang Lung Wei

Jin Yong's historical novel The Eagle Shooting Heroes has been adapted into countless Asian television series as well as several films including Ashes of Time and this lengthy and involved Shaw Brothers effort directed by prolific Hong Kong filmmaker Chang Cheh. During the Sung dynasty, a young man named Kuo Ching (Alexander Fu Sheng) is raised and trained by a group of kung fu experts following his father's murder. One day, Ching sees one of his instructors murdered by the Skeleton Claw move, in which the killer straightens his fingers, making them rigid enough to penetrate both flesh and bone. Ching defeats the assassin, then encounters a titled noblewoman named Yung-er (Tien Niu) who is disguised as a pauper. They are subsequently taught by Hung, the Nine-Fingered Beggar (Ku Feng), who can smash a tree into splinters with a single chop of his hand. Ching gains still more knowledge from the master Cho (Phillip Kwok) which prepares him for the three tests he must face and overcome in order to win Yung-er's hand in marriage.

The all-star cast includes Danny Lee, Dick Wei, Johnny Wang but most viewers will want to watch for the energetic star turn by Alexander Fu Sheng, whose international stardom was just starting to peak when, ominously, he moved into a house once owned by the late Bruce Lee and known for its negative feng shui. Shortly thereafter, Fu Sheng died tragically young when he crashed into a cement wall in a vehicle driven by his younger brother. This film remains one of Fu Sheng's best-known efforts, and led to three sequels.

THE AVENGING EAGLE

THE AVENGING EAGLE

Shaw Brothers 1978

Directed by Sun Chung

Produced by Mona Fong

Screenplay by I Kuang

Ti Lung

Fu Sheng

Ku Feng

Shih Szu

Chi Ming Sing (Ti Lung) was kidnapped as a child by the master of Iron Boat Clan, Hung Yu Tse (Ku Feng), and forced to learn Kung Fu with other abducted children. Hung Yu Tse broke their will through torture and transformed the reluctant recruits into blood-thirsty martial arts warriors, called the 13 Eagles. The corrupt father figure of the 13 Eagles would send his brain-washed warriors to rob and/or kill his enemies. On one such raid against a worthy rival clan, Chi Ming Sing is mortally wounded and left for dead by his Eagle brothers. The rival Clan leader’s daughter takes an interest in Chi Ming Sing and nurses him back to health. Her affections and the peaceful disposition of her family convince him that there is more to life than raping and pillaging. Chi Ming Sing realizes how evil Hung Yu Tse truly is and returns to the palace of the Iron Boat Clan hoping to get close enough to kill his former leader. Upon returning, Hung Yu Tse suspects something is amiss with Chi Ming Sing, and orders him to kill a pregnant woman in cold blood to prove his loyalty. To keep up his charade, Chi Ming Sing is forced to carry out the evil deed to cast off suspicion. Chi Ming Sing is determined to do what it takes to eliminate Hung Yu Tse but it won’t be easy because his Eagle brothers protect their master. That’s when Chi Ming Sing meets Tso Yi Fan (Fu Sheng), another driven man who wants to destroy the Iron Boat Clan. The two men forge a respect and friendship for one another even though Tso Yi Fan is obviously hiding some deep skeletons in his closet. When Hung Yu Tse learns that Chi Ming Sing has regained his mindset, he orders the other 12 Eagles to hunt down and destroy their former comrade. Chi Ming Sing and Tso Yi Fan are two amazing warriors who must pit their skills in combat against the 12 Eagles and their evil master.

AVENGING EAGLE is Sun Chung’s best film. His style is very similar to the Godfather of Kung Fu, in many respects, only with more experimental techniques and less reliance on the power zoom. As the career of Chang Cheh winded down during the initial Venoms run, Sun Chung showed great promise and was poised to become Cheh’s sucessor. Unfortunately, the end of the era we call Old School (in 1984-85) pretty much put the brakes on his career. Sun Chung masterfully controls the flashback sequences as this film is presented non-chronologically. He also manipulates the action sequences with flair, and never makes the mistake of allowing the fights to overshadow the story or performances. Though he deserves the praise, the guy is only human and AVENGING EAGLE has two major weak spots: the haphazard editing and the experimental tracking shots. Chung employs lots of kinetic camera movement which foreshadows the spinning digital manipulation seen in THE MATRIX fights. Only Chung’s is all analog and blurry, serving no purpose except to increase the cheese level. Screenwriter I Kuang creates another story with depth, emotion, intrigue, and plenty of surprises. Sun Chung realizes Kuang script and insures AVENGING EAGLE is balanced and energetic.

When Fu Sheng’s identity in the film is revealed, it adds an unexpected twist to the plot structure. Something that Ku Feng quickly utilizes to his advantage in the finale. Speaking of Feng, he is awesome here—contorting his face and using body language to bring his character to life. Besides being a real cold bastard to the people who oppose him, Feng is equally caring to those in his regime. He displays the expressions and emotions of a true surrogate father. And when Ti Lung betrays his trust, there is a look of disappointment that only a true father would exhibit. So disturbed is Feng that he orders his 12 remaining ‘sons’ to hunt down and kill Ti Lung. He unwittingly sends his minions to their in their doom, because Ti Lung swings a mean set of triple-irons, and Fu Sheng employs razor-sharp blades that slash their opponents to bits. Ku Feng’s no slouch though, and has his own set of steel Eagle claws which he uses on our heroes. Ti Lung gives a superb performance as a man trying to atone for his sins. He wants to destroy the Iron Boat Clan by removing the problem at the source. He must get close enough to Ku Feng without being suspected or seen by others. So he has to bide his time and wait for the right opportunity. He also has to make sacrifices and obey the one he hates the most. I won’t reveal Alexander Fu Sheng’s motivation in the film because that would ruin it for a lot of viewers. Yet Fu Sheng really steals a lot of thunder from Ti Lung. When he uses those blades of his, it’s hard not to be impressed. Wang Lung Wei, Eddie Ko, and Dick Wei portray the evil Eagle brothers.

(dvdcult.com)

BORSALINO

BORSALINO

Adel/Paramount 1970

Directed by Jacques Deray

Produced by Alain Delon

Music by Claude Bolling

Alain Delon

Jean-Paul Belmondo

Michel Bouquet

Catherine Rouvel

Corinne Marchand

Paramount put a reported $2 million into this $3 million pic, produced by one of the stars (Alain Delon) via his own company, Adel. Based on the real gangster milieu of Marseille in the 1930s, pic laces together French lowlife aspects with a more probing look at organized crime in the Hollywood manner via the rise and fall of two young hoodlums. Problem is that pic [from Eugene Saccomano's novel Bandits at Marseilles] is more a vehicle for its stars' personalities than a more cogent insight into French pre-war organized gangsters.

Delon is a secretive, ambitious and cruel type, while Jean-Paul Belmondo is an easygoing, engaging hoodlum who is content with small jobs. They meet when Delon gets out of jail and finds his girl, a prostie, has taken up with somebody else. They join forces, the girl becomes a part of the scheme, and then begins the climb instigated by Delon.

Delon has sharp grace and poise as the handsome, more cultured, facet of the duo, while Belmondo displays his usual ease, good nature but physical deadliness with aplomb.

Others all acquit themselves well, with Corinne Marchand stately as a lawyer's wife, Michel Bouquet ironic and menacing as the lawyer with connections, and Daniel Ivernel excellent as a police inspector who only interferes when the gangsters tread on political toes.

Title refers to the big brimmed felt hats sported by the gangsters of the period manufactured by a reputable Italo firm.

VIOLENT NAPLES

NAPOLI VIOLENTA

(VIOLENT NAPLES)

Italy 1976

Cast: Maurizio Merli, John Saxon, Barry Sullivan

Directed by Umberto Lenzi

Merli plays Inspector Betti who has been assigned to the crime infested Naples where he brings his police brutality methods with him. At the opening he finds an old enemy of his The Commandante (Barry Sullivan) is around as well as another crime boss Capuono (john Saxon) who plans to do in the big boss Commandante and take over his various protection rackets and other assorted criminal activities. Betti, has no intention of allowing either one to go free much longer.

The film moves along at a brisk pace and is chock full of action and extreme violence that is inherent in this genre. There're bloody shootouts, murdered informants, rape, one helluva chase on motor bikes and one cool setpiece on top of a tram.

Betti's methods ultimately get him into trouble when many undercover officers are killed with one tied to the end of a bowling lane while the Commandante goes for a "strike".

Another striking scene of violence occurs during the tram scene. One of the villains has a female hostage and pushes her head out the window repeatedly bashing her face into the tram on the other side as it passes just before Betti takes him out.

At the finale, Betti uses probably the most unorthodox method imaginable to finally get rid of all the principle villains. Earlier he had turned in his resignation to be placed in his desk should his superior ask for it and Betti, after so many innocent people have been slain, decides to call it quits. As he's leaving he comes to a stop light and sees the little boy he had befriended earlier in the film, now a cripple, trying to cross the street (a trick the kid played at the films opening but was faking it then). Betti tells his friend to take him back to the station.

Director Umberto Lenzi who has directed his fair share of sleaze cinema appears more assured directing these kinds of movies as his direction is very slick compared to other films he has done. He is quite at home doing the action scenes and pulls off some exciting set pieces. He does, however, revel in several instances of extreme violence that was a staple of his films and this genre.

Merli who later appeared in MANNAJA, A MAN CALLED BLADE, is perfect for these kind of roles. Looking a bit like Franco Nero but more adept in the action scenes, he carries a mostly mean and mad look on his face the duration of the film and he's so good at it you can't help but cheer him on each time he nails one of the bad guys. If you've never seen one of these Italian Crime films this is a good place to start.

Merli died in 1989 when he apparently overexerted himself during a tennis match and collapsed. He was 49.

His son Maurizio Matteo Merli has taken up acting and stars in the new Italian cop film COP ON FIRE.