BRUCE AND SHAO LIN KUNG FU
- Year: 1977
- AKA: Bruce Vs. Black Dragon
- Starring: Bruce Le, Chen Sing, Chang Lee, Kong Do, Yang Sze (Bolo Yeung), James Nam
- Directed by: James Nam (Nam Suk Hoon)
"Son, you must tell me about your stay in the
country with the kung fu teacher. Have you
learned to love? Are you ready to fight?"
-Bruce Le's confused mom
Once again, it is the Chinese vs. the Japanese with Bruce Le starring as Ching Ling, the thorn in the Japanese's side. Feeling the Chinese kung fu is a threat to their karate, the Japanese plan to shut down all the Chinese martial arts schools. Of course, they single out Bruce Le's school first with the logic being that "if we wipe out that one first then the others will quickly follow." Sounds like these guys have never seen a kung fu movie before! The Japanese general's son is given this daunting task but has his ass handed to him by Bruce during a bout of unarmed combat (where they both bring swords!). Bruce beats him so bad that the guy commits suicide because he is so embarrassed. The Japanese then bring in their top 5 black belts (among them Bolo and Kong Do) to deal with Ching Ling, but he is one step ahead of them and heads to Korea to study Tae Kwon Do with a friend of his master. Still, this won't stop the ruthless Japanese general from hunting him down.
Given the scattershot quality of Bruce Le flicks, I was on the fence about picking this one up. However, I am glad I did, as BRUCE AND SHAOLIN KUNG FU is a pretty good film. I feel bad for all the times I scorned Le in the past now. He actually did make some decent flicks. Le runs around the whole film going on about honor, pride and nationalism, challenging anyone who will listen to unarmed combat. But I think he means no guns, because he definitely shows up sporting a big ol' sword. Of course he acerbates the problem by dangling his opponents from trees with notes attached talking smack to the Japanese.
All of the familiar supporting faces pop up here, with Bolo being the stand out as Japanese fighter who does what I can only describe as the "hunchback" style. Interestingly, a fight from the film (when Chen Sing as the master is attacked) was later re-used in TREASURE OF BRUCE LE. The fights are generally very good and feature some cool stuff. At the end Bruce takes on an albino brother and father who have these staffs with claw hands on them. Wait....albinos...kung fu...the guys who made THE MATRIX RELOADED ripped this off! Well, maybe not. There are some incredible filmmaking goofs in this one. Although set during the late 30s, one character pops up with a 70s style camera to take photographs. Also, telephone wires are seen predominantly in the mountains.
Speaking of which, they must have filmed this in the dead of winter. Bruce trains on snow-covered mountaintops and you can easily see most of the character's breath (even inside). I know I mentioned a similar scenario in my CHAMP VS. CHAMP review, but this takes the cake. With their breath so apparent, these guys look like they are in the bedroom of Regan in THE EXORCIST. Talk about suffering for your art!
Reviewed by William.
