THE NATIONWIDE CONSTITUENCY


The Nationwide Constiuency



Year: 1991
AKA: The National Constituency
Starring: Dragon Lee, Hyeon Kil-Su
Directed by: Kwon Il-Su


Dragon Lee stars as Baek-chon, a small time gangster who quickly rises to power following a shake up in his organization. The gang boss was shot and, before succumbing to his wounds, proclaims Baek-chon to be his successor. Per his chief's final instructions, Baek-chon makes each member of the gang sign a document in blood declaring the rules of conduct of the gang. First and foremost is that no one will deal in drugs. Naturally, all of this doesn't sit well with Hyun-tae, another gangster who resents Baek-chon's rise to power and seeks to exploit the lucrative nature of narcotics. Hyun-tae plots to kill Baek-chon, a plan that ultimately fails but sees Baek-chon sent to jail for manslaughter after defending himself. While in jail, Baek-chon befriends one of Hyun-tae's underlings. When both men are eventually released from jail, Baek-chon seeks to avoid conflict but when Hyun-tae murders his friend, Baek-chon seeks his revenge.


Sound familiar? This Korean gangster opus is no doubt inspired by the success of John Woo's A BETTER TOMORROW series. In fact, the plots are strikingly similar, with Dragon Lee essaying the Ti Lung role. He even wears the whole trench coat getup, albeit an all white ensemble. The themes of loyalty and honor are prevalent here as well. The only thing missing are the heavy gunplay action scenes. Instead this is pretty much a straightforward gangster drama.

In terms of martial arts, Lee gets into only a few quick fights through out the picture. However, the last 10 minutes is when he really shows his stuff. Dragon Lee shows up at a warehouse with four loyal buddies to confront his nemesis and his army of followers. At first, Lee and his friends take on multiple opponents in a free for all. Of course, it all comes down to Lee taking on his rival Hyun-tae. Both men strip off their jackets and it is on. For an old guy, the actor playing Hyun-tae is surprisingly agile, able to keep up with the super quick Lee. Lee is giving him a real beat down until one of the bad guy's lackeys pull out a pistol and puts a cap in Lee. Regardless, this makes Lee even madder. So mad in fact that Lee punches the rival boss in the head so hard that he flies across the room. Hyun-tae then gives a quick speech and promptly dies. I wish I could settle differences with my former bosses like that. To hammer that point home, the director cuts to a scene earlier where Dragon Lee is playing baseball with some little kids and shatters their ball by punching it with his fist. Yeah, you are bad but why you hanging out with a bunch of kids?


While not as action packed as EMPEROR OF THE UNDERWORLD (or his 70s martial arts outings for that matter), this feature should be of interest to Dragon Lee aficionados. He gives a very serious performance and gets to kick some ass at the end. What more could you want?

Reviewed by William.