THE DRAGON'S SHOWDOWN

Year: 1980
AKA: The Dragon's Infernal Showdown, The Yong-Gwon Martial Arts
Starring: Dragon Lee (Bruce Lei), Cheryl Meng, Lee Ye-Min, Ma Do-Shik
Directed by: Godfrey Ho (Kim Si-Hyeon)

From the back of the DVD case:

"Dragon Lee revenges an ancient murder with fists of retribution! He was only a child when he saw his parents murdered in cold blood by hired bandits, for their heroic refusal to sell their land. Now that he has grown, he is strong and cunning, and out for blood. In a raging storm of action, he gets what he wants."

Yup, there your have it. This Dragon Lee vehicle is pretty standard revenge fare with Lee really hamming it up as Chen Tai. Along with his girlfriend Shirley, he heads to the city to unmask his parents' killers. Of course, in clichéd kung fu fashion, there are a few surprises along the way, one involving a mysterious samurai who is robbing criminals and the other pertaining to the daughter of one of his parents' killers.

While not one of Dragon Lee's best on a whole, fans of his work will definitely want to check out the last 20 minutes. It is a non-stop battle where Lee gets to showcase his skills against the lead villain (who has a magnetic sword) and his array of henchmen. This entire sequence is pretty impressive, highlighting Lee's underrated martial arts prowess. He even busts out the old "bottle of oil" trick in order to make himself slippery. However, for the majority of the movie, Lee has the dial set all the way to GOOFBALL! There is a lot of inane comedy on display here and that isn't necessarily a good thing. Lee acts like a hyper child in need of his medication for 90% of the movie. Also, the sound effects are straight out of wacky cartoon. Regardless, I did get a chuckle out of the following dubbed line that Lee shouted at a girl offering him money:

"I'm so fed up with little bitches like yourself that if I see one more, I'll vomit!"

Well, said! I should use that line on my next girlfriend but I don't think she will get the joke. "But honey, it's from a Dragon Lee movie," I say as she pounds me in the head with a wok. BONG! On a related side note, fans that have seen the martial arts documentary AMAZING MASTERS will recognize this film as the one shown where Dragon Lee sports a plaid cap and gets into a fight using a roasted chicken...yes, a roasted chicken!

Reviewed by William.