"Super Power"(1980)d/Lam Chin-Wai

A vengeful hex upon the rascals at Verizon for making it near to impossible to log in here at the Wop for the past week or so, it's a minor miracle I was able to do so tonight and get back to where we started from like Maxine Nightingale used to croon back in the mid-seventies.First up,we've got some kung fu for you to wrap your sashes around,so put your seven sectional steel whip down momentarily and read on,little brothers and sisters...
Tonight's review was another popular entry on Channel Five in the eighties, displaying the martial dominance of Billy Chong, a successful kung fu actor who rode the sash-edge of Jacky Chan to stardom during that exciting period in chopsocky flicks.When last we examined Chong's work, I expressed feelings that some of his films suffered from lack of competent villains to pair the gifted Indonesian-born expert against, and nowhere is that more evident than in tonight's movie, a kitchen sink of flowery named fighting styles juxtaposed against Chong's signature leg fighting and muscle tone.Hau Chiu-Sing tries his luck here,and his unimpressive lack of fluidity is simply no match for Chong, painfully evident from the first time we see him practicing his awkwardly named(and executed)Horse Face Fist.Director Lam tries to level the playing ground by inserting several phony trampoline-enhanced stunts, played both forward and in reverse, only succeeding in making the inequality between his star and his antagonists that much more evident.The soundtrack borrows tracks directly from familiar Hollywood fare like The Ten Commandments.Despite these shortcomings, Power does showcase its leading man quite well, with several solid form sequences and fights, and I'm confident that fans of Billy Chong will enjoy the movie anyway.Forward!

Chun Ming(Billy Chong) lives to: a)kung fu fight and b)tease Fatty.
Kang Si Man(Hau Chiu-Sing)is called to his dying father's bedside, where he's told of his father's shameful loss to five different masters years earlier.He's given a special training manual for the Horse Face Fist, a devastating technique that few have mastered and vows to defeat the modern proponents of those five teachers to return glory to his family name, with the help of his two brothers(Chiang Tao and Ho Kei-Cheong), two Eagle Claw stylists.Meanwhile, Mr. Wan(Lau Dan)is struggling to keep a tight rein on his impudent son, Chun Ming(Billy Chong), who shows little interest in the book studies he's being tutored in, or even Sau Yee(Annie Liu On-Lai), the young girl his family has arranged for him to marry.Kang challenges and defeats Wan's friend, Lin, then arranges for a dinner between all the masters, where he instigates duels between them, only stepping in afterwards to pick up the pieces.When Chun defeats Mr. Liu's son in a forest battle, Kang later blinds the young man in an attempt to frame Wan's son, but drops his snuff bottle at the crime scene, where the fight is witnessed by Sau, dressed as a man in public to glimpse her future husband.

"Before I marry a man, I'm going to see him." How picky of you, Sau Yee(Annie Liu On-Lai)!
Wan receives a challenge letter from Kang, which he sends back without a response, enfuriating young Chun, who prefers to settle all disputes with his fists and feet.Chun and Sau connect, despite the best efforts of each to remain unattached, and he playfully shows her the basis for his powerful Natural Fist style in the nearby forest through some impressive form work.Wan calls upon an old master, Chao Ming(Wong Chi-Ming, the film's fight choreographer) to instruct his son in countering the mysterious Horse Face Fist of Kang, but the stubborn Chun refuses to learn until the wily sifu bests him in a contest in a room full of antique valuables.Chao teaches him the basics of Northern and Southern Eagle Claw then prepares him for the circular attack patterns of Kang's technique using bricks and flour-dipped fists(!).Chun beats Kang's brothers one at a time, then cockily accepts his challenge letter, guaranteeing a victorious outcome.Ming mocks Kang throughout their final battle then dispatches him once and for all, returning glory to Wan's school and the Natural Fist style.

Don't mess with the Dohzan:Smell it...smell it...smell it...now take it.
Chong's always been one of my personal favorites, and tonight's review received regular screenings at my place through the years, despite the otherwise mediocre martial arts on display within, due to the enthusiastic superbly powered performance of its headliner.In days to come we'll be looking at more solid efforts from Eternal Films and Chong himself, so stay tuned for those, as always.On the scale Power rates two big ones, worth a look for those martial practicioners and enthusiasts who gaze upon Billy Chong with any sort of favour.Check it out.

As always, Chong's leg skills are second to none.

"Kung Fu Executioner"(1981)d/Lam Chin-Wai

We'll kick the night off here with a knock down, drag out slice of murderous martial mayhem from the Channel 5 days of mid-Saturday afternoon-in-the-eighties kung fu goodness.Now, some might be inclined to slag off the venerable Billy Chong as little more than Eternal Films copycat answer to Jacky Chan's worldwide breakout success at the time, and his earlier work in films like Crystal Fist/Jade Claw(1979) and Super Power(1980) might only reaffirm that notion for some, but personally, I've always felt Chong was a step above imitators or clones; a chiseled fighter brimming with screen presence and personality whose Tae Kwon Do-trained legs always stretched higher than most of his peers.Sadly for kung fu fanatics, he only managed to blaze through a handful of movies before dropping off the martial map, a direct result of Eternal's seeming inability to match their inexhaustible lead with a villain of near to or equal fighting skills(watch an early era Jacky Chan period piece to see what I'm talking about), causing them to close the distance during the final fight sequences in most of his work with more acrobatic stunt doubles for the antagonists, clumsily handled trick photography, or boosted film speeds.
Tonight's review, a period piece set in twenties Shanghai, reunites Chong with dynamite black-titioner Carl R. Scott, who he'd shared top billing with in the earlier American settler period-based Sun Dragon/A Hard Way to Die(1979).Executioner is a grimly disturbing pot boiler that borrows generously from Coppola's The Godfather(1972) with surprising levels of gore, sex, and mondo-style animal cruelty peppered in throughout the rare uncut Ocean Shores print, from which the scan of my custom cover(based on the Cantonese language print sleeve I scored in Chinatown all those years ago), as handled by the honorable Doctor-san, originates.A supporting cast headed by veteran belligerent bad guys extraordinaire Chan Sing and Chiang Tao keeps the derivative revenge-based tale flowing like sweet leaved tea.

Two times five across the eyes cuts Kuen Kong's(Billy Chong) opponents down to size.
Following an impressive form sequence by Scott and Chong over the credits featuring brick-breaking, escrima, nunchaku, and nine sectional steel whip kata, Li Kuen Kong(Billy Chong)returns to Shanghai from studies abroad to find his family immersed in a stand off with a gaggle of unscrupulous criminals,lead by ruthless murderer, Hung Chun Fai(Chen Sing) who's recently escaped from prison(and traveling on the same train as Li, who notices Hung's handcuff scars during the ride), over opium trafficking.Aiding Hung in pressuring Li's successful father into investing in the drugs, are Gawa Shima(Chiang Tao), a Japanese thug with an army of swordsmen at his disposal, and former brothel madam-turned-casino owner, venemous Chan Yim Hung(Lily Lan Yu-Li).At first, Kuen Wei does his best to keep his prodigal son from getting involved in the dirty dealings(several sneaky labonza shanks and throat slittings follow), preferring to allow Li to practice martial arts with his older brother, Ysun Nam(Chan Yau-San) and family friend, Donny(Carl R. Scott), but when Hung puts the squeeze on the elderly man, hanging Ysun Nam's dog's bloody, severed head from an awning(blech), and later botching Kuen Wei's public stabbing, the young martial artist is inevitably drawn into the mix.

The Godfather's severed horse head gets downsized in Asia.
With Kuen Wei hospitalized and Ysun Nam angrily locked away in a workout room after thugs kill his wife in their bed, Hung appeals to Li to sanction the business deal himself before more of his family meet their respective makers.Meanwhile, Chan uses Li's cousin, a degenerate gambler who's amassed large debts at the casino, to free Ysun Nam, who immediately rushes blindly to his wife's killers for vengeance.Hung and Shima oblige him by kicking his face through some plate glass.Meanwhile, Chan and Shima plan a side deal to become sole partners eliminating Hung in the process, which backfires when she tries to shank him after a graphic shower/sex scene.Hung repays her loyalty by cutting her throat.After Kuen Wei is finally dispatched while convalescing at home by Hung's signature sword-cane, Li and Donny leap into revenge-fueled retributive action at last.Hung's cabbie sporting blade man fights Donny at a paper mill, and ends up impaled through the chest on a spiked crane like a human log, ready for processing.Li digs into his suitcase full of weapons, taking on all of Shima's swordsmen in the forest with extendable nunchaku.He then squares off against Shima, kicking him into a bloody mess(cut from the television edit) when Hung arrives for the final showdown.A lengthy battle ensues with Li fending off Hung's cane sword with tonfa and nunchaku before both men square up for some good old fashioned hand to hand(foot to foot?).Li erases the criminal with a spinning double front kick to the throat that sends Hung flying backwards into a tree, smashing the back of his skull against the bark.Afterwards, Kuen Kong vows to pick up the pieces of his life with the help of his girlfriend and Donny.

Mr. Shima(Chiang Tao)'s facial forecast:Fully fucked
In some countries, tonight's review was confusingly packaged as a Carl Scott starring vehicle where he's referred to as "Black Jim".Though he enjoys several fights (excellently choreographed by Leung Siu-Chung) throughout the film, he's plainly on board in guest star capacity to Billy Chong's lead.Chong would follow this one up with the crazy Kung Fu Zombie(1981) and excellent Sun Chung collaboration A Fistful of Talons(1983) before retiring to his native Indonesia, where he married a pop star, fathered kids, starred in and directed a hit television series, and instructed martial arts to the country's military.Executioner is a solid effort, with some breathtaking fight choreography that Chong, who's always got a spot in my top 5, effortlessly executes as always.Three big ones.

I can't hear you, Hung(Chen Sing), you've got a flying side kick in your mouth.