Ti Lung/Di Long

Born 08/31/46

In the good old days of Hong Kong Old-school martial-art cinema there was probably no greater sight than that of a bare-chested Ti Lung in one of those “one-against many” operatic brawls in which his character heroically sweeps his opponents aside with a sword, a knife, a hatchet, a spear or just with his bare hands. It is a spectacle of sheer whirlwind energy and raw magnetism that only Bruce Lee could top. Ti Lung was of course one of the Shaw Brothers studio classic leading martial players. Dark, intense and handsomely majestic he had a great start with the “Blood Brothers” series of martial tragedies by master filmmaker Chang Cheh who apparently loved nothing more than to showcase Ti Lung in one of these blood-soak brawls. But even after his blood-brothers and his bare-chested days were behind him, Ti Lung continued to be a superb leading player of martial art cinema. What is most astonishing about his career though is that unlike most of the kung fu players who sadly drifted into obscurity after Shaw ceased producing films, Ti Lung through a stroke of luck and a memorable performance in a box-office success has to this day remained one of the most recognisable and appreciated figures for both old and new Western fans of Hong Kong cinema.

Ti Lung’s real name is (in pinyin) Tam Furong and he was born in Guangdong (or Canton). He attended Hong Kong’s Eton School before working for a while in the tailoring business after graduation. He entered the movies by auditioning for a lead role in Chang Cheh’s DEAD END as a sensitive delinquent, got the part and became a contract player for the Shaw Studio. His name was naturally changed to fit that of a movie star. In Chinese Ti Lung means “Dragon Ti” Ti  (or Di) being the name of an ancient tribe which caused much trouble for the Han Chinese before being assimilated into them. But there is another meaning to the “Ti Lung” moniker. In Chinese Ti Lung sounds like “De Lon” as in Alain Delon a popular French star who like Ti Lung was dark, intense and handsome. While being arguably more of an actor than a martial artist Ti Lung appears to have genuine expertise in the field. He has been described as a flexible and skilled martial artist and besides the screen-fighting course given at Shaw a renowned master taught him Wing-Chun. He looks especially proficient (at least on screen) with the pole and the sword.
After a couple of movies such as RETURN OF THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN (1969) and HAVE SWORD WILL TRAVEL, Ti Lung began his long association with David Chiang in VENGEANCE (70). Actually, they share only a couple of scenes together and Ti Lung was dead 20 minutes into the movie, but it was nonetheless the beginning of an extended series of films, generically called (by this reviewer) “Blood Brother” movies. These films were characterized by blood-soaked, angst- filled martial art tragedies in which Ti Lung and Chiang were paired as either actual or sworn brothers. Ti Lung tall, dark, impetuous, overly-masculine, stoic and Chiang small, effete looking and wily were an intriguing and magical study in contrasts and thus made the perfect pair. Each acted as the foil for the other, although frequently Chiang upstaged Lung as the real dramatic centre of the film. The Ti Lung parts were also often defined by the suffering he endured - either physical (being blinded or disembowelled) or mental (being tormented or anguished), and it is often Ti’s misery or tragic fate which would prompt the Chiang character into action. Suffering superbly was something Ti Lung did very well and it would remain a permanent staple of his screen persona. Ti Lung and Chiang made a good dozen films together in the space of three years, around half of them among the top grossing films of the period. HEROIC ONES (70), DUEL OF FIST, DUEL OF IRON FIST, NEW ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN (all 71) DEADLY DUO, THE ANGRY GUESTS (72) among others. Undeniably they were the martial art sensation of their day, that is until the series began to stale as a new martial player came into town: Bruce Lee.
For a period, Ti Lung starred (along with Chiang of course) in a handful of more mundane martial art yarns such as THE WATER MARGIN (72), until BLOOD BROTHERS (1972) which showed him come of age as an actor playing a single-minded, ruthless yet lovelorn general. He appears to have lost a bit of the intense magnetic charisma of the earlier days but in turn gained a more mature, and dignified presence, giving him a greater inner majesty. The following year saw him playing a kung fu fighting sidekick sort of role for the Anglo/H-K co-production, SHATTER. It gave him the opportunity to speak English and a tentative shot at international stardom that went no where because of the utter dullness of the film. Shortly afterwards economic difficulties and the disarray of the martial art genre following Bruce Lee's unexpected passing forced Shaw to reduce it’s operation and to release many of it’s main stars. Unlike Chiang who after becoming a freelancer would only work intermittently with Shaw again, Ti Lung stuck almost totally with the studio becoming their great martial art leading man.

His continuous association with Shaw allowed him to work with filmmakers other than Chang Cheh, to whom he had worked almost exclusively with until then. With this came a greater variety of roles such as the young Quin Emperor Guangxu for director Li Hanxiang’s period diptych THE EMPRESS DOWAGER/ THE LAST TEMPEST (1974) a rare non martial part, as the lead in the horror thriller BLACK MAGIC (1975).  He remained faithful to Chang however.  Chang made a deal with Shaw to make movies in quasi-autonomous fashion back in Taiwan with the money the studio earned there and Ti Lung journeyed to the island on many occasions to star in his mentors films - usually as part of a stellar ensemble cast such as in FIVE SHAOLIN MASTER  (AKA: FIVE MASTERS OF DEATH) (75), ALL MEN ARE BROTHERS, SHAOLIN TEMPLE  (1976), SEVEN MAN ARMY and NAVAL COMMANDOS  (both same). Tempted briefly by directing himself it was Chang Cheh who produced his YOUNG LOVERS OF THE FLYING WHEELS (74), and YOUNG REBELS (75) where he paired again with his old partner David Chiang. Earlier Ti Lung had co-starred in Chiang’s own debut THE DRUG ADDICT (74) and he had also made a special cameo appearance in SPIRITUAL BOXER (75) the ground breaking debut of Chang Cheh’s own fight choreographer Lau Kar-leung.

Ti Lung did a couple more films for Chang Cheh upon the latter’s return to Hong Kong and the Shaw Studio in late 1977 like TEN TIGERS OF KWANTUNG (78), and the BRAVE ARCHER series (78- 83), but the great days with the director were behind him. Instead, Ti Lung found himself working for other Shaw Brothers noteworthy martial art directors such as Sun Chong with whom he did three films: AVENGING EAGLE (78) where as a tormented assassin rebelling against his master he won an Asian acting award, KUNG FU INSTRUCTOR (79) and the DEADLY BREAKING SWORD (1979). By far however, his most prolific and successful association was with director Chor Yuen, doing nearly a dozen martial films in the span of eight years. Starting with the MAGIC BLADE in 1976, Lung’s dark, intense and tormented outlook peculiarly suit him for the director’s brand of Byzantine near metaphysical swordplays that were screen adaptations of famed wuxia novelist Gu Long.  Others movies include: THE SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN (77), THE JADE TIGER, CLANS OF INTRIGUE, LEGEND OF THE BAT (78), RETURN OF THE SENTIMENTAL SWORDMAN (81) and PERILS OF THE SENTIMENTAL SWORDSMAN (82).  Ti Lung’s other substantial association with a Shaw Brothers director was with Tang Chia, who was Lau Kar-leung's associate in choreographing Chang Cheh movies as well as the choreographer for the Chor Yuen swordplays. His directorial debut was SHAOLIN PRINCE (83), which saw the pairing of Ti Lung with none other than David Chiang’s own younger brother Derek Yee. This film gave him the opportunity for once to leave behind his usual stoic screen presence and to play the wily hero and thus upstage his screen partner. SHAOLIN RESCUERS came soon afterwards, then finally OPIUM AND THE KUNG- FU MASTER one of Ti Lung's best regarded film where he plays a drug addicted martial art master.

As time went on the kung fu genre’s popularity slowly declined and the films made by Shaw looked increasingly stale and dated in comparison with other action oriented movies being made by performers such as Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung. By the early eighties the Shaw Brothers productions pretty much plummeted regardless of the actual quality of the films and by 1984 the studio gave up by closing it’s movie making facilities. This left Ti Lung and the other Shaw players in a difficult situation, utterly typecast in a now spent unpopular genre. Thus for a while Lung’s acting prospects seriously diminished and he began retreating into heavy drinking as a result.
Ti Lung’s great opportunity came when he was cast as the lead in a novel sort of film being directed by one of Chang Cheh's former assistant directors, a fellow by the name of John Woo. The film A BETTER TOMORROW imbued with the spirit of tragic heroism, honour and male bonding once promoted by Chang but set in modern times and with guns instead of swords or hatchets. By this time, Ti Lung of course could no longer play the young dark impetuous warrior but the weary veteran could still project the torment and long suffering as in the old days. The film was of course a tremendous success, which would change Hong-Kong cinema forever and gave a new lease of life to Ti Lung’s career. He could be seen next in such fare as the BETTER TOMORROW sequel (87), PEOPLE HEROES, CITY WARS, RUN DON’T WALK (89), and KILLER BLUES (90). In 1989, he played in JUST HEROES a benefit film with a dozen of Chang Cheh’s old confederates to finance the old masters retirement.
With the return of the period martial art epic in the early nineties, Ti Lung made a tentative comeback to the genre that had made his fortune. Thus he returned in a Gu Lung screen adaptation called A WARRIOR TRAGEDY (93) as well as a Chang Cheh inspired film such as THE BARE-FOOT KID (93) and BLADE OF FURY (93), an unaccredited quasi-remake of Ti Lung’s early classic BLOOD BROTHERS. For the most part it showed him in good form but hardly any of those films were either a critical or box-office success. Unquestionably his best turn was as Jackie Chan’s stern, righteous martial art father in DRUNKEN MASTER II, which saw him rekindle one last time with director Lau Kar Leung.
With the end of both the Heroic Bloodshed and martial art epic cycle and the general decline of Hong Kong cinema Ti Lung temporarily retired from the movies in the mid-nineties. In recent years though he has again graced the silver screen with his now elegant mature presence usually as a character actor in such film as THE KID (99), HIGH Q (2000), PARAMOUNT MOTEL and CLEAN MY NAME MISTER CORONER (as the movie’s villain). Ti Lung is still a very much active and a respected player of Hong Kong cinema to this day. His son Shaun Tam has followed in his father’s footsteps and started an acting as well as a singing career of his own. As of this writing father and son are scheduled to star together in an action thriller. Like many of his Shaw Brothers cohorts Ti Lung has probably done some substantial TV work but nothing is known of his work in this field by this writer.

Written by Yves Gendron


David Chiang/John Keung

Most of today’s Hong Kong viewers would know of David Chiang for having played Luke, the ill fated would be revolutionary of ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA II starring Jet Li. Few would guess that twenty years before OUATIC, it was Chiang who was one of the top martial stars of his time, cutting down and fighting dozens of enemies at a time, jumping about like a graceful gazelle, a dashing cool dude with a wily smile on his face. Paired with the majestic Ti Lung they were the great "Deadly Duo" of Hong Kong martial cinema, the stars of a dozen "Blood Brothers" movies that were the most violent and intense martial potboilers of the early seventies and they ruled the Hong Kong action movie screens. Yet as the Blood Brothers period came to an end and time passed on, his partner Ti Lung went on to have a successful movie career maintaining his flawless reputation, but Chiang’s career began to decline and even worse he, along with (Jimmy) Wang Yu, became one of the most under appreciated kung fu performers of all. Later fans of the genre found his physical skills unsatisfactory, complained about the tacky seventies fashions which he often wore and were a bit annoyed by his screen persona. The fact remains though that Chiang was not only a major player in his time but an able screen-action performer as well as an award winning actor with an original screen persona who often outshone Ti Lung. He was the real heart and centre of some of Chang's Blood brothers movies.

David Chiang was born Yim Wai in 1947, the second son of two famed actors Yim Dut and Hong Wei. Later on his widowed mother having remarried with a movie producer she gave birth to another son. All three siblings were destined to a have a great movie career:  the first Paul Chun as a renown character actor and the youngest Derek Yee as an actor/director. Young Wai received a college education in Hong Kong but had already started appearing in movies as a child actor, most notably THE CALLS OF THE NIGHTBIRDS, LITTLE ANGEL OF THE STREET and YOUNG VAGABOND the two latter also featuring  his elder brother Paul Chun (then known asYim Cheong) and produced by his step-father. He also appears to have received some Peking Opera training - not enough to make him a top performer the likes of Jackie Chan or Sammo Hung but more than enough to gave him an unusual agility and solid physical skills.  Following graduation, he started working as a stuntman in the movies.
Chiang had graduated to fight-instructor by the time he was spotted by Shaw Brothers leading martial art director Chang Cheh, who brought him into the studio in the winter of 1966 where he then groomed him for a couple of years. By the time he emerge he was known as David Chiang Dai-Wai,. The meaning of his stage name and it’s origin appear to be rather obscure: Chiang he may have taken it for no other reason than it was a very recognizable name (because of Taiwan president Chiang Kai Shek) with a star quality feel to it. His original first name being Wai , “Dai” was added to make it mean “True Greatness”, “Dai-wai” being also the direct transliteration of the English name “David”, it may also have been deemed a suitable stage-name for him because his small frame and scholarly looks were evocative of the Biblical David of the David and Goliath famed. Having an English name may also have served to give him a suitable urbane and sophisticated air that played well with his deceptively scholarly, effete look. Regardless Chiang Dai wei can be glimpsed in GOLDEN SWALLOW (1968) as well as THE INVINCIBLE FIST (1969), but his first major role was in the gangster flick DEAD END (1969). He graduated to full martial star the following year with WANDERING SWORDSMAN and especially VENGEANCE, the first of Chang Cheh’s "Blood Brothers" movies pairing the deadly duo of Chiang and Ti Lung. It was also a watershed movie of Hong Kong martial arts cinema that defined and cemented Chang Cheh’s cinematic approach for years.

For a couple of years the Blood Brothers movies were all the rage, Hong Kong’s top ranking box office champions with such films as HEROIC ONES, THE SINGING KILLER (both 1970), THE NEW ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN, THE DUEL, DUEL OF IRON FIST, THE DEADLY DUO, THE ANONYMOUS HEROES (all 1971) and THE ANGRY GUEST (1972).  Ti Lung and Chiang were paired splendidly together – a wonderful contrast to one another - Ti Lung big, majestic, very masculine and impetuous; Chiang small, urbane, dashing, wily yet secretive and introverted. Chiang had very much an effete, romantic quality to him but instead of being ineffectual and passive as these types of characters tended to be within the frame of Chinese literature, he could go on a rampage or quietly undermine an opponent with his sneaky, mysterious ways. This gave him an air of ambiguity, as nobody knew where he stood for a while.

With the sudden arrival of Bruce Lee in late 1971, the Blood Brothers movies lost some of their steam - their formula began looking tired and Chang Cheh appeared to be losing interest   Still, Chiang remained very active by performing in a handful of Chang martial extravaganzas such as THE WATER MARGIN (aka: SEVEN BLOWS OF THE DRAGONS), THE FOUR RIDERS, TRILOGY OF SWORDSMANSHIP (all 1972) and the PIRATE (1973). He was continually paired with Ti Lung but the drama and the chemistry between them wasn't quite the same as in the old Blood Brothers movies.  He also played a small but crucial role of a dashing, charismatic young gang boss in BOXER FROM SHANTUNG (1972) which was the starring debut of Chang Cheh’s latest discovery, kung fu star Chen Kwan Tai. He was also the star of a couple of Chang’s contemporary dramas such as YOUNG PEOPLE  (1972), GENERATION GAP (1972) and FRIENDS (1973).
1973 also saw Chiang as part of the trio assembled along with Ti Lung and Chen Kwan Tai in Chang Cheh’s most ambitious martial movie drama to date: BLOOD BROTHERS aka: DYNASTY OF BLOOD. In 1974 he was picked by Shaw Studios to play the Chinese lead in the Shaw Brother/ Hammer hybrid horror/kung fu production LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES, which was Chiang’s one shot at international stardom. It showed him in good fighting form and speaking fluent if accented English, but unfortunately his role was pretty much limited to being of the helpful and disposable amiable ethnic man-servant variety.
That same year, a world-wide economic crisis struck Hong Kong and that along with the disarray of the martial art’s genre following Bruce Lee’s death, forced Shaw Brother to reduce their expenses which they did by letting go of some of their major stars, including David Chiang - although he would always remain closely associated with the studio on a freelance basis.  His first independent effort was trying his hand at directing a social drama of all things - titled THE DRUG ADDICT, which turned out to be a flop.
For the following decade Chiang would alternate between movies for Chang Cheh/ Shaw Brothers, some freelance work and his own productions. His Chang Cheh movies included SAVAGE FIVE (1974), FIVE SHAOLIN MASTERS (aka FIVE MASTER OF DEATH), ALL MEN ARE BROTHERS (both 1975), SEVEN MEN ARMY, SHAOLIN TEMPLE (both 1976), NAVAL COMMANDOS and MAGNIFICENT WANDERER (1977). Most of these films appear to have been routine efforts from Chang when compared to his earlier works with Chiang, capitalizing mostly on a stellar kung fu cast. In 1976, Chiang once again tried his hand at directing with the CONDEMNED. Probably in the hope of revitalizing his by now sagging career, Chiang then teamed up with another martial star whose hour of glory had passed,   (Jimmy) Wang Yu, and the pair founded their own Taiwan based film company:  their first film being ONE-ARMED SWORDSMEN which Chiang also directed. Truly his own master now, Chiang starred in his own self-production that he made at a frantic pacing. Chiang found his best work of the period with martial director Lau Kar Leung who had choreographed him in all the Chang Cheh movies of the early seventies, with SHAOLIN MANTIS (1978), which not only offered him the opportunity to deliver perhaps his best screen-fighting performance, but also to play quite an unusual part as an unwilling Quin dynasty spy sent to infiltrate a family of Ming dynasty rebels. In one of his other notable Shaw Brothers films, he shaved his head so as to play the titular character in ABBOT OF SHAOLIN (1978).
Curiously enough, in a couple of the freelance works he did for an independent company, Chiang changed his name first to Gareth Lo before settling on John Keung (Keung being the Cantonese version of Chiang). The truth of the matter was that “John” had been his true personal English name all along, while David was but his stage-one that he now tried to discard. Nevertheless he continued to be known as David Chiang by western fans of Hong Kong. Among nearly a dozen freelance films there is YOUNG REBEL co-starring and directed by his old partner Ti Lung, as well as DEATH DUEL, the film debut of his younger brother Derek Yee (1977) .
In the second half of the seventies as martial art films evolved towards more and more comedic, Chiang moved with the time, starring in a handful of such films. He had already done MAGNIFICENT WANDERERS back in 1977 and now under the wing of director/ character actor Eric Tsang he did THE LOOT (AKA BLOODY TATOO) (1980) and The CHALLENGER. In 1981 he even directed one himself called LEGEND OF THE OWL produced by his brother Paul Chun. As marital films then came less popular he also gradually started doing pure comedy as well as drama and switched from leading man to character parts. By the time the martial art era came to a definitive close with the folding of the Shaw Brother’s movie operation, Chiang had given up on kung fu for some time already. Beside his acting work, he also focused much more on directing with a string of movies done through the later eighties and early nineties consisting primarily of comedies - SILENT LOVE (1986), MR HANDSOME (1987) DOUBLE FATTINESS (1988), MY DEAR SON (1989), WHEN EAST MEETS WEST (1990) and WILL OF IRON (1991).  He also planned or produced a handful of films as well including JUST HEROES, a movie that involved a dozen of Chang Cheh’s close associates in order to help finance his planned retirement and the Jackie Chan twin’s movie TWIN DRAGONS. After a hiatus of several years he came back one last time to directing with MOTHER OF A DIFFERENT KIND in 1995.
His most noticeable acting performances since the mid-eighties include: a Cinema City ghost comedy TILL DEATH DO WE SCARE (1982), an action comedy with Sammo WHERE’S OFFICER TUBA (86), SHANGHAI 13 (his last movie for Chang Cheh (1986)), ANGEL (1989), ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA II (1992), WHAT PRIZE GLORY (1994) and LEGEND OF SPEED (1999). He also has done some TV work. In total, Chiang has acted in more than 75 movies so far: (around 30 by Chang Cheh alone). He has also appeared in YES MADAM, TWINKLE TWINKLE LUCKY STARS (both cameos, both 1985), IT'S A MAD MAD WORLD, SOUL (both 1986), TIGER ON A BEAT (1989), MARY FROM BEIJING (1992) and THE ADVENTURERS (1995). So although his glory days as a top ranking martial art/action star were relatively short in duration, he has had a long-lived and deserving career that continues to this day.

(Written up by Yves Gendron)


Wang Lung-wai/Johnny Wang Lung Wai/Johnny Wong.

In Chinese “ Lung Wai” means “as Invincible or as Mighty as the Dragon”. With his fierce, burly looks, his ruthlessly minded characters and his superb screen fighting skills, none are much more deserving of such a name than Shaw Brother’s studio powerhouse k-f villain Wang Lung-wai. His attitude and spectacular bouts with the likes of Chen Kwan Chun, Fu Sheng, Lau Kar Fei (better known as Gordon Liu or Lau in the West) and the Venoms have made him one of classic k-f ‘s favourite heavies

Nothing is known by this reviewer of Wang Lung-wei’s history before he started appearing in movies, or how he got into them. It seems likely however that he already had an extended background of martial arts just as Gordon Liu did. An interesting titbit though, Wang is known to have expressed the desire to challenge Bruce Lee before the man’s death put an end to such an aspiration, which may say something about his level of skill and ego. Either he was spotted as a stuntman on a studio set or more likely entered the Shaw’s Studio acting course. In any case, Wang eventually found his way to Taiwan working on a film by Shaw top-Martial director Chang Cheh: SHAOLIN MARTIAL ART (74) which also saw the debut of the likes of Leung Kar-yan and the aforementioned Gordon Liu. His part as a specially trained Manchu super-fighter called for him to remain mute with a blank expression throughout the film. This didn’t give him much opportunity to shine - until he got to fight that is, when he started kicking some major ass. This was a great promising beginning.
Wang spent the next three years working in Taiwan exclusively for Chang Cheh, playing either Manchu fiendish henchmen or traitorous Chinese collaborators in such films as FIVE SHAOLIN MASTERS  (74), MARCO POLO (75), NEW SHAOLIN BOXERS (76), SHAOLIN TEMPLE. Back in Hong-Kong and the huge Shaw studio lot, Wang continued to do films with Chang such as BRAVE ARCHER (77), THE CHINATOWN KID and  cult favourite FIVE VENOM (78) where  he got an all too rare non-fighting part as a corrupt judge. He was probably one of Shaw’s busiest performers as he played movie villains for a good dozen of other Shaw Brother’s movies throughout the years including such classics as AVENGING EAGLE (78), TREASURE HUNTERS (82) and LADY ASSASSIN (83) among others.
What made him such an invaluable player was not just his mean look and great screen fighting skills but also his ability to “sell” his opponent as great fighter even though they were actually not as proficient as him in real life. That’s not as easy at it sounds. Superb bootmaster and screen villain favourite Hang Jang Lee frequently so completely dominated his opponents in his bouts that when finally he had to be beaten it looked lame and thus diminishing the believability of the spectacle.  Not so with Wang Lung Wei who would deliver a superb fighting performance and then look convincingly beaten without the fight ever losing it’s edge or credibility, an aspect of screen fighting which involves much more than martial artistry or plain choreography but fine physical “acting” skills as well.

Of all the Shaw Brothers’s directors, none used him as well as martial art master filmmaker Lau Kar Leung, who cast him in more elaborate parts than just the plain movie fighting bad-ass. In DIRTY HO for example instead of his usual powerhouse k-f opponent, he played a suave, wine tasting assassin who tries to do Gordon Liu in with a fan and subtle k-f strokes all the while holding a courteous conversation with his target.  In MY YOUNG AUNTIE he played the greedy older uncle who is challenged by Lau Kar Leung himself at the end.  His best part though was in MARTIAL CLUB, where he played not a villain for once but an honourable Northern master duped by the film’s bad-guys into fighting Gordon Liu. He engages Liu in the film’s showdown in a riveting duel down a shrinking alley where each fighter has to change their fighting approach to adapt for the other and the changing environment. This part is an all time favourite for most of Wang Lung- wei fans and perhaps more reflective of his actual personality as a k-f passionate than his usual part of a ruthlessly minded bad-guy.

Wang Lung Wei strayed occasionally from the Shaw Brother movie lot. Among the half dozen non-Shaw movies he did was in TWO TOOTHLESS TIGERS (79) that was produced by and starring Sammo Hung. He plays a long grey haired ruthless bounty hunter who goes toe to toe against Golden Harvest’s regular bad guys Lee Hoi- San and Chung Fat, as well as the big-man himself at the end - all the way looking fiercer than ever under Sammo’s customary fierce and brutal brand of choreography. In 1981 he had another all too rare good guy part in Kirk Wong’s post- apocalyptic actioner HEALTH WARNING (81).

After Shaw’s closure in 1984, Wang continued to play the henchmen or bad ass for other studios or companies. In 1988 he could be glimpsed in Jackie Chan’s PROJECT A II (88), but as Jackie’s brand of action by that time was of the stunt or one against many variety, it meant Jackie never came to truly duel Wang, who was quite wasted in the film as a secondary crony unworthy of his repute and talent. Just as briefly but far more memorable was his turn in Sammo’s 1986 all star caper MILLIONAIRE EXPRESS playing a fierce looking thug in the film’s extended finale that has him thrashing Meng Hoi and his former Shaw Brother confederate Hsiao Ho. Another noticeable appearance was his turn as a vengeful and gun-toting triad boss in the first third Of Yuen Woo Ping’s TIGER CAGE (89).

At the same time, Wang Lung Wei tried his hand at directing in 1985 with THIS MAN IS DANGEROUS, which he also wrote. His genre of choice would be the urban potboilers and for the next seven years he made seven other films. These included HONG KONG GODFATHER (86) (also wrote again), INNOCENT INTERLOPER (87), CITY WARRIOR (88) and WIDOW WARRIORS (89). His last effort was the exploitation ESCAPE FROM BROTHEL (93), mixing action, melodrama and skin, sporting probably one of the tackiest sights ever in a H-K film: female gweilo action performer Sophia Crawford fighting bad guy Billy Chow completely in the nude. Future Buffy stunt double in the buff, the ultimate jiggle show. Yikes!
Wang Lung Wei has considerably slowed down his film activity in the nineties although he still makes an occasional appearance at least once a year. Thus once again he became a Manchu fiend for Jet Li’s NEW LEGEND OF SHAOLIN (95). Arguably, however his most memorable turn was as the gold chain wearing triad boss of YOUNG AND DANGEROUS (96) scaring the hell out of Jordan Chan’s character who is going out with his daughter.
Wang’s last reported acting gig in film was in the reportedly crappy MILLENIUM DRAGON (99) starring Yuen Biao. He is also credited as executive producer of the reportedly dreadful THE BARONESS (2000). Like Gordon Liu, Wang still remains an active player on TV, and both men can be seen in the recent FIST OF HERO starring Chiu Man Chuck and Wang still looks quite sharp.
Besides the aforementioned TWO TOOTHLESS TIGERS, MY YOUNG AUNTIE and MARTIAL CLUB, Wang’s best fighting displays can be found in NEW SHAOLIN BOXERS, INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN (Wang’s best showcase in a Venom movie) and YOUNG VAGABOND (81).

(Written up by Yves Gendron)