Black Panther

                                               
Director: Hou Cheng
Year: 1973
Rating: 6.0
Dubbed

Chan Sing who was one of Shaw's most brutal villains since 1969 left the studio in 1973; whether on his own or at Shaw's behest, I don't know. It was far from the end of his career though as he was to appear in many Hong Kong and Taiwanese films till the early 1990s. His fierce eyes, scraggly moustache and hard hitting martial arts are always a welcome sight. You know there is going to be a good fight ahead. But he still generally played a bad guy, but here as the producer of the film he gets to be the hero.



This is low budget with no sets but it has a huge amount of fighting choreographed by Leung Siu-chung, father of Bruce Leung. Much of it is basic bashing, but there are a few good bits. Along for the ride are Kurata Yasuaki from Japan and Nancy Yen. Yen had signed up with Taiwanese producer/director Joseph Kuo in 1971 and showed some skills in action. The plot is pretty simple as these types of films tend to be. Chan is part of a martial arts team, but when they return to Hong Kong, customs finds heroin in his baggage. He has been set up. Why? No idea. He spends three years in jail and is about to be released when a minion sent by drug kingpin Kurata show him photos of his girl Yen shopping with another man.



It is another set up. He loses it and breaks out of jail with one thing on his mind. Revenge. Turns out that his two buddies - Lung Fei and Shan Mo - were the ones who framed him and want to kill him now. And kill Yen who knows too much. A lot of clobbering follows, but two scenes really stand out. Chan is being chased on foot by a car that is trying to run him over. It gets incredibly close, at one time as he rolls down steps it is only feet from him. He must have had a lot of trust in the driver. And then a good fight on a rooftop with Chan and Yen taking on his two friends and then the next level down and then the next. Punching and kicking all the way. Needless to say, it ends with Chan and Kurata beating the hell out of each other. Standard kung fu film, but nicely done.