Sun Dragon
Director: Hua Shan
Year: 1979
Rating: 7.0
Aka - A Hard Way to Die
What the heck are buffalo doing in a Hong Kong kung-fu film, I wondered.
Ah. It is taking place in Arizona. In the Wild West. Yippee, another martial
arts Western to put along with Red Sun, Shanghai Noon, The Stranger and the
Gunfighter, Kung Fu, Take a Hard Ride, Once Upon a Time in China and America
and The Silent Stranger. Sticking the two genres together is a fun idea.
This one has a lot of Western characteristics; bar room brawls, horse riding,
showdowns, a homestead, rugged terrain, bank robbers but strangely no guns.
A gunless Western. Who needs guns when everyone knows kung-fu. The director
is Hua Shan who did some fine but weird work at Shaws such as The Super Inframan,
The Bloody Parrot, Portrait in Crystal and Little Dragon Maiden. He doesn't
have the resources and sets of Shaw for this one; a few rickety buildings
and the outdoors works just fine. Because it is all about kung fu fighting.
Hua had directed Billy Chong, the Indonesian martial artist, in Crystal Fist
and brings him back for this film but adds Carl Scott to the mix. Scott had
only been in Last Strike in 1977 directed by Hua Shan where as a teenager
he gets to fight Ku Feng. He only appeared in three films as a major player
and one can see the great improvement in his martial arts ability over those
four years. His next and last film was Kung Fu Executioner again teamed up
with Chong. Though not well-known names, there is some other good kung-fu
talent on hand - even the Gweilos! The fight scenes are very basic and clean
- a number of excellent one on one fights. They really show the skills of
all the actors. Hard hitting, fast and acrobatic.
After beating up the Mayor's son in China, Chong escapes to America and of
course America welcomes him like a bean bag. A bunch of men decide to steal
his money and wish they hadn't. Like everyone in China, he is a kung fu master.
He makes it into town where he finds a friend from home who works in
a bar owned by Gam Biu (veteran HK actor). Meanwhile, three bank robbers
need a place to hide and kill the black family living in a small ranch.
Only the son (Scott) escapes badly wounded and makes his way to town where
the local Chinese doctor saves him and then teaches him kung fu. The doctor
is played by Leung Siu-chung father of Bruce Leung and action choreographer
of over 60 films. Lots of banging to come. The three bank robbers are real
life martial artists, there is a group of Samurai and a great one on one
between Chong and Lai Sau-kit dressed up as an Indian. There isn't much to
the plot but there is some terrific action. Way better than I expected.
