The Desperate Chase (1971) review

THE DESPERATE CHASE 1971 aka BLOOD OF THE DRAGON

Jimmy Wang Yu (The White Dragon, Lung Tai), Chiao Chiao (Miss Lian), Yu Lung (Ni Chiu), Yang Yang (Ma Tang), Miao Tien (Prime Minister Sing Pa Tou), Lung Fei (Kang Fu), Yi Yuan (General Tai, the Red Wolf), Ho Yu Ming (Gold Leopard), Tien Yeh (Ma Chin)

Directed by Kao Pao Shu

The Short Version: The Mongols are desperately chasing Wang Yu, a cocky, yet noble spear master named White Dragon who stumbles into delivering a coveted list (a staple of all your finer kung fu movies) to a vengeful prince who wants his head on a stake. Kao Pao Shu directs her second sword-clanger, and her first after leaving Shaw Brothers Studio. She does a fantastic Chang Cheh impersonation while humanizing Wang Yu's solitary spearman. One of the handful of times a serious martial arts movie doesn't embarrass itself with an English dub track, this one comes equipped with a sterling rock score by Flood, a then band-on-the-brink-of-success. Packed with action, the final battle lasts 20 minutes! Even more shocking, you will see Wang Yu crack a smile for a reason other than ferociously goring his opponents with his spear.

Near the close of the Yuan Dynasty, a lone wolf martial artist with a silver spear named White Dragon befriends a small boy named Ni Chiu who has a scroll in his possession that must be delivered to the young prince Ma Tang. The Prime Minister Sing Pa Tou, in league with the Mongols, want this scroll as it contains a list of rebels and the location of their headquarters. Upon reaching the palace, the prince recognizes Lung Tai, thinking he's his father's killer. After fighting to a draw, Lung Tai and the boy turn to leave but the prince attacks Lung from behind, stabbing him in the back. Lung and Ni Chiu escape; and the prince, so overcome with misplaced vengeance, doesn't realize they were bringing him the list. The chase is on till the White Dragon is trapped at an inn and must fight off hordes of the Mongols led by the Red Wolf, General Tai.

Wang Yu takes his near invincible Silver Roc from Chang Cheh's GOLDEN SWALLOW (1968) and gives him a silver spear and a goatee for this blood-spattered swordplay epic. But whereas he sought out the villains in wave after wave of slaughter in the Chang Cheh classic, the bad guys come to him in this, The Desperate Chase of the title. His love of Japanese cinema continues; this time with shades of Zatoichi and the Lone and Cub series as Wang's solitary spear master befriends a small boy to help deliver a crucial list to a prince. The kicker is the prince wants him dead! Actually, just about everybody wants Wang's White Dragon dead. Spending the majority of the movie both on the run and bleeding from a massive gash in his back, either the film's original title or its generic-sounding US handle work just fine in describing what the movie is about.

Chang Cheh's trademark 'One Man Army' motif is taken to new extremes in THE DESPERATE CHASE. In Chang's movies, the hero often receives a mortal wound just before the climax--continuing to fight scores of villains before he himself succumbs to his injuries. Kao, on the other hand, has Wang's heroic spearman seriously wounded in the first 30 minutes! And the last 30 minutes is almost the length of the final battle wherein White Dragon Lung Tai takes on an army of Mongols all by himself. Cheung I Kuei's choreography is surprisingly varied for 1971. Virtually all the fights have something different about them. The finale is of special note--featuring Wang Yu energetically stabbing and impaling everyone in sight.

His duel with the main villain, Red Wolf General Tai, is likewise noteworthy. The General uses a sword whose blade can detach itself into a metal whip and reconnect as a sword again--much like the one seen in the French action-horror-drama-martial arts movie, BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF (2002). Playing the General is Yi Yuan, a prolific actor of near 200 credits. One of his more famous roles was the lead antagonist in the Joseph Kuo favorite, THE 18 BRONZEMEN (1976).

Moreover, the implacable White Dragon is further defined by an authoritative pose he strikes before and during his many battles. Spinning his spear in a windmill motion, he stabs it into the ground in an intimidating style. This is easily one of the superstar's best roles and imbued with a lot of charisma that's normally missing in his emotionally bereft performances of other pictures.

Watch for an early supporting role by future supreme bad guy, Lung Fei (see above). Playing one of the chief subordinates to General Tai, his weapon of choice is a chain with a steel ball at the end of it. Naturally, this being a Chinese action movie, the ball has retractable blades on it. By the mid 1970s, Lung Fei would become one of the busiest actors in Asian action movies, playing bad guys in dozens of motion pictures--many of which were for Wang Yu.

Elsewhere in the cast, Wang Yu is reunited with Chiao Chiao, the actress who played his wife/love interest in his Shaw Brothers classics, THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN (1967), THE ASSASSIN (1967) and RETURN OF THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN (1969). Surprisingly, she has less to do here than she did in Macho Movie King, Chang Cheh's movies. In those pictures, she was always the moral center to Wang Yu's righteous warrior characters. In THE DESPERATE CHASE, her role is simply an action scene supplement. She left Shaw's in 1971 but got to headline two swordplay pictures tailored for her with Lo Wei's THE BLACK BUTTERFLY (1968) and Korean director Cheng Chang Ho's HEADS FOR SALE (1970).

Kao Pao Shu has written an exciting story and directs with flair integrating just the right amount of action with exposition. The interplay between Lung Tai and Ni Chiu--growing into a father and son type relationship--is given a lot of screentime; something this genre wasn't known for--particularly those of the independent studios. Previously an actress, this was Kao's first film for her own company, Park Films. Her only previous effort at that time was her directing debut for Shaw Brothers with the impressive LADY WITH A SWORD (1971) starring superstarlet Lily Ho. Kao often took bit parts in her movies but directed herself as THE FEMALE FUGITIVE (1975), a Thailand lensed modern day actioner co-starring Chen Hui Min. She would later write, produce and direct full caliber Kung Fu films like 1980s THE MASTER STRIKES starring Casanova Wong, Ching Siu Tung and Yen Shi Kwan.

In America, everybody was Kung Fu Fighting in 1973--a huge year for stateside releases of Kung Fu and martial arts movies. Shaw Brothers' KING BOXER exploded onto movie screens in March of that year. Re-christened as FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH, it was unlike anything anybody had seen before. The surprise success of these movies meant producers and distributors would be scrambling to unleash more dubbed violence and post-synced slaughter-fests--many of which were of varying quality. In addition to Bruce Lee's movies, imported Swordplay and Fist and Kick flicks like FEARLESS FIGHTERS, FISTS OF THE DOUBLE K, SEVEN BLOWS OF THE DRAGON and SACRED KNIVES OF VENGEANCE were popular attractions on theater screens across the country.

THE DESPERATE CHASE (1971) received a US release in late 1973 under the title of BLOOD OF THE DRAGON, "starring six feet of silver death!". Promotional materials hyped it as Wang Yu's stateside screen debut although his 1970 feature, THE CHINESE BOXER, was a number one hit in America in June of 1973 when it premiered as THE HAMMER OF GOD.

BLOOD OF THE DRAGON was the first legit theatrical release of Georgia based porn producer Michael Thevis, a notorious kingpin and murderer. His move into legit film distribution was, along with the founding of the General Recording Corporation (GRC) record label, merely a front for his illegal activities. Thevis also hired an up-and-coming Georgia band called Flood to do a soundtrack for the movie--an epic barbarian rock and synth score not unlike the one done for the later New World release of SHOGUN ASSASSIN (1980). Mark Lindsay's electronic samurai sounds might be more famous, but it isn't as grand as Flood's rock-fused compositions. Unfortunately, greatness alluded the band when the rug was pulled out from under them in 1974 after Thevis was imprisoned in December of that year. Passing on an offer from music entrepreneur Bill Lowery to sign with Thevis' GRC, the band's first album never came to fruition. Still, their potential lives on in the US version of THE DESPERATE CHASE.

Meanwhile, Thevis remained in prison till he escaped on the night of April 28th, 1978 from the New Albany County Jail in Indiana. Thevis was among America's 10 Most Wanted for seven months till this real-life Desperate Chase was over on November 9th, 1978. After a key witness in Thevis' indictment was gunned down in an ambush on October 25th, the former porn promoter was captured in Connecticut when he tried to cash a $31,000 check. A film about him would surely be a hit.

Additionally, novelist William Diehl was a producer on BLOOD OF THE DRAGON. Among his mainstream credits, Thevis executive produced the surreal, Drive-in trash art of POOR PRETTY EDDIE in 1973, but it didn't see a release till 1975.

Fans of English dubbing in Hong Kong cinema will approve of all the Tough Guy dialog; examples being when Lung is asked if his time is approaching; he replies with, "I don't have time to die right now"; or Lung telling another an enemy to... "Roast in Hell!" There are two English dubs provided on the German DVD--one for the film's US release in 1973 and the original English dub from Hong Kong. Both offer slightly differing translations although the former is the superior track. 

Several minutes of an inferior source are integrated to make this the most complete version possible. Sadly, the bulk of these degraded shots (see above) is all violent footage including one incredible bit where Lung Tai turns one of the villains into Swiss cheese with the most energetic spear thrusts you've ever seen.

One of Wang Yu's strongest movies he didn't direct himself, Kao Pao Shu's tightly woven, slick swordplay feature is a lot of fun and one of the actor's best roles. It would greatly complement a co-feature with the aforementioned SHOGUN ASSASSIN to make a great exploitation double bill for devoted Drive-in movie fans. Widely available on various labels of varying quality, the German DVD is, thus far, the best presentation of this underrated gem.

This review is representative of the R2 German DVD. Specs and Extras: 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen; trailers; US version opening and ending credits; Hong Kong opening credits; still gallery; running time: 01:31:23

One-Armed Boxer (1972) review

ONE-ARMED BOXER 1972 獨臂拳王 aka THE CHINESE PROFESSIONALS

Directed by Jimmy Wang Yu

Jimmy Wang Yu (Tien Lung), Lung Fei (Erh Ku Da Leung), Ma Kei (Master Han Tui), Cindy Tang Hsin (Hsiao Yu), Tin Yau (Master Chao Lau Lu), Shan Mao (TKD expert Tien Chi Yung), Tsai Hung (Chang Ku Chuan), Wong Wing Sang (Pan Tien), Ng Tung-Kiu (Judo expert Kao Chao), Cheung I-Kuei (Tibetan Lama Cho Lo), Su Chen-Ping (Tibetan Lama Cho Fu), Pan Chun-Lin (Yoga Master Mura Singh), Kuan Hung (Thai Boxer Nai Chai), Blacky Ko (Thai Boxer Mi Sao)

"The man's a crippled one-armed.... so what the hell's to worry about?! This time, I'm gonna make sure the little bastard dies!"--grammatically challenged Tough Guy talk from Kung Fu Dracula.

The Short Version: Wang Yu once more directs himself and once again he's minus an appendage in his second non-Shaw Crippled Combat film (right behind 1971s ZATOICHI MEETS THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN) after bolting from the company over "creative differences". Whereas THE CHINESE BOXER was focused with an assured hand (haha), THE ONE ARMED BOXER is Wang Yu unrestrained and unleashed. Wang combines two of his biggest hits, THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN (1967) and THE CHINESE BOXER (1970) to create what is essentially a near shot-for-shot remake of the latter film--his directorial debut. A 90 minute Funhouse ride with Kung Fu fighting, genre and Drive-in lovers will get their fill of double bacon corndogs and all the funnel cake you can eat. One of the greasiest fist and kick flicks ever made.

The stoic Chen Lung intervenes when members of the Hook Gang bully a kindly bird salesman. Riling the evil Master Chao, the teacher of the Hook Gang, they go to Master Han's school for some payback. Resoundingly defeated, Master Chao isn't taking the loss lightly, hiring a motley clutch of martial artists from around the globe to help him wipe out Master Han, destroy his businesses, and kill all his students and workers. After Japanese fighters beat Han's brick factory and dyeing mill workers to a pulp, they move on to the school and kill everyone in sight. Chen Lung has his arm chopped off by a brutish Okinawan fighter with vampire fangs, but manages to survive and trains till he becomes a one-man, one-armed killing machine. 

Where both THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN (1967) and THE CHINESE BOXER (1970) were played straight, ONE ARMED BOXER (1972) dares you to take it seriously. Director Wang Yu goes out of his way to make the most outrageous movie imaginable. Once again he writes the screenplay in what amounts to a complete do-over of THE CHINESE BOXER with some minor narrative tweaking. This production (a co-pro between the Cheng Ming and Golden Harvest Companies) plays out almost as a scene for scene replication; but whereas the Shaw Brothers hit was reasonably grounded in reality, Wang goes for sheer excess--pure Kung Fu exploitation in his Taiwanese venture.

As insane as some Shaw Brothers movies could be (predominantly in the imaginative ways people die), Wang Yu reduces the very fist-and-kick template he created to near parody. Fantasy elements indigenous to the Wuxia genre were now married off to the Kung Fu film.... a strange relationship that birthed many memorable movies that were both celebrated and condemned in what is arguably the most stigmatized film genre. ONE ARMED BOXER is truly an off-kilter experience. It's a film that hasn't the budget nor polish of the Shaw's at that time, instead relying on raw, creative excess to leave its mark.

For instance, in THE CHINESE BOXER, Wang Yu's Lei Ming toughens his hands by repeatedly plunging them into a huge wok full of heated iron pellets. For ONE ARMED BOXER, Wang's Tien Lung doesn't even bother with the pellets and simply thrusts his single digit into a pot of burning coals and doesn't let things like third degree burns dissuade him. With this picture, Wang Yu has taken the tortured, macho Chang Cheh archetype and turned it into a geekshow attraction.

Elsewhere, the variety of martial killers is as diverse as any of your finer Chinese buffets; you have everything from Japanese bone-breakers, to Thai kicking specialists, to a Yoga master who can stab himself with a dagger and no wound or blood to show for it. The prime Japanese antagonist is basically the Lo Lieh character from THE CHINESE BOXER but with long hair and vampire fangs..... yes, VAMPIRE FANGS. The aforementioned Yoga killer has this inexplicably deadly attack where he walks on his hands. To show he's the baddest man in turn of the century China, Wang Yu walks not on his one hand, but on a single fingertip! If that weren't ridiculous enough, you have a Tibetan Lama who make himself blow up like a balloon in an exaggerated Qi Gong display. 

In contrast, THE CHINESE BOXER featured standard Japanese villains that had little nuances to distinguish one from the other but nothing near the level of absurdity on display in this madness. Wang's insanity meter would be off the charts in 1976 when he resurrected the character in ONE ARMED BOXER 2, aka ONE ARMED BOXER VS. THE FLYING GUILLOTINE, aka MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE (1976), one of the most popular old school Kung Fu features ever devised. 

ONE ARMED BOXER was a hit, but did about half of what THE CHINESE BOXER did. The more famous sequel made a bit more money; although his other one-armed sword-slingers (like THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMEN in 1976 and ONE ARMED CHIVALRY FIGHTS AGAINST ONE ARMED CHIVALRY in 1977) produced throughout the 1970s were obscured by more slickly made productions and changing trends.

As for the martial arts sequences, there's not a lot of variance despite the array of colorful martial malefactors. Tang Chia's CHINESE BOXER choreo was a lot more powerful in execution than Chen Shih Wei's interchangeable action motif. It's enhanced with gimmicks as opposed to adherence to the style on display. For many, these outlandish contrivances will be the attraction.... and this movie is filled with those of the sideshow variety. This wasn't lost on the film's US distributors, National General Pictures, who marketed it with the type of carnivalesque zeal the likes of which you can't find anymore.

The fighting is nearly non-stop (taking up 90% of the running time if not more!). Characterization is pulverized like any of the dozens of extras in the film. For instance, when Wang Yu loses his arm (severed by a Karate chop!), there's no period of brooding as he's nursed back to health; or moments of doubt like, "How can I beat Japanese Dracula?" Instead we get a series of freeze-frames and it's right on to the torture training sessions--Wang Yu burning his arm to a cinder followed by pounding it with a large stone to make sure those nerve endings are sufficiently dead. From there, the climax entails Wang Yu single-handedly (haha) clobbering his eight opponents in and around volcanic pits. Naturally, some folks get thrown into them.

One of the most famous films in the Golden Harvest catalog, when the company was formed in 1970, they offered a tempting alternative to Shaw's old Hollywood style operation. Promising more freedom right off the bat, GH lured away some of Shaw's other talent including actors like Chang Yi; who, like Wang Yu, broke his contract with the company. Other big names the Shaw's would lose to their competition around this time was Bruce Lee and Michael Hui. 

Throughout the 1970s, Wang Yu would continue to make movies modeled on his popular Shaw Brothers films. Known for his short fuse, he liked doing things his way. Despite a big success with his first outing as a director, Wang felt the need to bolt from the studio and abruptly exited Shaw's gates in March of 1970--roughly three years before his contract expired in January of 1973. Unsuccessful lawsuits followed although the one that did succeed prevented him from making movies in Hong Kong till his contract expiration date. Wang Yu didn't sit idly by, though; he made some two dozen movies outside of HK in the interim. 

Not to be outdone, in October of 1970, Shaw announced a new installment in the ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN series--THE NEW ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN--this one to star Movie King David Chiang as the tortured knight who loses his arm. Wang Yu's first post-Shaw picture was another Karate-styled movie with THE BRAVE AND THE EVIL (1971); a superlative, independent effort in which he was again the director. Intensifying this years long feud, Wang Yu cloned various SB movies till near the close of the decade, returning to the one-armed well a few more times till 1977. He was reunited with the man who made him famous in 1984, starring alongside many other Chang Cheh alums in the Chang charity movie SHANGHAI 13. 

Taiwanese martial artist Lung Fei had played background parts in previous movies, but landed the lead bad guy for the first time as what is ostensibly "Kung Fu Dracula". He would work with Wang Yu on many movies afterward, eventually becoming one of the busiest actors in Kung Fu cinema. Having a great look for villains he played good guys on rare occasions like the Joseph Kuo favorite, BORN INVINCIBLE (1977). He got a second life of sorts in America, appearing in chunks of the horrendous Steve Odekerk crap-fest KUNG POW! ENTER THE FIST (2002). Odekerk took the Wang Yu directed TIGER AND CRANE FISTS (1976), gutted it, shot new scenes that were supposed to be funny, and re-dubbed the old footage a la WHAT'S UP, TIGER LILY? (1966). Some of Lung's best work is seen in Wang Yu's FOUR REAL FRIENDS (1974), Chang Cheh's THE SHAOLIN AVENGERS (1976), Wang's sequel RETURN OF THE CHINESE BOXER (1977), THE 7 GRANDMASTERS (1978), and SEVEN STEPS OF KUNG FU (1979).

Another prolific martial arts movie actor was Shan Mao. Often paired with Lung Fei, he appeared in many of Wang Yu's movies, and always as a villain. Frequently playing Japanese bad guys, in ONE ARMED BOXER he plays a Taekwondo specialist in Kung Fu Dracula's Legion of Doom. Much like Lung Fei, Shan Mao played a good guy at least once in Chang Cheh's exceptionally poignant THE NEW SHAOLIN BOXERS (1976). He worked on a handful of other Shaw Brothers pictures like the co-pro with Taiwanese Jih Mao Film Company, NA CHA AND THE SEVEN DEVILS (1973), completed in 1970; and another Shaw co-pro in THE CHAMPION (1973). Chang Cheh paired him once more with Lung Fei as two of the main villains in the underrated, aforementioned epic THE SHAOLIN AVENGERS (1976). One of his best, and biggest roles was as the traitorous monk in Chang Cheh's two hour chronicle SHAOLIN TEMPLE (1976). His last major roles came in Cheh's unfunny comedy Kung Flop THE MAGNIFICENT WANDERERS (1977) and the ill-conceived war picture, NAVAL COMMANDOS (1977). Sadly, both Shan Mao's career, and his life, would be cut short on the night of March 14th, 1977 when an inebriated Shan assaulted a taxi driver who then fatally stabbed him with a screwdriver.

On a lighter note, one of the Tibetan Lamas is played by Cheung I-Kuei (above at right). He was a martial arts choreographer for two films Wang Yu didn't direct--THE DESPERATE CHASE (1971) and THE GALLANT (1972); as well as an actor in dozens of other movies. ONE ARMED BOXERs action designer, Chen Shih Wei (see insert), likewise appears in front of the camera as a student who challenges one of the villains and gets killed for his trouble.

If you're looking for something of genuine substance, Wang Yu's directorial debut, THE CHINESE BOXER, is a great place to start; or even other works he helmed such as THE BRAVE AND THE EVIL (1971), THE SWORD (1971), BEACH OF THE WAR GODS (1973) and FOUR REAL FRIENDS (1974). However, if it's unbridled insanity you seek, you can't go wrong with ONE ARMED BOXER. Fans of unintentionally farcical dubbing will have a grand time watching. It's a cheap drink with a strong kick; make it a double with its more famous sequel for maximum bliss... and no regrets the next morning.

This review is representative of the Japanese Twin/Paramount bluray. Specs and Extras: 1080p widescreen 2.35:1; Japanese, Mandarin, and English Audio; original Chinese trailer; running time: 1:32:36.