He learned every trick in the book and then he threw the book away! That trailer solidified my need to see this movie, so I am going to continue my martial arts posts by talking a bit about one of the first martial arts movie to come from Australia, which happens to feature the bad ass Jimmy Wang Yu, who just so happened to be the star of one of my favorite kung fu movies, The Master of the Flying Guillotine. He played the One-Armed Boxer in that movie, so go watch that.
The Far East and the Land Down Under are about to have a head-on collision in this action drama. Fang (Jimmy Wang Yu) is an undercover detective from Hong Kong sent to Australia to crack open the operation of a Sydney mob boss named Wilton (George Lazenby). Fang puts his skills as a hang glider pilot and martial arts master to work as he sets up Wilton for a literally explosive finale. Samo Hung (aka Kim Po Hung), later to become a major martial arts star in his own right, appears in a supporting role and has an impressive battle with an Australian cop. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
This is one hell of a gem from the land down under. The Man From Hong Kong was a pretty damn ambitious endeavor considering Australian cinema was in the midst of an explosion in terms of the content that they were producing during the late 60s and 70s. If you want to know more about Australian exploitation cinema, check out the documentary Not Quite Hollywood. Well worth the time to watch and see the crazy ass movies they made. Anyways, this is a really a take no prisoners sort of movie in terms of watch unfolds on screen. The action scenes are aggressive and the stunt work is spectacular in the break neck sort of way. There was no restrictions on their roguish directing and filmmaking style, which lends itself incredibly well to this boastful kung fu movie from a country that probably doesn’t even have a dojo in their country at the time.
The Man From Hong Kong is a dope kung fu film that definitely feels lively and fresh considering that this is Australia’s very first kung fu movie. Getting Wang Yu to come on board for this as a sort of Chinese James Bond doesn’t hurt since his fighting style and skills are brutal, but elegant considering the past films he has done. He does some incredible stunt work along with intense fight scenes between him and the countless thugs. Hell, they couldn’t have chosen a better villain in the form of former James Bond actor, George Lazenby. He does a great job at being the bad guy and challenging Yu in during their brawls. It’s pretty cool seeing a former Bond turn to the heel.
Overall this movie is just a bang up job of great stunt work and awesome kung fu fighitng. The stunt work itself is something you got to see as the hang gliding sequence is beautiful to watch and the their all-out stunt work just shows in the severity of the work. Car crashes, brutal take downs, and overall insanity in their work just makes this a great kung fu movie from a land where this is relatively foreign to them. Wang Yu puts in a solid performance as the ass kicking, Lothario lead, bedding women and cracking skulls. He brings that intensity of his kung fu background to work in this movie and is well worth a look if you got the time.