Return of the Tiger

Return of the Tiger

Fun little martial arts time-filler, with Bruce Li attempting to bring down a pair of international drug dealing operations by pitting one against the other. Paper-thin plot is just an excuse for endless martial arts fight sequences, most are fairly well choreographed, some go on for such a long time, however, they become tiresome. Well photographed in Bangkok (?, at least, that is where the story is set) with a funny bit with a lubed-up Li fighting gargantuan-sized foe; and a good (if still slightly goofball) climactic battle in a warehouse with Paul Smith. Print quality is surprisingly good also, without noticeable frames missing and awkward jump cuts, nor annoying clicks and pops on the soundtrack.

This is one of the better Angela Mao movie from the late '70s. Since she stopped starring in Golden Harvest's movie, her movies weren't as well made or distributed. She seemed to be more focused on her domestic life, which probably was the right move since pure kung fu action movies were starting to be passe around the time this movie was made. Bruce Li is probably the most type cast actor of all time, but he's a good actor in his own right, holding on screen presence with his handsome good looks, and good martial arts skill. Making this a one of a kind movie is that both stars are starring together in this movie. What's amazing about Taiwan producers and directors is the way they fail to capitalize on the on screen talent of their stars. They'd rather stick to their pat formula for making movies, rather than exploiting the often great talent of their stars. This movie is no exception and it just drags on with boring scenes of the bad guys talking to each other, then more talking, and then more, ......and more. Another thing is that the movie has no atmosphere to it at all. The scene goes from a cheap office to a dirty alley, to a worn down warehouse, and the likes. There's not a single beautiful scene in this entire movie. Anyways, if a movie of this caliber is above average, you can surmise how bad some of the other Taiwan made Angela Mao movies are. Don't expect too much from this movie, as you see little of Bruce Li, and even less of Angela Mao. There are better movies made of Angela Mao from Golden Harvest in the early '70s. They are recommended far more over this one.

This film begins with a young woman coming into a gymnasium and proceeding to beat up the men training there. When some members from management enter and ask her the reason for her actions a man from the bleachers named "Chang Hung" (Bruce Li) appears and says he wants to talk with the overall boss known simply as "Paul the Westerner" (Paul L. Smith). As it turns out, Chang Hung and his unnamed "female partner" (played by Angela Mao) are involved in a game of intrigue between two rival gangs who deal in drugs and he's playing both ends against the middle in an effort to eliminate the two of them. Now from what I understand this film is a sequel to "Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger" with Bruce Li trying to fill the void resulting from the death of Bruce Lee. Yet, while the first film suffered from mediocre acting, this film languished due to action scenes which were extremely long and utterly ridiculous. That being said, I was not impressed with this particular film at all and I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

Shrewd, suave Chang Wong (a solid and amiable performance by the handsome and charismatic Bruce Li) and his redoubtable female partner (superbly essayed with delicious vigor by the foxy Angela Mao) devise an elaborate scheme to take out a heroin drug ring led by the nefarious Paul (nicely played by the enormous Paul Smith of "Popeye" and "Dune" fame). Moreover, Chang also works for a rival dope-dealing organization in order to further stir things up. Director Jimmy Shaw crams this baby with a handy helping of hugely entertaining good stuff: wall-to-wall fierce and crazy martial arts fights, several groovy nightclub scenes (the funky-chillin' house band is simply amazing!), a couple of brutal garrotings, inspired occasional use of strenuous slow motion, a nonstop speedy pace, a wild free-for-all confrontation between the two criminal factions, and a fantastic rousing climactic showdown between Li and Smith in which Li's graceful physical agility is pitted against Smith's fearsome brute strength. Chou Fu Liang's awesomely gnarly throbbing disco score hits the soulful spot. Chiou Yao-Hwu's reasonably polished cinematography likewise makes the grade. Best of all, the lovely Ms. Mao looks smoking hot in a sparkling silver jumpsuit and beats the living tar out of a teeming volume of guys. What's not to like about this totally fun vintage 70's grindhouse flick?

The most brutal action packed martial arts battle of the decade, Bruce Li, The Roaring Kung Tiger, faces his deadliest enemy.. the vicious and sadistic torturer from The Midnight Express. The Hoover Night Club in Bangkok is used to coverup the operations of the international narcotics group headed by an American, George Cross. A rival gang, run by a chinese, also tries to dominate the drug market in southeast Asia. Handsome professional killer Chang Hung, accompanied by his female assistant, arrives in Bangkok and smashes a Kung-fu school run by George. Tseng Tse-chan, leader of the chinese group, approaches Chang to eliminate george, but his price is too high. Unknown to him, Chang was hired by George to infiltrate Tseng' racket. The girl's job is to play the 2 rival gangs against each other..

I'm so sick of people judging these classic kung fu movies by completely ridiculous criteria. So what if the dubbing is bad or the cinematography isn't up to snuff. These were meant as entertainment and should be judged as such. Were you entertained? Yes? Then it's a good movie and shut the f up! This particular movie's got a little bit of everything. Strippers, bad guys who dress like Bing Crosby, Lung Fei's worst hairdo ever, Angela Mao lookin' hot in a metallic jumpsuit, and Bruce Li sporting some major badass swagger. Oh yeah, and did I mention that the fat dude from Robin Williams' Popeye is in it. I won't tell you how he croaks, but let's just say that they don't make 'em like this anymore. And the theme song . . .the theme song ROCKS! I had it stuck in my head for days. If you're a fan of the late 70s / early 80s kung fu genre, then you owe it to yourself to check this out.

That's Bruce Li, not Bruce Lee, who died a few years before this was made. Bruce Li was tapped to replace Lee. One of his early films was even named Exit the Dragon, Enter the Tiger, and you will see Bruce Lee's name used in many of his films. He looks like Lee and fights like Lee, but he is not Lee, he is Li. Got that? The film was very good with Li and Angela Mao teaming to fight a drug operation. Lots of good Kung Fu, and an ending fight that was really spectacular. I don't care how much Kung Fu you know, you are going to have a hard time beating a guy three times your size who is solid as a brick wall. I won't tell you how he did it, but it was used against a similar foe in a Bond film. Bruce Li is a worthy successor to Bruce Lee.