Chinatown Video: August 1998 releases

 

THE YOUNG MASTER (1980) Rated M. 102 mins. $29.95.

An early Jackie Chan film - you can tell because his nose is not busted a million times. This one was cranked out in the wake of the incredible success of Drunken Master, a success it went on to top at the box office. Chan plays Dragon, who is trying to cover at the martial arts school for his brother Tiger. Tiger is definitely heading for the wrong side of the law; he sells the school out at the Lion Dance, smuggles girls into the monk-like school environs, and duly gets himself kicked out. Dragon goes out to rescue him, but not before Tiger has become seriously involved with a bunch of hard bastards who have released a notorious bandit. Too much plot perhaps, and it certainly bogs the film down in the first half. I would have switched off, save for the fact that I was reviewing it, but persisted, which is just as well, because from the halfway mark the film is a delight. Chan meets an equally young Yuen Baio who whips him with a wooden bench. Turns out that Baio is the son of the local sheriff, who has mistaken Dragon for the shady Tiger and promptly ties him up. Hilarious hijinx and madcap antics ensue as Dragon evades the law and goes after the notorious bandit. It's all way too much plot for a Jackie Chan flick, but once it gets going, it stays going. It made me laff.

 

CITY COP (1995) Rated M. 99 mins. $29.95.

Cop actioner starring Danny Lee (The Killer).

 

ENEMY SHADOW (1995) Rated MA. 92 mins. $29.95.

Cop actioner starring Jade Leung (Black Cat).

 

Index of Chinatown Video releases since May 1998

 

H E R O I C * C I N E M A

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