SECRET RIVALS
(1976)
directed by Ng See Yuen
with John Liu, Wang Tao & Hwang Jang Lee
The mid-seventies saw a real downward spiral when it came to Chinese Kung Fu films. Bruce Lee was dead and the industry tried hard to fill his shoes. Only Shaw Brothers were having success with their indoor set traditional actioners and everybody else just didn't get a look in.
That's until Ng See Yuen's Seasonal Films stepped in with this little classic and set the benchmark for the next few years. The amazing John Liu is joined by the incredible Don Wang Tao in a fight for revenge and justice. I won't bother you with the plot because there isn't much of one, but I will bother you with the fantastic display of kung fu ability on show here. Don and John are masters of kicking in film and they present their skills in numerous battles that run through the course of this movie.
The film is a real breath of fresh air when watched today, nearly 30 years on, because nobody relied on wire work to make things look good back then. What we have is fighters fighting, hand to hand, and in this case, feet to feet. These guys are just incredible and I can't praise them enough.
My jaw dropped at some of the kicking ability and at one point I though I was in heaven (Can you tell I like these movies ?). Just when I thought things couldn't get any better, the man stepped in!
Hwang Jang Lee!!!
My total admiration for this Korean kick god can never be put into words, especially when he plays the Silver Fox. Hwang was an incredible bad guy through the 70s and 80s and made even the worst martial arts films worth watching with his presence. Here he even takes the shine off Tao anf Liu, and that's saying something. Jackie Chan has stated many times that Hwang Jang Lee was the greatest fighter he has ever seen, and I don't think many people would argue with that.
Ng See Yuen went onto produce Snake In The Eagle's Shadow & Drunken Master, also with Hwang as the bad guy, and made Jackie Chan a mega star over night (Literally). Thanks for everything Ng!
Incidentally, Ennio Morricone composed the score for this film, but I'm sure he didn't know.
Stunning!
