Movie Info:Director: Chan Siu Pang
Cast: Cliff Lok, Sharon Yeung, Phillip Ko, Lam Kau
Original Title: Choi Lee Fat Kung Fu
Production Country: Hong Kong 1979
Review: Movie Reviews | by Mark Pollard | 2007.02.17
There is no doubt that Southern Fist kung fu was the reigning king of martial arts styles within the classic kung fu era. The fascination with Southern Shaolin folklore and Lau Kar-leung’s tireless promotion of Hung Gar lore and forms in hits like THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN dominated center stage while other styles such as Taekwondo, Northern Shaolin and karate, while all popular to a degree, still only held on to the fringes. At Golden Harvest, Sammo Hung went toe-to-toe with Lau on the Southern Fist front by making hits like WARRIORS TWO and THE PRODIGAL SON that brought Wing Chun to the fore. One Southern Fist style that didn’t get much official representation at all was Choy Lee Fut. However, Goldig Films attempted to remedy that in 1979 with the release of CHOI LEE FAT KUNG FU.
“I told you. It isn’t easy. Kung fu is real tough.”
The film is a very loose re-telling of how founder Chan Heung combined the teachings of several masters into what is now regarded as Choy Lee Fut. I’ll leave further analysis of which branch is best represented in the film to others, especially since I doubt action director Chan Siu-pang was excessively concerned with accurately representing the style.
The overall forms execution and sparring on display are well executed and entertaining. Not so with the story. It sadly falls flat as a very weak rip on Lau Kar-leung’s SPIRITUAL BOXER and more specifically Jackie Chan’s SNAKE IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW.
Underrated kung fu star Cliff Lok is Cheung, a traveling street performer tricked by a conman (Tsnag Choh-lam) into performing spiritual kung fu by supposedly channeling the spirits of the Eight Immortals. When the hypnotized Cheung starts assaulting audience members, a resident kung fu instructor named Chan (Lam Kau) steps in to subdue him with Southern Shaolin kung fu. Impressed, Cheung begs to become the instructor’s pupil and Chan refuses on the grounds that the village rules prohibit him from teaching outsiders.
Cheung is only hired on as a servant at the kung fu school, but begins observing the lessons and practicing at night. Seeing that the young man is determined and capable, Chan acquiesces and begins secretly training him. Word eventually gets out and Cheung is forced to leave. Chan sends him to a Shaolin monk named Monk Grass (Lee Sau-kei) for further training.
At this point the movie kicks into inventive training mode as the monk takes Cheung through rigorous strength and endurance training. The main gimmick involves Cheung having his feet tied to a bar suspended in midair by a series of ropes. Bricks are placed below him on the ground. Standing erect, Cheung has to swing his entire body around the bar, snatching up bricks. A different training regime involves catching slippery fish in a river with one hand.
The film’s weakest point is what drives Cheung to fight. Almost as an afterthought, Philip Ko only briefly shows up right at the end of the first act as a Manchu fighter named “Southern Head.” As is often the case with lead villain roles in these low budget movies, he disappears until midway through the third and final act, after Cheung is sent by the monk to meet up with an anti-Qing agent.
Following some random comedy involving a brothel and a dim-witted, cross-eyed “prodigal son” (Ma Chao) who thinks his lousy kung fu is tops, Cheung teams up with a female fighter (Sharon Yeung) and opens his own kung fu and lion dancing school. When Qing agents finally connect him with the rebel movement and demand that he turn over a list of rebel names, Cheung tries to flee but ends up in a death match with Southern Head.
This plot is a hodgepodge mess that appears made up on the spot as the film was shot. It’s like several more popular kung fu movies pressed into one. Production values are low, although it looks a marginally better than your average low-budget kung fu movie.
Not surprisingly, what rescues this movie is the ample kung fu action and lead performances, all expertly choreographed by Chan Siu-pang. He had worked extensively with Taiwanese filmmaker Joseph Kuo previously and with Cliff Lok on his most commercially successful picture THE BEST OF SHAOLIN KUNG FU, released in 1976.
For his part, Lok is well suited for this role. Training both in Chinese opera and Hop Gar, a Southern Fist variant, he is able to consistently deliver precise, yet dynamic forms execution. It’s clear that he does most, if not all of his own acrobatic stunts, while both his foot and handwork are fantastic. This will probably not be appreciated fully unless you’re either a Southern Fist enthusiast or have closely watched a lot of kung fu movies featuring traditional Southern styles. Aside from the unreal training sequence, a bit of humor and a trick or two towards the end, most of the sparring is fairly realistic and conventional by genre standards. With few exceptions it’s not the kind of action that will immediately wow casual audiences. The biggest exceptions are Lok’s two co-stars.
Sharon Yeung is a very dynamic screen fighter with opera-like grace, dexterity and an usually high level of competency and skill when it comes to complex group fighting. She’s clearly not just a pretty face, as her background in stunt-doubling also suggests. With regard to fighting skills, she reminds me of a young Yuen Qiu, the Landlady in KUNG FU HUSTLE. On that topic, Chu Chi-ling makes a brief appearance as a senior kung fu student. For those who don’t remember, he played the Tailor in KUNG FU HUSTLE, the burley guy with the iron rings on his forearms.
Last but not least is Philip Ko. Despite being criminally underused as the token baddie to show up at the end of countless kung fu movies, I don’t think he’s ever turned in a bad performance. This is one of his better ones too. He makes an awful entrance in a goofy red and white costume, but makes up for it at the end with killer fighting moves dominated by the use of his queue (ponytail) as a weapon to whip and choke his opponents. He’s one of those screen fighters that can convey real power and purpose in every movement. It’s no wonder he was always typecast as a bad guy. Stars needed skilled heavies like Ko, Hwang Jang-lee, Ku Feng, and Johnny Wang to make them look good.
As its rather uninspiring name suggests CHOI LEE FAT KUNG FU is a kung fu movie best appreciated by avid genre fans who can look past the thin plot, meager production and lack of creativity or exploitive selling points to see some very solid traditional kung fu action. On the surface, Cliff Lok looks too much like a Jackie Chan wannabe. Yet he has more experience in traditional Southern kung fu (seven years by his own count), and without trying to draw unnecessary comparisons between two fundamentally different actors, it shows. Lok has played better characters, but viewers will have a hard time finding a better example of his physical abilities.
LANGUAGE: English/Chinese
SUBTITLE: English/Chinese DVDRiP
Mp4
ca. 89 min
690 mb
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