The Chinese Stuntman: Reviews

Bruce Li (real name: Ho Chung Tao) could've been one of the big stars of Hong Kong's New Wave film explosion in the early '80s. Instead, he chose to retire, just as Hong Kong filmmaking was reaching its peak. Vilified in the past, Bruce Li is now openly admired by chop-sockey lovers. The facts alone endear him: he didn't choose to be called Bruce Li (in fact, he fought against being called this from the beginning of his film career), he was a great admirer of the real Bruce Lee, he worked night and day to become a more realistic, on-screen fighter, and he experienced heartache; his wife of many years died of cancer toward the end of his film career. In fact, that, along with his continuing dismay with how international distributors were marketing him under a fake, disrespectful name, was what lead Chung Tao to retire.

But still, this guy made a ton of movies in his time, and though the early ones are terrible due to his lack of on-screen skill, later Bruce Li movies are some of the best kung-fu flicks of all time. He learned how to move quick, how to portray his own image, rather than cop the real Bruce Lee's. Whereas Bruce Le and Dragon Lee were content to star in the worst crap ever, Bruce Li eventually took pains to ensure that his films provided sheer entertainment.

This film was both written and directed by Chung Tao, who for once actually got his real name displayed in the opening credits. Of course international distributors plastered the name Bruce Li all over advertisements, and this name is also displayed on the video release (actually, my video says that it stars Bruce Le, and even has a pic from Bruce Le's Enter the Game of Death), but regardless, the name Ho Chung Tao shows up in the credits, and it's his movie all the way.

The movie opens typically enough: a white guy walks into a Hong Kong kung-fu school and starts challenging people. He cleans the floor with them, until Bruce Li steps in and gives the gweilo a run for his money. This goes on throughout the opening credits, with fast-paced funk music throughout. Bruce Li beats the white guy (John) around for a while, but then the fight ends very creatively: a phone call comes in for Bruce. Excited, he tells John thanks, runs over to the phone, and finds out he's been given an insurance job he really wanted.

We follow Bruce through his first day, and it's really funny how damn much this guy wants to sell insurance. It's like his entire life purpose is to fill this position. Unfortunately, this being a kung-fu movie, things aren't so easy for Bruce. He gets challenged often and for obscure reasons by various people. After a hard day of work, he comes home to find John outside his apartment. But no fear, John's hear to learn kung-fu from Bruce. And in another burst of creativity, John becomes Bruce's live-in student and pal.

We're treated to several scenes of John and Bruce engaging in bizarre kung-fu training, such as kicking at eggs that hang from ropes, or just your basic sparring. All, I might add, while they wear color-coordinated tracksuits. And also all while they talk about what's going on with Bruce's job. This gave me the idea for a TV show: it could be about a Chinese guy and a white guy who live together and train in kung-fu together, all while going through the usual sitcom bullshit. Like they could be sparring while they're talking about their girlfriends or whatever. The name I came up for the show is Bruce And The White Guy.

Anyway, there are a ton of fights to cover up the hazy plot. Unlike early Bruce Li flicks, these fights are all excellent. The highlight of the movie is when Dan Inosanto enters into combat. Inosanto plays a cocky kung-fu teacher who's hired to act as fight choreographer for the film Bruce is working on. Inosanto's character is very gray in that at first he's presented as evil, then he's a good guy because he's on Bruce's side, but then finally he's bad as he whips the floor with John and then takes on Bruce. Using his trademark escrima sticks, Dan proves that he could've been an excellent kung-fu actor. His fight isn't as great as the one with the real Bruce Lee in Game of Death, but it's pretty close.

I've heard that this and Dynamo are considered Bruce Li's two best movies. I haven't seen Dynamo, but I'd like to. Chinese Stuntman is a perfect fix if you're melancholy for the good old days of Kung-Fu Theater.