The Shaolin Strike Rock Fist is an ancient form on unbeatable martial arts, known only between two friends. Once they have mastered it, these men are unable to handle the power they possess, causing them to turn against other. Because of their jealously, the Shaolin Strike Rock Fist is nearly lost forever. Both men teach the formidable style to their sons, who grow up to be great fighters named Tang (Tino Wong) and Tu Shen (John Liu). Chin How is a scrawny looking head of an illegal smuggling ring, who is confined to a wheelchair. His extracurricular activities include the staging of tournaments on the grounds of his comfy palace. For the fighters that win the matches, Chin How offers them employment in his gang. Mao Ti (Phillip Ko) is a mad martial artist who has crafted his own deadly techniques, pilfered from a variety of other Kung Fu styles. This callous individual goes around starting fights with the best martial artists around. He tests his skills against the fighters, and then murders them once he beats them. Chin How and the murderous Mao Ti form a mutual alliance that benefits both of them. One day, Tu Shen turns up at Chin How’s palace, challenging the best that the crime boss can provide. Chin How sends four men at him, which Tu Shen quickly makes mincemeat of with his high-kicking ability. Tu Shen takes up Chin How’s offer of employment. On a reconnaissance mission, Tu Shen witnesses two friends Tang and Ah Tien (Dragon Lee) perfecting their martial arts. Tu Sheng recognizes Tang practicing the Shaolin Strike Rock Fist style! Later on, Tu Shen confronts Tang on it and lets him know that he’s not the only person who has mastered it. Immediately, the amiable Tang becomes agitated and spurs Tu Shen to continue the rivalry shared by their fathers. Tu Shen reluctantly declines the offer.

That evening Tang’s friend Ah Tien gets ruthlessly attacked by Mao Ti. Ah Tien is no slouch himself and holds his own against the killer. Mao Ti mortally wounds Ah Tien, but the brave youth manages to elude death and make his way back his residence where Tang finds him. When Ah Tien informs him that a man in white attacked him, Tang thinks that Tu Shen is the culprit because he wears white clothes, too. Tang rushes out and when he finds Tu Shen, he initiates combat with him. Both men appear evenly matched until Tu Shen defeats Tang with his superior mastery of the Shaolin Strike Rock Fist. A battle weary Tang swears he’ll be back. He seeks out the advice of his old master, who teaches him the legendary secrets to counter the invincible style. When Tang is confident of his abilities, he returns to Chin How’s dwelling to again challenge Tu Shen. Chin How and his gang witness the evenly fought duel. Tu Shen congratulates Tang, and manges to convince him that they should avoid the circle of hate that destroyed their ancestors. Impressed with Tang’s new found fighting ability, Chin How offers him a job. Tang refuses the offer, and Chin How is offended because no one has ever turned him down. After Tu Shen and Tang leave the premises, Chin How sends his ally Mao Ti to finish off both men. Tu Shen, Tang, and Ah Tien must team up if they are too beat the lethal combination of Mao Ti and Chin How!

Though DRAGON ON FIRE sorely lacks a plot, Godfrey Ho’s exploitative directorial style is sure to strike a chord with cult movie enthusiasts. The movie has some loose humor and often smartly parodies the martial arts genre. For instance, in every single independent martial arts comedy, there is an elder ragamuffin character who excels at Kung Fu while intoxicated, and often trains the young hero. Godfrey Ho turns this cliché on its head by having his ‘Sam the Seed’ being a pot-head! Yes, this guy is puffing away on a bong while training Tino Wong! Via a flash back sequence, Ho shows a dog attack the character of Chin How and bite off his penis! This prompts Chin How to develop a martial arts form based on canines (ridiculous). Later on in the film, he develops rabies and goes around trying to bite people. Chin How eats frogs and bugs for nourishment. Then Ho incorporates a Bruceploitation angle with Dragon Lee doing his best Bruce Lee routine. If Bruceploitation isn’t your thing, give it a chance as Dragon Lee is actually bigger and more intimidating than Bruce. The choreography is typical of the period and mired in front angle, zoom, and reverse action shots. However, the cream of the action choreography is thrilling! With talent like John Liu, Philip Ko, Tino Wong, and Dragon Lee, the combined efforts of these men make even the limited skills of Godfrey Ho look good. Philip Ko looks especially phenomenal with his patchwork form of martial arts. John Liu is his usual gravity defying self. Liu is a lot like Godfrey Ho in the sense that he gets no respect from industry folks or the fans. When in fact he can hang with the veteran bootmasters like Hwang Jang Li, Tan Tao Liang, and even Venom kicker Sun Chien. Except for the bit with the Dog Fu, the final fight sequence is highly entertaining...

CONCLUSION
DRAGON ON FIRE is probably the best film from Godfrey Ho’s prolific career. The story and characterizations are flawed, but the plotting is merely an excuse to link together the great fight sequences of John Liu, Philip Ko, Tino Wong, etc. As a serious martial arts drama, DRAGON ON FIRE does not cut it, but as an outrageous Kung Fu cult oddity, there’s not much out there that can match the weirdness of it. This title could be the dark horse of the entire Wu Tang Classics collection. Xenon gives us the best transfer for their line of martial arts DVDs yet, and it’s about time. If your tastes run toward wild and the bizarre, DRAGON ON FIRE should be right up your alley.

REVIEW:
Combining super kicker John Liu, Phillip Ko who plays a killer with an hourglass fetish, Dragon Lee who keeps the exploitive spirit of Bruce Lee alive, and the subdued camp direction of Godfrey Ho and you have The Dragon, The Hero.

The story begins with an account of two famous fighters who both mastered the "Strike Rock Fist," a powerful skill taught by Shaolin monks. They combined their skills and together defeated all the fighters in the land. Eventually, their ambitions led them to fight each other to the death and the unique skill was apparently lost. Years later, a wandering fighter visits an eccentric wheelchair-bound master played by Chan Lau and secures a job. The fighter is John Liu and he's actually a government agent sent to investigate a smuggling ring that is shipping China's precious artifacts out of the country. John meets two dishwashers in town and one of them happens to know the Strike Rock Fist style. John also knows this style for his father was one of the original masters while the dishwasher, who is played by Tino Wong is the student of the other master. At first, the two resume their previous generation's feud, but they finally join forces to defeat the smugglers who turn out to be Chan Lau and his fighting companion, Phillip Ko.

The Dragon, The Hero is an odd mix of a great cast, good and goofy kung fu, a retread storyline, and tasteless humor. John Liu is definitely the featured performer and fans will be happy to know that his trademark kicking is on full display. Actually, its about all he does, except for a bit tricky handwork meant to confuse his opponent, but I'm not complaining. Tino Wong, who rarely had a starring role save for The Secret Rivals II (1977) is supposed to be Liu's equal, at lest by the end of the film. But, he never convinced me. A common face in Taiwanese and early Godfrey Ho productions was Dragon Lee who was marketed as another Bruce Lee clone, thanks to his resemblance to the REAL "Dragon." He does his best to grimace and gesture like Bruce, but honestly he shouldn't even be in this film. His martial arts skills are adequate, but his superfluous character is only a distraction and its just another shameless attempt by Ho to milk Lee's image.

Chan Lau, who was a deliciously campy villain in the kung fu comedy The 36 Deadly Styles, plays a darker comedic villain with one of the most revolting scenes in film history. At one point, we learn that his character is taking regular medication for some ailment. While groping the poor girl who served the nasty concoction, we get to see a flashback that shows him raping a different woman. Then her dog, a large German Shepherd starts chasing him and finally bites his manhood right off! Gruesome yes, but arguably suitable punishment for such a deed. One of the effects of this little incident comes to bare when Chan busts out a "mad dog" style of kung fu, complete with the act of biting his opponents.

A few things to watch out for include a cameo by Bolo Yeung who is made up with thick chest hair and even hairy toes! His animalistic kung fu appears to mimic a gorilla, appropriate for his bulky size. You'll also see a couple of gweilos including Jim James, which is a rare sight in '70's period films. Neither of them perform martial arts though.

The plot's unoriginal and Godfrey's Ho's direction is mildly sporadic and mundane, but the cast give energetic performances and John Liu's legwork makes The Dragon, The Hero all worthwhile...