“Fim Safari Ghana” Theatrical Poster

Director: Andrew Leavold
Cast: Andrew Leavold, Samuel K. Nkansah (aka Ninja), Joseph Osei, Emmanuel Afriyie 
Running Time: 86 min.

By Paul Bramhall

While in his native Australia Andrew Leavold may be known for many things – former cult video store owner, punk band frontman, Filipino cinema historian, sometime actor, and documentary filmmaker – internationally he’s likely to be remembered as the guy who directed 2013’s The Search for Weng Weng. A feature length documentary that chronicled Leavold’s 7-year odyssey to uncover the fate of the Philippines shortest action star, his audacity and enthusiasm to shed light on a corner of the Pinoy film industry that had been all but forgotten about was as endearing as it was revelatory. While we continue to wait for Leavold’s next passion project on Filipino cinema, a history of the bomba genre titled The Most Beautiful Creatures on the Skin of the Earth, it turns out another corner of the planet had caught his attention in recent years – Ghana.

Specifically, a director by the name of Samuel Nkansah, or as he’s more popularly known – Ninja. While Nigeria’s Nollywood film industry and Uganda’s infamous Wakaliwood studio may have been heard of by film aficionados with a taste for the more obscure (and were both part of Leavold’s own movie “mash-up”, Flying Baptists Over Nollywood), less is known about Ghana’s film output, or at least it was until Ninja came along. In the early 2010’s Ninja’s DIY approach to making out-there action movies caught the attention of Conan O’Brien, when the trailer for his 2010 production 2016 was shown on The Tonight Show (even if they didn’t know where it was from, with the guest stating that “it’s an international film.”). One look and it’s easy to see why, with its primitive digital effects telling the story of what appear to be alien/predator hybrids landing on Earth (well, Ghana), who are eventually defeated by a Ghanian terminator.

Leavold became a fan, and harbouring his own dream to direct The Taller They Come (described by the man himself as “a four-foot kung fu remake of the Jamaican reggae spaghetti western The Harder They Come”), at some point while soaking in one of Ninja’s many wild slices of low budget insanity, decided that Ghana should be the place where it’s done. Making contact with Ninja while he was touring his latest documentary in Europe, he soon found himself invited to Ghana to talk more, with the only request being to bring a white safari suit in his luggage. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, a return home to Australia was placed on hold, and soon Leavold found himself on a plane (well, actually several, since Ghana isn’t the easiest country to get to!) to spend a week with Ninja in Kumasi, the country’s second largest metropolis, or as it’s known to those making movies there – Kumawood.

Amusingly the request to bring a white safari suit is soon revealed to be because Ninja has already planned to cast Leavold as a murderous white slave trader in his newest production – White Devil: Freedom is Coming! With Leavold needing all the assistance from Ninja he can if he’s to make Ghana work as the location for The Taller They Come, he duly obliges in taking on the role, the production of which is covered in Film Safari Ghana. In many ways it could be said to be a 3-in-1 documentary – in the just under 90 minute runtime Leavold attempts to offer up a history of the Ghanian film industry (or at the very least, it’s DIY B-movie scene), we get a behind-the-scenes look into the making of White Devil: Freedom is Coming, and we also get to see Leavold casting and scouting locations for The Taller They Come ahead of his eventual return.

The result is an expectedly somewhat chaotic and unfocused affair, broken up into chapters based on each of the 7 days he spent in Kumasi, as we basically share Leavold’s own sense of being a fish out water while he attempts to get his bearings. Anyone expecting a similar experience to 2013’s The Search for Weng Weng is definitely in the wrong place, but then Leavold’s love letter to Filipino B-movies took 7 years to put together, while what we have here was done in just 7 days, so it’s perhaps unfair to compare. With that being said, it soon becomes clear that Film Safari Ghana isn’t intended to be an in depth look into the Ghana B-movie scene, with Leavold himself writing on the Kickstarter page for The Taller They Come (which was successfully funded last week) that the documentary “doubles as the feature-length pitch video for our Kickstarter campaign”.

To that end, his latest paints a vivid snapshot of how the DIY action movie developed in Ghana, for which Ninja was a pioneer, and would soon find himself inspiring others to follow the same path. While Ninja himself tends to stay behind the camera in his movies, we also get to meet some of the actors who gained popularity from being in front of it. Most memorable is Emmanuel Afriyie, who played the title character in Ghana Ip Man, and we also get the lowdown on some of the other famous local faces like Andrew Ntul Mensah, who played Scorpion in Ghana’s own version of Mortal Kombat (it’s worth noting that it also has its own versions of Ong Bak, Terminator, and Rambo as well!). Leavold’s typically affable approach to the material is always a pleasure to listen to, and never falls into the trap of looking down on the productions, which in another filmmaker’s hands it could easily have gone down the path of.

If anything the least interesting parts of Film Safari Ghana are arguably the sections devoted to his upcoming production The Taller They Come. While I’m always a fan of ‘making of’ documentaries, Film Safari Ghana is in that odd position of focusing on a movie which is only in the pre-production stage, putting it in somewhat of an odd position from a narrative point of view. Theres what’s best described as something of a disconnect between the excitement Leavold expresses as he scouts locations and casts many of Ninja’s regulars, and the narratives inability to transfer that feeling of excitement to the audience watching. From that perspective the documentary could well be viewed in a different light once The Taller They Come has been released, when it’ll be possible to appreciate the part of the journey the documentary covers in hindsight, versus today when it’s detailing one which is still progress.

Hopefully that will would also give enough time to address the single biggest issue that Film Safari Ghana suffers from – the audio quality. While Leavold’s narration and the wealth of movie clips that populate the runtime are perfectly clear, the footage shot on location that features Ninja talking is practically inaudible. The workaround is to reach for the volume button whenever a clip of Ninja appears and crank it up, only to find yourself partially deafened whenever Leavold’s voiceover kicks in (or a movie clip plays), or resign yourself to not understanding a word one of the most important people featured in the documentary has to say (which is the option I reluctantly went for after jumping out of my seat one too many times trying to former). At the very least, subtitles need to be added to the sections shot in Ninja’s home where most of his interview footage is shot, as the audio does him a massive disservice.

The end credits confirm that The Taller They Come will be filming in Ghana during January and February 2025, so with much longer in the country than just a week, hopefully it’ll also offer Leavold the opportunity to gather more footage to flesh out his latest, a Film Safari Ghana: Redux if you will. As it is the 7 days he opted to throw himself into headfirst offers up a fascinating glimpse into a rarely seen corner of the world, one that grew up on a heady mix of Hollywood, kung-fu movies, Bollywood musicals, and spaghetti westerns. Watching the results of such a concoction from those like Ninja, for whom cinema became a lifelong passion, it’s difficult not to smile when you see how far an amount as small as $50 can go if the passion and drive is there. Credit to Film Safari Ghana for giving them their time in the spotlight, one which is well deserved.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6/10

The post Film Safari Ghana (2024) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Mifune: The Last Samurai” Theatrical Poster

Director: Steven Okazaki
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Koji Yakusho, Sadao Nakajima, Kyoko Kagawa
Running Time: 80 min.

By Kelly Warner

“The ordinary Japanese actor might need ten feet of film to get across an impression; Mifune needed only three.”

– Akira Kurosawa

Like many others, I have Godzilla to thank for first introducing me to Japanese movies. But when the day finally came for me to look beyond the kaiju and discover what else Japanese cinema had to offer, I started with the best: Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. And though I would eventually work my way through the entirety of Kurosawa’s filmography, the first thing I did after watching Seven Samurai was look up all other available Toshiro Mifune films on DVD in the States. In Seven Samurai, Mifune played the wannabe samurai Kikuchiyo, a roguish clown who starts out as the unloved stray dog of the group but ends up becoming the heart and soul of the film. It’s a marvelous performance, one so physical and funny that we don’t always notice the deep humanity until repeat viewings. What I learned over my years of searching out more Toshiro Mifune films is that fantastic performances were the norm for this actor. If I was asked to name the five greatest movie stars of all time, I can say that Mifune would definitely be on that list, and then I would spend a lot of time considering which other four would deserve to join him. So, considering all of that, the new documentary Mifune: The Last Samurai was pretty much a must see film for me.

Mifune: The Last Samurai doesn’t offer much new information to the actor’s biggest fans, but for newcomers it squeezes a good deal of information into its 80 minutes. Oscar winner Steven Okazaki’s documentary uses film clips, new on-screen interviews with Mifune collaborators and admirers, and rare behind-the-scene footage to tell Mifune’s life story. While it breaks no new ground for how such a film is put together, it’s still a handsomely produced documentary.

The film starts by showing us the history of the chanbara genre (samurai swordplay dramas) in Japanese cinema. This section includes some cool footage of silent samurai movies, many of which do not survive in their entirety today. From there the documentary shifts gears to WWII, in which a young Mifune trained pilots going off to war. Mifune was not a true believer in the goals of the Empire of Japan and told his soldiers to think more of their families than of the Emperor. When the war ended, Mifune hoped to use the skills his father taught him to become a cameraman’s assistant at Toho studios, but ended up becoming a movie star instead (quite by accident, according to some accounts). This section of the documentary shares a wealth of rarely seen images of Mifune’s youth, long before superstardom was ever part of the plan.

From there, we move into Mifune’s film career, which developed around the same time that director Akira Kurosawa was becoming a bigger name at Toho. Much time is spent detailing the working relationship between director and star, which is only right. It’s impossible to imagine many Kurosawa films without the inimitable Mifune, just as it is impossible to imagine Mifune becoming the same brilliant actor without Kurosawa. Their working relationship eventually soured, however, and they did not make another film together after 1965’s Red Beard. The documentary does not expressly state the reason for the falling out. Nor does the film go much into the attempts to patch things up, or the later roles that were seemingly written by Kurosawa with Mifune in mind.

Narrating the documentary is the voice of Keanu Reeves (John Wick Chapter 2). Some may take issue with Reeves’ narration, as he is very soft-spoken and monotone, but I had no problem with it. Reeves has a true love for the art of cinema, including martial arts cinema, and his inclusion in the documentary feels right to me.

Okazaki gathered an impressive list of interview participants for his film, including Mifune co-stars Kyoko Kagawa (High & Low) and Yoshio Tsuchiya (Seven Samurai), American admirers Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg (whose early film 1941 featured Mifune in a minor role), film critic Tadao Sato, modern Japanese movie star Koji Yakusho (13 Assassins), Mifune’s eldest son Shiro (After the Rain), and even Godzilla himself, Haruo Nakajima, who was a stunt player in earlier Mifune features. (Clint Eastwood, who played Mifune’s role in the Spaghetti Western remake of Yojimbo, A Fistful of Dollars, would’ve been a nice addition considering that movie solidified Eastwood as more than just a TV star. Also notably absent is Tatsuya Nakadai, who had second billing in many of Mifune’s finest films of the 60’s, and in the 80’s would play the roles in Kurosawa movies that seemed like they were written expressly for Mifune. But perhaps this is just the fan in me wishing for more, more, more.) All interviewees add their own take on Mifune, describing him as a consummate professional on the film set and something of a live wire when left to party. Though it does not spend a whole lot of time on the dark chapters of Mifune’s life, his tabloid scandals and his excessive drinking are among the topics of conversation.

In the film’s final moments, we hear a portion of Kurosawa’s farewell to Mifune that was read at the actor’s funeral (Mifune died in 1997 at age 77. Kurosawa died the next year at age 88). It’s an emotional moment… and then the film is suddenly over. It felt like there was much more that could’ve been said, not just on the topics already discussed but new topics as well. Much time is spent on chanbara at the start, but little is explored about how Mifune (and Kurosawa) reinvented the genre. Nor is there much said about Mifune’s lasting impact in cinema or the actors who took up the craft in his wake. That Koji Yakusho is the only modern Japanese actor in the documentary seems like an oversight.

When all is said and done, the documentary simply feels too short. Toshiro Mifune was a titan of cinema. More needed to be said about the man, his craft, and the movies he left behind (with the exception of the Samurai Trilogy, the movies not directed by Kurosawa only get brief mentions in the doc, if at all). What makes it puzzling is that the film is co-written by Stuart Galbraith IV, who wrote an epic 800-page book on Mifune and Kurosawa, titled The Emperor and the Wolf, so we know that there’s plenty more content that could’ve found its way into the film. Mifune: The Last Samurai is an entertaining documentary, one I’m sure to watch again sometime, but it doesn’t feel like much more than a well-polished special feature from a Criterion DVD. And, to be perfect honest, had it been released that way then I’m sure I would’ve been more forgiving to its shortcomings. Taken as is, it’s probably best viewed as an introduction to the actor’s legacy for newer fans. Mifune’s older fans won’t learn much that’s new to them, but it could make for a nice finale to your next Mifune movie marathon.

Kelly Warner’s Rating: 6.5/10

The post Mifune: The Last Samurai (2016) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“The Search for Weng Weng” Promotional Poster

Director: Andrew Leavold
Cast: Edgardo ‘Boy’ Vinarao, Don Gordon Bell, Rez Cortez, Imelda Marcos, Bobby A. Suarez, Marrie Lee, Imee Marco, Dolphy, Maria Isabel Lopez, Teddy Co
Running Time: 92 min. 

By Paul Bramhall

I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me, my first exposure to the 007 styled Filipino midget action star, Weng Weng, was when home video label Mondo Macabro released his 1981 action movie For Your Height Only, packaged with the Bruce Le flick Challenge of the Tiger, on DVD back in 2005. It’s one of those movies that really defies being able to do justice to with words. The bizarreness of watching a 2’ 9” primordial dwarf decked out in a sharp white suite, seducing ladies, jumping off the top of buildings, and getting into kung fu fights with the bad guys, amounts to 90 minutes that are difficult to look away from, even if you’re not really sure why.

However even at the time of the DVD’s release, information on exactly who Weng Weng was, and what became of him, was based purely on hearsay and rumours. Some sources said he’d declared himself the living incarnation of God and was leading a cult in the Philippines, others said he’d become a real life secret agent for the Philippines government, and others claimed he’d become a stand-up comedian that married an adult movie star. It was all urban legend, and the truth was, nobody actually had any idea who this mysterious Filipino midget was, other than a curiosity that starred in a handful of action movies and then disappeared as quickly as he’d arrived.

As it turned out, there was one person in the world who got so curious about discovering the truth of who Weng Weng really was, that he decided to do something about it. That man was an Australian gentleman by the name of Andrew Leavold, known down under as the guy behind Australia’s largest cult video rental store – Trash Video. Leavold’s store opened its doors in 1995, before finally closing shop in 2010, and in its 15 years of operation housed a selection of world cinema weirdness from every imaginable corner of the globe. Out of all of the titles stored under Trash Video’s roof though, it was Weng Weng that piqued Leavold’s curiosity the most, and in 2005 his odyssey began, booking a trip to the Philippines armed with nothing more than a Mini-DV camera and his enthusiasm.

For full disclosure, I contributed to the Kickstarter campaign that was set up to complete post-production on The Search for Weng Weng in 2013, however in no way profit from its release. My photo is in the end credits though – for approximately a fraction of a second. I was lucky enough to watch one of the first rough cut screenings of The Search for Weng Weng, which Leavold hosted on the Sunshine Coast in Australia during May 2013, playfully titled the Rough as Weng’s Guts version. Appropriately, it was shown in the basement of an old vintage store, which housed the remnants of Trash Video’s VHS collection. The sound mix had yet to be completed, so Leavold narrated the documentary in person armed with a microphone, and the runtime was still a little flabby around the edges. However it was clear to see that his journey had unearthed plenty of Filipino action cinema gold. The final version was released a little over a year later, and came in as a much leaner (and audio friendly) experience than those initial early screenings.

The Search for Weng Weng kicks off at the beginning of Leavold’s first trip to Manila, spanning what would become a 7 year journey of attempting to get to the bottom of what became of the Philippines greatest midget action star. In many ways, the time it took to complete Weng Weng’s story results in a finished product that feels just as much about Leavold’s mission to discover the truth, as it does the truth itself. This really works in The Search for Weng Weng’s favour, as it allows the audience to share Leavold’s joy as he manages to glean each new slither of information on Weng Weng’s life, none of which is ever just handed to him on a plate. From the opening scene, which sees one of his very first engagements in Manila addressing an audience of film industry folk in a cinema, his enthused requests to meet up with anyone that may have information on Weng Weng are met with a blanket of blank and bemused expressions.

It’s only after the engagement when Leavold is dejectedly strolling through the parking lot, that an unassuming gentleman asks him what he’s doing there with a camera. The gentleman happens to be Edgardo ‘Boy’ Vinarao, who casually mentions that he was the editor on most of Weng Weng’s movies, and just like that, the real journey begins. Like most things in life, Leavold’s chance encounter with Vinarao proves that the combination of luck and good timing is everything, and we’re soon following the director down into the rabbit hole of long forgotten Filipino action cinema. From sitting in on monthly gatherings of old-school stuntmen in shopping mall coffee shops, to hanging out with Imelda Marcos in her mansion to celebrate her 83rd birthday, Leavold’s delight and bewilderment at where his journey takes him is one that’s shared as the audience.

Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with Filipino action movies will no doubt get a kick of out of witnessing the sheer number of interviews contained within The Search for Weng Weng’s 90 minute runtime. For some, it would be their last, such as Bobby A. Suarez, the director of such B-movie classics as Cleopatra Wong and The One Armed Executioner, who sadly passed away in 2010. Cleopatra Wong herself is also interviewed, the still very much active Marrie Lee. Through the conversations Leavold has with the various members of the industry past and present, we not only get an insight into what Weng Weng was really like, but we also get a window into what it was like to work in the Filipino action movie industry back in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

The serious business of discovering the truth behind what became of the pint sized star is never forgotten though, and the more that gets uncovered, the more the initially quirky journey into the annals of Filipino movie history becomes a tale that seems destined to have a tragic ending. It would be a spoiler to reveal Weng Weng’s fate here, however Leavold does indeed follow his curiosity through to the end (for 7 years no less), eventually tracking down Weng Weng’s brother and learning the unequivocal truth behind what became of one of the Philippines smallest stars. It’s a credit to the way The Search for Weng Weng is edited that, even when the reality of Weng Weng’s short but memorable career is revealed, it never takes on a tone of self-pity or misery, instead choosing to focus on the brighter moments in his life.

One particularly amusing tale has the daughter of Imelda Marcos recalling how the first Manila Film Festival, which took place in 1982, was set to put the Philippines on the map as a country capable of making serious arthouse cinema on par with the rest of the world. However once it opened, the only movies that the many overseas distributors and buyers were interested in were those that starred Weng Weng, and most of the serious dramas that they’d intended to show off to the world were overlooked or ignored. Amusing as it is, it stands as proof that Weng Weng was indeed a bonafide star at the time his movies were being released, and was even invited to Cannes the same year as the Manila Film Festival, gracing the red carpet just as stars do today.

The time spent debunking the myths around Weng Weng is also far from time wasted. Did he really become a secret agent? Was he really considered a religious figure who people worshipped? As with so many urban myths, the claims in most cases only turn out to be half-truths, however when it comes to a 2’ 9” primordial dwarf who’s obsessed with kung fu, the remaining half is just as wild and entertaining as you’d expect. The same could be applied to The Search For Weng Weng as a whole, it’s an unknown journey into the unexpected, which is never anything less than entertaining, constantly propelled forward by Leavold’s unabashed enthusiasm to discover the truth, no matter how long it takes. When he does, the final product is one that not only serves to satisfy people’s curiosity about what became of Weng Weng, but also serves as a fitting tribute to his life.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8/10

The post Search for Weng Weng, The (2013) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Tracking the Dragon” DVD urover

Director: John Little
Writer: John Little
Cast: John Little, Malisa Longo, Jon T. Benn, Anders Nelsson, Riccardo Billi, Chaplin Chang
Running Time: 100 minutes

By Jeff Bona

Back in 2013, I reviewed a documentary titled In Pursuit of the Dragon, by noted Bruce Lee historian, John Little (A Warrior’s Journey). Unlike the most of the endless, oversaturated list of Bruce Lee documentaries – many of which featured the same tired footage, usual interview clips and other useless “talking heads” – I found Little’s In Pursuit of the Dragon to be refreshing because of its one-of-a-kind premise, which focused on the actual filming locations of Bruce Lee’s four completed films. To quote my review: Using footage from the actual movies to coincide with the ‘what the locations look like today’ is simply magical. Basically, I loved every minute of it.

When it was announced that MVD Visual was releasing Tracking the Dragon, another Bruce Lee-related project by John Little, I jumped at the opportunity to obtain an advanced copy. But when I finally got my hands on the DVD, I found its official description curiously familiar:

“Bruce Lee expert John Little tracks down the actual locations of some of Bruce Lee’s most iconic action scenes. Many of these sites remain largely unchanged nearly half a century later. At monasteries, ice factories, and on urban streets, Little explores the real life settings of Lee’s legendary career.”

After reading the above, I thought to myself: “This must be a repacked, retitled, double-dipped version of In Pursuit of the Dragon that’s being marketed as a “new” film to suck every last drop of profit from a product that’s over 3 years old.” And boy was I right…

Tracking the Dragon IS a repacked, retitled and double-dipped version of In Pursuit of the Dragon. However, I can honestly say that it has been repacked, retitled and double-dipped in the most positive way possible.

Here’s a list of the key differences between In Pursuit of the Dragon and Tracking the Dragon. Keep in mind that I didn’t watch them both simultaneously, but I did skim through In Pursuit of the Dragon moments after watching Tracking the Dragon, so think of the following as the most noticeable distinctions between the two:

• Tracking the Dragon has optimized audio and visual. Video footage has been remastered and now appears to have more of an High Definition look (even for DVD it pops on a 1080p TV). In comparison, In Pursuit of the Dragon looks fuzzy with lower audio quality.

• Tracking the Dragon is 10 minutes longer than In Pursuit of the Dragon. That’s not say it’s only 10 minutes longer. In other words, Tracking the Dragon is edited in a tighter, smarter fashion; with more overlaps and picture-in-picture effects, which essentially means more content per frame.

• Post-production work on Tracking the Dragon is a lot more professional-looking. Then and now-location footage gels together more cohesively. If In Pursuit of the Dragon appears to have taken 3 weeks to edit together, Tracking the Dragon most likely took 3 months.

• Tracking the Dragon features new/alternative shots, resulting in a different experience. It’s also injected with extra clips and photos, which give it much more depth than In Pursuit of the Dragon.

• New segments: Unlike In Pursuit of the Dragon, Tracking the Dragon doesn’t end with Enter the Dragon. Instead, we’re treated with extra footage of Bruce Lee’s Hong Kong house, Betty Ting Pei’s apartment (where Bruce passed away) and locations such as rooftops where a teenage Bruce used to street fight, Bruce’s famous parking lot photo shoot, and much more (won’t spoil it for you).

The bottom line: A better title for Tracking the Dragon would be In Pursuit of the Dragon 2.0. Sure, I can understand if some people will dismiss it as a double-dipper, but it all depends on how much you value newly added footage, as well as upgrades all across the board.

Considering Little and his team traveled all around the world to capture all this footage, a new and improved, longer, remastered version of an already-awesome project is worth $20 bucks to me.

Besides, it’s probably time for you to re-watch In Pursuit of the Dragon anyways – and if you do, you’ll want to watch it in the form of Tracking the Dragon to get the most out of your re-watching pleasure. If you haven’t seen either, then picking up Tracking the Dragon is a no-brainer.

Jeff Bona‘s Rating: 9/10

Read our In Pursuit of the Dragon review for more information.

The post Bruce Lee: Tracking the Dragon (2016) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“I Am Steve McQueen” Blu-ray Cover

Director: Jeff Renfroe
Writer: David Ray
Cast: Robert Downey Jr. (voice), Kristin Kreuk (voice), Chad McQueen, Gary Oldman, Zoe Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Randy Couture, Katherine Haber, Norman Jewison, Pat Johnson, Ali MacGraw
Running Time: 90 min.

By Kyle Warner

“You never know with a Hollywood star whether you’re seeing the real person. You know, everyone said that John Wayne was a great hero but the reality is that John Wayne played great heroes. With McQueen, you definitely got the idea that you were seeing an authentic person.” – Film critic Ben Mankiewicz

Produced by Network Entertainment, I Am Steve McQueen is another in the company’s line of documentaries looking back on the life and career of a talent from the past. I’ve not seen their I Am Evel Knievel or their upcoming I Am Chris Farley, but I have seen their 2012 documentary I Am Bruce Lee. The McQueen doc does not differ much from I Am Bruce Lee’s formula. Despite the title that might suggest the documentary is about McQueen’s life in his own words, his life story is primarily told by the family he left behind and the admirers he inspired

The film charts McQueen’s life from his tough childhood to his death at the age of 50 when he was one of the world’s biggest movie stars. As the documentary goes on, it touches on McQueen’s major films like Bullitt, The Great Escape, and Papillon, while also taking time to give his fans a better understanding of his personal life. And of course there’s the racing. Lots and lots of racing. I’d known Steve McQueen had a reputation as a car guy that dabbled in racing now and then, but before watching this documentary I hadn’t known that he was so serious about racing as a sport. There was a time in his career when you could say that he was a racer that also acted and not the other way around.

I think the film’s finest achievement is that does a good job of letting you that McQueen was more than just an actor; he was a highly skilled racer, a military veteran, and a very complicated human being. And I mean complicated. I Am Steve McQueen paints the actor as an incredibly competitive man. Friends from acting school remember him as considering all other blonde, blue-eyed actors as potential enemies. When he went onto bigger films, it seems he did all he could to steal scenes away from his co-stars so that he would leave the biggest impression on the audience (which is especially noticeable in The Magnificent Seven). McQueen wasn’t out to make friends in showbiz, but rather to make a name for himself. And he succeeded, giving us one memorable performance after another while simultaneously building an image for himself as the steely eyed, silent type anti-hero. Often times his competitive nature helped him rise to a level of stardom that other actors could not have reached. However, that same drive also ruined some relationships with artistic colleagues and loved ones. McQueen seemed to understand his competitive nature was leading him to the edge and he thought learning martial arts under the tutelage of Pat Johnson and Bruce Lee would help him to achieve inner balance. It would seem, based on three marriages and a multitude of fractured relationships with directors and co-stars, inner peace remained largely elusive for McQueen through much of his life.

There are many archival clips and images of McQueen throughout the documentary but the man himself grants very little information to the questions posed about his life and career. Instead, others are asked to fill in the gaps. Robert Downey Jr. serves as the film’s narrator, but like McQueen he is given very little to say. McQueen’s family lends information on his personal life and feelings over the years. Director Norman Jewison (The Cincinnati Kid), TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz, and biographer Marshall Terrill give us some history about McQueen’s films. And actors Pierce Brosnan, Gary Oldman, Zoe Bell, and Randy Couture gush with admiration about how McQueen inspired them and influenced the craft of film acting. It’s a lively group of individuals and the documentary is never boring, but I do think I Am Steve McQueen suffers from not enough of the man’s own words about his life. True, it seems McQueen was a quiet type off-screen as well as on-screen, but it still feels less complete than I would’ve liked. One of the things the documentary makes clear is that once McQueen had control over where he wanted his career to go, many of the characters he played told a little something about him. McQueen’s filmography is somewhat biographical, showing his youth on the mean streets, to his time in the military, to his love for cars and racing. So, while the documentary doesn’t give us too much of McQueen talking about himself, perhaps we can still learn something more about the man just by watching his movies.

The documentary spends too much time trying to explain how or why McQueen was cool. I guess I understand the reasoning behind it since he is known as the ‘King of Cool,’ after all. But I feel they returned to this part of McQueen’s mystique too often, leaving some of the interviewees to ramble on about his clothes, his eyes, and whether or not he would still be considered quite as cool if we just recognized him as some random guy and not the famous actor. It’s like they were attempting to explain the science of ‘cool.’ It’s entertaining at first, but only at first.

I was not a fan of I Am Bruce Lee. I felt it barely scratched the surface of the legend that is Bruce Lee, and instead was more focused on showing how Lee influenced others in their film or martial arts careers. I liked I Am Steve McQueen considerably more. Like the Bruce Lee documentary, I feel the McQueen film could’ve gone deeper. I don’t believe that McQueen’s bigger fans will learn anything new from the film. But it’s an entertaining documentary that covers all the major bases. More casual McQueen fans – like me – are more likely to get something out of the documentary, as it grants an interesting, honest look at the King of Cool. In the end, the documentary made me want to rewatch the McQueen films in my collection and check out some of the others that I missed. I figure that means I Am Steve McQueen accomplished what it set out to do.

Kyle Warner’s Rating: 7/10

The post I Am Steve McQueen (2014) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films” Theatrical Poster

Director: Mark Hartley
Writer: Mark Hartley
Cast: Olivia d’Abo, John G. Avildsen, Martine Beswick, Richard Chamberlain, Bo Derek, Lucinda Dickey, Michael Dudikoff, Robert Forster, Elliott Gould, Tobe Hooper, Dolph Lundgren, Franco Nero, Molly Ringwald, Robin Sherwood, Alex Winter, Franco Zeffirelli, Albert Pyun
Running Time: 107 min.

By Paul Bramhall

As a child growing up in the 80’s, I have fond memories of my early movie watching days. Often the TV would show commercials for late night movies to be shown way past my bedtime, and I would beg my parents to let me watch them. Over time a kind of pact was formed, my parents would record the movie on our recently bought VHS recorder, watch it themselves first, and if they thought it was suitable, they’d then let me watch it. However you should never underestimate a curious child. As these movies were almost always shown on a Friday night, I soon devised a plan which saw me waking up early on a Saturday morning, while my parents were still sound asleep. I would sneak quietly downstairs, close the living room door, and proceed to devour whatever had been shown a few hours earlier, long before my parents cautious eyes could cast their judgement.

Through these movies I encountered my first ninja, who came in the form of a possessed female yoga instructor, in what I would discover years later was Ninja 3: The Domination. Through these movies I was able to lay eyes for the first time on a fully naked female, a sexy alien who years later I would find out was Mathilda May in Lifeforce. And through these movies I learnt that the best way to deal with terrorists was to take a machine gun in each hand, and kill them like they’re going out of fashion, in what I would eventually realize was Invasion USA. While ninja possessed yoga instructors, sexy naked aliens, and Chuck Norris may not sound like they have a lot in common, the one thing these movies all share, is that they were made by the studio Cannon Films.

Cannon Films, responsible for corrupting my young innocent mind with images of sex and violence, also happens to be the topic of Australian film maker Mark Hartley’s latest documentary. Hartley, who gained international acclaim for his fantastic 2008 feature Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!, is an obvious choice to tell the tale of the late Menahem Golan and his cousin Yoram Globus, the men behind Cannon Films. While Not Quite Hollywood was a captivating watch, his follow up Machete Maidens Unleashed!, a look at the Filipino exploitation scene of yesteryear, was a disappointing letdown. For an industry that gave us such classics as Silip: Daughters of Eve, the midget action star Weng Weng, and not to mention the countless Filipino-Hong Kong co-productions featuring Bruce Lee lookalikes, the documentary bizarrely decided to focus purely on the US produced B-movie output championed by the likes of Roger Corman. Arguably the most uninteresting aspect of an industry filled with local tales and talent.

Thankfully, Hartley more than redeems himself with Electric Boogaloo: The Wild Untold Story of Cannon Films. It’s an entertaining 1 hour 45 minute journey, which covers the beginnings of Cannon Films from when it was a fledgling company under its founders Dennis Friedland and Christopher Dewey, to when Golan and Globus took over, which is arguably were the fun starts. The cousins from Israel had already developed somewhat of a reputation for themselves on their home soil as dependable film makers, even scoring a few hits, but their dream had always been Hollywood. So in the early 80’s that’s exactly where they found themselves, and the rest as you could say, is history.

Hartley’s documentary takes the approach of using that history, and whirling through what was a highly chequered era by breaking it down film by film, which will surely make anyone who’s watching immediately want to give the movies in question another watch. Some of the most entertaining highlights focus on the studios decision to try and create a similar system to what the Shaw Brothers had, with actors contracted into making several movies under one contract, in order to try and raise their outputs bankability. The ‘stars’ in question became Charles Bronson and Chuck Norris, and as it’s explained, it got to a point in which a new bunch of scripts for action movies would be delivered to the studio, and the casting staff would simply be asked to split them 50/50, half would be Bronson flicks, and the other half would be Norris flicks.

The documentary is brimming over with clips from Cannon’s back catalogue, and in all fairness probably contains more explosions, nudity, punches, Chuck Norris, and moments of bad acting than any standalone movie could ever hope to achieve. Hartley’s also rounded up a cast of over 80 talking heads to narrate us through the studios schlock filled history, from Michael Dudikoff (who whimsically recalls how, after starring in American Ninja, Golan promised he was going to be the next big star, he just had to “be patient”) to the former chief of MGM, Frank Yablans. Yablans was in charge when MGM made a deal to distribute Cannon’s movies, and even now seems to get riled up at the mention of the studio, drily recalling how Cannon provided them with nothing but trash and more trash.

There are some faces who are still around that no doubt fans will be disappointed to see don’t make an appearance. Chuck Norris himself, who starred in Cannon’s Missing in Action series and the Delta Force movies, is nowhere to be found, although to compensate there is plentiful archive interview footage, some of which amusingly sees him attempting to defend the violence found in the likes of Invasion USA. Sho Kosugi, the star who featured in Cannon’s ninja movies Enter the Ninja and Revenge of the Ninja, along with his son Kane Kosugi, are also both sadly missing from proceedings.  Most interestingly is an onscreen explanation at the end of the documentary that explains that both Golan and Globus were approached to appear but refused, instead going ahead and creating their own Cannon story in the form of Israeli director Hila Medalia’s The Go-Go Boys, which in typical Cannon style, arrived on screens before Hartley’s own could be completed.

Unlike their own version of events though, Hartley’s documentary successfully captures the fast paced nature of Cannon’s own output, creating a highly entertaining overview that manages to be both a love letter to the movies it produced, as well as maintaining a subjective view of the film industries opinion of the cousin’s infamous way or working. By the time the focus turns to Cannon’s demise, there’s almost a sense of melancholy as the studio tried to turn its fortunes around by buying the rights for the likes of the Superman franchise, and creating a sequel on half the budget they’d been advised would be required. Not to mention attempting to create an arm wrestling version of Rocky with Sylvester Stallone with Over the Top, and Dolph Lundgren also weighs in with his bemused memories of working on Masters of the Universe.

Above all though, Golan and Globus loved movies with an unwavering dedication, and no matter how bad their own were, there was never a moment when that love diminished. At one point a former Cannon staff member recalls telling Golan how things looked bleak, as they owed the bank 5 million dollars. He explains that Golan turned to him, furious, and began yelling, “Why do we owe the bank ONLY 5 million dollars!? We should owe the bank 100 million dollars, we need to make more movies!!!” While it was often misguided, the impression that’s left is one of the passion that went into Cannon’s output, and Hartley seems to have put an equal amount of passion into making Electric Boogaloo. If you’re a fan of Cannon Films, check it out, and if you’re not, give it a watch, and by the end of it you will be.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8/10

The post Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Bruce Lee: The Legend” Japanese Theatrical Poster

Writer: Russell Cawthorne
Narration: James B. Nicholson
Cast: Bruce Lee, Raymond Chow, Nora Miao, Linda Lee Cadwell, Hugh O’Brian, Betty Ting Pei, Gig Young, Chuck Norris, Robert Clouse, Chuck Norris, Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Andre Morgan, Fred Weintraub
Running Time: 88 min.

By Matthew Le-feuvre

In 1973, still fresh from the trauma of Bruce Lee’s abrupt and unforeseen death, Golden Harvest decided to produce a full length documentary entitled Bruce Lee: The Man, The Legend. Although its aim at the time was an unbiased attempt to show the real personality behind the mythical iconography. Unfortunately – admidst all the frantic hysteria; the obsessive behavior and shallow superstitions – this tribute feature ended up fueling an inferno of controversy, rather than dispel the waging tongues of discontent; namely the media, whom quite drunk on sensationalism, reviewed The Man, The Legend as “exploitive” and “capitalistic.”

Understandably, their argument was valid, particularly in regards to incorporating actual sequences of Linda Lee at the height of her grief, as well as extensive footage of Lee’s Hong Kong funeral service. On the other hand, it was a revealing glimpse of Bruce Lee’s humanity or immortality, via transcendence, but somehow Raymond Chow was targeted and pre-judged as an insincere man; an egocentric mogul determined too milk as much box office returns as possible from an all too eager public willing to exercise collective expenditure for the sake of their lost idol. The Same could be said of Lo Wei or the Shaw Brothers.

Sadly, Bruce Lee: The Man, The Legend intriguingly morphed into something by way of a double edged sword, an anaemic production that couldn’t really satisfy anyone at any conscious level, either with exclusive interviews, commentary or teasing wisps of ‘then’ unseen Game of Death footage or plot concepts for an unrealized philosophical treatise called The Southern Fist.

Various parts looked and felt as though they were hurriedly edited solely for padding without any significant continuity or explaination for insertion: Wong Shum Leung’s (Bruce Lee’s former second Wing Chun Sifu) Game of Death screen test, for example, is not entirely clarified on first viewing as it was predominantly staged on an interior Enter the Dragon set, featuring Wong and Lee’s adoptive brother, Wu Ng, sparring and performing close trapping techniques. Confusing as this may well be, if extra attention had been focused on proper narration and/or construct, perhaps critics would have been, moreover, receptive to this slightly muddled presentation.

Instead, for reasons of his own – be it creative, economic or financial – Raymond Chow decided to shelve The Man, The Legend indefinitely. However, a decade on, Golden Harvest executives again consigned themselves to remaking a broader, more in depth profile, albeit shortening the original title to just Bruce Lee: The Legend.

Freed from the convention of time and budget constraints, technical motifs of book-like chapter visuals and succinct, yet informative narration opens Bruce Lee: The Legend with a rousing musical score and a superb montage of Lee-action sequences. From there, it gently flows into a carefully edited kaleidoscopic gamut of ‘then’ rare footage, diversifying from Lee’s selected childhood filmography/U.S. television credentials to his subsequent Hong Kong film entries. Interspersed with unavailable stills/photographs and eye witness testimonies, personalities such as the aforementioned Raymond Chow and Nora Miao intimately discuss their friendship, as well as celluloid analogies between Lee’s life experiences and the pictures he made for Golden Harvest.

These absorbing insights not only celebrates Bruce Lee’s enduring legacy, but successfully differentiates the ‘Man’ from the illusion of ‘Star fodder’ – a commodity tagging or representation Lee personally found morose and superficial, as inferred to the late Pierre Burton.

Interestingly, all this mammoth responsibility fell into the capable hands of writer/producer, Russell Cawthorne (the very same man who cameoed in Game of Death ’78 as Billy Lo’s plastic surgeon), an introspective individual, who has often quoted that his associations with Lee were always one of electric.

Indeed, condensing a person’s life into a mere eighty minutes is understandably a challenging task to accomplish, yet Cawthorne’s enthusiasm and objectivity blooms within the context of this unique observation where latter biographies – obviously modeled on The Legend – seem mundane, paceless and absent of passion; bar exception is Toby Russell’s Death By Misadventure (1994), the extensive works of Walt Missingham and John Little’s A Warrior’s Journey (2005).

Today Bruce Lee: The Legend may appear dated and stylistically mechanical (no digital or CGI software here folks!), particularly for contemporary fans. Nevertheless, Cawthorne has left no stone unturned, especially when dealing with sensitive or controversial issues – Lee’s untimely passing or the unfinished Game of Death project: both ongoing and debatable subjects that emerge with regularity.

Still, despite the disadvantage of many alternative prints (some versions have omitted (A), Lee’s screentest; (B) certain Game of Death outtakes or (C) Enter the Dragon montage with revamped musical score.), nostalgically, Bruce Lee: The Legend is as ever a commendable examination into one of the most important, multi-faceted icons of the 20th century, brimming with edifying poise and (a) regality not found in current or extant documentaries produced on the “Little Dragon.”

Matthew Le-feuvre’r Rating: 10/10

The post Bruce Lee: The Legend (1983) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Put Up Your Dux: The Story of Frank Dux” Theatrical Poster

AKA: The True Story of JCVD Bloodsport
Director: Jesse Barrett-Mills
Co-director: Daniel Gallai
Cast: Frank Dux, Joe Fiorentino, Jeff Langton, Sheldon Lettich, Brian Thompson, Vic Moore
Running Time: 70 min.

By Jeff Bona

If you’re a fan of 1988’s Bloodsport, then you might be familiar with the name Frank Dux. If not – or if you’ve forgotten – here’s a refresher: In Bloodsport, the name of the character Jean-Claude Van Damme portrays is a guy named Frank Dux, a real life American martial artist who supposedly lived though the events portrayed in Bloodsport, hence the “Based on on a true story” tag that was slapped on the film’s initial VHS release. The main focal point of Bloodsport’s plot is Dux’ participation in a deadly, underground fight tournament known as the Kumite.

In most cases, when the name “Frank Dux” is brought up to a reputable martial artist, they’ll reply back by calling Dux a fraud, liar or con artist. Then you have that other small percentage of people, including four-time world karate champion Vic Moore, who says that Dux is “one of the top fighters today because of what he went through…” The next thing you know, you hear a rumor that Dux bought his martial arts trophies at a local trophy store.

In a series of archival footage and interviews – mostly from Dux himself – Put Up Your Dux: The Story of Frank Dux examines the highly debatable Dux story, and by the end of its 70-minute duration, it’s up to the audience to decide whether Dux’ life is fact or fantasy.

First and foremost, there’s no evidence of the Kumite ever existing. Many people, especially those in the martial arts community, believe that Dux made it up to sell a screenplay – but that’s just the tip of the ice berg. There’s a lot more to Dux than his supposed Kumite competition…

The controversial martial artist is also known for breaking bullet proof glass with his bare hands, as well as being a master of the “death touch,” (the ability to bare-handedly strike through layered thin bricks, only to break the bottom thick brick, leaving the first layer of thin bricks intact) which can obviously be a fatal technique if used against an opponent. Although there is no actual “film” of the Kumite, there is footage of Dux breaking glass and performing the “death touch.” However, skeptics dismiss the footage as being fake or staged.

Things get really strange when the documentary goes into Dux’ life as an undercover CIA operative, complete with propagana-like “home video” footage of Dux walking the Ukraine streets in a James Bond-like suit, as well as questionable interviews with anonymous Russian agents (via voice changer to hide their identities) who authenticate Dux as a legit secret agent. During these scenes, Dux clearly states that he was on a mission to recover biological weapons from terrorist organizations. In fact, he has even written his own book titled The Secret Man: An American Warrior’s Uncensored Story, which is described as “a true-life espionage account chronicles the exploits of a former CIA hitman who performed highly classified missions and who masked his covert operations under his international reputation as a martial arts black belt.”

Regardless if Dux’ life is fact or fantasy, Put Up Your Dux: The Story of Frank Dux is both an interesting documentary and a solid character study. One minute, it feels like a mockumentary; the next minute, you actually feel bad for the guy. For instance, during an autograph session at a martial arts convention in the 90s, Dux was knocked out by MMA fighter Zane Frazier (who was supposedly wearing brass knuckles). After the incident, Dux checked into a hospital to treat the injuries caused by Frazier, only to discover a massive tumor in his brain. As a result, Dux lost the use of one side of his body (including one of his eyes), which eventually led to memory loss. It was around this time that his wife aborted their child and divorced him. Additionally, he had to shut down many of his dojos due to his disability.

What really makes Put Up Your Dux: The Story of Frank Dux shine is the rare archival footage: Dux’ appearances on shows like That’s Incredible (circa 70s), obscure tabloid talk shows (circa 90s), news interviews, and even an HBO special that aired around the time of Bloodsport’s cable premier. Also featured are snippets from the “Dux vs. Van Damme” Court TV footage (In 1998, Dux filed a lawsuit against Van Damme, claiming that 1997’s The Quest was based off a 1991 screenplay he co-wrote with Van Damme which was then-called The Kumite: Enter the New Dragon).

Adding to its pacing are interviews with various acquaintances and friends, such as filmmaker Sheldon Lettich, who worked with Dux on Bloodsport, Lionheart, Double Impact and Only the Strong. At one point, Lettich explains that Dux “started becoming an embarrassment” on various film sets.

I was shocked to find out Put Up Your Dux: The Story of Frank Dux was panned by audiences. The negative response definitely has something to do with how it was marketed. In most countries, Put Up Your Dux: The Story of Frank Dux was changed to the totally misleading title The True Story of JCVD Bloodsport (click here to view artwork). To make things even more bizarre, the Blu-ray was released in 3D, which makes no sense at all. With a title like The True Story of JCVD Bloodsport, anyone would be disappointed if it wasn’t solely about Van Damme and the film Bloodsport. They should have called it Bloodsport: The Frank Dux Story – not only does this title make sense, it’s also highly marketable.

Put Up Your Dux: The Story of Frank Dux may not have the budget or slickness of a PBS documentary, so it has its production/editing hiccups here and there. Other than that very minor flaw, this film is highly recommended. Cheers to filmmakers Jesse Barrett-Mills and Daniel Gallai for making it!

Jeff Bona‘s Rating: 8/10

The post Put Up Your Dux: The Story of Frank Dux (2010) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey & Pursuit of the Dragon | DVD (MVD Entertainment)

Director: John Little
Writer: John Little
Cast: John Little, Bruce Lee, Malisa Longo, Jon T. Benn, Anders Nelsson, Riccardo Billi, Chaplin Chang
Running Time: 90 minutes

By Jeff Bona

If you’re a die hard Bruce Lee fanatic and you’re sick and tired of all the countless Bruce Lee documentaries that contain the same footage, usual interview clips and a bunch of other “talking heads,” then John Little’s In Pursuit of the Dragon is a film you don’t want to miss. It may not have any new or rare visuals of Bruce, but it does contain fascinating content that most fans will find both unique and educational.

The majority of Bruce Lee documentaries are decent, but once you get past the essential ones (Bruce Lee: The Legend, Death by Misadventure and A Warrior’s Journey come to mind), the rest aren’t worth your valuable time. Using the recent I Am Bruce Lee documentary as an example: Do we really care what Mickey Rourke thinks of Bruce’s abilities? So Kobe Bryant practices Jeet Kune Do, and? Should we really give a sh*t that an electro house musician was influenced by Bruce? Don’t get me wrong, these guys are talented, but they don’t belong in a Bruce Lee documentary. An interview with Gene LeBell or Danny Inosanto makes total sense, but Al Bundy? Come on. They might as well interview me.

So what makes Little’s In Pursuit of the Dragon so refreshing and different? In a nutshell, Little and a film crew travel to key locations where Bruce Lee’s four completed films were shot: Thailand (The Big Boss), Macao (Fist of Fury), Rome (Way of the Dragon) and Hong Kong (Enter the Dragon). To a casual Bruce Lee fan, seeing these locations may not seem like a big deal, but to an avid fanatic who has watched Lee’s films countless times, it’s a wondrous experience.

Using footage from the actual movies to coincide with the “what the locations look like today” is simply magical. The outcome is comparable to seeing what The Beatles’ Cavern Club looks like today; or even the actual location where John F. Kennedy was assassinated (not to sound crude or anything).

In addition to the then and now-location footage, Little provides interesting insights and commentary (i.e. what goes on in the The Big Boss “mansion” today). He even interviews obscure cast members, such as the bank teller and the Italian beauty from Way of the Dragon. Also, the current “real” manager of the The Big Boss’ ice factory provides a few anecdotes.

In Pursuit of the Dragon has been available in the UK for a few years, but it was recently released on DVD for the first time in the U.S. It’s currently available as a double feature along with Little’s other Bruce Lee documentary A Warrior’s Journey (read our review).

The bottom line: In Pursuit of the Dragon is a breath of fresh air. It made me want to cash out my savings account, get on a plane and head to Thailand so I can visit The Big Boss’ mansion. If there’s one negative thing to say about it, it’s the lack of then and now-location footage for Bruce’s final film, Game of Death. Other than that, I can’t recommend this film enough!

Check out the then and now screen shots below (If you think they’re cool, wait ’til you see them in motion):

Jeff Bona‘s Rating: 8/10

Read our review for Tracking the Dragon, which is essentially an updated version of this documentary.

The post Bruce Lee: In Pursuit of the Dragon (2009) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Red Trousers: The Life of Hong Kong Stuntmen” DVD Cover

Director: Robin Shou
Writer: Robin Shou
Cast: Beatrice Chia, Keith Cooke, Hakim Alston, Craig Reid, Sammo Hung, Mike Leeder, Lau Kar-leung, Wong Chi Man, Leung Chi Ming, Monique Marie Ozimkowshi, Jude Poyer, Ng Wing Sum, Ridley Tsui
Running Time: 93 min.

By Ningen

This review is based on a special screening of Red Trousers: The Life of Hong Kong Stuntmen, where Robin Shou is the guest of honor. Before the screening began, Dr. Craig Reid, one of the stuntmen, introduced himself as the white guy who got beaten up in many kung fu flicks. He said Robin would be late.

So anyway, in terms of style, Lost Time – a short, which was part of the documentary, to illustrate how stuntmen prepare for and ultimately perform in modern martial arts films – came off like a low-budget Blade, and did not deliver in terms of acting. If it was longer, they might have had a better chance to flesh out the characters. Although they did manage to slip in some decent dialogue at times.

There were too many close-ups on fight scenes, most likely in an attempt to market it to an American market. A lot of the footage was re-looped, which made it tedious. While the Lost Time wasn’t anything to cry about, the behind-the-scenes segments for the short helped appreciate what the stunt people went through to get a decent action sequence. The meat of the film is the documentary, where you learn about the trials and tribulations and personal lives of the stunt-people of all ages. You come to admire them for wanting to achieve their dreams in the face of failure; and you wince in pain every time they screw up a take and get hurt.

The more amusing segments in Red Trousers were the ones with Lau Kar Lung, where he proudly reminisces about the “good old days” of stuntwork, while they skip to B&W clips of what I assume were wuxia films (a lot of the “effects” in those clips are reminiscent of Flash Gordon, but the fight scenes are something any chop-sockyphile can relate to; they’re as energetic and coordinated as anything today). Lau himself talks about the hardships of working on the set where they constantly challenge you, from making you wear clothes which weren’t washed, to fighting without any padding.

But those pale in comparison to the hardships that former students in Peking Opera had to endure, from not being able to cry when doing a particular acrobatic exercise, to attending to their teachers each morning. Ironically, since Peking Opera is now voluntary, the hardships are outside of the school, as today’s students use their skills to seek better employment opportunities in the movies. The actual Opera performances involve more than just fancy choreography, but singing as well (you have to admire a guy who can flip very fast and sing in a high-pitch voice).

After the film ended, the audience (which was 3/4 full) applauded, and some drummers came in to play during the credits. Robin Shou finally shows up, and is wearing a green and white plaid shirt and white pants, and talks about how he had wanted to do a movie like Red Trousers for years, because he wanted to focus on his humble beginnings as a stuntman which gave him his chance in Hollywood. He talked about how many of the stunt-people worked for very little money, and cared more about their work than being paid extra. Plus he wanted audiences to be aware of the origins behind today’s HK-influenced films such as The Matrix and X-Men.

When asked about where Bruce Lee fit into the film, Robin said that he didn’t recall Bruce doing any opera work. His expertise was Wushu, Wing Chun and salsa dancing.

I asked Robin about Mortal Kombat 3 and any future projects. He said he wanted to do Mortal Kombat 3, but he joked that they didn’t know where to go with it, since The Matrix went everywhere. But his next project would involve Filipino stick-fighting in a cage match.

Finally, when asked about the opportunities for children in Peking Opera, he said they have as much of a chance to get a job as anyone in L.A. (which he called a city where 99.9% of the people are non-working actors). But what mattered to the students was being able to do something which would make their parents proud. Shou’s philosophy is that even when one isn’t working or practicing, they’re still developing themselves. So all in all, the experience was a positive one, as is the film. In an industry where there’s a lot of back-stabbing to get ahead, it’s refreshing to see a group of performers working together to insure a decent film.

Ningen’s Rating: 7.5/10

The post Red Trousers: The Life of Hong Kong Stuntmen (2004) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Chop Socky: Cinema Hong Kong” DVD Cover

Director: Ian Taylor
Writer: Ian Taylor
Cast: Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Lau Kar-Leung, David Chiang, Shih Kien, Gordon Liu, Cheng Pei Pei, Chor Yuen
Running Time: 55 min.

By Mighty Peking Man

After watching Ian Taylor’s Chop Socky: Cinema Hong Kong, I realize how much of a Hong Kong film connoisseur I’m not. The essence of this IFC produced documentary is that it digs deep into the beginnings of Hong Kong cinema, with well researched historical information and clips from some of the first Chinese films. It goes back from 1928′ Burning of the Red Lotus Monastery and 1949’s The True Story of Wong Fei Hung to the newer films that they inspired such as Drunken Master and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Dozens of action-packed scenes are showcased, covering everything from Shaw Brothers titles like Come Drink With Me, One-Armed Swordsman, and Magic Blade to Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury and Jet Li’s Once Upon A Time In China and many more. Honourable mentions include the renowned Shaw Brothers studios, King Hu, Chang Cheh, and of course, Bruce Lee.

There are trivia footnotes scattered throughout, such as the huge influence Japanese film had on Hong Kong cinema (like 1962’s Zatoichi) and Jackie Chan explaining how he became famous by being everything Bruce Lee was not. Common practices regarding the production of Hong Kong film are also explored such as camera techniques, special effects, and the usage of prop weapons. Lau Ka-Leung and Gordon Liu, two of the Shaw Brothers’ top stars, are shown doing some of these demonstrations.

The documentary is packed with interviews with some of Hong Kong cinema’s most influential players like Sammo Hung (Winners & Sinners), Lau Ka-Leung (Legendary Weapons of China), David Chiang (The New One-Armed Swordsman), Shih Kien (Enter the Dragon), Gordon Liu (36th Chamber of Shaolin), Cheng Pei Pei (Come Drink With Me), Chor Yuen (The Magic Blade) and many others.

I personally could have done without some of the X-Men and The Replacement Killers clips but they were obviously thrown in to justify the influence Kong Kong films have on popular Hollywood action films of today. For a running time of 55 minutes, Chop Socky: Cinema Hong Kong does a damn good job of giving the viewer a quick, but efficient insight into one the world’s most exciting cinema. I especially recommend this documentary to anyone who still hasn’t got into Shaw Brothers films, as they seem to be showcased more than anything, and that’s a good thing.

Recommended.

Mighty Peking Man’s Rating: 8/10

The post Chop Socky: Cinema Hong Kong (2005) Review first appeared on cityonfire.com.

“Bruce Lee: A Warrior’s Journey” American DVD Cover

Director: John Little
Writer: John Little, Bruce Lee
Cast: Bruce Lee, Dan Inosanto, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ji Han Jae, James Tien, Chieh Yuan, Taky Kimura, Linda Lee-Caldwell, Bey Logan
Running Time: 100 min.

By Joe909

If I had to make a top ten list of my favorite kung fu movies, the Game of Death footage Bruce Lee shot in 1972 would be in it. There’s just something cool about it. It has that funky ’70s kung fu vibe I like so much (like James Tien’s outfit), as well as the feel of a period martial arts movie, what with the pagoda sets and the classic costumes worn by the guardians. Man, I wish Bruce had finished the movie. But instead he took up Warner Brother’s offer to do Enter the Dragon, and never returned to his pet project Game of Death.

Ignore the bullshit rumors about Game of Death being a completed movie, but just hidden away from the public (because Bruce, of course, would have wanted it that way), or that there were multiple levels in the pagoda: Bruce fighting samurai, ninja, little green men, etc. All he shot was a few hours of footage, most of which consisted of outtakes. Only forty minutes of actual scenes can be assembled from this footage, and it is comprised of Bruce and his assistants, James Tien and Chieh Yuan, fighting Dan Inosanto, Ji Han Jae, and Kareem. There’s nothing else, save for some herky-jerky footage of Dan, Jae, and Hwang Ing-Sik (of Way of the Dragon) fighting karate students in a wooded area, but no one’s sure if this is “test footage” or was intended for Game of Death.

This documentary puts the footage together in the way Bruce Lee intended the completed film to be seen, as shown in his outline notes. John Little does a much better job than the Japanese company Artport did, in their 2001 production Bruce Lee in G.O.D. Artport basically showed everything Bruce shot, without any sense of cinematic timing. Literally, several shots begin in Artport’s presentation of Game of Death with Bruce and whomever he’s facing down just staring at the wall, waiting for someone to yell “action.” In their effort to show all of the footage, Artport forgot that a few seconds would need to be trimmed here and there to make it all look like a “real” movie, which is exactly what John Little managed to accomplish. I guess it helped that he had Bruce’s notes, whereas Artport did not. Apparently, the Artport presentation is what’s featured on the Hong Kong Legends Game of Death DVD release.

Warrior’s Journey spends its first hour inspecting jeet kune do. This part is interesting, but doesn’t have much re-watch value. Then we get to the good stuff. We learn Bruce’s story for Game of Death: he was to play a retired martial arts champion named Hai Tien, who is blackmailed by gangsters into retrieving some item from a pagoda in Korea, a pagoda that’s guarded by several expert martial artists. A simple story, for sure, but Bruce planned on loading it with multiple layers. Little’s book, which shares the same name as this documentary, goes into much greater detail about the story, even reproducing Bruce’s original outline and dialog notes.

From there we get a quick tutorial on who’s on the mission with Bruce: there’s Chieh Yuan, a simpleminded but strong karate expert. Then there’s James Tien, a duplicitous street fighter who greatly dislikes Bruce’s character. As a matter of fact, the book reveals many humorous dialog exchanges between the two that take place before the pagoda raid. There were to be three more assistants, one of them a white guy, another a drunkard locksmith, but Bruce never cast these roles, and besides, their characters were dead by the time they reached the third floor, Dan Inosanto’s domain, so Bruce never got a chance to film their scenes. We also learn that Bruce planned to have Hwang Ing-Sik as the guardian of the first floor, portraying a kicking expert, and Taky Kimura (one of Bruce’s students) as the guardian of the second floor, portraying an exponent of a preying mantis/wing chun hybrid style.

The assembled footage begins with Dan Inosanto cleaning the floor with James Tien. It seems that a few seconds of footage proceeding this, consisting of Chieh Yuan attacking Inosanto with a log, and Inosanto responding by thrashing Yuan, has gone missing over the years. All that’s left of this footage are a few seconds from the 1978, Robert Clouse-directed abortion Game of Death and the 1984 Golden Harvest documentary Bruce Lee: The Legend. What happened to this footage is anyone’s guess.

The remaining footage itself is all action, so don’t expect much dialog. It’s mostly just the pagoda guardians tearing up Chieh Yuan and James Tien, only to have their asses handed to them by Bruce. But Bruce isn’t the superhuman he is in his other movies, taking down twenty men without breaking a sweat. Here he’s facing foes almost as good as he is, and each of them give him a run for his money. It is pretty cool how he gives Dan Inosanto such a hard time, though. Bruce’s character in this was much different than any he’d portrayed before; in some ways, he seems to be playing himself, all cocky and self-sure. He sure as hell isn’t playing Tang Lung, the humble character from Way of the Dragon, so ignore the rumors that GOD was intended as a sequel to that film, as well.

But despite the fact that this is mostly forty minutes of guys punching and kicking at each other, this footage still contains some of the best, most realistic martial arts ever put on film. Bruce was way ahead of his time, and this kind of on-screen combat will always look better than that sped-up, hanging from wires, shot-from-twenty-angles Matrix shit. It looks better because it looks real. And even though it’s mostly action, Bruce still found a way to inject a lot of comedy and even drama into the mostly dialog-free scenes. I laughed out loud several times at the expressions Bruce and James shoot at each other throughout the footage.

The fights are, of course, much more fleshed out than as shown in Clouse’s movie. We even learn that Kareem’s character is some sort of demon or something, which explains his fear of sunlight. Speaking of which, this is the one and only area in which Artport presented the footage better: at the end of Bruce and Kareem’s fight, Kareem loses his sunglasses, and we see his eyes. Bruce shot two versions of this scene. In one, Kareem has blood-red eyes. In the other, he has lizard eyes. Little chose to go with the “red-eye” look, whereas Artport went with the scarier, and more effective, “lizard eyes.”

My only other complaint with Warrior’s Journey is that Little had Kareem and Jae dub their own voices. Inosanto was approached to do the same, but declined; instead, he provides his voice to the Artport production of Game of Death. But it is very apparent that Jae and Kareem are not actors; their vocal delivery is sub-par. Jae in particular butchers the English language in a way never before witnessed. I guess Little had these two dub their voices for the sake of legitimacy, but it’s obvious Bruce wouldn’t have used them. I mean, he didn’t even have Chuck Norris dub his own voice in Way of the Dragon, and Bruce himself didn’t dub his own voice in any of his movies.

Bruce was at the top of his game, choreographing and directing this footage. The shots where James Tien is upstairs fighting a losing battle against Kareem, while Bruce continues his battle against Ji Han Jae downstairs, really proves how capable of a director Bruce was. And the film gives you a great look at Bruce’s jeet kune do principle of offensive defense; Bruce defends himself from countless strikes by harming his opponent. This is one of the few kung-fu movies where you can actually learn some moves while being entertained at the same time.

You just can’t get much cooler than Bruce Lee. And nowhere did he look more cool than in Game of Death. That yellow and black tracksuit with matching sneakers burned an indelible image into my brain when I was a kid: it was and still is the coolest costume I’ve seen in a martial arts movie. Bruce looked like a living cartoon super-hero; sleek, hip, and bad-ass.

Had it been completed, Game of Death would’ve been one of the greatest kung-fu movies of all time. There’s something just downright awesome about Bruce’s original vision for it. I’ve wanted to know the full story behind it since I was a kid, and now finally I do. I’m ecstatic that Warrior’s Journey has finally been released. It was supposed to come out in April of 2001, and when it didn’t, I was glad that I’d spent $40 for a bootleg copy of the pre-release a few months before. The DVD and VHS were officially released in July of 2002, and the book came out a month later. So throw away your copy of that shitty 1978 production starring Dean Shek and “Tang Lung” that dared call itself Game of Death, and revel in what could have been.

Joe909’s Rating: 9.5/10 for the documentary, 10/10 for the footage itself

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