User Reviews

Real-life Triad and former HK no.1 action star Wang Yu, plays a fictional Triad boss who's the leader of the Red Lantern gang in China begin of '900. He kidnaps a famus lady, but she succeeds in making him a patriot. Just another one in the line of low-budget actioners Wang Yu made in Taiwan after he divorced in a no-friendly way from HK's Shaw Bros. It was released in Taiwan 8/2/72 and directed by War-movies specialist Ting Shan Hsi (who also made 800 HEROES, a sort of THE LONGEST DAY of Taiwan cinema). Stuntmen actors Shan Mao and Lung Fei are also in this, as they were in almost any Kung-Fu production made in Taiwan, from Wang Yu's to Bruce Li's vehicles. The action scenes are standard swinging-arm fare. For Wang Yu completists only.

It starts with people running around in the dark. The Red Lantern gang is robbing, raping, and murdering. The police have guns but seem ineffective. The gang detains the opera troop. The Madam reminds them they claim to rob the rich and give to the poor but it seems they have forgotten their mission statement. Jimmy Wang Yu gets her point and escorts the lady to the performance. Yes, he is smitten.

The plot of Madam's abduction defies any reality but nevertheless she is abducted. Jimmy's first fight is a brawl at the opera and the furniture is reduced to kindling. The plot continues with Madam changing Jimmy from a bandit to a patriot.

The story takes place in the warlord period of China in the early 1900s so firearms are historically accurate. I always complain that firearms and martial arts should not coexist in movies. At about the 45 minute mark the first gunfight happens and the counter attack is bows and arrows.

My copy is a typical VHS transfer that plays on a HDTV as a square picture. The resolution is comparable to standard DVD. It is dubbed in English by the A team of voice overs.

After breaking his Shaw Brothers contract and going to Taiwan, Jimmy got busy and made about a movie a month between 1971 and 1972. For all those movies to be good would be impossible. I give him credit for at least half of them to be above average for the year and genre. This is not one of the better ones. The military characters are more stupid than bad guys. The story does not hold my attention. The action involving the guns is "Bang, you are dead" and nothing more. The martial arts is all brawls but that's okay because Jimmy does brawls better than anyone. This movie is simply for fans of Jimmy who want to watch all of his movies to say they did, like me. I rate is just below average for the year and genre.