The Man from Hong Kong (1975)

Oh yeah! This is almost to good to be true! The Man from Hong Kong was one of Golden Harvest's international projects, this time with Australias action-master Brian Trenchard-Smith behind the wheels. Jimmy Wang Yu and George Lazenby is the hero and the bad guy, and then there's a couple of aussie actors that dosen't to so much than bitching how Jimmy Wang Yu is breaking the australian laws all the time.

The story is... thin. It begins with a drug/money exhange at the Ayers Rock, it's Sammo Hung in a black polo who get's to fight on top of the rock, which of course is spectular. He's arrested and inspector Fang Sing Leng (Wang Yu) is coming from Hong Kong to bring him home again... but they don't get far until Sammo is killed! Everything leads to the wealthy businessman Jack Wilton (George "The Man" Lazenby) and his army of Kung Fu-thugs! And they all want inspector Fang Sing Leng!

Yes, I know. It dosen't sound like much. But wait... let's see here. During this movie you will see: a helicopter/car-chase, a fight on top of Ayers Rock, a big fight on a cocktail-party, a city-chase that ends in a total demolition (by hand) of a chinese restaurant, a huge fight where Wang Yu takes on ten guys, a skyscraper-climbing, some brutal beatings, a fantastic car-chase (with three cars and one motorcross), two scenes of fight training where Lazenby and Wang Yu shows who the boss to their men... and a lot more! Trenchard-Smith surely knows how to make great action, and this is an excellent example where classic Hong Kong-action is melted together with western action. Did I mention it's quite bloody to? And it even has a Happiness-montage! Something for everyone!

Jimmy Wang Yu is a weird hero. He's perfect in the role, but he always look like an angry twelve year old boy. And that's creepy when he's making sweet sweaty (very sweaty, just check his skin!) love to a couple of busty blondes! He fights well for not having any (or at least very little) eduction in martial arts. It looks good anyway! George Lazenby is wonderful as his small role has the main bad guy. He has three fight scenes and really shows that he could fight and does it brutal and well. In the end fight (which is marvelous, but to short) he seem to make his own stunts - including something that looks like a dangerous fire-stunt! It looks impressive.

I'm so impressed by this slice of Ozploitation. It's looks like a million bucks, and have more violence that money can buy. It even has a catchy theme song, "Sky High" performed by Jigsaw. The only bad thing is that it ends... and a couple of minutes of a very unnecessary love story. The german dvd is easy to get, is uncut and looks okey. Not a fantastic transfer, but enough for me.

There's no excuse really. You NEED to own this movie.