Fat City

Starring:Stacy Keach, Jeff Bridges, Susan Tyrrell, Candy Clark, Nicholas Colasanto, Art Aragon, Curtis Cokes, Sixto Rodriguez, Billy Walker, Wayne Mahan, Ruben Navarro, Ãlvaro LÃ³pez, Carl D. Parker, Al Silvani
Director: John Huston
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com essential video

Jeff Bridges stars as an amateur boxer on a brief rise who catches the eye of an aging pugilist (Stacy Keach) heading downward in this 1972 film by John Huston and based on the novel by Leonard Gardner. Keach becomes the younger man's mentor, and the two hit central California's tanktown circuit of small matches for small money, interspersed with visits to smoke-filled bars and hellish gyms. Theirs is a cut-rate dream, all right, but as real and driving--and finally just as punishing--as the mythical black bird itself in Huston's The Maltese Falcon. The cast is outstanding, the cinematography by Conrad Hall stunning, and the climax one of Huston's most painfully memorable. The story is filled out by surrounding detail that never leaves the memory: boxers and trainers who whisper of injuries that could put them out of business for good; a lone fighter who takes a bus into town, bides time in a crummy motel room, takes a beating in the ring, then leaves on the next bus with a few dollars in his pocket. This film helped re-establish Huston's reputation as a major filmmaker. It was followed by the likes of The Man Who Would Be King. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

proves why John Huston was one of the finest film directors ever.......2007-07-05

First off, I just wish amazon reviewers would stop revealing so much of the plot. Not only that, it seems one reviewer after another tends to go over the same ground and revealing way more than they should--thus ruining it for those who have yet experienced the film.

Please think of those who would like to see the tale unfold for the first time without having had so much explained and the film "spoiled" for them.

Anyway, no more preaching. You know what it's about: a couple of fighters with big dreams and little ability to make those dreams happen.

It's brilliantly directed (by a former boxer himself) the late, great John Huston. Kudos to the cast and writer.
The ending is also memorable and stays with you. Once again, a tip of the hat goes to the film's helmer for having had the courage to do it this way.

Fat City.......2007-07-03

In "City," a return to form for Huston, the director presents a spare, bleak portrait of humanity on the skids in the world of small-town boxing. Not easy or pleasant to watch, the film's impact sneaks up on you, as Huston's spot-on evocation of this down-and-out world eventually creeps under your skin. The acting bar is set high, with Keach believably tragic in the central role, and Tyrrell stealing the picture (and nabbing an Oscar nod) as the bitter, broken down Oma. Though by Hollywood standards a "small picture," "Fat City" still scores a knock-out.

Lives of quiet desperation..........2007-02-19

Every few years I reread Leonard Gardner's novel, "Fat City" and am awed by how vividly it paints a world of men and women whose lives are going nowhere. Over a hundred and eighty-three pages, divided into twenty-four chapters, each one a model of economy and precision, Gardner manages to say something about defeat that most writers wouldn't be able to convey in twice that length. After every reading of the book, I end up seeking out John Huston's film hoping it will somehow match the brilliance of Gardner's prose. It never does. But it comes pretty close.

The story of "Fat City" involves two men, both boxers, who are at different points on the same arc. Billy Tully has had a brush with a modicum of success but has long lost whatever gift took him even that far. Ernie Munger, ten years younger, has his youth to award him a glimmer of hope but more than likely he will be lucky to achieve even the level of mediocrity Tully climbed to. Interconnected with these two characters are the women they become involved with and the usual boxing hangers-on - the trainers and managers whose meager dreams are built on the Billy Tullys of the world. There is very little plot to speak of, the narrative following Ernie's entry into boxing and the responsibilities of adulthood, and Tully's last few grasps in the ring to rise above the laborers he picks vegetables with at ninety cents an hour.

Whereas the novel is able to directly express the inner lives of its characters by sharing their thoughts and histories, the film is forced to leave much of this content out, relying on visual details presented through Conrad Hall's brilliant cinematography to create its texture of lives gone to seed. The film's screenplay, also written by Gardner, takes its dialogue directly from the novel. Both the novel and film are more about mood or tone rather than plot. There is no conflict or tension to propel the narrative forward. Nothing much happens. We are just given a glimpse into a world. The novel's superiority might be due to the slightness of the story flattening out even more on screen.

The performances in the film are exceptional, with Susan Tyrell, Stacy Keach and Nicolas Colasanto being particularly outstanding. One minor complaint would be that for a film that strives for realism, many of the boxing sequences, particularly those involving Jeff Bridges, are somewhat unconvincing.

Some works of art, for whatever reason, touch you at a level that transcends their actual merit. For me "Fat City," both the novel and the film, achieve greatness because they are examples of that type of art.

Note to "Review" writers, esp. Mr. Hare:.......2007-01-29

This is not a review,but a request that "reviewers" stick to reviewing, and refrain from writing pointless plot outlines. That only detracts from the viewing pleasure of others, who have not yet seen the film - it is NOT the same thing as writing a review! A review could be defined as "a new appraisal or evaluation", or "an essay or article that gives a critical evaluation". By the way, this movie is not an "epic", as Mr. Hare states - far from it. It's a portrait of desperation and failure, a realistic portrayal of life at the bottom of the boxing game. The performances are terrific; the settings in 70s Stockton's rundown bars and coffee shops vary from garish to bleak, but all are a perfect matrix for the confusion and despair of the characters. If you haven't already read Mr. Hare's long "spoiler", don't bother - watch the film instead.

The seedy side of the ring game.......2006-02-28

Directed by John Huston, this movie is about an over-the-hill boxer (Stacy Keach) and a young protege (Jeff Bridges) who hasn't the talent to make it anywhere near the top, but he doesn't know it yet. Keach captures well (without overdoing it) the man who is on the way down and falling fast but can still hang on to a few dreams. The difference between Keach and Bridges is that Keach learns (finally) that they are just dreams while Bridges remains disillusioned (mainly by his youth and lousy manager [Nicholas Colasanto]) and thinks that the dreams may come true. They never will. The boxing scenes are well photographed. At times the acting is stiff and forced, but the sad and poignant ending is the perfect closer for this fine movie.

Average customer rating:

Thicker Than Water
Blew me away...
THIS WAS SUPRISINGLY WATCHABLE
must buy for fans of gangster movies
One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Thicker Than Water
Starring: Mack 10 , Fat Joe , Ice Cube , MC Eight , and CJ Mac
Director: Richard Cummings Jr.
Manufacturer: Palm Pictures / Umvd
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00003PE91
Release Date: 2000-01-11

Customer Reviews:

Thicker Than Water.......2007-01-12

My son loves this movie. Glad to find it on Amazon. Great price.

Blew me away..........2004-08-12

I expected some kinda low budget type of flick but it was kick ass. This type of ish really happens. If you think this movie is a gansta fantasy, you ain't never been in the game. Mack 10 and Fat Joe are surprisingly good actors. Wish there was a part 2.

THIS WAS SUPRISINGLY WATCHABLE.......2003-12-19

TWO GANG BANGERS [MACK 10 & FAT JOE] ARE IN RIVAL GANGS. BUT, THEY SOON BECOME BEST FRIENDS. DEFINITELY BETTER THAN MOST OF THE OTHER RECENTLY RELEASED GANGSTA MOVIES. FEATURES A LOT OF RAPPERS, SUCH AS; ICE CUBE, MC EIHT, B-REAL, CJ MAC, BAD AZZ, K MAC FROM THE COMRADZ, AND MANY MORE. IT HAS SOME PRETTY GOOD ACTION SCENES. IT WAS AN ALRIGHT MOVIE, DESPITE THE FACT THAT A LOT OF THESE RAPPERS CAN'T ACT. A PRETTY WORTHY ATTEMPT.

must buy for fans of gangster movies.......2003-04-25

this movie is not bad at all it is good funny and dramatic i think its better than menace to socioty its not that voilent it focoses more on the story which i like although they could of swaped mack 10's role for ice cube's because ice cube is only in it for 10 minutes

One of the worst movies I've ever seen.......2003-04-13

... It's not only bad. It's annoyingly bad. Some bad movies make you laugh. This makes you want to throw your tv out the window. It's full of every hip hop cliche you can think of. And I like hip hop. It's just a gangsta video fantasy made into a feature film. A lot of rap artists are in it (ones I like too, like B-Real and MC Eiht). But it makes no attempt to be more than a genre film, and a bad one at that. You want to watch a good urban gangster style movie? Check out Fresh or Ghost Dog, or even Menace to Society. Those are artistic movies. Anyway, I'm just [upset] this one keeps popping up on my searches because I want the surf movie 'Thicker than Water', not this ...

Average customer rating:

An unpretentious quality thriller with a side-order of fatalism on the rocks
LOL~!
Good Hong Kong Police Film
good film...
Great movie, good dubbing job, totally worth it

City on Fire
Starring: Yun-Fat Chow , Danny Lee , Yueh Sun , Carrie Ng , and Roy Cheung
Director: Ringo Lam
Manufacturer: Dimension
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ASIN: B00005BABM
Release Date: 2001-07-17

Amazon.com

Although many Hong Kong action fans have criticized Quentin Tarantino for stealing the premise of Reservoir Dogs from Ringo Lam's 1987 hit City on Fire, those accusations do a disservice not only to Tarantino--who vastly improved upon every scene he "borrowed"--but also to Lam and his charismatic star, Chow Yun-fat, whose talents were evident long before they were lured to Hollywood. City on Fire may seem overly familiar now, with its standard undercover-cop-befriending-the-bad-guys scenario, but it remains a first-rate example of Hong Kong urban-action drama, and as a star vehicle for Chow it's a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. The shootouts and chase scenes are as good as anything Hollywood offered in the late '80s, and the chaotic environs of Hong Kong provide an exotic backdrop that further enhances the routine plot line.

Chow plays the undercover cop, still agonizing over his betrayal of a criminal friend during a previous case; when he's asked to infiltrate a gang of violent thieves, his rapport with one of the gangsters threatens the integrity of his assignment. While his superiors battle among themselves (one protects Chow, the other pursues him), director Lam keeps it all ticking along with surefire pacing and an amusing subplot involving Chow's dissatisfied fiancée. The film is fascinating to watch for its obvious precedents to Reservoir Dogs (including a climactic "Mexican standoff" between the untrusting criminals), but it's best appreciated as a showcase for Chow, who's instantly captivating from the moment he appears onscreen. (Note: Disney's DVD release of City on Fire greatly improves upon the poorly translated subtitles of all previous DVD releases.) --Jeff Shannon

Description

Internationally renowned superstar Chow Yun-Fat (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON; THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS) delivers an electrifying performance in this hard-hitting big-screen thrill ride! An undercover cop sent to infiltrate a notorious crime ring, Ko Chow (Chow Yun-Fat) must replace a fellow officer who was killed in a violent confrontation. But, as he earns the trust of the syndicate, he develops a tight friendship with one of the thieves. Then, when a planned heist turns into a bloody shoot-out with police, suspicions arise about who the informant could be. As friendship and loyalty clash with duty and honor, you'll be riveted by the explosive power of this intensely entertaining motion picutre!

Customer Reviews:

An unpretentious quality thriller with a side-order of fatalism on the rocks.......2007-04-26

Famed among Tarantino's admirers and detractors alike as the film that inspired/was ripped off by Reservoir Dogs, Ringo Lam's City On Fire doesn't really provide much in the way of fuel or ammunition for either camp: in truth, it's a very different animal with only the last ten minutes bearing much resemblance to the massively-chinned fading wunderkind's breakthrough movie. Nor is it quite the classic of Asian cinema it is often held to be (presumably by those who haven't seen it considering how often it is wildly inaccurately described), but rather a solidly crafted Hong Kong cops and robbers flick that does its job well for 104 minutes but doesn't exactly sear itself on your memory. Yes, it does end up in a warehouse with three crooks having a Mexican standoff over an undercover cop bleeding to death from a stomach wound on the floor, but the bulk of the film is concerned with Chow Yun Fat's undercover cop trying to quit but forced into that fatal one last job infiltrating Danny Lee's gang of cop-killing jewel robbers.

Budget restraints restrict the amount of action, though what there is is typically well-handled, while as a dramatic character study it is somewhat diluted by the clumsy comedy with Chow's fiancée and the signs of the usual making-it-up-as-we-go-along Hong Kong thriller screen writing that sees Lee's character change from stylish city slicker in the robbery scenes to a rather more simple-minded working Joe as he and Chow bond while hiding out before the last big job. It's not too strong on logic either, with some of the police too happy to torture one of their own and conspire to arrest him for it not to seem like stretching dramatic contrivance to breaking point at times. Yet for all that, on its own terms it works as exactly the kind of audience picture it was intended as - an unpretentious quality thriller a couple of notches above the production-line norm for the genre with a side-order of fatalism on the rocks.

While there are a lot of problems with Tai-Seng's DVD (subtitles chief among them), unlike the Dimension DVD it's not the dubbed version and unlike the Hong Kong Legends UK DVD it hasn't had the color regraded from the cinematographer's original intentions.

LOL~!.......2006-02-05

If you want UNCUT ORIGINAL version, ALWAYS look for ORIGINAL LICENSED Production. NOT US Release. Its a foreign film, it should not be US version to begin with~! HELLO!!!?? Why settle for LESS with US Version where they edit and cut so many excellent scenes especially with Jackie's Fighting Scenes. And US Release ruins the speed and sound as well.I found HK Version to be MUCH MORE in enjoyable, and HIGHER in Quality. American Market always like to "Americanize" and "Control". Regional Code Regulation thing is one of the example to CONTROL the Market. Why not let everyone enjoy the same HK Original Release move the same way REST OF THE WORLD enjoys it ?? No one makes Hollywood American movies to "French version" or "Chinese Version" ~! This what Americans are doing~! Well, enjoy the cheap "American version" then~! LOL

Good Hong Kong Police Film.......2005-11-07

I would have preferred to have seen this film in it's original Mandarin language track but I do not feel it is necessary to knock this edition. I also take the unfashionable opinion that "Reservoir Dogs", Quentin Tarantino's homage(not rip-off) to "City on Fire", is the better of the two films. "Reservoir Dogs" beats this film in terms of style and characterization if not completely original. That said, this is a highly engaging film. It has a compelling central premise of a police undercover operative who not only has to fear the crooks he's infiltrating but his superiors who view him with contempt. There is action here for sure but it doesn't subvert the story. I recommend this film for any fan of Hong Kong action films but if a Mandarin edition becomes available check that out instead.

good film..........2005-08-14

this movie is most notable for being ripped off by quentin tarantino when he made 'his' film reservoir dogs. quentin=hack. this movie is much better, but don't watch it if you like reservoir dogs or quentin tarantino because you'll never view him or the movie the same way again.

Great movie, good dubbing job, totally worth it.......2005-04-27

Movie: I finally got around watching one of Asian cinema's finest classics, Ringo Lam's "City on Fire." I must say I was really impressed. The film starts off on a little shaky ground but soon gains its footing and takes off when Chow's character (also named Chow) reluctantly goes undercover. I really like the scenes where he's first tailed and then actually *hunted* by rival cops who seem to want nothing short of him being dead. The ending is just incredible, not just the fireworks, but the way loyalty plays out. The film is worth watching just for the last 30 minutes, although the rest is also well-paced and the part with the girlfriend thing is a little boring but does add dimensions to the Chow character, thanks to Chow Yun-fat's good acting.

DVD: I know I'm not a purist when it comes to foreign films, and I usually don't like subtitles (esp. chop suey subtitles), so forgive me for saying I actually liked the dubbing job on this one. There's no Chinese soundtrack on this at all, just English dub. I thought the voice actors did a pretty good job, much better than any other dubbed foreign film I've seen. The ADR remix was also really good, and they even have an English song worked into a nightclub scene. I'm usually turned off by the high-pitched and cacophonous audio effects of Hong Kong films, but the American remix engineers did a very nice job at pairing surround sound audio with the great visual experience Ringo Lam has given us.

Average customer rating:

Mildly Diverting Hong Kong Cop Flick
It's All About Chow Yun Fat and Ti Lung
mid-eighties cheese action film
Entertaining

City War
Starring: Yun-Fat Chow , Lung Ti , Niu Tien , Norman Chu , and Mary Hon
Director: Chung Sun
Manufacturer: Tai Seng
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: 6305371539
Release Date: 1999-04-27

Description

Top cops team up in a deadly battle with a drug-dealing maniac out on a rampage.

Customer Reviews:

Mildly Diverting Hong Kong Cop Flick.......2005-12-11

This film has a decent enough premise of a hot-headed Hong Kong cop (Ti Lung) being persued by the drug lord he sent up for 10 years. Added into the mix is the cop's mediator buddy (Chow Yun-Fat) whose trying to broker a peace between the two while simultaneously romancing the drug lord's girlfriend. What this film lacks is a certain pizazz. There's a certain workmanlike quality to the direction of the film, competent but nothing special. The action scenes even have a humdrum quality to them. You find yourself imagining what if John Woo had directed this film. Or would he have passed on the material? Nevertheless, the two leads give excellent performances which elevate the film from the merely mundane.

It's All About Chow Yun Fat and Ti Lung.......2001-07-19

With any other actors this would have been your typical 'Dirty Harry - Death Wish' Hong Kong Cinema. But Chow Yun Fat and Ti Lung make the story come alive. As sort of a role reversal Chow Yun Fat's character (Dick) is not the hotshot play by his own rules uncontrollable cop. The beauty in watching Chow Yun Fat is that he can play a part where he is almost a kiss-a** as easily as he can play Clint Eastwood in Hard Boiled.

The plot is pretty standard fare - a drug lord (Ted) that Dick's close friend (Ken) put away 10 years ago is released and he has Ken's partner killed and is bent on revenge against Ken. It's not much of a stretch to figure out how it plays out since Ken is the hot headed cop and Dick falls for Ted's girlfriend. The outfits she wears are a crack up and I found it hilarious listening to the Hong Kong version of You Can Take Your Hat Off. A little rip off from 9 1/2 weeks.

Anyway Ti Lung plays Ken so tightly wound but keeps it from going over the top. I was amazed at how well Chow Yun Fat plays the 'company man' cop. I found the role reversal of the characters to be one of the highlights of the movie. The violence is constrained - UNTIL the hit on Ken's family, then all hell broke loose. I did not catch the dummy child falling (Ken's son) but when his wife gets shot up - well her dying WAS over the top.

The finale was not for the squeemish, but unlike a lot of other Hong Kong movie's the amount of bad guys needed to be killed was reasonble (like maybe just 15). The ending is great with a unique and classic justice being served. I did expect to hear "Knocking on Heavan's Door" to be playing in the background, as the pair (Chow and Ti) looked exactly like Mel and Danny in the end of Lethal Weapon 2. Although actually I think this movie came out first. Wouldn't be the first time a scene was borrowed from a Chow Yun Fat movie.

In sum a great performance by Chow Yun Fat and TI Lung. Rent it or buy it you won't be disappointed.

mid-eighties cheese action film.......2000-01-31

This film is so eighties! but i love it anyway, the same way i like Predator, Lethal Weapon and The Running Man. The eighties were all about cheesy action. But this film has something all the others don't....Chow Yun Fat!

Yun-Fat plays Dick Lee, a hk police negotiator. Always under his control Is Ti Lung, as a veteran hot-head cop with a personal grudge against the criminals he cathes. All hell breaks loose when a criminal (named Ted -HA!) Ti Lung put away gets out of prison, and slaughters Lungs family. Thrown into the mix, Yun Fat is romancing Ted's disenchanted girlfriend.

What i like about this film is it would have been instantly forgettable if is wasn't for the two leads, they both ooze charisma. Yun-Fat's character is obviously modeled after Don Johnson on Miami vice (white suits, pink and blue lighting of Miami nightclubs). Ted's girlfriend wears hideous white sunglasses and a matching polka dot dress looking like an extra in a Wham video.

The film is also pretty gritty and violent, the Ted character is very believable, especially when he is trying to romance his g/f as he burns himself with a cigarette. The slaughter of Lungs family at machinegun point is extremely brutal, and shown in loving detail. But as one assasin takes a header off of a roof with Lungs child in hand, i couldn't help but laugh. The dummy child is horrible!

The finale to this film pulls out all the stops, extremely violent, includes Ti Lung being hit with a fireaxe and Chow yun Fat eating more bullets than he did in a better tomorrow. Beware of the end titles, a paragraph comes up at the end giving some sort of epilogue to the film, however it is not subtitled. If anyone has any info on this, please mail me. All in all- good heroic bloodshed fare.

Entertaining.......2000-01-11

This is a film in which the roles of the famous duo - Chow and Ti Lung from "A Better Tomorrow" - seem to be reversed. This time, Chow portrays a cop with the mature and sound mind, while Ti Lung seems to be the one who makes the trouble. Ti Lung's temperamental nature leads him into trouble with the enemy who ends up killing his family. It is up to the duo to avenge for the family, and blood-bath follows. The plot is mediocre and I thought killing the entire family seemed too cruel. Chow is still great in here, but it is too bad the story and the director did not fully exploit his great acting potential. Furthermore, I think the audience would rather see Chow as the temperamental cop and Ti Lung as the calm one. But it is still a good movie to see for die hard Chow fans.

Average customer rating:

An unpretentious quality thriller with a side-order of fatalism on the rocks
LOL~!
Good Hong Kong Police Film
good film...
Great movie, good dubbing job, totally worth it

City on Fire
Starring: Yun-Fat Chow , Danny Lee , Yueh Sun , Carrie Ng , and Roy Cheung
Director: Ringo Lam
Manufacturer: Tai Seng Video Marketing
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6305161550
Release Date: 1999-10-26

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

An unpretentious quality thriller with a side-order of fatalism on the rocks.......2007-04-26

LOL~!.......2006-02-05

Good Hong Kong Police Film.......2005-11-07

good film..........2005-08-14

Great movie, good dubbing job, totally worth it.......2005-04-27

Chow Yun Fat: On Fire Trilogy (DTS Digitially Remastered) DVD Boxset

Average customer rating:

Chow Yun Fat: On Fire Trilogy (DTS Digitially Remastered) DVD Boxset
Director: Ringo Lam
Manufacturer: Intercontinental Video & Fortune Stars
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Product Features:

3 disc package (region 3NTSC)
A Set of Bookmarks
City On Fire (Digitally Remastered) DVD
Prison on Fire (Digitally Remastered) DVD
Prison on Fire II (Digitally Remastered) DVD

ASIN: B000JTHOVK

Product Description

Chow Yun Fat: On Fire Trilogy DTS Digitally Remastered (3 DVD Box Set / Region-3).

Average customer rating:

Thicker Than Water
Blew me away...
THIS WAS SUPRISINGLY WATCHABLE
must buy for fans of gangster movies
One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Thicker Than Water
Starring: Mack 10 , Fat Joe , Ice Cube , MC Eight , and CJ Mac
Director: Richard Cummings Jr.
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
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ASIN: B00009MECD
Release Date: 2003-07-29

Customer Reviews:

Thicker Than Water.......2007-01-12

My son loves this movie. Glad to find it on Amazon. Great price.

Blew me away..........2004-08-12

THIS WAS SUPRISINGLY WATCHABLE.......2003-12-19

must buy for fans of gangster movies.......2003-04-25

One of the worst movies I've ever seen.......2003-04-13

Average customer rating:

A Treasure For Fans
Terrible . . .
Great Sammo Hung film
Sammo at his usual best
Beyond The Dragon

Enter the Fat Dragon
Starring: Wah Cheung , Ngai Hung Chik , Fat Chung , Feng Feng , and Ging Man Fung
Manufacturer: Crash Cinema Media
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ASIN: 6305511675
Release Date: 2000-02-08

Amazon.com

Fans of Sammo Hung's TV series, Martial Law, will enjoy Enter the Fat Dragon, the second film Hung himself directed. He plays a young pig farmer who idolizes Bruce Lee and comes to Hong Kong to work in a food stall with his uncle. In no time at all he finds himself brawling with a crew of street toughs, whom he dispatches with dazzling skill--but unfortunately wrecking his uncle's stall at the same time. From there, the plot involves a millionaire art expert with three powerful bodyguards and a long-lost girlfriend, who just happens to be a waitress at the restaurant where Hung starts working as a dishwasher. But it doesn't matter if the story is nonsense--the point is the spectacular fight scenes and broad jokes. It's amazing to watch cheerful, roly-poly Hung whirl and kick with devastating speed; somehow his girth makes his skill all the more impressive. In one scene, Hung gets hired as an extra for a kung fu movie with a Bruce Lee imitator. Unsurprisingly, Hung is disappointed in the fake's abilities and teaches him--and the rest of the stunt crew--how it's done. The scene is not only a tremendous display of fighting prowess, it's also a charming depiction of a young man who clings with childlike wonder to his idols, and yearns to achieve the same glory. Perhaps it's a bit of a self-portrait. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

A Treasure For Fans.......2006-05-22

I never thought it would work but Sammo Hung does a fantastic Bruce Lee imitation in this film. But not of the lame parody kind. He really does move fast and performs many of the techniques and mannerisms of the man himself. Not only that, he does a lot of other fighting styles as well. The goofy comedy is great too. This is one of the few unique kind of movies that is fun to watch and not take too seriously.

Terrible . . . .......2005-11-08

Terribly charming, that is. Sammo Hung portrays a starstruck Bruce Lee fan, imitating him down to the haircut and monkey-like shrieks. Otherwise a simple-minded man, he displays throughout the movie Bruce Lee-like fighting prowess which, coming from a man his size, is hilarious to behold. The storyline is crap, there's no two ways about it, but the content is what makes it great. The various stupid moments (Sammo trying to buy sunglasses that look like a Bruce Lee picture, the millionaire's "revenge" daydreams, any time Sammo goes into Bruce Lee mode, the terrible english, the Black-faced Asian) are incredibly corny and fun to watch.

Not only that, but the action scenes are actually decent. Normally I hate watching Bruce Lee's fight scenes, finding them FAR too contrived and silly, but Sammo manages to pull it off quite well. Maybe it's his funny and intense charisma, I don't know. Not only that, but Sammo even chooses to integrate some traditional Kung Fu fight scenes in the movie, bringing its worth in my eyes way up.

The movie harkens back to the days when heros were idealized and worshipped, something severely lacking in today's society, with the dirt sheets and Hollywood scandals appearing everywhere. Chuck Norris did a similar theme with Sidekicks, and ideal heros, unfortunately, has become a dying breed of people. Something that endears the movie to me is that there's little swearing and the violence is surprisingly non-violent. Sure there are kung fu punches and kicks and the like, but the reactions are always almost Loony Toon-ish in their reaction, the victims having huge and goofy-looking sores where they were hit. And other than a single sex joke at the beginning of the movie, it's surprisingly clean, resorting to slapstick and farce for it's humor.

So why am I giving it only three stars? Firstly, the movie quality is terrible in every aspect. It's easily seen that there was no budget for the movie (blackfaced Asian? What the hell?), although that definitely added to the campy silliness. Secondly, the video quality is horrible. The DVD claims to have it remastered, but it's incredibly grainy and looks antiquated, with even some marker markings showing up in some stills. The subtitles, as well, are pale and fuzzy white, making them really hard to see a lot of the time. Thank god the movie's plot is unimportant.

Great Sammo Hung film.......2004-12-14

a classic film that makes fun of all the Brucexploitation in Chinese Cinema in the 70's and early 80's. The movie is very funny and is a well done spoof. The plot is very similar to Bruces Return of the Dragon - a young country boy traveling to the city to help out a restaurant and running into trouble with local gangster types. Sammos hero in the movie is Bruce Lee and he does a great job copying all of the moves(occasionally throwing in some of his own)and can pretty much whip everybody until he runs into three bodyguards - one white dude(an expert in boxing), one chinese dude(an expert in kung fu), and one black/chinese dude(an expert in karate) this is when the movie
steps up the martial arts - the final fight scenes are very well
done as well. A great addition to any kung fu movie collection and a must for any Sammo Hung fan.

Sammo at his usual best.......2002-07-30

Sammo may not look like Bruce Lee, but he sure does the best impression I've ever seen. Sammo holds his own with a few of Bruce Lee's famous moves mixed in with his own style of martial arts. At first this movie seems aged and low budget, but you soon forget that as the story develops and you see Sammo's skills come to life. It's a martial arts classic, a homage to Bruce and a must have for any fan of the genre.

Beyond The Dragon.......2002-04-29

I purchased this DVD because I love the richness and exemplary performance of Sammo Hung. My previous experience with Sammo includes Millionaire's Express and The Magnificent Butcher.

Enter the Fat Dragon is a befitting tribute to Master Bruce Lee by his friend Sammo Hung.

Sammo plays a loveable, eager, and starstruck fan. Bruce Lee is everything to him. Believably Bruce Lee-obsessed and fixated to do the right thing by the people he loves, Sammo's character more or less causes more problems than good.

While the movie was a blast to watch, the people who released this DVD are falsely advertising its quality. This is the only reason I didn't give this a 5-star rating. The DVD states this is a "remaster" but the film has an annoying graininess. The English subtitles also included several misspellings and at times were not always in plain view.

I may not be an expert on the technology of film, but the image quality should have turned out way better than it did.

However, despite this lackluster transfer to DVD, this Hong Kong Martial Arts film translates well. You will be amazed at Sammo's dedication in imitating Bruce. He is a true marvel to watch.

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