Enter The Fat Dragon

1978 · KonCATIII

Enter the Fat Dragon (1978) Review Posted on January 30, 2011 by JJ Bona “Enter the Fat Dragon” Japanese Theatrical Poster Director: Sammo Hung Writer: Ni Kuang Cast: Sammo Hung, Peter Yang, Meg Lam, Leung Kar Yan, Fung Fung, Lee Hoi San, Roy Chiao, Fung Hak On, Ankie Lau, Luk Chu Sek, Chan Dik Hak, Chik Ngai Hung, Ching Chu, Huang Ha, Lam Ching Ying, Lee Hoi Suk, Tony Leung Running Time: 100 min. By Joseph Kuby Watching this flick for the second time made me realize that I’d rather take this on a bad day than Bruce Le on a good day. At first glance, the film appears to be a spoof of Enter the Dragon but when one looks underneath the surface it’s really more of a spoof of Way of the Dragon with nods to Enter The Dragon and Fist of Fury , particularly in the style of music chosen (like what Stephen Chow did in Shaolin Soccer for the opening credit sequence, Sammo does his own remix of Way of the Dragon’s theme during this fight with stuntmen on a Bruceploitation movie set). With this film, Sammo makes several points about the Bruceploitation movie genre through the use of satire. Sammo clearly has an affection for Bruce Lee so I never felt he was lampooning Bruce as he was humourously referencing him. In one scene, set during this party which takes place outside this villa, Sammo simultaneously piss-takes Drunken Master and Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (like how the makers of the Shaw Bros. classic Killer Army threw a sly wink towards the Seasonal boys). Actually, the scene draws parallels with a scene in The Incredible Kung Fu Master * (another Sammo Hung flick made in the same year but released in 1979) where Sammo equates kung fu with food! On one side of the metaphorical tennis court, you could say that maybe Sammo was making a slam towards the makers of K iller Army by throwing back the tennis ball into their court with their dismissal of Jackie’s snake fist escapades. Once again, Dai gaw (big brother) comes to the rescue! Heck, it’s probably more of a genuinely heart-felt and poignantly fitting homage to Bruce Lee in comparison to the so-called “tribute” flicks which have been associated with Bruce Lee’s name. Sammo does more for the preservation of the image and spirit of Bruce Lee than Jason Scott Lee and Rob Cohen could ever hope to. Which is no surprise since Sammo had first hand insight into being with Bruce Lee, on film or off. Alongside Peter Chan Lung (first guy to get hit by Bruce in Fist of Fury and brother of Billy Chan Wui Ngai – the hunchback in The Odd Couple ), Sammo had the most contact with Bruce Lee (except Linda & the rest of the family of course). Unfortunately, the film suffers from a few flaws which kind of give away the low budget/independent nature of the film. The flaws of the film is that during some of the fights you can see people laughing. For instance, during the fight at this outdoor villa party, we can see Professor Pai, Leung Kar Yan, Lee Hoi San and the Westerner laughing as Sammo drunkenly wails on his opponents (which contradicts their opposition towards Sammo and their acting later on in said scene) though I suppose you’d have to be an eagle eye to spot that (i.e. somebody who pays attention to the background of a certain scene or someone who likes to look at other things besides the focus point of a certain shot). When Sammo fights with stuntmen on a movie set after a disagreement about the way the Bruceploitation actor** is portraying him, you can clearly see one of the stuntmen on the floor laughing (it’s Chung Fat – crazy cat-fist kung fu stylist in Magnificent Butcher ). I’m glad and somewhat relieved that I’m not the only one who spotted this, even someone on the Internet Movie Database spotted this too (though it’s not listed in the goofs section)! A lot of people have miscontrued Sammo Hung’s intentions with casting Lee Hoi San as the black Karate stylist (when he’s introduced, the original subtitled version refers to him as a ‘harate expert’). Whilst it could be argued that maybe Jim Kelly, Carl Scott, Ron Van Clief or, f*ck, even Steve James weren’t available or that nobody had the skill of Lee Hoi San, the truth of the matter is Sammo was doing Bruce a favour by taking the mick out of Hollywood and, to a grander scale, the Western psyche. You see, Sammo was great friends with Bruce (they even had a sparring match which resulted in a draw) and their friendship took place a long time before they shot that scene in Enter the Dragon . Bruce had taught Sammo many things about martial arts and filmmaking as well as having great times together as they socially interacted with one another. As one may expect from such a friendship, facts were exchanged among the two about their backgrounds and future ambitions. Sammo was both shocked and appalled when he found out how humiliating it was for Bruce to face mockery from Westerners partially due to the Charlie Chan movies and Mickey Rooney’s role in Breakfast At Tiffany’s , so with Enter the Fat Dragon , Sammo was maki