Golden Dragon Silver Snake

1980 · KonCategoryIII

Golden Dragon, Silver Snake (1980) Review February 19, 2016 Paul Bramhall “Golden Dragon, Silver Snake” Korean Theatrical Poster AKA: A Fight at Hong Kong Ranch Director: Kim Si-hyun, Co-director: Godfrey Ho Cast: Johnny Chan (Wang Dae-wi), Dragon Lee (Mun Kyong-sok), Kong Do, Baak Wong Gei, Chui Man Fooi, Lee Ye Min, Bruce Lai (Chang Il-do), Gam Kei Chu, Cheung Lik, Samuel Walls, Lee Ju-hyeon, Hong Sung-young Running Time: 84 min. By Paul Bramhall Sometimes a kung fu movie will sound great on paper, but somehow turn out to be a disaster onscreen. Yuen Biao battling monsters and Gordon Liu? Many would say count me in, although in reality The Peacock King has few fans. Donnie Yen tearing up the surroundings in a fight against super kicker Billy Chow? Sounds like a kung fu fans dream, although many consider Iron Monkey 2 to be one of the worse movies out there. So how about a Bruce Lee clone and a Jackie Chan clone tearing it up through circa 1980 Korea against a cat stroking Blofeld type villain? Ok, so it may not sound great, but it does sound ridiculous, and that’s exactly what Golden Dragon, Silver Snake brings to the table. The best thing about it? Yes it sounds ridiculous on paper, but onscreen, it’s ridiculously entertaining. Dragon Lee takes a break from starring in endless period pieces, almost always wearing the synonymous white t-shirt and black pants, to don some tight jeans, sneakers, and a variety of early 80’s sports tops. He even gets decked out in a quasi- Game of Death style yellow one-piece tracksuit for the finale. While newcomers to Dragon Lee will most likely (and rightfully so) scratch their heads on why a kung fu movie review is taking the time to describe the main characters wardrobe, for those that are familiar, I’m sure you’ll understand the surprise at seeing him in different attire from the usual. Lee would settle into starring in modern day gangster roles during the 90’s, most notably in The Nationwide Constituency trilogy, Chongro Blues , and Emperor of the Underworld , but in the 80’s it was a rare sight to see him starring in contemporary settings. Lee is paired up with flash in the pan Jackie Chan clone Johnny Chan. Poor Johnny Chan disappeared from the movie scene almost as quickly as he came into it, with this and Revenge of the Drunken Master being the only movies he starred in. Sites like the Hong Kong Movie Database and the Korean Movie Database don’t even list him, despite being the star of the aforementioned movie. He’s like the Jackie Chan clone that never was. Korea actually managed to produce two clones of Jackie, the other one being Jackie Chang, who also made a Bruce Lee clone/Jackie Chan clone movie alongside Kim Tai-jung in Jackie and Bruce to the Rescue . In Golden Dragon, Silver Snake there’s a vicious gang extorting protection money from the residents of a small town, and when one of the townsfolk decides to rise up and take a stand against them, he receives a drill in the chest for his troubles, signalling his demise. However the victim turns out to be the brother of Dragon Lee, and Lee’s arrival coincides with the gangs attempts to force a family off their farm so that it can be demolished, making way for a new tourist hotel. Johnny Chan is one of the workers on the farm, who has his eye on the owner’s daughter, and is also friendly with the local rickshaw driver, played by the man who’s been in every Korean kung fu movie ever made, Choi Min-kyu. Soon Lee has taken a job as a cook, as he does in so many of his movies, it seems the times can change but his occupation doesn’t. It’s not the only thing which hasn’t changed though, Golden Dragon, Silver Snake employs a lot of old-school kung fu movie tropes, and simply applies them to a modern setting. The rickshaw driver turns out to be a kung fu master, and sets about training Chan via making him walk around while balancing rocks at the same time. Drunken Master reference check box – ticked! The difference is of course, that in these training scenes, they’re both dressed in modern day threads, and despite taking place in a forest, get disturbed by motorbike riding gangsters rather than mischievous kung fu rascals (or Dean Shek). Golden Dragon, Silver Snake appears to be a genuine co-production between Korea and Hong Kong, co-directed by Kim Si-hyun and Godfrey Ho, and was originally titled A Fight at Hong Kong Ranch . The movie also provides us with Kong Do, a familiar face from many Hong Kong movies such as Tiger Over Wall and Kung Fu Zombie , as the bad guy of the piece. It’s really the bad guys here which make proceedings so entertaining. The mystery Blofeld style villain, who we never see the face of for the majority of the runtime, doesn’t just stroke his cat, he energetically throws it into the face of any lackey who’s screwed up, subjecting them to its wild scratching. The villain’s base is also inside a gym, which is constantly full of shirtless guys pumping all kinds of iron. When I say gym, I mean al