STONER 鐵金剛大破紫陽觀 (George Lazenby, Angel Mao)

KonCategoryIII

The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss , also known as Stoner , A Man Called Stoner , and Hong Kong Hitman ( Chinese : 鐵金剛大破紫陽觀 ) is a 1974 Hong Kong action film which was produced by Raymond Chow and directed by Huang Feng . [ 1 ] The film was originally scheduled to be Bruce Lee 's next film after Game of Death . However Lee died while filming Game of Death in 1973 and that film's release date was delayed by five years. It was the first of three films George Lazenby made for Golden Harvest, the others being The Man from Hong Kong (1975) and A Queen's Ransom (1976). [ 2 ] Plot edit When a tough Australian cop named Stoner ( George Lazenby ) discovers that his sister has overdosed on a deadly new drug called "The Happy Pill" (an aphrodisiac/hallucinogen mixture), he travels to Hong Kong to track down its creators. Along the way, he meets up with a beautiful secret agent ( Angela Mao ) who's on her own mission to investigate the same drug ring. Cast and roles edit George Lazenby as Joseph Stoner Angela Mao as Angela Li Shou-hua Betty Ting as Agnes Wong Yen-yen Hwang In-shik as Mr. Big Joji Takagi as Mr. Chin Sammo Hung as Chen-Chin Samuel J. Peake as Cult leader Lu Chin as Helen Romanolee Rose as Melanie Hung Sing-chung as Inspector Feng Su Chiang as Kuan Te-jen Chin Chi-chu Chin Lu as Club girl Yi Feng Nick Lam Ching Siu-tung as Gang member Andre Morgan Ren Hao as Fake priest Suen Lam as Gangster Roger Ward as Biker Yuen Biao as Thug at temple Eric Tsang as Thug at temple Yuen Wah as Thug Production Originally, The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss was to star not only Lee, but also Japanese film star Sonny Chiba as well. The film was to pit Lee against "The Western Adversary" played by James Bond star George Lazenby . Lazenby had been signed to a multi-picture deal by Lee and Chow during Game of Death and was to star in that film, as well as two subsequent films with Lee. The film's original tagline was "It's Lee! It's Lazenby! It's Bruce Versus Bond!". [ citation needed ] Warner Brothers was going to co-produce and distribute the film before Lee's sudden death and was going to give The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss a large worldwide release, a $10,000,000 production budget and a $10,000,000 worldwide marketing budget (which was astronomical at that time – as a comparison the 1974 James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun also a 1974 release had only a $7,000,000 production budget and a $6,000,000 worldwide marketing budget). Forecasts for The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss' worldwide box office gross were around $400,000,000. This based on Lee's previous two films. Enter the Dragon (1973) cost just $850,000 to produce and also had a $10,000,000 worldwide marketing budget, and in turn it grossed more than $265,000,000 worldwide at the box office (through 2006), making it the second highest grossing movie worldwide of the year 1973, behind The Exorcist . [ citation needed ] Enter the Dragon grossed more than $21,000,000 in the US just in 1973 alone and more than $4,000,000 in the US in 1974. Through 2006 the film has grossed more than $115,000,000 in the US alone. It grossed more than $65,000,000 overseas through 1973, and more than $90,000,000 overseas through 1974. Through 2006 it has grossed more than $150,000,000 overseas. Lee's film prior to Enter the Dragon , Way of the Dragon (1973), had cost just $130,000 to produce and about $1,000,000 to market worldwide and it in turn grossed more than $85,000,000 worldwide at the box office, which made it the 6th highest grossing film worldwide of 1973. [ citation needed ] So considering that Way of the Dragon grossed more than $85,000,000 at the box office worldwide with just a $130,000 production budget/$1,000,000 marketing budget, and that Enter the Dragon grossed more than $265,000,000 at the box office worldwide with just an $850,000 production budget/$10,000,000 marketing budget, then it isn't too far-fetched to realize Warner Brother's $400 million gross prediction for Shrine with its $20,000,000 total cost in production and marketing, as well as Lazenby and Chiba joining Lee in the cast. [ citation needed ] George Lazenby had said that one of the main reasons that he quit the role of Bond was because he felt that he could gross more at the box office in other films. The Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun (1974), ended up grossing $97,600,000 worldwide, so if not for Lee's sudden death, Lazenby's quite bold and now rather infamous prediction may have come true. [ editorializing ] On 20 July 1973 Bruce Lee was meant to have dinner with George Lazenby and Raymond Chow to discuss Game of Death . However Lee died that afternoon. [ 3 ] Aftermath of Bruce Lee's death edit When Lee died the film's destiny took a turn for the worse. First, Lee, who may have been the biggest star in the world at the time the film was to be shot, was now not going to be in the film. Second, upon hearing of Lee's death, Chiba refused to sign his contract for the film and promptly flew back to Japan. Third,