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龍的影子 (1981)
Counter Attack


Reviewed by: mpongpun
Date: 10/24/2004

According to John Ladalski, <i>Chinese Stuntman </i> was originally intended to be a film to promote Jeet Kune Do and none of that gimmick gung fu that was the so prevalent of the time. . After several failed attempts to find support for his vision, Ladalski got an eager Ho Chung Tao to direct and star in his flick. Ladalski's also got Dan Inosanto, his Sifu, casted in the flick in a good guy role, but as the film began it’s production, all hell broke lose causing the flick to spin out in a whole new direction with Inosanto becoming a bad guy. One part of the crew wanted to show off all the gimmick gung fu while John’s crew wanted to show off the practical Jeet Kune Do. The end product was no Jeet Kune Do and a half ass flick with decent action. The story starts off with John (John Ladalski) whooping up on some students in a gym until Tang Wei (Ho Chung Tao) arrives kicks his ass. John seeks out Tang Wei and becomes his student and his roommate. Tang Wei is later hired as an insurance agent and seems to be making great strides in the field. His manager (Chiang Yang) gets him to sign up the big film star, Chen Lung (Sze Ma Lung),(a reference to Jackie Chan?) to an insurance policy as part of a scam to collect on the policy with a film’s director (Wei Ping Ao) just in case Chen Lung is killed on the set. No sooner than later the ink is dry on the insurance papers, Chen Lung has an accident and is hurt on the set. Tang Wei’s Head Boss (Chang Yun Wen) has him go to the film set to make sure Chen Long is not put in any more precarious situations. Tang Wei winds up doing a stunt for Chen Lung and then eventually is hired on as a stunt man. Eventually, the other stuntmen on the set become envious and soon even Chen Lung becomes bitter as Tang Wei gains in popularity with the Director and the financial backers of the movie. Ultimately, Tang Wei and John must fight for their lives as they take on hired thugs, a turncoat action director (Dan Inosanto), and a “friend” (Chen Lung) in a drop till you’re exhausted ending. Overall, the flick was pretty decent.