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大圈套 (1977)
Return of the Tiger


Reviewed by: mrblue
Date: 12/10/2008

After the death of Bruce Lee, there was an avalanche of cheap knock-offs released that would spawn a genre known as "Bruceploitation". As you might expect, most of these films were cheap junk. So if you've skipped over the 1977 films Return of the Tiger starring Bruce Li, it would be understandable. But if you can get past the wall of 70's cheese that surrounds this movie, you just might end up finding yourself actually having a pretty good time.

The basic plot isn't really anything to write home about. Actually, it's a fairly blatant rip-off of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, with Bruce Li (along with his partner Angela Mao) playing off against two major drug dealers in order to get the biggest payday. Oh sure, there's some double-crosses and a "big twist" near the end, but really, if you're watching this sort of movie for deep characterization and a thought-provoking plot, you might be better off just taking a ball-peen hammer to your melon.

Like most movies of this type, Return of the Tiger's expository scenes are just fairly lame (and actually totally unnecessary) excuses to get to the next fight. Thankfully, the stuff featured here is surprisingly solid. Helmed by the somewhat under-rated Hsieh Hsing, the brawls actually have some polish to them, unlike the hastily slapped-together affairs fronted by most Bruceploitation flicks.

Yeah, it's not A-level stuff -- the obvious wire tricks employed near the end get kind of annoying -- but compared to many movie of the time, the fights featured here are actually fun. And long-time Hong Kong fans will have some enjoyment in picking out some notable faces during the fisticuffs, like Blackie Ko, who makes a nice turn as a particularly nasty henchman.

So, anyway, after all this pseudo-intellectual babbling, you might be still thinking: is Return of the Tiger worth checking out? It's pretty simple. If you're a fan of old-school "chop socky" films, then the answer is yes. Yeah, it's not up to the level of Bruce Lee's work, but at least it has some solid fights, and the story won't totally insult your intelligence. Checking out Return of the Tiger won't earn you a lot of geek points, but just sit back, pop a couple of tops, and enjoy one of the better slices of cheese produced in Hong Kong during the 70's.

[review from www.hkfilm.net]

Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: ewaffle
Date: 06/09/2007

If Bruce Lee had lived to make another twenty or thirty movies there would have been no Bruce Li, Bruce Lai or Bruce Le and Ho Chung Tao would have had a very different career. He was a decent actor and an excellent martial arts practitioner, good looking, super fit and seemed at ease in front of the camera. It would have been interesting to see how he might have developed if he wasn’t stuck with trying to do the impossible, replace the irreplaceable. Those who tried to become the “new” Bruce Lee, of course, were doomed to failure. The more they tried to imitate specific stances, facial expressions, sounds and moves the worse they looked, since what was missing was that indefinable quality that is variously called charisma, star quality, sex appeal or even pizzaz. One takes on an iconic role and relationship to the audience at one’s peril and while Bruce Li was definitely not Bruce Lee, he wasn’t in the same monstrous category as some. The most egregious example I can think of is David Soul as Rick Blaine—Humphrey Bogart’s role-- in the 1980s television series “Casablanca”.

Which isn’t to say that “Return of the Tiger” is necessarily a poor movie—it isn’t a very good movie but it has its entertaining moments, many of which feature Angela Mao, a wonderful performer who had screen presence, athletic ability and good looks to burn. The movie begins with Angela Mao invading an all male group of athletes who seem to be a combination of gymnasts and martial artist and easily beating them up.The equipment--trampoline, parallel bars, etc. make good props for ducking under or jumping over while delivering punches and kicks, something she does quite well.

Bruce and Angela are working to uncover a drug kingpin and to shut down his operation but they don’t know exactly who is who so Bruce goes to work for each of them in their attacks on the other. At first they are looking for the “Big Westerner”—and Paul Smith is a very big westerner—letting him know they are on to his game. We discover that Li is working for Smith against his Chinese gangster rival but acting as Smith is his target. Chang Yi is very good as the consigliore for Smith, keeping things in line and making sure his boss has information from the street. Hsieh Hsing is the very practical and very deadly killer for hire who works for Smith’s rivals. All the bad guys double and triple cross each other—which they had been planning to do from the start—and all but one of them is killed or crippled in the last few scenes, leaving Angela Mao to mop things up while Bruce Li faces off against Paul Smith who has turned out to be as strong and unstoppable as King Kong—and with almost as much body hair. He is disposed of in a particularly uncreative and unsatisfying manner—probably an idea that looked great on paper but was a lot more difficult to make look credible on film.

The rival gangs are extremely tough. One sparring session of Smith’s gang is a survival of the fittest session with combatants knocked out or badly injured. When one fighter is trading blows with two others and is being beaten by them he pulls out his throwing knives—and this is during practice. A bit strange but an effective way to show how vicious the gangs will be. There is a strange confrontation at the docks--Bertolt Brecht crossed with The Keystone Cops. Bruce Li is surrounded and about to be attacked by one gang when a huge crane holding a container aloft begins moving. The container is lowered to the ground and thugs from the rival gang run out of it, surrounding the hoodlums who are surrounding Li. The leader of the hoodlums who have Li cornered tells them "Let's get out here" and as they do the men who were in the container run back into it. The crane then slowly lifts the container back for a real "what was that all about" moment.

The version we watched was very heavily and inexpertly cut--most likely to fit a two hour time slot with room for commercials in some version of "Kung Fu Theater". For example in one scene Bruce Li gets into a car wearing a sport coat and slacks but in the next scene he is wearing a blue track suit, cut and striped in the same manner as the Bruce Lee original.

Not as bad as it could have been and made watchable by Angela Mao

Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: steveonkeys
Date: 07/14/2005
Summary: Lots of fun!

Forget the convoluted double-cross story and the poor, out of sequence editing. Forget the fact that major characters such as those played by Chang Yi and Angela Mao come and go from the story at random. The real attraction here are the killer fight sequences, fast, crisp, and imaginative. Some of the best non-period-piece action from the 70's. And Angela Mao looks awesome in that full denim suit. -S.M.

Reviewer Score: 7