Challenge of the Tiger (1980)
Reviewed by: Brian Thibodeau on 2007-01-09
Summary: Sublime stupidity
Splendidly retarded espionage yarn jerry-rigged from just enough generic action setpieces (fight, chase, surveillance, sex, shootout, fight, rinse, repeat)—much of it rather obviously filmed sans permits in Spain, Hong Kong and Macau—to permit the dubbing team to seemingly improvise the dialogue that ties it all together. Their failure to convince us that the original script was REALLY about various nefarious do-badders scrambling to find (and mass-produce) a serum that will make the world sterile is of little concern in light of the now legendary THREE MINUTE, self-directed introduction of Richard Harrison’s suave playboy character, playing tennis with three sun-kissed topless babes—IN SLOW MOTION to a bouncy cover of Bobby Bloom’s “Montego Bay”—and co-star director Bruce Le’s battle with a fake bull shortly thereafter. These two special agents (they’re never really given job descriptions, and their “agency” goes unnamed) spend precious little time proactively solving the mystery and more time being led around like monkeys—Harrison by his libido, which consistently causes women to get naked with him and bits of which he shows off in as many lolly bags as the running time will allow, and Le by an assortment of goons who want to fight him—most notably Viet Cong gang leader Hwang Jang-lee, who, at least according to the writer of the dub script, is also after “the formula,” and Kong Do and his Spanish mafia pals, whose ready-to-roll formula-manufacturing facility is well stocked with bags of granulated polystyrene resin and uncracked cases of Winstons and Camels(!). Producer Dick Randall, who appears here as “Dick,” previously aided Le on THE CLONES OF BRUCE LEE (1977) and BRUCE THE SUPERHERO (1979), but his most outstanding coup was gaining the production company access to 2nd anniversary festivities at the Macau Trotting Club, during which virtually nothing happens to advance the plot, but the crew snags free and uncredited “guest appearances” by Jane Seymour, Morgan Fairchild and Jack Klugman! An absolute must-see for those who enjoy discombobulated schlock. Le co-choreographed the film’s average fight sequences with Kong Do, Wong Fok-kong, and Johnny Chiang, and is credited as co-writer with Poon Fan, although I’m not so sure what they wrote actually ended up on the screen.
Reviewer Score: 7