The Delinquent (1973) User Reviews (7)

The Delinquent

[K-Desbonnet · 7/10 · 10 February 2005]

"The Delinquent" is an above average action movie set in a dirty, working class Hong Kong and focused on the intense emotions and intense violence of a teenager growing up with his single-parent father. Set in the 70's in Hong Kong, this film has a gritty, realistic feel to it. Scenes are shot on location instead of a cleaned up sound stage and at times the camera work reminds me of a documentary. John, played by Wong Chung, is the main character. His mother left his father when he was young, so he has been raised solely by his father, and the neighborhood youth know this and also know that teasing him about it is a sure way to get him angry enough to fight. John's desire to please his father and to be the independent, successful man that his father wants him to be creates a weakness in his character that the seedy criminals surrounding him use to their advantage.

Seeing John struggle with his emotions and watching his fiery temper spark and explode creates a lot of the power of this movie. The intense emotions create an intense viewing experience. The fight scenes, full of action, brutal and energetic, are the other source of power and intensity in the film. Both John and his father explode into frantic violence against the criminals and street scum that they meet on the Hong Kong streets.

One actor worth watching in this film is Dean Shek Tien, an actor whose over-the-top comic characters have enlivened many Hong Kong films, including some Jackie Chan films. His flamboyant characters can be hard for an American viewer to enjoy, but watch how easily he creates his character in this film. In just his first few seconds on screen, he gives his character, Cripple, false teeth and a pronounced limp which clearly make him physically subordinate to John, who is proficient in martial arts. When he teases John and chases him from table to table, he adds a psychological strength and cruelty to his character. His brassy stance leading his little gang contrasts well with his crawling, toady behavior in front of his boss in the brothel. Although he has only a supporting role, Dean Shek Tien uses his screen time to effectively create one of his memorable characters.

Watch this film and enjoy a Hong Kong classic.

The Chinese version of Reefer Madness, without the laughs...

[A Scanner Darkly · 7/10 · 14 August 2002]

Street Gangs of Hong Kong might be your typical Kung Fu Flick if it wasn't concerned with making a point. It has a point, and as such, deviates from the path a normal Kung Fu flick might of gone. It is indeed the Chinese Reefer Madness, except, it works. Unlike RM, where your laughs come a mile a minute, you would have to be very cold to find much of anything funny past the intro (Which by the end will make sense) Street Gangs gives us some great innovative camera work (Unusual for standard K.F.)a ordinary hero(?), some really moving orcheastral pieces, and a sense of the underside of Hong Kong. All together, it makes for one interesting trip to the Hong Kong of yesterday.

Subdued angry young man drama

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 21 October 2023]

THE DELINQUENT is another in Shaw's angry young man sub-genre of filmmaking, following on from similar entries with Ti Lung and David Chiang. This one's a lesser piece despite the involvement of Liu Chia Liang in the action stakes and the assured direction from Chang Cheh, who brings a real on-the-street vibe to the proceedings. The story sees the underrated Wang Chung playing the usual aimless young man who finds himself drawn into the wiles of a robber gang planning the ultimate heist. For the most part this is a slow and ponderous production in which Chung isn't quite enough to hold your attention. However, the last twenty minutes are electrifying, a wonderfully intense mini-revenge saga, and the ending is classic stuff. If only the whole film could have been like this!

Awesome action & nihilistic fun!

[ulgol · 10/10 · 29 September 2000]

This story of a misguided adolescent features one of the bleakest views of Hong Kong which can be found on celluloid: An urban moloch populated by slimy characters, a city without hope.

Even if you don't like martial arts, watch this movie! It has some stunning widescreen cinematography and one hell of a finale!

Powerful & sleazy kung fu drama

[Falconeer · 9/10 · 8 October 2010]

From the first frame of "The Delinquent" it is obvious that this angry film is very unlike the pretty, stylish films known to come from the Shaw Bros, and director Chang Cheh. Artificial sets are done away with, in favor of real location shooting. The film captures the attention from the beginning, with close up shots of mouths, shoving greasy food in and chewing like wild dogs. The neighborhood is made up of cut throat thugs, and the landscape resembles a maximum security prison with it's dismal concrete buildings. Wang Chung, in a rare turn as the main character, is great as the young martial arts protégé, living with his hard-working father, after his mother has left them both. John Shen (Chung), frustrated with a life of poverty, is seduced by fast cars, expensive clothes and beautiful women, when a gang boss offers to hire him for his martial arts skills. A plan to rob the business where is father is security guard, goes wrong, and all hell breaks loose. 'Street Gangs..' is a very grim and serious film about betrayal and redemption and a lot of it is downright depressing. Ti Lu is excellent in the role of Shen's hardened, but decent father, and the cast is all around fine. Loaded with amazing camera work and artistic touches, this one is very unique within the genre. This isn't really a 'kung fu flick,' but rather a serious crime-drama with martial arts included. Even the English dubbing is done well, very seriously this time, although I would like to see it with the original Mandarin language track someday. Great, nihilistic film, and the last fifteen minutes has to be seen to be believed; if you are looking for a light kung fu flick with bad dubbing and silly scenarios, look elsewhere; "Street Gangs of Hong Kong" is not exactly light viewing...

Shaw Brothers Classics: The Delinquent.

[Captain_Couth · 9/10 · 18 August 2005]

The Delinquent (1973) was a Chang Cheh film set during the "modern" era circa 1973. A majority of the Shaw Brothers Action film productions were earlier costume productions. The delinquent was a hardcore violent bone crunching film about a poor kid who can never do nothing right in his father's eyes.

Tired of having to work for a living and wearing "street" clothes, the kid (Chung Wang) decides to take a shot at the big time (crime). His fighting skills attract a local crime lord who wants him under his wing. He decides to woo the kid and get him to work in his syndicate. But after having to betray his father and watching him die at the hands of his employers. The kid snaps and wages a one man war against him and his syndicate.

The kid destroys the boss' whore house/ opium den and races for his penthouse suite. He has to fight his way through his personal bodyguards in a blood drenched finale. Badly wounded, the kid fight's the boss one-on-one. The boss gut wounds the kid in the stomach with a spear gun. After killing the boss with his bare hands, he runs into the penthouse's picture window. As he falls to his death, he flashes back to major events in his live. Dying on the pavement the gawking on lookers are what he sees last before expiring on the hard pavement.

Awesome!! Nothing but hardcore violence from the original innovator of violence. One of his protégés (John Woo) made a film career by copying off of this man. If you like bone crunching action with no flashy kung-fu crap then this is your movie. Bright red old fashion blood squibs, tooth rattling punches, blades and motorbikes! You'll be in heaven if you're a true fan of action films. No Hollywood nonsense here!

Highly recommended.

J.d., Dead On Arrival...

[poe426 · 8/10 · 7 February 2013]

Like David Chiang's character in THE GENERATION GAP, Wang Chung's "John" is pretty much doomed from the moment of birth: he's a delivery boy for a restaurant whose father toils away as a security guard in a warehouse. Moms is long gone, and the other teens refer to John as "having two fathers." Needless to say, he doesn't take this too well and proceeds to plant his fists (and feet) upside some heads. This attracts the attention of the local gang boss, Lam, who sets about recruiting our hero. (And anyone who thinks that Chang Cheh never really appreciated women, be advised that in THE DELINQUENT we see the camera linger lovingly over a well-endowed young woman's ample endowments...) The Big Boss decides to rob the warehouse where John's father works and convinces John (by bailing him out of jail when his father refused) to help engineer the robbery. John talks Dad into taking a night off and going to the movies with him, but another worker calls in sick and Dad has to go in. This sets up some down and dirty action in the warehouse. At one point, Dad makes a diving catch for a shotgun and comes up blasting in slow motion in a sequence that prefigures the John Woo gun fu films that followed. In fact, much of the action that follows seems to have inspired John Woo. THE DELINQUENT is an outstanding example of a top director at the top of his game.