The Fearless Hyena (1979)

Review: I really enjoyed this authentic Kung Fu movie but a lot of time is wasted on silly jokes and unnecessary scenes. At the time of it's release, I was totally amazed with this unknown Kung Fu world, were a man trains to be an expert and he uses his skills to kill the baddies, so this film definitely brought back some memories. This film sees Chan play a young Shing Lung, who lives with his grandfather and makes money any which way he can. Whilst staying in his grandfather's house, he's taught different styles of Kung Fu and he uses his skills against the bullies in his remote village. His talents soon get recognised by a money making con artist, who opens Kung Fu school were Chan takes on everyone that comes to take-on there pupils. When his grandfather finds out how he's been making money, he gets very upset because he doesn't want there Kung Fu to become known to others. After a while, the schools name spreads across the village and his grandfather's enemy tracks him down kills him after a lengthy battle. Chan then seeks revenge for his grandfather but his Kung Fu isn't up to scratch to challenge him, so he learns new styles from his grandfather's friend, which lead to a showdown that is definitely worth watching. Its your usual, "You Killed My Master" type of concept which I have grown to love in this genre. The only problem is that it takes a long time to get going but it's worth the wait. The funny dubbing really made me laugh and some of the fighting scenes were a bit over the top but that was expected because of the age of the movie. Chan does give his all throughout the movie and the different costumes that he put on during his time at the school were amusing but the true action should have started a lot earlier in the movie. With that aside, I still enjoyed the film and I'm glad that I was able to get my hands on it. Enjoyable!

Round-Up: This movie was directed and written by a young Jackie Chan, who done a great job at such a young age. The choreography throughout the movie was also done by Chan so he really put a lot of time and energy into his directional debut. At the time, Chan was only 25 so you have to give him recognition for his first attempt behind the camera. Anyway, if your into your Kung Fu movies then you definitely need this film in your collection.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/martial arts/comedies starring Jackie Chan, James Tien and Dean Shek. 7/10