The Chinese Mechanic (1973) User Reviews (2)

First he was Chinese now he is The Chinese Dragon

[ckormos1 · 6/10 · 4 July 2019]

There is also "Chinese Dragon" same year with Chang Yi.

This movie opens with happy guys in a truck are ambushed by guys hiding in 55 gallon drums. A kid hides under the truck. A witness saves the kid. Perhaps all this will be explained later. Barry gets into a fight at work and is fired. A suspicious character, obviously a gangster boss, wants to hire him.

Barry Chan began his acting career in dramas. In 1972 he lead "Chinese" with Doris Lung Chun-Erh, a martial arts movie. He continued to do martial arts to the end of his career. Other than his filmography I have never found his personal information. I can assume he learned some martial arts to take advantage of the movie scene. His moves have focus and power but the choreography is always limited. He never does extended sequences such as 16 plus moves before a cut. The camera is also close with few long shots. Despite many leading rolls he remains just another short story.

I rate this as average for the year and genre and mildly recommend it to fans.

Plenty of action, most of it average

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 25 September 2016]

Another early martial arts outing for unknown actor Barry Chan, who fails to distinguish us with any kind of real presence. This Taiwanese-lensed movie reminded me a little of similar Jimmy Wang Yu films from the era, with lots of outdoor scenery and fights taking place in interesting surroundings. Our hero is a young idealist who finds himself in trouble with local criminal gangs and must fight for survival.

Cheap kung fu films like this either live or die depending on their quality of martial arts. There are plenty of bouts in this film, but the choreography is resolutely cheap and the film never really exhilarates the viewer. There are some fun, imaginative elements in the story, however, including the arresting opening sequence in which the assassins arrive in barrels being rolled down a hillside! There's also time for some cool beach action although for the most part the director seems obsessed with motorbikes and features them being ridden around at every opportunity.