I rate this a broken 5 just because of the main actor. Born in China 1940, Pai Ying aka Bai Ying or Ringo Pai Ying, was one of the best performers in Taiwan and Hong Kong. He raised the fame playing the evil eunuch in the classic DRAGON GATE INN (directed by King Hu, 1967), then starred in more than 100 productions; and, as for many great Kung-Fu actors, grade A or grade Z was the same. Hong Kong wasn't Hollywood, so they played any kind of stuff to survive. This THE YELLOW KILLER (original english title) is a low-grade gangster-movie released in Hong Kong 12/15/72: in it Pai plays a doomed professinal killer, the kind of role that Chow Yun Fat will play in John Woo's THE KILLER. Paul Chun Pui (real-life elder brother of Kung-Fu superstar David Chiang) plays his friend turned enemy police officer. There are not many fistfights, but they're well-staged by expert Bruce Leung Siu Lung (later a star on his own), alongwith the late Chan Siu Pang. Jackie Chan's Opera camerade Yuen Kwai is one of the henchmen. Korean Hakpido black belt Whang In shik (The way of the Dragon; The young master) is the assassin hired to kill Pai Ying. Music by Joseph Koo (Fist of Fury, The way of the Dragon and many others). Produced by Hong Kong Alpha (Fist of Fury 2; Bruce Lee the star of all stars). Filmed in Hong Kong and Thailand. For Pai Ying completists only.
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Leofwine_draca16 November 2017There's not really much I can say about KUNG FU-RY, a Hong Kong martial arts thriller from 1975, except that it isn't very good at all. It's a contemporary story about a hit-man battling gangsters, but for an action flick the fights are few and far between and they feel invariably tame and dated considering the other films being made during this era. The film is chock full of '70s stylings and fashions, but the story appears slim and is padded out with random romantic interludes which slow the pacing right down.
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It starts with a sniper shoots a businessman who just stepped out of the hotel onto the sidewalk. Cut to Pai Ying displays emotional instability with his lady friend. Paul Chin Pui is investigating at the scene of the murder.
The first fight is a short brawl with six guys at the junk yard. One guy runs off but Pai Ying was waiting on a roof top to kill him. He returns to his girl to find a loan shark is demanding payment from her with intimate interest. His emotional instability is getting worse. They go out dancing. Fast forward past the world's scariest stripper.
Many of these old movies have multiple titles due to releases in different countries and for VHS rentals. The original title here is "The Yellow Killer". The USA release for VHS rentals was "Kung Fu - ry!". It was titled in UK as "From Bangkok with Orders to Kill". My copy has Italian credits but is dubbed in English. I always start my reviews with a description of the opening scene so the reader/viewer can confirm we are talking about the same movie.
After watching this once I know I will never watch it again. It is certainly an action drama movie and not a martial arts movie. The fights are fist fights and then the bad guys remember they can use hand guns about half way through. I rate it as below average and do not recommend it.