Valley of the Double Dragon (1974)

Titles of this movie include - Valley of the Double Dragon or Kung Fu of Tae Kwon Do or Golden Leopard's Brutal Revenge or Fist Fighter or any combination or spelling of Tae Kwon Do and Kung Fu put together. The only title resembling any of the story would be a fighter with panther tattoos getting revenge. Actors include - Kan Chun-Pak, Lin Chen-Chi, Robert Baker, Liu Ping, Suen Yuet and Fang Mian. I like hot kung fu chicks in 1970s movies and Lin Chen-Chi is in my top ten list. (Not that she even does kung fu, just looking at you, babe.) That's my reason for watching this film blessed with many title variations for the sole purpose of occupying shelf space in the thousands of VHS rental stores all over America back in the day. So we start with the evil Japanese this time doing evil to the retreating American soldiers. Typically the villain steps on stage and kicks a dog or does something evil to show the audience that he is the bad guy. In these movies all the audience really needs is to hear "Japanese" and they know that with no need to show. Robert ("I was beaten to death by Bruce Lee") Baker, in his second and final movie appearance, plays a Nazi. One American, Sylvester Williams (his only role) falls into the helpful hands of the Chinese resistance fighters. The other American gets killed off and I can't even find his screen credits. The scene when the opera performer plays the god of war Kwan Kung and uses the guan dao was great in concept but fell short in execution, still I liked it as a special movie moment. Sylvester Williams in disguise as Kwan Kung in the opera troop learns kung fu, history and culture as they flee the Japanese. The fights are basic and brutal, no wires no acrobatics, and they need to be basic and brutal for the story. Despite being just another no big name low budget production the story is good and the pace never drags as it is essentially a chase scene from start to finish. I rate it just above average for the year and genre.