Customer Reviews

The Man From Hong Kong [VHS]

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This movie was recently released in (2.35:1 widescreen) DVD by Screensound Australia, the business name of the National Screen & Sound Archives of Australia. I personally have a copy of this one and it's great. Special features include:
* Director's commentary by Brian Trenchard Smith, together with actor Hugh Keays Byrne and stunt director Grant Page (who doubled for Jimmy Wang Yu in several scenes and also starred as the guy who he fights in the Chinese restuarant)
* Picture gallery, including behind-the-scenes footage (including of the car chase)
* Original Australian news items about the stars and opening night (these are very kitch)
* Original Australian theatrical trailer
* Detailed colour bonus booklet
This has rightly been recognised as a classic of Australian cinema, mainly because it was the first collaboration with an Asian film company (Golden Harvest). It was an attempt by Golden Harvest to move forward in the direction of 'Enter the Dragon' after Bruce Lee's death, and it seems that they still had a contract with George Lazenby (who was originally to appear in 'Game of Death' -- see the extras to the Hong Kong Legends Platinum Edition of Game of Death, released last year in the UK).
The DVD is in PAL format. This means that US buyers will only be able to play it on their laptops etc if they do not have a converter or a dual-format television. It is encoded as Region 4, which shouldn't be as much of a problem, requiring only a multi-region hack or 'dezoning'.

Best of luck finding this one on the web ... the australian government sites are probably the best place to start.

I dont even know if i'm in the right page but my whole family watched The Man from Hong Kong when it first came out on Beta. My father especially has loved this movie and has been looking for it ever since.I hope that by wrighting this someone can let me know where in the world I can purchase this movie on vhs. I would appreciate any help on this matter. The movie is like a piece of history in our family and we would dearly love to find this film.
yours sincerely
Aggie Geraghty

As far as these films go, this one has pretty standard action. But The Man From Hong Kong is an oddity among the kung fu films of the 1970s. It is directed by an Australian director, and it takes place mostly in Australia with a predominately Australian cast. The exception is star Jimmy Wang Yu, who says his lines in English but is obviously dubbed.

This particular version of the film has both Chinese and English subtitles. Unfortunately, the English subtuitles are an the bottom of the screen, below the Chinese subtitles (the dubbing is also Chinese - perhaps one is Mandarin and one Cantonese). But since this is not widescreen, the English subtitles often go off the screen making it difficult to read!

I bought this video because of George Lazenby, who moves very well for a man his size. An almost unreocgnizable Sammo Hung also makes an appearance as a bad guy. It is odd to note that many actors who became famous playing a specific hero, end up playing the villain in just about every other film.

Because of the problem with the subtitles, I would recommend this film only for purists and completists - until an English version becomes available. 20th Century Fox released this film domestically in theaters, but who knows if they still have the rights, or if they would consider a video release.

The main Chinese dude is "OK" but he did not make the movie for me. I was glad to see the Toecutter and FEE-FEE. 70's early 80's feel, it's really quite trippy that a movie like this even exists, a Chinaman raising cain and doing hot honeys in Australia.

Originally entitled 'The Dragon Flies,' this movie showed the world that Australia could cut it with the best of them in terms of action films. As far as I can see, it is only panned nowadays because of its age and style. Well, it was a while ago and it is curious co-production between Australia and Hong Kong - so Aussie accents and questionable dubbing are bound to attract some derision. Even so, it covered all the bases with its combination of James Bond-ish action, brilliantly arranged car chase and over-the-top kung-fu.

Set mainly in Sydney, but with early scenes shot in Hong Kong, it centres on the story of a Hong Kong police inspector who travels to Australia to assist local police in their search for a huge Southern Hemisphere drug cartel. One-time James Bond star and real-life martial arts expert George Lazenby ironically plays our charismatic narcotics kingpin, Wilton. Oriental star Jimmy Wang Yu plays our Hong Kong police inspector. The all-star cast includes Rebecca Gilling, Roger Ward, Frank Thring and Ros Spiers. Of course, they are only faces that will be familiar to Australasians or learned fans of Australian cinema.
As otherwise noted, Sammo Hung pops up at the beginning, long before he starred in the 1999 U.S. TV series Martial Law. He is memorably chased up Ayers Rock by Roger Ward.
Great kudos go to Noel Quinlan for the funky seventies soundtrack that perfectly compliments the action throughout.

As a fan of car chase, I feel special mention is to be made of the dramatic car chase finale. It showed that Australians could choreograph a car chase that was second to no other country.
But look at what they had to work with. The star was undoubtedly the venerable Valiant Charger. It was quite allegorical, the way the two-door Aussie icon was pitted against its foreign-inspired rivals. After blowing off a motorbike, the Charger goes after, and wipes out, a Vauxhall-inspired LC Holden Torana. Finally, the all-Australian Muscle car takes on the American-sourced Aussie Ford Falcon to devastating effect. The soundtrack even captures the ubiquitous throb of the Chrysler Hemi engine. This was the best car chase ever filmed in Australia without a doubt. It was a great end to a great 70's film.

Australia's first martial arts film (a co-production with Raymond Chow's Golden Harvest) delivers a steady stream of colorful action. Director Brian Trenchard-Smith keeps the mayhem moving while utilizing picturesque locales ranging from Ayers Rock to Stanwell Park. Kung fu star Jimmy Wang Yu lacks charisma but performs some impressive stunts - leading to an explosive showdown with the memorably villainous George Lazenby. "The Man From Hong Kong" (1975) is a vigorous cult classic and a must for Lazenby completists.

A not too bad action film from the 70's with George Lazenby as a Aussie mob boss taken on by a karate/kung fu cop (Jimmy Wang YU) from Hong Kong. Lazenby's death is a classic moment to rank with Cagney's top of the world in White Heat. Too bad this isn't yet on region 1 DVD. Film's theme song ("Sky High") was a modest hit on the top 40 charts.

Jimmy Wang Yu had been a star of Hong Kong martial arts films and swordplay adventures for ten years (ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, CHINESE BOXER), first for Shaw Bros. and then for Golden Harvest, when he was assigned by the latter to make THE MAN FROM HONG KONG (1975) in Australia, in English, with an Australian crew, with fight scenes choreographed by Hong Kong actor Sammo Hung. The idea was to try to position Wang Yu as an international star, the "new Bruce Lee," and replicate the success of the Hollywood/Golden Harvest co-production from two years earlier, ENTER THE DRAGON, starring Bruce Lee, who had died in July 1973, a month before the film's release.

In THE MAN FROM HONG KONG (released in the U.S. as THE DRAGON FLIES), Wang Yu had to forego his usual intensity and play a suave, womanizing Hong Kong detective ("Special Branch") who comes to Sydney, Australia to extradite a drug peddler (Sammo Hung), but winds up embroiled in a running battle with Sydney crime boss Wilton, played by George Lazenby, a one-time James Bond (ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE). Like so many 1970s action movies, the flimsy plot is routinely put on hold to indulge in gratuitous chase scenes filled with lame gags. There are a couple of '70s-obligatory love scenes pairing Wang Yu with two forgettable Australian actresses. One of these includes a long, insipid romantic montage involving horseback riding on a ranch in the Aussie countryside, underscored by the song, "A Man is a Man is a Man."

There are plenty of fight scenes, though, and I have to admit that for a mid-1970s made-in-Australia action film, the fights are certainly better-than-average. However, once you've seen what Hong Kong filmmakers were doing so successfully at the time, it's hard to be very impressed. Choreographer Sammo Hung, who went on to become a notable kung fu film director himself, was somewhat hampered by the Australians' demand for more "realistic" fight scenes, meaning he had to subdue his normally active kung fu imagination and concentrate on "street fighting," much of which is quite brutal and bloody. There is one fairly traditional Hong Kong-style kung fu sequence involving traditional weapons at a martial arts school, where Wang Yu takes on a room full of Chinese "students" working for the villain. Sammo appears in a pre-credits fight scene staged on the picturesque Outback tourist site, Ayers Rock. Lazenby has a few fight scenes also, and he's not bad. There's also a clever finale involving a penthouse, a vault filled with explosives and a 90-second fuse.

Wang Yu is dubbed in English throughout. His character speaks Mandarin in one scene with Sammo, forcing the viewer to grab the remote, reverse the disc a few seconds and turn on the subtitles.

Interestingly, the film's theme song, "Sky High," is more famous than the film itself. Performed by a group called Jigsaw, it became a top-40 hit at the time and is still played on oldies stations. ("You've blown it all sky high, by telling me a lie, without a reason why...")

This Region 3 DVD from Fortune Star offers a high quality print and transfer. Extras include the original trailer and two deleted dialogue scenes, one of which fills in a minor, but gnawing plot hole.

Wall to wall cliches. An Australian/Hong Kong production with a former James Bond as a villain, martial arts choreographed by Hung Kam Po (Sammo Hung), and vehicular mayhem by Grant Page (who did the same for Mad Max a few years later). This almost plays like a parody of a 70s action drama. A very silly movie.

Also known as THE DRAGON FLIES,this standard chop-socky actioner is a Hong Kong/ Australia co-production, and features former 007 George Lazenby (the one movie wonder) as the main bad guy.
The plot, or what there is of it, centers around an innocent man who is wanted by Australian police for murder, armed robbery and drug trafficking, and sets out to nail the drug kingpin who framed him for it. Star Jimmy Wang Yu is no Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan. The movie has no shortage of stunts but they are unimaginatively filmed (maybe it was because of a limited budget or incompetant directing/ editing). This is particularly disappointing as they are performed by Grant Page, the man who would later mastermind the stunts for the MAD MAX trilogy, the film co-stars Hugh Keays-Byrne and Roger Ward who were in MAD MAX 1. THE MAN FROM HONG KONG also contains one of the most boring car chases ever filmed.
Another problem with this movie is while viewing it, it's obvious that the Asian actors voices have been dubbed, while the Aussies aren't, although the result is unintentionally amusing, and the acting is pretty bad.

And finally, I'll finish of with a snippet of awful dialogue from the movie especially amusing because of how the Australian government have been treating immigrants lately:

Aussie cop: There's no need to be rude, man. There's no torture, no thunbscrews. This is Australia, we're not allowed to get into that sort of thing, mate".

Wang Yu: He's a Chinese. I'm a Chinese. Don't worry.

Well, if a belated sequel to this movie pops up in the future, we should worry. And keep your eyes peeled for a cameo by Samo Hung.