Chase Step by Step
This was a surprisingly decent film with
continuous kung-fu action throughout. Surprising in that I had never heard
of this film and watched it only because I noticed that Hsu Feng was in the
cast. Hsu Feng is one of the more elegant and attractive of the femme fatales
of the 1960/1970's and appeared in four of King Hu's classic films. After
her acting career was over, she went on to produce such films as Red Dust,
Farewell My Concubine and Temptress Moon. The film had no sub-titles,
but the simple plot is basically a device in which to construct
numerous fights around it.
Hsu Feng and a fellow male troupe performer King Gwoa Sheong are chosen
to convey a box of valuables across country by cart. This fact seems to be
known to nearly everyone and their steps are dogged the entire journey by
a multitude of enemies intent on stealing the treasure.
Their enemies use every method from frontal attack to feminine seduction.
Twice women are sent to seduce King and he appears all too obliging - at least
as far as Hsu Feng is concerned. She is clearly not happy with the attention
that King pays to other women, especially in lieu of the fact that they keep
trying to kill him!
No place is safe for this duo as they are attacked in the inns or on the
road. It is rare for more than five minutes to pass without an attack occurring.
Some of the fighting is only so-so, but as the film progresses they continue
to get
better, more interesting and deadlier. Hsu
in particular begins to lose her patience with all the attacks and starts
to think nothing of throwing a sword into the back of an attacker.
There are a few other inspired moments such as King being attacked with
two long poles. He is able to snatch the poles away and then use them as
shields when they hurl knives at him. Then with the two knives embedded into
the poles he uses them as stilts to fight on. Later Hsu is on the ground
dodging a flurry of knives being thrown at her when one pins her long hair
to the ground. It looks like she is about to meet her end, but then she strenuously
flicks her ponytail and sends the blade deep into his chest.
As mentioned above, I watched this only
to see Hsu Feng and I couldn't have hoped for any more than this film delivers.
Though the film itself is nothing fancy, if you are a fan of Hsu you should
try and track this one down.