Aka - The Smart Cavalier

Aka - The Dancing Kung Fu

Aka - The Hero Kan Feng Chih

Dubbed

Whichever title you watch this under, you get a goofy Taiwanese kung fu story from Joseph Kuo. I don't call it a kung fu comedy because for the most part the action is straightforward and solid, but the plot is half idiotic and half typical rebels against the Chings. And then a lot of action is just thrown in because that is what these Kuo films do. Your narrative comes to about 30 minutes, so fill in the rest with a rapid succession of fights to get you to the 90-minute mark. I always feel a little sorry for the action choreographer - "what you want me to choreograph another fight?". "I need ten more minutes". There are a lot of them here and though far from memorable, they get you through the film. The choreographer is Huang Fei-long who did similar duties on The 18 Bronzemen, The Eight Masters and The Flash Legs.


Doris Lung looking about 16 and adorable and her elderly grandfather played by Yi Yuan have a problem. They want to get Doris married off which you would think would not be a problem. But to make sure the man is worthy he has to beat her in a kung-ku match in the town square. Come one, come all and beat this young girl in a match and she is yours. And one after another try - a giant, a dwarf, two friends who do everything together and a couple others. All knocked about like rag dolls by her. Except for the dwarf, she is half the size of most of them. Then Kan Feng-chih (Sze Ma Lung) accidentally walks into the ring and beats her. Now he and his friend Tseng Chao have to run for it because he has other business to take care of. Fight the Chings.


But Grand-dad and Doris have found their man and they chase them wherever they go. It is very silly. Lots of action along the way. There was though one dreadful passage when a waiter goes on talking for about ten minutes in a brothel. It must have been much funnier in Cantonese than English. Grand-dad turns out to be an expert martial artist as well. And then suddenly it turns serious as the Chings show up with an army of men headed by Lo Lieh in white hair and beard who seems indestructible.


He is so tough that at one point one of the rebels sticks his finger at him and he bites it off and spits it back like a blade and kills him. Nancy Yen joins in on the action in the finale. Of course, why anyone would run from Doris Lung is a mystery. For fans of hers, she gets a fair amount of action in this one - taking on an entire inn of men at one point and then being in the finale. She is no Angela Mao but she is fun to watch. Still, this is lower off-the-rack tier Kuo.

---