Seaman No. 7
     
             
Director: Lo Wei
Year:  1973
Rating: 5.5
Oh oh. Jimmy Wang-yu goes to Japan. That spells trouble in any language. Wang-yu has a history in his films of beating up on the Japanese. I don't know whether that was from his personal feelings or just that the Japanese were still not very popular in Hong Kong. But you know there will be a lot of cracking of heads to come. And it doesn't take long in this film. It is produced by Golden Harvest but is full of Shaw alumni. Besides Wang-yu there is also James Tin-chuen, Lee Kwan, Han Ying-chieh and it is directed by Lo Wei. The same Lo Wei who had directed loads of films at Shaw before he left to direct Bruce Lee and later Jackie Chan. Now it is his turn with Wang-yu, another action legend.  Wang-yu films are always pretty basic - not a lot of subtlety, complexity or grace - just a lot of hitting. Or if it is a period film a lot of slicing. And here a lot of whistling for some reason and changing of caps. Whistling and various caps is suppose to give him a personality.



He is a seaman in this one - nicknamed Seaman No 7 but also going by his name of Wang Hai-lung. He is just back from a sea journey and goes to a local bar in Kaoshiung, Taiwan for a drink. He explains to a friend that he was in Australia but left the ship when their next port of call was in Japan. 'I don't like the Japanese" he says. And wouldn't you know it, the bar is filled with a party of rowdy Japanese sailors singing to some Japanese military march. Taiwan and Japan needless to say have their history too. When they push down an old man it is all hands on deck and Wang-yu unloads on them and then runs out after a friend tells him one of them is dead. "You need to find a ship and get away" to which Wang-yu literally says ok and dives into the water.



He climbs on to a ship that - don't you know it has the sailors from the bar on it and is heading to Japan. He should be renamed Seaman No 13. Another big fight. But instead of killing him they decide to use him to deliver a message to their drug smuggling boss, Golden Hair (James Tin-chuen) named so for his dyed blond hair. He delivers it to Golden Hair's No 3 man (Han Ying-chieh - who also choreographed this film) but they won't let him go. Another big fight. Golden Hair is not pleased with his men and makes them slap themselves for a while. Used to be the same at my job when we screwed up. He also has a giant sumo wrestler at his side and you know Wang-yu will be butting heads with him later on.



Basically, the gang will not leave well enough alone and keep finding Wang-yu and getting beaten up by him - even in an underwater sequence. Han Ying-chieh is a famous choreographer - Come Drink with Me, Dragon Inn - but there is only so much you can do with Wang-yu though he does his best. Wang-yu has one main move here - hitting people - usually with a two-armed (hey he has both arms!) together swing and some kicks. Clearly, not one of Wang-yu's classics but it will do for a lazy afternoon. Look for Lam Ching-ying as one of the thugs - the guy in black in the park and later kicked off the truck. Lo Wei has an appearance as well as the owner of a noodle shop and Maria Yi Yi who had been in two of the Bruce Lee films plays Wng-yu's cousin.