Next up here on the blog is a classic from the Golden Harvest studio, "The Prodigal Son"!! This film features Seven Little Fortunes member Yuen Biao in the lead role, one of his earliest apart from his 'brothers' of the Peking Opera School, Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung Kam-Bo(who also stars and directs the picture.)The film also features Lam Chang Ying, Frankie Chan, Wei Pak & Dick Wei.
The film opens up in 19th Century Foshan following
Leung Chang(Biao), the son of a wealthy merchant
and a kung-fu fanatic. His father arranges to have
him trained by two instructors, and as a result
Chang has had 300 fights. The problem is, his dad
doesn't want to see him hurt, so he pays Chang's
instructors to purposely lose and has his servant
Yee Tong Choi(Chan Lung)bribe all of Chang's foes
to lose. Everyone in Foshan knows this EXCEPT Chang,
calling him 'The Prodigal Son' in mockery.
One evening, three of Chang's friends take in an
evening seeing a performance by the Lok Fung Lin
Opera Troupe. One of them becomes smitten with the
actress and goes backstage afterwards to make his
move. She refuses, and has to fight off his harassment
and then his forceful advances. Basically by beating
his ass. She then reveals herself to be a man by
the name of Leung Yee Tai(Ying). Chang hears this,
and goes to challenge Yee Tai, who thoroughly whips
him and then reveals to Chang that everyone loses
to him on purpose. Shamed, Chang challenges his two
instructors who beat him knowing they'll be fired.
Only Choi is there to comfort him. Chang then takes
it upon himself to convince Yee Tai to be his master,
even having his father buy the opera troupe so he
can work there.
Six months go by with a few funny encounters along
the way, and Chang becomes a part of the troupe.
One night, Yee Tai's co-star winds up having to
flee after committing adultery. Chang steps into
his role and is confronted by the angry mob and
has to fight them off with Yee Tai's help. Watching
all of this is Lord Ngai Fai(Chan), the son of a
Manchu duke and also a rabid martial artist. He
sees Yee Tai's skills and invites him to dinner as
a pretext to challenging him to a duel, viewing him
as a worthy opponent. They fight, but Yee Tai is
stricken by a severe asthma attack. Ngai puts off
the fight until Tai recovers. But his handlers, on
orders from Hgai's father, set out to kill both Tai
and Chang. See, Ngai is also a 'prodigal son' due
to his father not wanting to see him hurt, but his
solution is extreme. Both flee into the country to
the home of Wong Wah-Bo(Hung). There, Chang learns
Wing Chun from both Tai and Wong, in anticipation
for the showdown against Ngai.
"The Prodigal Son" is a smart, snappy kung-fu
comedy that really shows off Yuen Biao's exemplary
acrobatic skills. Seeing him evolve and become
better throughout is what makes the film so vivid.
There's also enough bloody, bone breaking action
in here to satisfy that crowd who seeks it, best
seen in the final fight between Chang and Ngai.
You're gonna find yourself flinch once or twice,
trust. Sammo Hung also shines here, thrilling you
with his flips and making you laugh with a training
scene I can only describe as, 'hygenic'. As for
Lam Ching Ying, "The Prodigal Son" was another
high point for him. He had started his film career
in Hong Kong as a stuntman for Shaw Studios, and
wound up challenging Bruce Lee upon meeting him
in his hotel room, not believing Lee was as tough
as they said. Reportedly Lee sent him flying with
a punch, but liked Lam enough to make him an action
director and also star in The Big Boss. For
this film, he was also action director and won the
Best Action Direction award that year. To this day
it's still regarded as the most true-to-form portrayal
of Wing Chun on film. If you want rollicking comedy
with enough kick to keep you in your seats, go
check out 'The Prodigal Son' when possible.
Sabe onde eu posso baixar esse filme?
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