What's going on folks? Hai! Karate is back once again with another martial arts film for all you fans of the genre. We're taking a look at another Jimmy Wang Yu picture from 1973, A Man Called Tiger!!! This Golden Harvest film also stars James Tien, Tien Feng, Maria Yi, Okada Kawai and Yuko Minakaze. Lo Wei is in the director's chair and does a bit of double duty acting as well.
A Man Called Tiger opens up rather quickly
as Ayako(Kawai)sings before a packed nightclub
crowd in Kyoto, Japan. Among the listeners is
Chin Fu(Yu), a Chinese cat just enjoying the
vibe. He's a magnet for the ladies; he turns
away a free drink and Ayako comes up to him
and asks him if he's seen her father. Part of
the reason she came to Kyoto from Hokkaido was
to find him since he went missing. She goes
back to sing and is beset by a gang of thugs
looking to extort her for yen. Chin Fu intervenes,
gets slapped and lays on one of the wildest-ass
slaps I've seen. When YOU see it, you'll know
what I'm talking about. He escorts Ayako out
and the same thugs surround them on the street
but before they get to really tangle, Chin's
landlady, Li Hua(Minakaze)rolls up and gets rid of
them. She drops them back to the hotel and
proceeds to come on to Chin who in the span
of 3 minutes, is smoking a loosie while
flexing his arms with an exercise bar then
swigging a beer. I.SHIT.YOU.NOT.
Li Hua has ties to Shimizu, who appararently
is a local Yakuza oyabun(boss). It was his
thugs that Chin beat up, but Shimizu offers
him the position to be his right hand man.
Pretty charitable. See, Shimizu has been
dealing with competition from another boss,
Yamamoto(Feng). And he sees Chin as the perfect
weapon to get some payback. It isn't long
before Chin gives beatdowns to Yamamoto's
men with crew in toe. This rampage brings
him across an old friend, another Chinese
named Lin Hui Ming(Tien) who wont pay up.
He smashes all the thugs until Chin Fu
gets into it with him in a wild contest.
Chin beats him, and lets him off. Later,
he sends Ayako over with money to help him.
Strange? Not until Ming and Chin meet. It
turns out that they both had the same teacher
- Chin's father. And that Chin's father
had allegedly gambled away the overseas
fund money and committed suicide in disgrace.
Chin doesn't buy and so all of this is an
extreme infiltration job to find out what
exactly happened. In the process, he'll get
help from Ming and others, but each move
takes him that closer to being found out.
And just when you thought things couldn't
get even more twisted up, while Chin gets a
helping hand from yet ANOTHER woman(seriously.
she gets played by him and still helps him
escape. take THAT Breezy),it turns out that
there's more to the beef between Shimizu and
Yamamoto than he realized. It brings in a
young woman named Emi(Yi)and may include not
only her father, but a certain singer's
missing father. The suspense builds in
ambush after ambush until a final bloody
showdown at a high-stakes gambling match.
Who survives?
A Man Called Tiger is notable for fans of
martial arts flicks for a couple of reasons.
First off, this was intended to be Bruce Lee's
next picture after Fist Of Fury, known in the
West as The Chinese Connection. But it wasn't
to be due to the falling out Bruce had with Lo
Wei, leading to his staunch refusal to work with
Wei ever again. Lee then formed his own company,
Concord Productions and went on to make The Way
Of The Dragon. And you know how that went. Wei,
looking to get this film made tapped Jimmy Wang
Yu for the lead. More to Mr. Wang Yu later on.
Another point is that this film was shot entirely
on location in Kyoto, Japan. You don't get that
sense being that most of the film is shot on
indoor sets save for a few exterior scenes that
include a car chase. The big notable point is
that this film was looking to draw upon Wang Yu's
box office appeal from his days doing spy flicks
for Shaw Studios. (That period was brief, and
inspired entirely by the James Bond craze that
swept up the world in the 1960's.)And when you
watch this movie, you see how Wang Yu kind of
plays into the aloof ass-kicking hero who's a
'babe magnet'. Now does he pull it off? Barely.
Especially when you get to the scenes with Liako,
one of Yamamoto's women. That whole kissing scene
will make you go WTF? Going back to the locale of
the film, it's also interesting that Wei chose to
cast local Japanese actors and actresses. Okada
Kawai is the most recognizable face among the bunch.
She was a film veteran, with a role in Foundry
Town(1962) that was a Cannes Film Festival entry.
Kawai also starred in one or two TV series. She's
now a known businesswoman throughout Japan.
The film is a bit rushed. Trying to cram an intricate
plot in is one thing, but some of the jump cuts
are a bit haphazard. But given that Bruce dropped
out and Wang Yu stepped in, it may have been a
matter of getting the film done in time and in
accordance with studio budget. But the fighting
action is great! Han Ying-Chieh, who was also a
key player in this movie and is a recognizable
villain, handled the fight choreography very well
here. One scene that will get you to bug out is
the cable car scene. Yes. There's an extended
fight scene on a cable car high over Kyoto. Yes.
A cable car. Now of course, this predates a similar
scene in the James Bond flick Moonraker by three
years. What gives this scene the edge? Jimmy Wang
Yu JUMPS OUT OF THE CABLE CAR. See it for yourself.
The other fight scenes have a compact electricity
to them. There's also a bit of familiarity to them.
Unfortunately one of those scenes involves James
Tien at the end. The acting overall is aight.
Wang Yu softens a bit here and there but remains
in a mode where he's Sooperman Lover(shoutout to
Redman)one moment and a whirlwind of kicks and
punches the next. James Tien does all right here
in his limited moments. Lee Kwan gets maybe ten
minutes tops as the bartender in Ayako's club.
Which is fine 'cause as I stated in the last post,
it's part of his portfolio. Okada Kawai plays a
bittersweet role as Ayako with a slight touch of
innocence. Tien Feng as Yamamoto looks like a
slick gangster, although his cigars in the movie
are comical as hell. If you ask me, A Man Called
Tiger is an okay flick with enjoyable action and
a decent enough plot to follow along. It's available
now via Fortune Star DVD and VCD and online if
you can find it.
RATING: 3 of 5 DRAGON PUNCHES
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