Forces of Geek’s Man from Hong Kong, Big Mike Leeder delves into the vaults for a look at a classic slice of true Hong Kong heroic bloodshed, the 1988 thriller The Dragon Family.
Directed by Shaw Brother’s veteran Lau Kar-wing, with a cast that includes Andy Lau, Mok Siu-chung, Tsui Siu-keung and in a full on rare tough guy role singer/actor Alan Tam in a role far removed from his best known role as Jackie Chan’s bumbling sidekick in Armour of God.
We first saw the film on a non subbed 3rd generation VHS tape sold to us by a man in a colourful tracksuit many years ago, but the film is widely available on English subtitled DVD, turn off the lights, crank up the sound system and lets watch
The year was 1988 and while I was excited about the debut of a sci-fi themed sitcom named Red Dwarf, the rest of the entertainment being generated in the UK wasn’t grabbing my attention; the best selling single of the year was Cliff Richard singing Mistletoe & Wine for god’s sake! Was it any surprise that I was seeking to escape the current state of UK entertainment in the escapism provided by the cinema of another country?
The late 1980’s saw Hong Kong cinema in the midst of its golden age, with Triad or heroic bloodshed themed action thrillers hitting the screen in quick succession, starring in a great many of these movie s was a young charismatic actor/singer named Andy Lau and The Dragon Family features Lau in fine form taking some serious bumps and bruises for his efforts as the high octane & high impact action gets started.
When the leader of a group of four powerful Triad families decides that they should go straight and stop dealing in drugs, 3 of the 4 families agree while the 4th decides it’s time to take control of the criminal empire once and for all, and before long the mean streets of Hong Kong are awash with blood as mothers, fathers, friends and family members are hacked, slashed, burnt, and repeatedly hacked, slashed, shot and generally treated badly.
It’s up to brothers Lung Wah (Andy Lau), Lung Chung (Mok Siu-chung) & their families veteran enforcer Allan (Alan Tam) to take the battle to the bad guys once and for all, battle lines have been drawn up, alliances formed and betrayed and somewhere, somebody’s gonna pay..In blood!
The Dragon Family bursts onto the screen with a vengeance, it’s an oft overlooked classic slice of the genre we know and love as heroic bloodshed, with a top notch cast including fan favourites Hui Yin-hong (My Young Auntie), Norman Chu/Tsui Siu-keung (The Bastard Swordsman) and Philip Ko (too many to mention!) and some incredible high impact and frequently high calibre high explosive action sequences courtesy of the films action director, Shaw Brothers martial arts maestro Lau Kar-leung brother of the director, and his stunt team which included on this film everyone from Dion Lam, Hung Yan-yan & Ridley Tsui. The stunt team should be given heartiest applause as they take hits and kicks, hard falls, fire stunts, car hits and more with bone crunching bravery.
The cast is headed by Andy Lau who headlined 10 films in 1988 including Wong Kar-wai’s As Tears Go By, In The Blood, Three Against the World and The Dragon Family. Lau’s still a fresh faced fellow now and it’s hard to believe he’ll be celebrating his 50th birthday this September, and he’s in fine form as an actor and physical performer in this film. Lau gets to play a variation on his good Triad persona from so many films, while showing his courage and willingness to literally throw himself into the action scenes and we get to see him taking several very painful falls and reactions repeated in glorious slow motion in the course of the film.
The ever under-rated Max Mok/Mok Siu-chung plays the second lead in the movie, best known for his supporting role as Long Foon in the majority of the Once Upon A Time In China series, Mok should have been a bigger star. He had the look, the moves and if you check out his performance in films like this, No Regret No Return, Hero of Tomorrow and Nightlife Hero, the charisma to be one hell of a leading man. Mok gets to show more of his skill with firearms than martial arts this time out but does throw himself into the action scenes with a furious energy.
Actor and singer Alan Tam is probably best known to most people as Jackie Chan’s comic sidekick in Armour of God, or for his roles in action comedies like The Last Blood and The Fortune Code. In Hong Kong, he’s also known for solid dramatic turns in such films as Alan & Eric: Between Hello and Goodbye and his singing, he could be classified as the Cliff Richard of Hong Kong; eternally regarded as in his mid 20’s! But for The Dragon Family, Tam took a very dark turn, playing and quite believably a tough as nails cold blooded killer without so much as a cheeky smile or snappy wisecrack. Tam gets to show his prowess with various firearms, and even gets to take on British bootman Nick Master’s in the films finale. Granted, Tam may not have the best looking kicks or moves, but he still pulls off some admirable action beats himself, and it’s interesting to see him playing such a role.
The film’s main villain is played by the Bastard Swordsman himself, Norman Chu AKA Tsui Siu-keung, and the former Shaw Brothers star acquits himself well and deals out quite a beating to Lau before meeting a gruesome fate. Sharp eyed viewers will catch sight of everyone from Kent Cheng, Philip Ko, Charlie Cho, Wai Yin-hung, Dion Lam, Hung Yan-yan, KK Cheng, Michael Miu, Shing Fui-on, Ridley Tsui, Stanley Fung, Blackie Ko and so many other familiar faces popping up in the film in various supporting roles, while britkicker Nick Masters from Tiger on the Beat pops up as a cockney drug dealer who falls foul of the furious feet of Alan Tam in the finale.
The film’s script serves as a perfect backdrop on which to hang various double crosses and spectacular action setpieces, including an incredible gunfight and assault on a Chinese funeral, a brutal boat house attack, and of course the full on finale set as most 80’s movies demand in a warehouse full of gantries and walkways from which bad guys can plunge in spectacular bone crunching fashion.
Lau Kar-wing’s direction is pretty solid, the slow build of the first half of the film as you are introduced to various characters and their family connections goes into overdrive for the latter half of the movie, as all hell breaks loose and with his real life brother Lau Kar-leung and his stunt team providing the action, it’s great fun and some of Lau’s best modern day action in my opinion combining high impact martial arts with high calibre high explosive gunplay to full effect.
The Dragon Family has yet to receive any kind of official quality release outside of Hong Kong & South East Asia, a pity as it’s a most enjoyable action packed thriller and features almost as many cameo appearances as Sammo Hung’s Shanghai Express, and just as much hardcore action.
One can only imagine the wealth of cool extra features that could be put together for an official prestige DVD release, interviews, commentaries, kill counts etc. The film is available as a crisp print with English subtitles from Hong Kong and can be ordered through www.yesasia.com amongst other websites, and gets the Impact thumbs up as a classic slice of under-appreciated 80’s action.
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