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FEARLESS DRAGON

This kung fu comedy is one of the better examples. The onscreen title is actually FEARLESS DRAGONS, but details are hard to come by - this could be FEARLESS GOLDEN DRAGON or even CANTON IRON KUNG FU. The tape version was hosted by Rudy Ray Moore as part of the "Shaolin Dolemite Collection," but the DVD is much more straightforward.

Young master Wong is employed to defend a treasure being transported to refugees for Chief Wang. The convoy crosses paths with a pedicab driver (Phillip Ko) with a traveling student (Leung Kar Yan) in short pants and Western suit. A gang of bandits attack and make off with the treasure cart. The pedicab driver and passenger rescue it from the bandits, but are mistaken for bandits themselves when a party catches up and the treasure chest turns out to be empty!

Mr. Pedicab and passenger continue to quarrel, trying to capture each other to claim the reward from Captain Yu. After getting in various scrapes together (at one point hiding out under a couple's bed on their wedding night, which ends with the fat bride crushing her little husband), the pair team up to catch the real thief. After defeating a giant in a funeral home, the pair face off against the Big Bad Guy.

The team of Leung and Ko are good at both fighting and knockabout comedy, but both performers were capable of better things. Leung was a regular fixture in Sammo Hung's films of the period. The overall attitude is tiresomely juvenile, and though there's damn fine fighting in the finale, Ko's Crazy Horse Style is downright embarrassing.

Though apparently set in old China, references are made to modern superheroes and the movie MIDNIGHT EXPRESS. The print is in poor shape scratched, with flesh tones often shifting to red but at least the transfer is in widescreen format, despite the fact the package says full screen. The English only dubbed soundtrack is of a quality typical of international exports of old kung fu films poor, flat and fuzzy.