PART THREE - YUEN BIAO MOVIES
If you've ever sat watching Jackie Chan movies from the late 1970s through to the early '90s, as well as the other movies from Hong Kong in this period, a few faces will start to become familiar. Not only because many of them are part of the JC Stunt Team but because so many actors and stunt performers were taught in the same opera schools as children. They had to make a living on the silver screen when demand for traditional entertainment died out.
Jackie's 'brothers' from those days include Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao who became stars in their own right. Here I'll be taking a look at the latter. As the acrobat of the group he often can be found doing hair raising feats alongside Sammo (Eastern Condors, Millionaires Express) Jackie (The Young Master) or even both (Project A, Dragons Forever) which are all classics in their own right. But for now I'll try and stick to the features where he gets top billing.
Prodigal Son is the easiest place to start, featuring Mr Vampire star and fellow veteran performer Lam Ching-Ying in the typical reluctant master role. Biao stars as Leung, the kind of brash youth that can be seen in many of these period comedies. Believing he has real fighting skills that have made him famous with the locals, he discovers this is a lie. This whole situation was created by his wealthy father to keep him out of trouble. Which is hardly a good plan when you think about it. Finding this out Leung insists on following a theatre troupe to learn some real kung-fu from the unwilling teacher. There are plenty of slapstick moments as things unfold in the usual tea houses and village streets, but there is a more serious side to the story. If you recognise these actors you'll also be familiar with the kind of tonal whiplash that comes with the genre.
As with many of these films they have to include one suddenly dark and morbid sequence. It seems that Leung's new master is a threat to another prodigal son, and nefarious forces want to prevent them meeting. In this case like many other examples several deaths occur, although during an arson attack the fire stunts are still pretty incredible. It soon rushes onward with the usual action set pieces that make up much of the running time. It's always a weird decision to add drama this way, but it's a brief inclusion. The physical performances are all impressive, particularly during the finale and the mandatory training montages. Sammo shows up in the third act and his absurd calligraphy practice scene is probably the biggest laugh in the film. It's more or less an extended cameo but it's a welcome inclusion.
You can find Yuen Biao as the star in other films in this style, including features like Knockabout (again with Sammo as the teacher) and pseudo slasher action mash-up Dreadnaught. However Prodigal Son is the major highlight during his career in the 'vague turn of the century setting' and 'learning a new technique to win' era of stories. The ones where cantankerous masters and disobedient youths clash - and almost every final showdown seems to be filmed on one particular coastal road. In this way it's his own Drunken Master or Magnificent Butcher so a great example of this genre, one that stands alongside those films which gave his brothers the lead role.
Things start to become a little stranger as the film makers move away from those traditional stories, as can be seen in The Iceman Cometh, aka Time Warriors. The latter title seems like a better fit, as well as not being one that is recycled, since this is essentially a Highlander style plot about two rivals from ancient history facing off in the modern world. It has some hints of what would also be found later in Demolition Man and even a slight feel of The Terminator though it doesn't include anything futuristic. Instead they opt for historical characters trying to find their way in current times. Which of course means a lot of fish out of water comedy scenes and sword fights on top of city buildings.
These kinds elements are bound to seem familiar though it's pretty unlikely another story in this vein would feature a Buddhist relic as a time machine! There are plenty of silly gags along the way and, as usual, a lot of broad humour. There's not a great deal of satire on modern life, though perhaps it's trying to say something when the villain of the piece adapts so quickly to the new world and the good guy is confused by the hellish concrete landscape. The antagonist is played by recurring evil doer Yuen Wah who is typecast as usual in these movies. Another child stage performer (the 'Yuen' name is taken from their opera school master) he always managed to do comedy and creepiness with ease. It's fun to see him in a bigger role like this even if it's yet another villain.
Both get to show off their athletic prowess with swords, guns and hand to hand combat all entering the mix. The film looks great with plenty of '80s lighting schemes and there are some great
set pieces including a hair-raising chase with a horse and a Jeep. The early comic scenes in mainland China where the frozen duo are discovered are pretty awkward, but thankfully this is brief as things quickly move on to the central plot. Maggie Cheung's call girl takes in the lost hero and mistakes him for a migrant from the countryside. She soon abuses his talents to assist her questionable lifestyle and a tale of justice and modern day morals soon comes together. Which allows for some nice touches that give it more personality beyond a typical 'man out of time' story.
On a more unusual note I have to bring up The Champions, an oddball sports movie that mixes martial arts stunts and soccer team rivalry. It doesn't seem to have a big following compared to these others, but perhaps this is just due to a lack of home video releases. Sports sequences of this kind had been done in films like Dragon Lord but this seems to have been a unique entry to the genre up until Shaolin Soccer added CGI to the experience. Here you've got another recurring bad guy with Dick Wei (Yes, Madam et al) playing a celebrity player who comes to blows with Yuen Biao after an accident. He takes him on as part of the grounds staff to teach him a lesson, while his friends think he's made it onto the team.
Later of course they do face off on the pitch after plenty of training scenes and a plot about illegal match fixing, which allows for some fun action moments.
There's a certain charm to everything here which is helped a great deal by the main lead. While type casting is almost always a part of making these films, his energy means these types of roles are always watchable. It's also fun to wait and see who makes an appearance when it's always so easy to spot who will be on the side of good or evil. This isn't always the case, but a lot of the time having a certain face type lands these guys a role they will play up every time. Of course as veteran stunt performers they always get to show off their abilities, in any type of storyline or setting. Even if it's less flattering for those considered to look evil!
While many of these movies have crazy titles I have to talk about ZU: Warriors From the Magic Mountain. It's an ridiculous name up there with The Inspector Wears Skirts and Holy Virgin vs. Evil Dead. Biao plays a swordsman who escapes a war only to get tangled up in a larger battle between the forces of light and darkness. But to me this will always be remembered as the film where Sammo has magic eyebrows. This gives you a good idea of the content, and there are a lot of other wacky fantasy elements. He also has a second role as a soldier in the first scene who always reminds me of Super Mario... it's something about the costume. It's a story involving many strange sights, with a giant gatekeeper chained to the edge of an evil realm, a temple frozen in ice, and an entire land where the skulls of cult victims litter the ground.
The special effects are not particularly great when compared to A Chinese Ghost Story, but they do a reasonable job... right up until the finale when it becomes an over-saturated mess with some shaky blue screen backgrounds. But elsewhere I do like the make up which shows demonic possession, and the scene where a master priest passes on his powers directly into Yuen Biao's body - stretching and contorting him during the process. As a standard swordplay movie it's entertaining enough with plenty of people leaping about on wires to depict magical abilities. The story is a bit muddled, but it's essentially a race to prevent a demon being reborn thanks to the warring nature of mankind. The heroes have to learn new skills and meet many strange characters along the way, so the bizarre title actually delivers.
It's always going to be difficult to find every film that these guys
have appeared in when they are so prolific, often working on and off the
screen. Hopefully this highlights a good selection, or at least a good
starting point. Yuen Biao appears in things like Jet Li's first Once Upon a Time In China
as his main student Foon (a role which seems to recast in every
Wong Fei-Hung story) and I could even go into the minor roles he has in
the Lucky Stars films. But that's a series which is often
too ridiculous even for me, as well as being one that has far too many sequels. One
that needs to be seen is Millionaires Express (aka Shanghai Express, aka Noble Express
etc) which is another Sammo Hung feature. But the bizarre Wild East
setting is very compelling as are all the rooftop stunts and eye watering
falls.
Once you've started to get into these kind of movies it's hard to stop watching.
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