Shi ying xiong chong ying xiong

Independent HK production with everything you would expect from the era. Fat lady jokes, strange costumes, period film with incongruous references to modern films and an absolutely incoherent plot.

A hand drawn carriage operator and his ride, a strangely dressed man wearing western shorts, blue socks and leather shoes, happen to witness the attempted theft of a shipment of money to starving refugees. In the mêlée, the carriage operator attempts to steal the money for himself but is intercepted by the strangely dressed man. While fighting over the money chest, it breaks open and reveals a load of rocks instead of silver. The two men run but are now accused of stealing the coins. The rest of the film, they try to clear their names of the crime while contemplating actually stealing the coins if they find them.

That is essentially the plot although the loose way the film is constructed it's hard to follow it. Mostly, like many other cheap martial art film, the story is the barest excuse to get from one action scene to another. There are also some very stupid comedy scenes including the fore-mentioned fat lady and later the Chinese "Jaws" who claims that his brother works for James Bond. Unlike other Kung Fu comedies from the early 80's this is one worth sitting thru the stupidity if you are keen to watch some very well done fight scenes. The martial arts are fast and complex and the actors do a great job. Wang Lung Wei, who always brought solid power to his roles at the Shaw studios, is equally good here.

Fun kung fu.