...and as such, it made quite an impression on me at age ten. I haven't seen "Writing Kung Fu" in years--not since it ran on the USA Network's Kung Fu Theater, in fact--but I remember it as a fairly interesting genre picture. John Chang of "Snake in the Monkey's Shadow" stars as a wimpy schoolteacher who has to learn the martial arts to defend his village against a wandering Vietnamese killer, who plays (and fights with) a flute. The villain is portrayed by Yang Sze (Bolo Yeung), the muscular henchman of Mr. Han in "Enter the Dragon", and is notable for being the only Vietnamese heavy--to my knowledge--in a Chinese martial arts film! There's a dash of the obligatory lame slapstick, of course (every kung-fu movie has it), but the tone of "Writing Kung Fu" is pretty grim for the most part. Excellent final fight, too, as I remember. 6 and 1/2 stars.
