Cheesy 80s trash kung fu classic CHALLENGE OF THE TIGER (1980) is available on a double-bill DVD with bizarre midget/spy movie FOR YOUR HEIGHT ONLY (1979). I've as yet been unable to track down a cheap enough copy of this amazing disc (it retails for far more than I'm willing to pay), so when I saw an old VHS copy of the film at a car-boot sale for 25pthat's about 50¢ USI just had to stump up the cash.
Starring kung fu 'legends' Bruce Le, Hwang Jang Lee and Bolo Yeung, and ninja movie regular Richard Harrison, CHALLENGE OF THE TIGER is a poorly written and badly directed mess; and this is precisely why it is such wonderful film.
After the opening scene, in which two scientists are gunned down and their secret sterilisation formula (capable of rendering men infertile) is stolen, we are introduced to the film's heroes; top chop-socky fighter Huang Lung (Bruce Le) and perfectly coiffured mustachioed playboy Richard Cannon (Richard Harrison). Lung deals with the men, delivering flurries of kick-ass kung fu moves and Cannon deals with the ladies, seducing them with a flick of his hair and a twitch of his Magnum PI-style 'tache. As top CIA agents, it is their job to retrieve the formula before it can be used to blackmail the world!
The formula eventually ends up in the hands of tasty Spanish totty Maria (played by soft-core star Nadiuska) who, despite being seduced by Cannon, delivers it to her boss Antonio, who plans to sell it to the highest bidder.
Meanwhile, a Viet Cong bad-guy (Hwang Jang Lee) and his team of lackeys (which include Bolo Yeung and Chinese HK babe Yue Fa Booi) are also trying to lay their hands on the formula. They deliver a map of Antonio's stronghold to Lung and Cannon in the hope that the agents will break in and attack, allowing the Viet Cong to sneak in and help themselves to the formula.
With tons of female nudity, some pretty good fights, lousy dubbing, an awful script and plenty of unintentionally funny scenes (check out the badly dubbed dog), this movie is a hoot from start to finish.
Richard Harrison is brilliant as stud Cannon.When we first get to meet him, he is playing tennis with gorgeous topless womenin slow motion. Then he ambles over to a poolfull of naked babes! No woman in this movie is safe from this testosterone-charged hunk's charms, and practically all of them receive a good seeing to from him. Le, on the other hand, is content to kick ass. In one jaw-droppingly silly scene he goes fist-to-horn with a bull, cracking the charging beast on the head with a crushing blow, and towards the end of the film he goes up against a whole heap of baddies, including the legendary Hwang Jang Lee, who gets to display his amazing kicking skills.
I thoroughly recommend fans of schlock martial arts movies to seek this one out and if you can afford it, get the double-bill DVD ( I haven't seen it, but FOR YOUR HEIGHT ONLY looks just as crazy!).
I'll finish this appraisal of CHALLENGE OF THE TIGER with some of my favourite snippets of dialogue. Enjoy!
RICHARD (after just meeting Maria): Can I come home with you?
MARIA: It's very hot in here. I'm going to take a bath. RICHARD: I don't want to stay here alone. Mind if I come with you?
RICHARD (In the bath with Maria): Nice little ears.
LUNG (sat at a table with Richard and a sexy female CIA agent): That tea smells good. RICHARD (looking at woman): Hmmm, so does she. LUNG: Huh, you bandit!
RICHARD (to waitress): Coke please. WAITRESS: None left. RICHARD: What else have you got? WAITRESS: Beer.
