Fei Lung gwoh gong

I was given the chance to watch "Enter the Fat Dragon" (aka "Fei Lung gwoh gong") from 1978 here in 2019. And with it being a martial arts movie from Hong Kong, and starring Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, of course I sat down and watched it.

Odd, how I've managed to evade this movie up until now, because this was a glorious combination of spoof and homage to Bruce Lee and his unique style of movies and movie-making. And Sammo Kam-Bo Hung was superb in the role.

There is a wonderful combination of action, storytelling, drama and comedy throughout the course of "Enter the Fat Dragon", with emphasis on comedy and action, of course.

This is definitely an old school type of martial arts, and a very enjoyable one as well. So I am sure that the movie will be enjoyable to almost anyone who has an interest in martial arts movies.

"Enter the Fat Dragon" is a movie that is well worth sitting down and watch, especially given the wonderful sense of combination of spoof and homage that they put together here.

Phew, that starts with some nasty animal cruelty. Let's archive this under Time Context. In times when animals are still 'used', only packaged in a way that is less disturbing to the eyes, such filmic relics shouldn't matter anyway. Anything else is hypocrisy. Better the bizarre blackfacing in the last third, that doesn't hurt anyone. There was just no, I would now like to quote verbatim, [...] on the spot.

'Enter The Fat Dragon', a humorous Bruce Lee homage instead of Bruceploitation, which is slowly going out of fashion. However, 'The Way Of The Dragon' is more of a role model than the humorous borrowing of the name. Humour here primarily means slapstick, which is further enhanced by the German dubbing, the best in the world. Following the example of Italian action-comedy films, Peking Opera buddies Sammo Hung and Jackie Genre in particular founded their own enormously successful Eastern sub-genre. 'Drunken Master' and "Snake In The Eagle's Shadows" were classics in the same year. Hung's fighting skills are remarkable, particularly his kicking technique, especially considering his stature. Nevertheless, it has to be said that, compared to Chan, he develops less of his own style and tends to focus more on the entertaining predicate 'I'm fat and I can still do anything'. In this film, he mainly uses Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do technique in line with the premise. Always with a wink, of course. Sounds like I would be thoroughly impressed. Unfortunately, not really. 30% eye-glazing, 30% idle time, 40% sometimes unbearable bollocks.

Sammo Hung directed and stars in this parody of Enter the Dragon. Parody might be a bit strong, it's somewhere between a parody and a tribute to the late great Bruce Lee. You can't take this movie too seriously, but if you go in with the right mindset it's fairly entertaining. There is a lot of comedy thrown in with a few really good kung fu scenes. No surprise that Sammo is good with the jokes, but he definitely has some kung fu skills! He has an uncredited role in the original Enter the Dragon where he fights Bruce Lee.

**1/2 (Out of 4)

This loving tribute to Bruce Lee from Sammo is very funny and features scenes that are great homages to the Little Dragon. Something that brings the film down is its naive attempt at a Jim Kelly parody/tribute that is in rather bad taste. An otherwise worthwhile entry.

I saw this film as part of a Hong Kong double bill at a local arthouse cinema and surprisingly it went down pretty well. It has an endearing quality that shines through the confusing, `make it up as we go along plot', bizarrely staged action sequences and unintentionally surreal comedy. In Kung Fu comedy star Sammo Hung's second directorial effort we see him go through a series of barely connected adventures as a fat Bruce Lee fanatic working at his uncle's Hong Kong restaurant. Seemingly meant to be some kind of parody / homage to Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon, it bares little or no relation to the aforementioned film, with the exception of a fight scene involving a western boxer, a black guy and er .. some other guy. Rather than using a black actor, the film makers decided to black up a Chinese actor for the part. It's hilarious to watch the actor approximating how he thinks a black man might act, as he minces around in some kind of attempted jive swagger! Sammo does quite a good job of imitating Bruce Lee's mannerisms and although this is primarily a comedy, some of the fight sequences are great. It is easy to forget that Sammo is quite an accomplished martial artist when he spends most of his screen time as a big fat bumbling idiot!

Overall, there's a great sense of fun running through the film that makes it difficult to dislike, even though it's terrible. If you enjoyed this, check out Sammo Hung in The magnificent Butcher or My Lucky Stars, which are just as ridiculous ridiculous but with more fighting!