Tattooed Dragon

It starts at a location in Thailand used for many movies of that era. There are temples gray from recent air pollution and other partial walls and doorways made from more modern bricks. Everything is covered in high weeds. The area is definitely off the tourist guide book but in the first chapter of location scout guide book.

Jimmy drops in on some guys gambling. He takes their pot and accuses them of thievery. A brawl ensues. This is one of those fights where the hero is in the center surrounded by dozens of attackers. They hop about and add movement to the scene but only one or two of them attack the hero at a time. Despite this scenario being 100% unrealistic it is in about 99% of the martial arts movies ever made. Jackie Chan, in an interview, ridiculed this fight scenario and made it his personal mission on becoming a star never to put such a scene in his movies. Jimmy Wang Yu never looked at it as so complicated. Instead, he somehow made all these stupid scenes look good.

Injured, he holds up at a kung fu school. They are attacked and Jimmy fights and flees again. Eventually he is rescued by some farmers. James Tien enters as the Japanese boss of a casino. The movie slowly turns into a drama about the evils of gambling. Lee Kwan loses everything and an over-dramatic suicide scene is the low point of the movie.

I recommend this movie to fans of martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984 for only one reason. Near the end is a scene where Jimmy fights a stunt man set on fire. Yes, in 1973 if you needed to set a stunt man on fire you used fire not a computer. Otherwise, this movie is totally forgettable average material only.

THE TATTOOED DRAGON (1973) is a rather lackluster Jimmy Wang Yu vehicle directed for Golden Harvest by the studio's house director, Lo Wei. Set (and shot) in modern-day Thailand, it stars Wang Yu as a character called `the Dragon' who hides out in a rural village and confronts a criminal gang which has set up a casino to bilk the villagers of their money and property. It's a far cry from Wang Yu's costume classics made for Shaw Bros. (MAGNIFICENT TRIO, ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN, CHINESE BOXER) and elsewhere (ONE-ARMED BOXER, BEACH OF THE WAR GODS, BLOOD OF THE DRAGON). As a martial arts star, Wang Yu was best served by director Chang Cheh or when he worked as his own director.

TATTOOED DRAGON does offer a fairly interesting story even if the direction is uninspired. Wang Yu, wounded and on the run from a robbery gang he'd foiled, holes up with a Thai kickboxer (Samuel Hui) and his wife (Sylvia Chang) and is nursed back to health in time for him to help Hui win a local tournament. When the same gang sets up shop in the village, all of Hui's friends and neighbors quickly lose all their money and the deeds to their homes. In one horrifying scene, a woman whose husband has lost everything ties up her three children (including a teenaged girl) and herself and they jump into the river to drown themselves.

Wang Yu goes to the casino with Hui and, wearing shades, uses his acute hearing (a trick apparently picked up from Zatoichi, the Blind Swordsman, whom Wang Yu co-starred with in ZATOICHI MEETS HIS EQUAL) to direct Sam in making bets. The hero manages to outwit the gang which means he has to fight them again, this time limping and wearing shades (at night!), and with Hui's kickboxing help. Later, the gang's leader, James Tien, shows up from the city to try and finally put a stop to the resistance.

There are enough fights to keep kung fu fans happy, although none of them are terribly inspired. Wang Yu offered a strong, brooding presence, but as a fighter he paled next to the Shaw Bros. stars. Still, fans will enjoy a cool move during one fight when Wang Yu sets his opponent on fire and continues fighting him! The poorly written, poorly dubbed English dialogue in DRAGON never lets on that the film is set in Thailand and even refers to Thai kickboxing in one scene as `kung fu.' Co-stars Sam Hui and Sylvia Chang would both gain fame in the 1980s as co-stars of the ACES GO PLACES series.