The Man from Hong Kong

Brian Trenchard-Smith boarded a James Bond/Bruce Lee movies train to create an adventurous kung fu Ozploitation B-movie using Australia's most famous landmarks (from a fistfight at Ayers Rock, to hang-gliding over the Sydney Opera House). Although Jimmy Wang Yu is a terrible (non)actor unable to convey emotions and the plot of The Man from Hong Kong is quite unsophisticated, the constant action and especially deranged stunts are quite enjoyable. During the making of the movie, health and safety at work were allegedly completely ignored, which resulted in more than one accident. For example, when George Lazenby was to be set on fire for one scene, he absolutely refused to do the stunt. He let himself be coaxed into doing it only after the director Trenchard-Smith himself set fire to himself, but when at the fateful moment, Lazenby's burning jacket could not be removed, (which is clearly visible at the end of the movie), the burning fuel began to stream onto his hands, he had to be extinguished by a blanket. Then, in a fit of rage, he punched the director Trenchard-Smith. The director was involved in a dispute with the main protagonist of the movie, (and he was not alone, Jimmy Wang Yu was allegedly a terribly arrogant man who was disliked by all the crew,) so in the collective fight scene, where the physically fit director himself plays one of the killers, the fighting was real. That is how it went down in Australia. (01/03/2019)

I can't help it, but The Man from Hong Kong just immensely entertained me. From the very first scene, I knew it would be fantastic action-packed fun, pleasantly light-hearted, somewhat in the style of Bond, unrestrained, and with excellent action sequences (by the way, the car chase was superb!). The title song convinced me and then I just enjoyed the film with Lazenby as the bad guy. (16/11/2015)