Fearless Hyena (1984)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This film from 1979 marked Jackie's first venture behind the camera as director. FEARLESS HYENA is a traditional, period-set kung fu flick that closely resembles other Jackie Chan films made around the same time: the focus is on comedy followed by revenge, and these elements, in combination with the sheer screen presence of the young star, make it well worth watching. It begins with a chase scene in which the ruthless Yen (who half resembles Christopher Lee) murders a number of rivals using his kung fu skills. The story then cuts to more familiar territory as we are introduced to Lung, Jackie's character. Lung is learning kung fu skills from his grandfather (played by the familiar and reliable James Tien).The first hour of the film follows the comedy-kung-fu mould as we watch Lung train his kung fu as well as interact with various characters in the village. These range from a crazy undertaker (a cameo from Dean Shek) to three gamblers, who eventually persuade Lung to come and work at their kung fu school. Jackie proves his worth by beating a number of rivals. The final half hour of the film concentrates on revenge as Lung discovers a new mentor (a crippled beggar nicknamed 'the Unicorn') and undergoes some gruelling training before taking on the bad guys in a violent showdown.Essentially FEARLESS HYENA is a film made up of two separate parts, with the first hour concentrating on comedy, and the latter part building up to a vengeance-fuelled showdown. The comedy is of the slapstick variety that Jackie loves, and there are some obvious nods to the likes of THE THREE STOOGES as our hero joins up with a trio of gamblers and engages in some cartoonish battles with them. Love it or hate it, this type of slapstick comedy was beloved by Chinese audiences and always pops up in these types of films.Better still are the 'comedy fights' in which Jackie battles his opponents in various amusing ways. These fights are centred at the kung fu school, as Jackie dons a variety of disguises to battle a series of hardened kung fu masters. It's easy to dismiss these scenes as childish or time-fillers but in fact they display some highly impressive acrobatic skills from the star, whose split-second timing is impeccable. The scene where he dresses as a cross-eyed janitor and fights an opponent using benches and a table, for instance, is wonderful, expertly choreographed and full of fluid action that only seasoned performers could have pulled off.This wouldn't be a traditional kung fu film without any training sequences, and these are also some of the best put on camera. Jackie proves himself to be at his physical peak as he performs upside-down sit-ups over and over again and drags weights across a field, every muscle and tendon on his body straining. The opening and closing fight scenes get pretty violent – the blood runs freely – and the finale in particular is edge-of-the-seat stuff. A new type of kung fu is introduced into the film; it focuses on the emotions (happy, sad, angry, etc.) and with it Jackie is able to take down his opponents in various painful ways.Watching Jackie fight in new, unique ways is always a pleasure and the fights here are no exception; trust Jackie, he's even able to inject some humour into these moments, with his 'sadness' kung fu resembling drunken boxing as he falls over and against his opponent. As the villain, Yen, Yam Sai-kun may not be as skilled as Hwang Jang Lee, but his kung fu skills are pretty spectacular, especially his deadly 'eagle claw' strike. The film ends on a real high with Jackie excelling both in front of, and behind the camera. His fellow cast members all put in good performances and the martial arts is tremendous as usual.

Some of Jackie's best fight scenes ever are in this one. Nobody mentioned the one near the end where he's attacked by 3 guys with spears / machetes (you'll see what I mean). The attacks come one at a time, and then all in sequence. The cuts show that there are very few breaks in the action, lots of continuous fighting. Amazing nobody got seriously injured or even killed during the filming.Another scene of note that everyone talks about is the chopstick scene. But how about the fight against the guy with the two swords? Yet another death defying feat of timing, reflexes and luck.If you don't enjoy HK humour then don't watch it. But the fight scenes are among the best ever. For those complaining about the dubbing, relax - even the Cantonese version suffers from very poor dubbing. I think it was just the studios at the time trying to save money.

Jackie Chan in "Hsiao chuan yi chao" is Kung Fu's answer to Charlie Chaplan. Yes I admit that some critics may accuse the film of having a flimsy plot line or cheesy dialogue, but my God, the humor and action scenes more than make up for all of the movie's shortcomings! I have two words for anyone who has seen this movie and is on the fence as to whether or not it was the best movie that they have ever seen: Tea Cha. The scamming teacher of the S.S.S. school of kung fu is all that the movie needs. Throw in Jackie Chan's acrobatics and high flying martial arts, and wow! Fans in search of a "good" movie such as Citizen Cane or Driving Miss Daisy should probably stay away, but anyone looking to laugh and be amazed must see The Fearless Hyena starring Jackie Chan.

Not only are the martial arts techniques executed with skill. The humor is also top notch. Iron Head, The Great Bear and Stoney Egg are classic! If you like martial arts flicks at all or are a fan of the 3 Stooges. This is a must see for you. I'm already on my 3rd copy:-)