The Screaming Tiger (1973)

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I saw this Jimmy Wang Yu vehicle under the title THE SCREAMING TIGER. IT was one of the films he made in Taiwan immediately following his split with the famous Shaw Brothers studio. The plot is a straightforward one for Wang Yu fans; he plays a kung fu fighter whose village is slaughtered by the ruthless Japanese, causing Wang Yu to travel to Japan in order to get revenge on the Japanese people as a whole. After a time, he discovers that there's an even worse race in existence: the Koreans! This is a nondescript vehicle for the actor which lacks the finesse and enjoyment factor of both his Shaw vehicles and later, funnier efforts like THE ONE-ARMED BOXER. The plot is simple and the action even simpler, merely consisting of the actors kicking and punching until one dies. A standard basher, then, only enlivened by the lengthy chase climax. Regular heavy Lung Fei gives a fun turn as the villain of the piece.

This bizarre martial arts film is about a young Chinese man wandering around Japan in search of revenge, and the allies he picks up along the way. The head of a local martial arts school, who is also an arrogant murderer, has wronged many people, and our hero is going to exact vengeance.There are a lot of strange flourishes and eccentricities in this film which can become very confusing if you let them. There is a nicely developed romantic subplot and a school vs school subplot which is, perhaps, underexploited here. But the value of this film is mostly wrapped up in the exceptional martial arts scenes - great settings, exciting action, excellent choreography.Recommended for genre fans.

I have no idea what 'The Screaming Tiger' was about. The story is basically incoherent but I gathered it had something to do with a Chinese fighter who travels to Japan in order to avenge a massacre.It would have been nice to have understood what was going on, the weirdo who walks around playing a pan-pipe with a basket on his head is particularly perplexing, but a finely nuanced plot is hardly essential for an enjoyable martial arts film and what this film lacks in character development, it more than makes up for with some inventive and highly entertaining fight sequences.Some of the martial arts highlights include a scene where the Chinese fighter takes on a group of Sumo wrestlers and an exhilarating fight sequence that takes place on the top of a moving train, a bridge and on the edge of a waterfall. The lead actor is competent and I enjoyed the actress who played his sarcastic love interest.Recommended for fans of the genre.

Version: RBC Entertainment's 'Kung-Fu Theatre' DVD.This movie is really just an 85 minute long fight scene. Jimmy Wang Yu stars as 'the Chinese guy', who wanders around beating up bad guys, while these bad guys are beating up good guys, who are also beating up bad guys. This is one of the movies where you just have to assume that everybody knows kung-fu - because they all do. Add the dubbing, and you have near-pure awesomeness.5/10 - Wow. Nothing much to it, apart from awesomeness. It really is no better than a lot of other cheap kung-fu movies, but it seems like it wants to be more awesomely cool than the rest. It so is.Final note: Why do these Kung Fu Theatre DVDs smell weird?