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Cast:
Lau
Kar Yung
Hwang
Jang Lee
Wong
Biu Chan
Hou
Gwok Choi
Jue
Tit Woh
Producer:
Joseph
Kuo
Director:
Joseph
Kuo
Score:
 
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DRAGON'S
CLAWS
AKA:
N/A
Year:
1979 Reviewer: Andrew
Saroch
The
master of the Dragon Fist school is the proud owner of the
gold plate that denotes his power in the area. Unfortunately
his health begins to fail him due to the Dragon Claw blow he
received many years ago. With his ailing fitness working
against him, the master is then issued a challenge for the
plate by his wife's brother Ling Ko Feng (Hwang Jang-Lee) who
has recently returned from Manchuria. Vowing to fight when his
rival has regained a measure of health, Ling leaves with his
two lackies and prepares for the duel. During the brief
reposte, the truth about the master's wounds come to light: he
was actually hit by his now wife as he attempted to attack her
and he must now accept the consequences. When the duel is
finally fought the master is easily defeated and then expires
from his injuries, therefore effectively ending the power of
the school. Ling goes away with the plate only to later
discover that it is a fake and will hold little or no
influence in the martial world. Determined to find it, Ling
sends out his fighters to hunt down the missing wife and son
of his deceased foe. The son, Lung Hsia (Lau Kar Wing),
decides to avenge his father and teams up with an old medicine
seller who wanders the streets. After regular training under
his new teacher, Lung is ready to win back the leadership of
the martial world.
'Dragon's
Claws' shows the good and bad of independent kung-fu
film-maker Joesph Kuo. The good side of Kuo, and something he
often does to his credit, is his ability to take a common
storyline and squeeze something different out of it. As he
showed with 'The
Blazing Temple', Kuo creates a multi-layered plot from a
very uninspiring starting point. The first twenty minutes of
'Dragon's Claws' presents the viewer with characters who are
not as stereotyped as they first seem. The master is certainly
not the courageous hero that is often portrayed and his past
makes him quite unsympathetic. Supervillain Hwang Jang Lee is
also given a villainous character who promises to be a lot
less evil than is usually the case. Sadly the bad side of Kuo
rears its head as he simply doesn't have the courage of his
convictions. Whereas a greater director such as Chang Cheh,
Liu Chia-Liang or Sun Chong would have played with the
intriguing ideas, Kuo allows the characters to quickly revert
to type. By the half-hour mark, the storyline has turned into
the traditional revenge theme and the hope of this being a
breath of fresh air disappears. Having said this, Joseph Kuo
is still a film-maker who deserves the respect of his audience
as he has contributed so much to the genre - while 'Dragon's
Claws' isn't one of these achievements it is at least an
entertaining piece. The fight action that will be eagerly
awaited by many viewers is not as engaging as it should be
though; the choreography has a very pedestrian quality that
doesn't fully use the remarkable Hwang-Jang Lee. Hero Lau Kar-Yung
- the youngest of Liu Chia-Liang's brothers - doesn't really
inspire as the hero either; 'The Gold Hunters' is evidence
that he is a capable screen fighter, but this is definitely
not his best showing.
Overall
this is a capable production that is quite enjoyable, but
after wasting its potential, is fairly forgettable.
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