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Cast:
Sammo
Hung
Lee
Kam Ming
Roy
Chiao
Leung
Kar Yan
Lee
Hoi San
Fong
Hak On
Action:
Sammo
Hung
Producer:
Florence
Yu
Director:
Sammo
Hung
Score:
  
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ENTER
THE FAT DRAGON
AKA:
N/A
Year:
1978 Reviewer: Andrew
Saroch
The
portly kicker stars in a film that's both a vehicle for his
self-deprecating humour and a loving parody of the late Bruce
Lee. Unlike the scores of Bruce Lee impersonators that flooded
70's eastern cinema, Sammo is of course playing it strictly
for laughs.
In
an obvious homage to Lee's 'Way
of the Dragon', Sammo plays a country bumpkin named Ah
Lung who travels to the big city to help out at his uncle's
back-alley restaurant. Ah Lung is a devoted Bruce Lee fan who
hopes to follow in his idol's footsteps. However,
unfortunately for him, most people are either comparing him to
a pig or a brainless buffoon. The chance to prove himself
comes when thugs cause trouble in his uncle's restaurant. In
true Bruce Lee style, Sammo sends them packing, utilising
double nunchukas to incredible effect. It's not long, though,
before the thugs take revenge and while Ah Lung is away, they
destroy his uncle's restaurant. Ah Lung therefore gets a job
as a waiter, but as before, becomes embroiled in a plot to
kidnap one of the women he works with. In a finale which
attempts to parody Enter The Dragon, Ah Lung saves the day.
As
the plot suggests, this is a very episodic film. There is no
single narrative, rather it follows the misadventures of Ah
Lung and his friends. Nonetheless, Sammo is yet again
entertaining and combines his innocence with his exceptional
fighting skills with effortless ease. In stark contrast to the
po-faced films that came in the wake of Bruce Lee's death,
'Enter the Fat Dragon' is a warm homage to the man who
popularised martial arts cinema around the world. In a telling
critique of the movie scene at the time, Sammo has a memorable
fight against a second-rate Bruce Lee impersonator on the set
of yet another of the risible films that were sadly produced.
Sammo has never needed to impersonate anyway, such is his
unique place in cinematic history, but he still outshines
every Bruce Lee impersonation that went before him.
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