THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING BOXER: Lo Lieh remembered.
My first experience of King Boxer was on the page, rather than the screen. I remember seeing a poster for the film, playing as half of a double bill, at the Peterborough ABC. (I think it was programmed with Kung Fu The Headcrusher, and if that doesn’t make a pair of date movies, I don’t know what does…) It was an X (the 70s UK equivalent of an 18), and I was not yet of that age. Also, I was being shipped back to my private school before it hit town. In retrospect, sneaking in to see King Boxer would have been more useful for my later career than another term of Applied Geometry.
Later, I read a detailed review of the film, under its US title Five Fingers Of Death, in the black-and-white Marvel magazine Deadly Hands Of Kung Fu. The story was accompanied by black-and-white images of star Lo Lieh in action, and there was one indelible image of him performing what the caption referred to as ‘the iron palm’. This was a movie I wanted to see, but how?. Hard to believe now, in these days of HD DVD and downloads, but, in my youth, when most films finished their theatrical runs, they were gone forever.
It was some years before I finally watched the film entitled, in Cantonese, Teen Haa Dai Yut Kuen, which translates literally as The Number One Fist Under Heaven, a poetic way of saying ‘the ultimate fighting art’. I was editing the martial arts magazine Combat when Warner Bros UK division released a series of Shaw Brothers kung fu titles on video, with King Boxer being among them.
By that time, we’d seen the new wave of kung fu comedy from Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Woo-ping and the rest of that generation. The choreography of King Boxer seemed rather dated by comparison. I was very impressed by the direction of Cheng Chang-ho, who, I later learned, was Korean. Over the years, I sought out all his other Hong Kong films, and found that each had something to recommend them. He had a unique vision, and it’s unfortunate that his Shaw Brothers legacy lay in the shadow of the more prolific Chang Cheh and his Golden Harvest one in that of Huang Feng. He was in my opinion the best director of the three.
If he did nothing else, Cheng Chang-ho can claim to have been a true pioneer in bringing kung fu cinema to America. Five Fingers Of Death hit US screens the same month as Bruce Lee’s Big Boss, retitled Fists Of Fury, and was hugely successful. Unlike Lee, Lo Lieh, as a Shaw Brothers contract player, was in no position to reap any special benefits from his international success. Where Lee insisted on a full partnership with producer Raymond Chow on their future features, Lo was stuck on the Shaw Brothers production treadmill. Of course, he out-lived Lee by many years, and, at his own untimely passing, left behind an extraordinary treasure trove of performances, many of which even I am catching up with for the first time on Celestial DVD releases.
With his swarthy features and sturdy physique, Lo was cast mainly in villainous roles, most memorably as the villainous Pai Mei in Executioners From Shaolin, Clan Of The White Lotus and Shaolin Abbot. He did make a brief return to international film-making when he was cast opposite Lee Van Cleef in The Stranger and The Gunfighter AKA Blood Money, a kung fu Spaghetti Western that paved the way for Shanghai Noon. He was a cornerstone of Shaw’s actor’s stable throughout the studio’s glory years. As that era faded, Lo Lieh, now well into middle age, played character roles in movies like Jackie Chan’s Miracles and Supercop. (He was married to director Stanley Tong’s sister, which may explain his being cast in the latter!)
I first met Lo on the set of an ATV studio TV series called Kung Fu Master. Donnie Yen was starring, and Benny Chan, later to helm the Gen-X series, Rob-B-Hood and Invisible Director, headed the team of directors. I was visiting Donnie on the set when I passed a familiar figure. Is that…?, I asked. It is, replied Donnie, not even looking, knowing I would be familiar with King Boxer. I introduced myself to Lo Lieh, who was funny and charming, and in English, too, which was just as well, as my Cantonese hadn’t yet gotten up to speed. I mentioned that the production values of Kung Fu Master were impressive. It’s always the same, he observed wryly. A lion’s head but a snake’s tail! (Meaning that almost the entire budget would be spent on the first 5 episode cycle.)
I asked Lo if I could interview him for a magazine article, and he agreed. The next
night, I returned with a tape recorder and we discussed his life and career. He talked about his early years in Indonesia. (According to his studio bio, Lo was fully Chinese, but, from his appearance, I always wondered if he was of mixed blood). He described his arduous training in karate, and showed me the heavy calluses on his knuckles from striking a makiwara. He talked about his friendship with Bruce Lee, and related how, one day, he returned to Kowloon Tong exhausted from a 24 hour shoot at Shaw Brothers to find Bruce outside his home, asking if he wanted to go jogging! I kept the tape, and maybe we can somehow use the audio as part of a future special feature. I don’t know how well a C60 cassette will meet the technical demands of DVD!
After this encounter, our paths crossed only briefly, until one last fateful meeting. As you may recall from an earlier blog, I once had the great pleasure of sitting with Quentin Tarantino in a Cannes hotel, and have him describe Kill Bill for me, shot-by-shot. During our conversation, he asked who I considered to be he best actor in the history of Hong Kong cinema. I threw out he names of Chow Yun-fat and Anthony Wong… QT replied that he considered Lo Lieh to be the best. Now I’ve had the chance to see so many of Lo’s Shaw Brothers films, I’m starting to agree with him. (Quentin also has a special place in his heart for Lo’s cultured bad guy turn in Fist Of Fury 2!)
The following day, leaving the same hotel, I met Lo Lieh in the crowds along the Croisette. He was in town to promote Glass Tears, a Taiwanese drama he had acted in. Excitedly, I told him that, just the night before, the great American director Quentin Tarantino had been singing his praises, in this very hotel!, saying he was the greatest actor Hong Kong cinema had ever seen. That’s wonderful!, enthused Lo, before enquiring, quizzically, “Who’s Quentin Tarantino?” I struggled to remember Quentin’s Chinese name, and started acting out the ear cutting scene from Reservoir Dogs. Lo beamed wider as he made the mental connection. “That’s really great!”, he said, before bidding me farewell. I watched as he walked away, melting into the colourful throng.
Two months later, Lo Lieh passed away. It had been one of those rare moments in life when you get to say to someone, at the exactly the right moment, what you need to say, and perhaps even what they need to hear.
Thanks to Celestial Films’ painstaking restoration of the Shaw Brothers library, Lo’s legacy can be enjoyed by a whole new generation, and there’s no better place to start than the Dragon Dynasty DVD release of King Boxer.
Comments
- Brandon, Kansas City, Mo | 2007-07-01 13:32:45
- Bruce Jensen, California | 2007-07-01 00:54:48
- Erich Kuersten, Manhattan | 2007-07-04 01:57:30
- A Thai People, Thailand | 2007-07-28 07:29:29
- Gavin, UK | 2007-07-21 04:59:03
- Turhan Gushiniere, Jackson, Mississippi | 2007-07-24 15:03:05
- Brad Robertson, Newfoundland,Canada | 2007-07-03 19:18:46