Two years after ENTER THE DRAGON, Brian Trenchard-Smith brought Australia their own Hong Kong co-production of a martial arts extravaganza. Jimmy Wang Yu (the One-Armed Swordsman himself) plays Inspector Fang, the man of the title, and he is a hell of a man. You wouldn’t know it by looking at him actually, he looks like kind of a dweeb, but throughout the course of the movie he will prove it. He is The Man from Hong Kong.

An Australian cop undercover as a tourist busts 22-year-old Sammo Hung (also the fight choreographer) during a drug deal. Inspector Hung is called in from Hong Kong to extradite Sammo. The two cops in charge of the case (including Hugh Keays-Byrne, Toecutter from MAD MAX) want Fang following Australian law, not trying to pull any shit, but they make the mistake of leaving him alone in the interrogation room with Sammo. This leads to a full-on close quarters kung fu battle. Not cool. But he gets a lead out of it.

The Australians want Fang to get his ass out of Australia quick, but for some reason he’s intent on using his unorthodox ways and what not to climb his way up the totem pole to rich Australian kung fu expert, playboy, criminal mastermind and expert party-thrower George Lazenby. In one scene he does the William Tell routine with a lady friend, which is movie code for “hey man this guy is decadent.” Another sign of his decadence: he has an open fireplace in the middle of a room in his mansion. No sides on it, just a fire right there. Before the Man From Hong Kong is through with him I think he regrets that sort of flamboyant interior design. It’s like that evil nurse chick in TRANSPORTER 2 having spikes on the wall in her living room. You evil fuckers gotta start thinking these things through better, it’s just not safe to live like that if somebody’s gonna come fight you in your place of residence. Also if you have kids would be another reason to avoid the spikes or open flames. And put those little plugs on all the electrical outlets. (more…)

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