Chinatown Kid (1977)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Absolutely the worst movie.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Man I just got the Celestial remastered DVD release of this classic venom film, I first saw this on channel 5 "Drive in" movies on a Saturday after noon at 3:00 o'clock in the mid 80's and it was awesome, I was and will be a Fu Sheng fan, I even have the poorly American version of this DVD...well let me tell you the version I just saw is totally different. On the TV version he dies, on the remastered version he gets arrested and lives, if you take a look at his white inner vest he has a wound that is bleeding right trough to the jacket and this is on the final fight scene, which he dies from on the American version, he gets arrested and lives...wow! Now there is something I never expected, director Chen Cheng did something I've never seen before on Hong Kong cinema (at least from that time frame) double ending.This is gonna make me take a more careful look for every Celestial release from now on, so far I got 10 releases that are remastered and beautifully cleaned, but I haven't found the other classics yet.

After watching the recently released and remastered version of Heaven And Hell, I started digging through my collection and found possibly Fu Sheng's greatest film, The Chinatown Kid. This kung fu gangster story sports some awesome fight scenes and is a perfect example of why Shaw Brothers was truly a dynasty back in the day. With fantastic fighting skills, matinée idol looks, and magnetic charisma, Fu Sheng was on his way to becoming one of the greatest stars ever in Hong Kong cinema. Unfortunately, an automobile accident took him away from us too soon. This classic, featuring Fu and the original 5 venoms really needs a legitimate release. Hopefully, it will happen in my lifetime.

I don't normally watch martial arts movies that take place in a modern day city, but I kept seeing parts of this movie on T.V. and it eventually caught my interest.This is actually a good movie. You do sort of get close to some of the characters (good acting for this type of movie).Watching this movie today, it does feel rather dated, with the bell-bottom pants and some of the background music. Though, some of the music is kind of "cool" sounding, and fits in with the scenes. Wait till you see the modern digital wrist watch that the lead character becomes obsessed with (remember those big ones where you had to push a button to see the red LED light up the time? I do!)The story is good and does have some morals to it. The scenery does look rather phoney. It looks as if a strong wind might blow down some of the stores downtown. Is a hot dog stand supposed to convince us that this is really America?The dubbing is also very funny, and stereo-typical of Chinese people and kung fu movies.Most of the fight scenes in this are not that great, and is probably the film's weak point. There seems to be too many fight scenes in this movie anyway. This is one of those rare martial arts film where the plot is more interesting than the fighting.To some it up, this movie does have "campy" elements, and there are some poor production qualities. But the acting, character development, story, and even a few positive production values make this into a very watchable movie.I recommend this to fans of Chinese martial arts movies, especially the older 70's/80's movies. Or anyone who likes to watch something a little different from time to time.7 out of 10 stars.

This movie is a classic of the late star Alexander Fu Sheng. Here, he plays a guy who gets in trouble back home and is then sent to San Francisco. He finds work at a Chinese restaurant but after getting fired for standing up to gangsters, he joins a rival gang and makes it big.The current DVD versions of the film are horrendous. Too bad, since this is an all-time classic.8 out of ten for the movie, 0 out of ten for the DVD transfer.