Fearless Hyena (1979)

In the late 1970s, a few Hong Kong filmmakers were actually trying to take kung fu seriously. Working in the long shadow of Bruce Lee were Lau Kar-leung and Sammo Hung, who strove to bring Hung Gar and Wing Chun history and execution to wider awareness with films like THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN and WARRIORS TWO. Then there was Jackie Chan who didn’t give a hoot about anything other than entertaining audiences with his dazzling sparring and comic antics. Kung fu was simply the device to channel his talents before he led the industry into cutting-edge stunt work.

THE FEARLESS HYENA is perhaps Chan’s most irreverent kung fu movie. As a directorial debut and follow up to his hit film DRUNKEN MASTER, Chan sets out to challenge the notion that a kung fu movie need be based on real martial arts tradition. His character, Lung, is your typical unruly kung fu student driven by the death of his master to reapply himself to his fighting art and seek revenge. However, the kung fu style Lung uses to tackle his enemy with is anything but typical.

The set up is far too familiar. Martial artists loyal to the Ming have gone underground after the establishment of the Qing Dynasty and its ban on martial arts training. Unconvincingly made up to look twice his age is Lo Wei regular James Tien as Chen Peng-fei, Lung’s ailing grandfather and kung fu tutor. He is in hiding after the destruction of his clan by Qing enforcers led by the dastardly and lethal Yen (Yen Shi-kwan).

Despite his grandfather’s warning to keep a low profile, Lung is lured by the promise of big money and easy living to go into business with an unscrupulous conman (Lee Kwan) and his three inept henchmen. Lung becomes head instructor at their new kung fu school, which draws more than just rival instructors looking for a fight. Lung makes the mistake of renaming it after his grandfather’s Sin Yi clan. This draws the attention of Yen, who tracks down and kills Chen. Another surviving clan member known as “The Eight-Legged Unicorn” (Chan Wai-lau) arrives in time to keep an emotionally distraught Lung from facing Yen unprepared. The Eight-Legged Unicorn begins conditioning Lung for a final encounter. Recognizing how easily that Lung is motivated by his emotions after a near-disastrous encounter with Yen, he begins training the lad in another style known as “emotional kung fu.”

Emotional kung fu is a clever invention by Jackie that provides an enjoyable showcase for both his physical abilities and colorful personality. Taking a cue from Drunken Boxing, Chan’s contrived style is designed to use changing emotions and related sparring movements to put one’s opponent off guard. A chiseled Chan in the prime of his life alternates between states of joy, sadness, melancholy, and happiness with exaggerated movements that mimic those various states. Of course, an otherwise superior Yen is thoroughly confused during their fateful duel, which gives Lung the advantage he needs and gives us a fun and unique battle.

Beyond this style is otherwise formulaic kung fu comedy staples where a bland story, training sequences and only mildly amusing comic nonsense periodically give way to breathtaking moments of screen fighting mastery as only Jackie can deliver them. Memorable moments include a deft duel of chopsticks over dinner and a brilliant open-hand versus weapons fight between Chan and three opponents wielding collapsible pudao-type blades with spear points on the opposite end. How he manages to not get repeatedly tapped by their blades as he tightly maneuvers among them for extended periods of time is a mystery.

As a first-time directorial effort for Chan, THE FEARLESS HYENA is what fans might expect considering what he continued to offer in later movies. Fight sequences tend to be intricate and long, arguably too long. Character development, story and dialogue are there only to fill gaps between action. Chan’s knack for comedy results in better than average visual gags for a genre flick. Before the action really takes off, Chan has some fun with three bumpkins and later fools around with coffins when he tries to get a job working for a pasty-faced undertaker (Dean Shek). There is limited and unusual use of camera movement to support a joke and good use of comical tunes including Henry Mancini’s Pink Panther theme.

The real comic treat is when Chan duels with challengers coming to his kung fu school. In a prelude to his elaborate costumed sparring in THE YOUNG MASTER (1980), Chan dresses up as a foolish servant and even a woman to con prospective students and defeat muscle-bound foes with a feminine touch. This is a mammoth departure from the steely heroism of past genre stars like Ti Lung and Bruce Lee. It makes for an interesting combination when matched with Chan’s unhinged intensity when he chooses to get serious.

For its day, THE FEARLESS HYENA was a short breath of fresh air in an aging genre, despite its many recycled elements. It’s no wonder that comedies took over the box office by the early ’80s. Chan and some of his peers knew where audiences were headed and managed to keep it in near-perfect step with Hong Kong’s famous screen action.

The film was happily Chan’s last with producer Lo Wei, thus ending a strained professional relationship and freeing Chan creatively to explore an ill-fated first crack at Hollywood before settling back in Hong Kong with a hugely successful run at Golden Harvest. Chan had begun shooting a sequel for Lo before parting ways. This caused the producer to complete the production minus its star and this expectedly resulted in the inferior FEARLESS HYENA 2 (1983).