Fighting Ace (1979)

John Liu is looking for the man who killed his father, but he must learn to fight first. He studies kung fu under four individual masters before discovering that the last one is the killer himself.

A tiresome start kicks up a notch once John Liu makes his entrance in this run of the mill revenge-fueled flick.

The film tiresomely begins with a generic baddie fighting to get his hands on what sounds like San Te’s Kung Fu book. San Te is the famous ruffian turned Shaolin monk who takes his knowledge of kung fu to the streets so that average citizens could fight the tyranny of the Ching Dynasty. Of course, that’s another story…

Having nearly beaten the owner of the book to death, the fellow finally gets what he wants when the defender’s wife hands the book over. Big mistake. With the book in hand, our antagonist decides he wants the woman too. After having his way, he leaves the pair dead with their infant son in the care of their housekeeper.

Twenty years later, the child has grown into a man named Fan Chi Kou (John Liu) who decides to learn kung fu in order to get revenge, never mind the fact that he wouldn’t even know where to find the creep. Chi Kou and his housekeeper go to work for a wealthy man who has just hired a kung fu master to teach his lazy son. Realizing that the wealthy son is basically an idiot, Master Yen (Kwan Yun Moon) is more than happy to teach Chi Kou instead, who proves to be an apt pupil. But a wicked headmaster discovers the truth and after making the mistake of beating Chi Kou’s friend, ends up getting a serious thrashing that results in our hero getting kicked out.

Chi Kou and his housekeeper are joined by Ah Chien, one of the workers on the estate as they try to earn a living as peddlers. Chi Kou ends up meeting two different kung fu masters and secretly taking lessons from both of them at the same time. Master Yen’s daughter, who has become romantically attached to Chi Kou blows the lid thinking he betrayed her father. In truth, he never calls either man master and the whole matter is eventually settled. Shortly after having defended his girl from hormonally-driven thugs, Chi Kou meets their boss who becomes the young man’s fourth teacher. But it doesn’t take long before Chi Kou realizes that his latest teacher is not only a nasty buy but also his parent’s killer. The only thing left is for Chi Kou to take care of business.

I wouldn’t blame anyone for losing interest in this film initially. After a brief, generic opening fight sequence that appears to have had the full credits cut out, the story begins with a painfully unoriginal scene. Now John Liu is one of Hong Kong’s top superkickers and he gets to shine, but not until a full 30 minutes into the film. Kwan Yun Moon is actually quite good himself early on. The story lumbers along for a while as Kwan takes Liu through the paces of a series of mostly uninspired training sessions. Liu’s buddy, Ah Chien provides most of the comic relief, although a small but entertaining role by Wu Ma as Liu’s third master is noteworthy. He performs an impressively chaotic style of kung fu that resembles drunken boxing. Doris Lung, as Liu’s love interest gets to belt out a few good moves but like most women co-starring in these ’70’s-era films, ends up at the mercy of some salivating goon.

The real highpoint is Liu’s legwork, although I must admit to being frustrated that he didn’t make more of an effort to incorporate the unique styles he learns. But then, aside from Wu Ma’s moves, the styles are not emphasized or even named. The stock music also deserves special mention for its obvious Spaghetti Western roots. Partially, because both film genres revel in excess, the energetic music successfully provides more excitement than the film deserves.

In 1979 or thereabouts, Hong Kong reached the peak of its classic kung fu boom with next generation filmmakers like Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung already coming out with arguably some of the best films of their careers while Cheng Cheh and Lau Kar Leung would continue to crank out great work for the next several years. For this reason, Fighting Ace ranks pretty low when stacked up against similar comedy/revenge sagas like Mad Monkey Kung Fu (1979) or Knockabout (1979). For general viewing, if you make it through the first half hour, you can expect a standard, but mildly entertaining film with a bit of humor thrown in. I’ll leave it to you to decide on whether or not it’s worth the effort.