The Young Rebel is one of several dramatic action films Shaw Brothers stars Ti Lung and David Chiang teamed up on to create in conjunction with Chang Cheh’s Taiwanese-based film company. It bares resemblance to Cheh’s juvenile delinquency films like The Delinquent and The Generation Gap, but sees Ti Lung stepping behind the camera to direct himself. Also different is the film’s replacement of Chang’s patented heroic bloodshed with a more socially conscious theme.
David Chiang stars as the title character, a troublesome youth named Xiang Rong who is forced to get a job to support his mother and sister after his father dies. His friend Gen Lai (Ti Lung) lands him a job delivering groceries, but Xiang frequently quarrels with his new boss. After two years of this, Xiang’s run-in with bullying thugs leads him to learn kung fu. Driven by his inner demons, Xiang advances far beyond his fellow students at the gym. But seeing his aggressive tendencies, his master (played by Simon Yuen) asks him to leave. One fateful grocery run leads Xiang to the thugs’ boss (Lo Dik) and a new high-paying job as an enforcer. But when Xiang is asked to kill, he finds himself in over his head with his mother threatened and the only way out is to fight.
A “socially conscious” kung fu movie is not a bad idea, unless it ages as poorly as The Young Rebel has. Chiang’s rebelliousness is quaint by today’s standards and the ruffians he mixes with are nothing more than caricatures. A scene where the gang, led by Kong Do, introduce themselves to Chiang is unintentionally funny as they run through the list of illicit gratuities they can offer him such as drugs and women. It’s implied that Chiang is initially angry over his father’s death, but there’s no explanation for his continual delinquency over the span of several years. As is usually the case in their movies together, Ti Lung plays Chiang’s more responsible brother, this time not by blood but by close friendship. Yet, Ti spends most of his time behind the camera, leaving Chiang to run amok with little guidance. What starts out as a drama gives in completely to kung fu mayhem in the second half. This creates an unevenness to the story that makes it hard to swallow the commentary on misunderstood youth.
The first half of The Young Rebel lacks any quality martial arts action simply because Chiang’s character doesn’t know how to fight. What we get instead are scenes of him clubbing gang members with a big lamb chop or running from them in an extended bicycle chase. This chase does not hold up well at all as it’s slow-paced and lacking any element of danger or desperation. Wong Chung’s motorcycle battle with thugs in The Delinquent is a much better example of how to make an action scene on two-wheeled vehicles interesting.
In the second half, the action gets much better as Ti Lung appears out of nowhere to rescue Chiang from getting a royal beating. From here on, it picks up as Chiang quickly becomes a kung fu expert himself after wiping the floor with all of his classmates. He even battles Ti briefly. This is all setup for the final, explosive events as Chiang first fights for the gang boss and eventually turns on him. Backing up Lo Dik are his lieutenants played by strongman Lee Hoi-sang and the well-dressed Eddy Ko Hung, both genre regulars. With Kong Do added as a lesser thug, the film can definitely boast as having an excellent set of screen villains for Chiang to take on. Lau Kar-wing and his co-choreographers handle the action very well and offer up the sort of rugged, street-style kung fu boxing that was popular in most contemporary films of the day. Chiang also handles himself well in these scenes, even though he is not one of SB’s stronger screen fighters.
Dramatically, the second half is also better as it deals with the responsibility a martial artist has to not misuse his or her abilities. Simon Yuen reluctantly must sever relations with his best student because Chiang refuses to keep his inner rage under control. Chiang’s training amplifies the effects of his bad decisions that he continues to make. Of course this leads to some great action, but we also see Chiang forced to face the results of his mistakes.
Sammo Hung makes an unusual appearance as a gambling thug. It’s more of a cameo and he doesn’t fight unfortunately, but the fact that he’s even in a Shaw Brothers film is interesting considering that most of his classic kung fu-era screen appearances have been in Golden Harvest films.
The Young Rebel finishes well and this helps to make up for the film’s dated drama, a low-intensity first half, and the limited presence of Ti Lung. It’s actually nice to see a potential romantic angle curbed and the focus on Chiang’s relationship with his mother strengthened. Yet, what really sells the movie is the action once Chiang gets fired up and turned loose on the baddies.
by Mark Pollard
