Mad Monkey Kung Fu [VHS]

After kung fu master/stage performer Chan, and his sister, are invited to an evening soiree, at what they believe to be a gentleman's house, things soon take a turn for the worse, when it transpires that their host, Duan, is actually an evil mobster and pimp.Rapidly the night begins to go down hill as the affable drinker Chan is coerced into into getting more and more plastered, much to his sister's concern, and typically things escalate to displays of kung fu, which, after much showing off, Chan is eventually duped into believing he has sexually abused his host's wife (who's not really Duan's wife, but the madam in one of his high street chain of brothels), and the dishonourable Duan demands Chan's sister become his plaything as recompense, not only this but also that Chan have his hands smashed and broken, so that in the future, he might think twice before getting drunk and trying it on with someone else's Mrs..Anyway, a few years pass and a pickpocket named Little Monkey becomes interested in a new performer that has started to frequent the market square of his local town. After all, the man has a monkey, which capers about much to everyone's amusement, and he gives away free sweets to children (for nothing in return!), so what's not to like?Soon, the mystery stranger has crowds flocking and Little Monkey becomes his friend, but as the crowds begin to gather, so do the storm clouds, and gangsters pushing their protection racket start bullying the street performer into payments, eventually killing his pet monkey just for jollies. Which leaves the street performer ~ unable to fight for himself, due to having has hands shattered years before!! ~ no option other than to train up his 'hilarious' idiot sidekick Little Monkey as a vessel of vengeance, and go on a journey of revenge that will ultimately force Chan into crossing paths with a certain bad man he once met years before....Lau Kar Leung stars, directs and choreographs this acrobatic comedy effort, which is held in some esteem by many Fu fans. Kara Hui Ying Hung plays the sister and is given at least one chance to shine, during a fight with the dastardly Duan, played by veteran bad guy Lo Lieh. Leung's student Hsiao Ho playing the energetic Little Monkey. Overall this is mostly played for laughs and has never really been a favourite of mine, due to a rather weird blend of having a somewhat irritating sidekick and silly childish humour, cast against a quite noticeably nasty mean~streak, leaving you with a film that for me doesn't quite seem to work. The fights, although well choreographed, in my opinion, aren't of the traditional blows and kicks variety, but rather an extension of the film's themes on performance and kung fu being blended together. And there's a definite feeling that somewhere along the line, had this been given a shorter run time, it would have been better for it.With that said though, Lieh and Leung are really good in MMKF and it's certainly worth viewing at least once, delivering some fabulous training scenes and capturing quite a unique style of swinging circus fu that some will go ape for.The Dragon Dynasty disc is a great widescreen print, with optional English subs or dubbing.3.5/5 rounded up..

Being a Shaolin Martial Arts practitioner, I'm very interested in watching good traditional kungfu films expecially old skool classics by ShawBros and directed actioners by Liu Chia Liang aka Lau Ga Leung famed kungfu movie choreographer, Hung Kuen Master and son of Lau Chan the former student of Butcher Lam Sai Wing who was student of the late famous Hung Kuen grandmaster Wong Fei Hung.Mad Monkey Kungfu showcases authentic SOuth Shaolin Hung Kuen's drunken monkey system.The film is both entertaining and instructive and stars Lau Ga Leung's protege Siu Hou as a young ragamuffin who trains in the Southern Monkey System under a middle-aged kungfu Master who makes a living as an Opera performer/acrobat and/or monkey tamer.The kungfu Master, played by Lau Ga Leung himself, was a Chinese Opera acrobat/ performer who was thrown out of the Opera on account of a rape which he did not commmit.He was in fact set up by a rich Opera enthusiast who lusted after the Master's younger sister, played by Karla Hwei Ying Hung ('My Young Auntie' fame). To compensate the Opera enthusiast (played by Lo Lieh) for her brother allegedly raping his wife, the Master's sister agrees to marry the Opera enthusiast.Naturally as such movies go, the Master discovers later that he has been tricked and storms the villain's stronghold with the help of his fully trained disciple played by Siu Hou and delivers some wonderful Mad Monkey Kungfoolery!This film/dvd is a must-see collectible for all old skool kungfu enthusiasts!!The dvd plays very well on a multi regional dvd player and the film has been remastered and restored giving top notch / excellent picture and sound quality.It has both English and Mandarin audio and English subtitles.

This movie is in my top five Kung Fu Movies of all time. There are very few movies out there that concentrate on the Monkey Style or Monkey Fist. The ones that are out there are terrible efforts. Only Snake in the Monkey's Shadow and Monkey Fist (Shaw Brothers)are also on par with this one although slightly less entertaining. I love them both equally. I could go into the plot but i don't like to spoil the fun for people interested in watching this movie. Suffice to say that it is a gem. The story is superb based on Revenge (mainly), the action is more than breathtaking and Lo Lieh gives one of his best performances as a bad guy along with the kung fu he demonstrates, impressive, especially knowing that the guy has no experience of any fighting style and just choreographs the moves for the cameras with a double doing the more athletic stuff as always for him. Entertaining from start to finish, a perfected piece of art.