User Reviews

I'm not a huge fan of martial arts movies, but I'm trying. Sure, I enjoy Bruce Lee and some of the Sonny Chiba films I've seen, but beyond that, I've always thought of martial arts movies (and this is especially true of the movies from the 70s) as a bunch of faceless, nameless people repeating the same moves in endless fight scenes. And while there's some of that in Return of the Tiger, I've decided I may need to rethink my opinion. Overall, I enjoyed Return of the Tiger much more than I thought I would. It's far from perfect and the movie does drag a bit during some of the longer fight sequences, but for the most part, I was entertained throughout. Bruce Li and Angela Mao make an interesting and appealing pair. The bad guys are appropriately bad. Add in a few funny moments, awesome title music, and an ending with plenty of fists and feet and it's not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

Unfortunately, the copy of the movie I had available to me seemed to be heavily cut. The plot (at least what I got out of it) centers on Chang Wong (Bruce Li), a man playing both sides of a feud between two criminal bosses. His plan seems to be to force both bosses' hands so he can make his final move. Along the way, he and his female assistant will have to do battle with an army of trained fighters. I'm confident that an uncut copy of Return of the Tiger would improve my opinion and rating.

Finally, what impressed me the most in Return of the Tiger was Bruce Li. I admit it – this is the first time I've seen one of his movies. I guess I unfairly thought of him as a Bruce Lee wannabe and dismissed him without giving him or his movies a chance. I realize now that the name and image were part of a producer's marketing ploy to cash in on the fame of Lee and not necessarily Li's doing. He's got a definite screen presence that I found appealing. I'll have to seek out some of his others movies.

I have watched a lot of Kung Fu movies in my life. I can't think of a worse one I have even seen. It really is that awful.

After Bruce Lee died there were ads for Bruce Li kung fu movies. I never had an opportunity to watch one until they ran Return of the Tiger on one of the retro channels. How bad could it be?

Wow! There is nothing here but awful everything. Some movies are so bad they are fun to watch; not so here. It just drags

The plot is typical rival gang heroin dealers but the plot is irrelevant to the fight scenes. Ther may be 5 minutes of dialog in the entire flick.

At one point our hero is accosted by gang members on motor bikes. The action takes place first on a one lane road but the chase him into a dirt field. He is able to outrun the bikes!

Then he stops to fight. The villains pop wheelies to threaten him while driving at him...except the tires aren't moving. The tires make screeching tires on pavement sounds...on a dirt road. The bikes and hero jump up and around first a couple stacks of baskets and then a stock of empty carton boxes. Why are baskets and boxes stacked in the middle of nowhere? Obviously they are only there to be able to shoot a motorbike crashing through...except that they barely crash through. It's just awful staging and filming.

I kept watching going "who is the token white dude big man?" Turns out to be Bluto from the Popeye movie. In the big fight scene at the end antagonists hit him in the stomach with like a 6 foot mini telephone pole...except the filming is so awful you can tell they just tap him with the pole held up by strings

This was just bad...bad...BAD!!

Shrewd, suave Chang Wong (a solid and amiable performance by the handsome and charismatic Bruce Li) and his redoubtable female partner (superbly essayed with delicious vigor by the foxy Angela Mao) devise an elaborate scheme to take out a heroin drug ring led by the nefarious Paul (nicely played by the enormous Paul Smith of "Popeye" and "Dune" fame). Moreover, Chang also works for a rival dope-dealing organization in order to further stir things up. Director Jimmy Shaw crams this baby with a handy helping of hugely entertaining good stuff: wall-to-wall fierce and crazy martial arts fights, several groovy nightclub scenes (the funky-chillin' house band is simply amazing!), a couple of brutal garrotings, inspired occasional use of strenuous slow motion, a nonstop speedy pace, a wild free-for-all confrontation between the two criminal factions, and a fantastic rousing climactic showdown between Li and Smith in which Li's graceful physical agility is pitted against Smith's fearsome brute strength. Chou Fu Liang's awesomely gnarly throbbing disco score hits the soulful spot. Chiou Yao-Hwu's reasonably polished cinematography likewise makes the grade. Best of all, the lovely Ms. Mao looks smoking hot in a sparkling silver jumpsuit and beats the living tar out of a teeming volume of guys. What's not to like about this totally fun vintage 70's grindhouse flick?