Challenge of the Tiger
From The Grindhouse Cinema Database
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Also Known As
- Dragon Bruce Le
- Gymkata Killer (USA) (video title)
- San lung maang taam (Hong Kong) (Cantonese title)
- La Sfida del tigre (Italy)
- Shen long meng tan (Hong Kong) (Mandarin title)
- Spezialkommando Feuervogel (Germany)
Main Details
- Released in 1980
- Color
- Running Time: 87 Min.
- Distributed by Dragon Films Company
Cast and Crew
- Directed by Bruce Le
- Written by Bruce Le, Fan Poon
- Starring Bruce Le, Richard Harrison, Jang Lee Hwang, Bolo Yeung, Nadiuska, Brad Harris
- Produced by Bruce Le, Dick Randall
- Original Music by Fu Liang Chou (as Chow Fuk Leung)
- Film Editing by Cheng Keung
Film Review
Template:Bolo Yeung
Template:Dick Randall
When a secret formula that kills men's sperm (thats right) is stolen from some scientists by terrorists, a special government branch sends in two of their top agents Huang Lung (Bruce Le) and Richard Cannon (Richard Harrison) to retrieve it. We are introduced to Mr. Cannon who is basically living a playboy life, looking like a James Bond wannabe as he lounges by his pool surrounded by a bevy of busty beauties. The girls run around naked on Cannon's compound, free to love and be loved. There's some great slow motion shots here as the girls play topless tennis. The tennis balls aren't the only thing bouncing! Sadly, Cannon is called up to spring into action, even though he'd obviously rather be with his babes. When Huang begins tracking the terrorists things quickly turn into a chopsocky fan's delight as he goes all Bruce Lee on the thugs. Meanwhile, Cannon watches from the sidelines, rolling his eyes and smiling as his little friend takes down the baddies. After receiving some more intel, Huang and Cannon hop a plane to Spain where a trade will be made at a bullfight arena. The formula is hidden inside a hat and when one of the sellers tosses it to the Japanese buyer, Huang jumps into the air about 20 feet and tries to grab it...but misses. Suddenly a gunfight breaks out and some innocent audience members are shot. To make matters even worse, Huang gets caught in the center of the arena with a mad bull. It figures that Huang is wearing a bright red sports jacket! NOTE: If you look close in this sequence you can see that a fake bull's head is used for some of the action. When Huang later finds out that the formula was picked up by a mysterious, beautiful woman named Maria (Nadiuska), Cannon takes over. While Cannon pulls his smooth 007 bit and gets into Maria's pad (and her hot tub), Huang sneaks in and steals the formula..only to find out later that its a decoy. The dissapointed pair then fly to Hong Kong after Maria and pick up some information from another CIA operative named Anna. It turns out that Maria is working with some Vietnamese spies who have bought the formula and are keeping it under heavy guard from everyone including the CIA AND the Japanese criminials!
Challenge of the Tiger is another spin on the Spy/Martial Arts subgenre that began with Enter The Dragon and continued with The Man From Hong Kong (1975) which co-starred George Lazenby and Jimmy Wang Yu. The film boasts alot of T & A eye candy and has some entertaining martial arts action, as well as a good repoire between the unlikely duo of Harrison and Le. Bruce Le does kick alot of ass with his skills. I loved the over the top fight in the warehouse. Even good ol' Richard Harrison got in some punches! The score for the film is another positive, you'll hear some lifted tracks from Three Tough Guys as well as The Bar Kays' funk hit "Montego Bay" (awesome tune!). This film was included in Mondo Macabro's Double Feature DVD with For Your Height Only. It should be noted, the digital transfer for the film looks super. This Brucesploitation film gets my recommendation.
--PopeyePete 13:41, 25 January 2009 (UTC)
