Deadly Confrontation (1979)

"Your kung fu is good but you can't stop bullets"

Deadly Confrontation was a below average Taiwanese kung fu flick with low wattage star power. Chia Ling, Lo Lieh, and Yueh Hua had top billing but the actual leads in the movie were Liang Hsiu Shen and Pai Ying.

Mah returns home after three years in jail. He had been framed by his enemy Sung Teng Wai, the local warlord. While he was away his girl married Sung’s son. Hot headed Mah has nothing but revenge on his mind. Sung has no intention of letting Mah live long enough to reach that goal. Chow Sun arrives in town looking for a job and after beating most of Sung’s men is put in charge of the casino. Mah and his friends find themselves up against formidable forces, especially when it turns out Sung is also processing opium on the side!

Everything about this film was below average with a less than charismatic cast. Liang and Pai were adequate but didn’t command attention. Chia Ling had very little to do and was finally rewarded with one fight. Lo Lieh popped in to fight with Pai Ying. Finally, Yueh Hua showed up near the end of the film as another bad guy. The fights were okay. Guns were also used, something I don’t care for in martial arts films. The editing was abysmal. People who were about to be killed showed up later without a scratch on them. I don’t count off for cropped edges and wear and tear on the film, but it could be distracting. Typical of Taiwanese films from this era, much of the fighting took place out in nature.

This kind of film is the hardest to write a review on because it was so bland and poorly put together. Deadly Confrontations was far from the worst old kung fu film I’ve watched but far from the best as well.

27 June 2024

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