The Bold Three (1972) [N/A]
Featuring:
Chun-Erh Lung, Hung-Lieh Chen, Yuan Yi
Written by:
Ching-Hua Fu
Directed by:
Ching-Hua Fu
Release Date:
July 21, 1972
Original Title:
龍虎豹
Alternate Titles:
Long Hu Pao
Genres:
Action | Adventure
Production Companies:
Eng Wah & Co. H.K.
Hsing Wah Film Company
Production Countries:
Hong Kong | Taiwan
Ratings / Certifications:
N/A
Runtime: 90
Leopard killed his wife due to her unfaithfulness and ran away with his daughter, Sung Sung. He joined a horde of bandits lead by Tiger, who is impressed by Leopards ruthless ways and together they make good business. One day, Sung Sung, now a grown beautiful woman meets Dragon and because of his stubborn upright character she falls in love with him, but unbeknownst to her enemies are her father and uncle....
It starts in a casino where Yi Yuan starts fighting everyone. Miao Tan appears and talks to him. Cut to Yi Yuan now is sneaking into a man's house to murder him. It takes so long for the victim to die that his entire family has time to gather and watch. Yi Yuan leaves with remorse. He confronts Miao Tan. The victim finally dies and the family is hysterical. There is a close up of a young son grieving then quick credits and it seems the son has grown up to be Chen Hung-Lieh and he is fighting everyone in town. He stops briefly to make some noodles the random fights resume. Finally his is confronted by his mother and forced to crawl under men's legs as punishment.Doris Lung Chun-Erh finally rides into the story on a horse at about the 16 minute mark. Chen Hung -Lieh slaps her around at first but eventually they talk and whatever the problem or their relationship I have no idea.Doris's birthdate is always listed as 1957. Pardon my math but that makes her only 15 years old in this movie. The roles she plays in her first 7-8 movies do not seem appropriate for her age. Also she just doesn't look 15 years old in this movie or the others. Plus, most Asian women tend to look young at any age. I have only found scant information about her life. She had a reputation as a "wild and crazy girl" on the movie set which cannot be confirmed. In the few interviews she gave she either refused to talk about her movies or dismissed them as "trash". Hong Kong Cinemagic notes she had three suicide attempts but I cannot confirm this either.My copy is a computer file that plays on a HDTV as full screen but it is not true full screen. The source seems to be a VHS tape based on resolution. This results in a video that seems too close up and cut off on all sides. There are no subtitles and the dialog is dubbed into Greek which I do not speak. The Greek is on top of the Chinese so I just muted everything. I have knowledge of a true widescreen with English subtitles version of this movie but have not obtained that copy yet.I usually can figure out the story without the dialog in these movies but not this time. I am guessing it has to do with revenge and unknown relationships. I cannot honestly review the fights either because of the video being too close. This is particularly problematic with fights so I won't hold that against it. I can certainly say the fights are plentiful, include empty hands and a variety of weapons, and are not bad at all. If I can obtain that better copy I will review this again but until then I will rate it as average for the year and genre.
