The Drug Addict [吸毒者] (1974)
AKA The Drug Addicts
Starring Ti Lung, Wong Chung, Louise Lee Si-Kei, Paul Chun Pui, Lo Dik, Chiang Tao, Lee Hoi-Sang, Fung Ngai, Ling Fung, Tang Tak-Cheung
Directed by David Chiang
Expectations: I’m curious to see how David Chiang is as a director.
1974 was a year of newfound freedom for the biggest stars in the Shaw stable. Chang Cheh established Chang’s Film Co. in Taiwan, and coinciding with that he gave his biggest stars a shot at directing their own films. The Drug Addict was David Chiang’s debut in the director’s chair, but if you didn’t know it, you might think he already had a number of films under his belt. It has its issues, but it largely overcomes them by delivering effective and engaging drama. Chiang went on to direct another 14 films over the next 21 years, so I think it’s safe to say that directing fit well with his personality.
The Drug Addict opens in a slum filled with fiending junkies and filth. Tseng Chien (Wong Chung) is a drug dealer delivering a package when a distraught and strung-out Kuan Cheng-Chun (Ti Lung) asks him to lend him some dope so he can get a fix. When asking doesn’t win Tseng over, Kuan turns to more violent methods. It’s nothing savage or with any real malicious intent behind it, his actions are driven by the intense desire to get a fix at any cost. Even when Tseng calls Kuan less than human and a dog, Kuan merely agrees, hoping that he might agree his way into Tseng’s generosity. Instead, the struggle represents the final straw that pushes Tseng into acting on his misgivings about his profession, so he takes Kuan by force, locks him in a room Man with the Golden Arm-style, and helps him get his life back as a martial arts instructor.