My Kung Fu Master [師父教落] (1978)
Starring Lau Dan, Chan Bo-Yeung, Meg Lam Kin-Ming, Hon Kwok-Choi, Rosalind Chan Yee-Hing, Lau Yat-Fan, Addy Sung Gam-Loi, Yue Tau-Wan, Hon Yee-Sang, Wong San, David Wu, Gam Lau, Mama Hung
Directed by Wong Wa-Kei
Expectations: Low, I guess. I don’t know what to expect.
My Kung Fu Master, according to the filmography in The Shaw Screen, was a co-production between Eternal and Shaw & Sons (a company started in 1952 by second-oldest brother Runde Shaw), with Runme’s son Vee King Shaw serving as a producer. I couldn’t find anywhere else that cites the connection, but if it made it into the book then who am I to dispute it? Anyway, My Kung Fu Master doesn’t feel like a Shaw picture, that’s for sure. It fits right in with other independent or Golden Harvest productions from the era, though — Cantonese language, modern day setting, shot on location in the streets and high-rise tenement buildings of Hong Kong. Unfortunately, it’s not much of a kung fu movie, despite its seemingly kung-fu-as-hell title.
We open with a rich man (Lau Yat-Fan) meeting a young rascal, Small Plane (Chan Bo-Yeung), who asks for money. Oddly, they share a unique head twitch, and the rich man correctly concludes that Small Plane is the illegitimate son he never met. For reasons unexplained, he wants to take care of his son now, so he sends his men to track him down. The only problem is that the man’s current girlfriend wants his inheritance, so she convinces the guys to not only find Small Plane, but to kidnap him! During their first attempt, a man trained in the martial arts (Lau Dan) saves Small Plane. He begs “the master” to take him as his pupil, as any kid would.