Not having reached the same status as his famed peking opera "brothers" Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, he is nonetheless regarded as one of the greatest Hong Kong movie martial artists and stuntmen of all time, his acrobatics at the height of his career only being rivaled by Yuen Wah. He has starred in classic Kung Fu films like 1981's The Prodigal Son and 1989's The Iceman Cometh as well as having served as stuntman, stunt coordinator, and action choreographer for numerous other martial arts movies. So here's my 12 favorite Yuen Biao fight scenes.
#12. The Invincible Armor (1977)
(skip to 1:11:20 for the specific fight scene discussed below)
Starting out as a nameless stuntman and extra in a slew of 60s/70s Hong Kong productions, Yuen Biao's most major roles would be as a one-time henchman here and there. The more impressive of these bit parts involved him wielding a weapon of some sort like his imdb/hkmdb credit as the "sword and knife man" in Heroes of Shaolin. Praised for his highly acrobatic hand-to-hand screen fighting, weapon work is a pretty rare sight to see when it comes to Yuen Biao and it became rarer still in his later years, the best of which from that latter era is his spear duel against Yu Rongguang in 2010's My Kingdom. And so we begin this list with The Invincible Armor, containing one of Yuen Biao's earliest fight sequences where he is not merely one of an indistinct group of faceless enemies fought by a bigger name protagonist. Martial arts cinephiles deserve to be forgiven if they completely missed Yuen Biao's brief appearance in this late 70s' low budget hit. The Invincible Armor was directed by Ng See-Yuen, founder of Seasonal Film, a company behind many kung fu cult classics such as Drunken Master, Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, and Secret Rivals all of which star Hwang Jang Lee as the main villain. Taiwanese actor John Liu is on the run after being blamed for the assassination of the Ming Minister of Royal Security hunted down by various martial mercenaries one of which is played by Yuen Biao.
Handling a couple of hook swords, Yuen Biao is paired up with legendary Hong Kong fight choreographer Corey Yuen who is armed with a staff. The two try to determine who fights John Liu first before Liu boasts that he'll take on both of 'em at once. Corey Yuen and Yuen Biao take turns anyway until realizing they have to double team him. Right when the pair gain the upper hand, John Liu gets a surprise assist from Tino Wong Cheung initially sent by the Ming Minister of State to apprehend Liu but having decided to confide in Liu's statement of wrongful accusation. Tino Wong Cheung gives himself and John Liu double-ended spear tonfas turning the 2-against-1 into a much more fair 2-on-2. Aside from the soon-to-be star Yuen Biao and the then rising action director Corey Yuen, it was John Liu who stole the spotlight at the time, one of the greatest leg masters of the late 70s' personally trained in Taekwondo by another Hong Kong kicking specialist Tan Tao Liang. Liu later went on to invent his own martial arts system Zen Kwan Do which integrated elements of Taekwondo, Karate, his first martial art, and Lau Gar Kung Fu. The Invincible Armor is one among a list of many films that showcase his unique martial form combining open-handed and armed combat. Alongside him and not reaching the star-studded status of his co-star is Tino Wong Cheung who is also deserving of some appraisal performing the meticulously made fight sequence quite well.
Filling the frame with up to four film fighters, this multi-weapon martial mastery is the kind of fight scene you'd only see in the early Golden Age of Kung Fu Cinema. 1977 is an odd year in the history of martial arts movies, literally and figuratively, as it came prior to 1978, a year that produced many time-tested kung fu flicks like Five Deadly Venoms and Drunken Master. '77 was a year where Hong Kong fight sequences were at a threshold in the speed and complexity that would define the so-called "Hong Kong style". And leading this advancement of martial arts choreography is the weapon work wizardry of Yuen Woo-Ping and Hsu Hsia aided by assistant martial arts directors Yuen Biao, Corey Yuen, and Yuen Shun-Yi, brother of Yuen Woo-Ping. Already establishing himself as a capable cinematic martial artist in front of and behind the camera, Yuen Biao is but a minor character showing up before the final fight with the big bad Hwang Jang Lee. Yet this seemingly small sequence undoubtedly made a big impression upon the industry that would gradually lead to bigger breakouts in the near future.
#11. Game of Death II (1981)
Also known as Tower of Death, this spiritual successor to the original Game of Death was directed by Ng See-Yuen of The Invincible Armor and, in another connection to The Invincible Armor, also happens to have Hwang Jang Lee as the primary antagonist. Stock footage of Bruce Lee from several of his films are used along with body doubles to create his fictional character. In an early plot twist, he's killed off in the movie's first act with the remainder following his brother. But the sequence of interest for our purposes is when he is still alive and well consulting a Shaolin abbott that directly and shamelessly inserts a scene from Enter the Dragon. Yuen Biao is the monk clad in blue and while I was able to immediately recognize him in The Invincible Armor during my first viewing, I had no idea he was in Game of Death II until researching this list.
Yuen Woo-Ping's younger brother Brandy Yuen Jan-Yeung is the yellow-robed monk and the two unrelated Yuens demonstrate one skillfully staged stick fight. Yuen Biao claims victory but is promptly interrupted from landing the finishing blow by the abbott himself played by Roy Chiao Hung famous for having portrayed another Abbott in the 1970 wuxia classic A Touch of Zen. Despite having a minimal martial arts background, Roy Chiao Hung is nonetheless a physically talented actor skilled in diving, horseback riding, and plane piloting. He even worked as a US Army interpreter in the Korean War and, because of his towering height, was given the title of "The Lion of Hong Kong Cinema". The film's alternative title "Tower of Death" may as well have also been metaphorically referring to him. Both lower-ranking monks are simply outmatched by the Abbot and Roy Chiao Hung gracefully performs his choreography brandishing a short flat-edged stick in spite of his subordinates' superior range. Let's also not overlook how great of a screen fighter Brandy Yuen is either, as he is often eclipsed by his more well-known brothers normally only remaining on the choreographic side of film-making marking this fight sequence as quite the performative rarity for him. But this is a Yuen Biao list after all so let's bring the focus back to him. Biao stunt doubled Bruce Lee's character in the notorious 1978 cut of the originally unfinished Game of Death in a locker room fight against Robert Wall that was added for that version while also performing stunts and playing as unnamed background characters in many of Lee's other films. And so his involvement in this semi-Bruceploitation film makes a lot of sense.
Yuen Biao fought beside the staff-wielding Corey Yuen in The Invincible Armor but now it's Biao's turn to give someone else a piece of his pole, one of the few instances in which he uses that weapon aside from a temple fight sequence with Gordon Liu in Peacock King.
Although there's less weapons variety than in his scene in The Invincible Armor, we get to see a lot more elaborate weapon combat from Yuen Biao in particular. Not to mention
a sample of Biao's acrobatics, namely a side flip to dodge a sweeping strike. Game of Death II might be a spiritual successor to Game of Death in terms of plot but it definitely does not spiritually succeed the first film in its action design bearing none of Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do philosophy or his more grounded martial arts. Instead, Game of Death II incorporates the more stereotypical dance-like flow of most Hong Kong martial arts movies. With that said, it is nevertheless some of the best of that flavor of fighting all captured in wide extended takes, a cinematographic staple of the film's martial arts director Yuen Woo-Ping who, along with his prestigious Yuen Clan, employed the same clear cut approach to filming the fights in The Invincible Armor. Returning in the roles of assistant martial arts directors from The Invincible Armor are Yuen Biao and Corey Yuen joined by Hong Kong veteran Lee Hoi-Sang who was also a part of the cast of The Invincible Armor. I swear I didn't pick this movie because of all the Invincible Armor connections. Yuen Biao had already made his breakthrough in 1979's Knockabout (coming up later) so in a way 1981's Game of Death II is almost a Yuen Biao cameo. And until finding its place on this list, this fight scene was merely a footnote on my Top 12 Staff Fight Scenes article way back when but now we can finally take the time to fully appreciate it.
#10. Dreadnaught (1981)
Coming out the same year as Game of Death II is 1981's Dreadnaught, a film both directed and choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping. A bloodthirsty fugitive played by one of Yuen Woo-Ping's own brothers, Yuen Shun-Yi, takes refuge in a village killing anyone that discovers his presence including eventually, spoiler alert, Bryan Leung's character who serves as sort of an older brother to Yuen Biao's character. Yuen Biao spends much of the movie's runtime evading his enemies but finally overcomes his fu phobia by confronting the kung fu convict to avenge Bryan Leung. Biao comes to the aid of injured Chinese martial arts folk hero Wong Fei-Hung portrayed by the most prolific Wong Fei-Hung actor Kwan Tak-Hing in his final portrayal of the Hung Ga grandmaster and one of his very last movies. This would not be the last time Yuen Biao would play the role of an important ally to Wong Fei-Hung as we would see with Once Upon a Time in China about 8 years later.
Yuen Shun-Yi, the 4th eldest child of the Yuen family behind Yuen Woo-Ping and Yuen Cheung-Yan, previously appeared as a cave guard in Game of Death II. But in Dreadnaught, he is given the limelight to let loose his kung fury on Yuen Biao's cowardly kung fu. Biao isn't without some tricks of his own however as the famous clothes drying techniques he showed off in an earlier scene are brought back and applied to actual combat in order to "take out the dirty laundry" so to speak. In a sequence that makes The Karate Kid's wax-on wax-off technique look tremendously tame by comparison, Yuen Biao's clothing kung fu is the perfect counter to Yuen Shun-Yi's flying sleeves, a fantasy fu move which would be re-used in another Yuen Woo-Ping directed movie Iron Monkey. Biao scrubs the skin off of Yuen Shun-Yi in a "sand the floor" type movement that would impress even Mr. Miyagi while demonstrating the finger strength to pinch and tangle fabric ripping out the hairs of the murderous martial artist. Yet Yuen Shun-Yi's feral fury is too much and Yuen Biao only defeats him through his own personal vengeful rage leaping from one wooden support to another ultimately bringing down Yuen Shun-Yi with a cool mounted drop-kick in classic Yuen Biao acrobatic style.
Among Yuen Woo-Ping's choreographic crew is Yuen Shun-Yi himself along with his fellow martial arts directors and brothers Brandy Yuen, Yuen Cheung-Yan, Yuen Yat-Choh, and Chiu Chung-Hing. Dreadnaught and it's final fight is an example of limited but effective early use of Yuen Woo-Ping's wirework that does not undermine and instead enhances Yuen Biao's high-flying talents all of which precedes the 90s' wuxia wire-fu craze to come. Like his brother Brandy Yuen in Game of Death II, Yuen Shun-Yi is thrust from the background to center stage proving that his on-screen abilities most certainly match that of his off-screen. All of these individual elements choreographically coalesce into Dreadnaught's finale, a trifecta of comedy, brutality, and creativity.
#9. Project A (1983)
Yuen Biao's friendly rivalry with his peking opera bro Jackie Chan has made for some stellar action sequences and what better excuse to play out that competitive spirit than by blowing off some steam in an actual fight scene. A battle of benches in The Young Master is the earliest example of this and they'd cross fists again as middle-aged men in Rob-B-Hood but their choreographic camaraderie is always at its best when on the same team. And by that I mean movies like Project A. Jackie Chan is the star and director making his Hong Kong cinema comeback after a failed attempt at breaking through the US market with the ill-fated Battle Creek Brawl. Taking place in the 1800s', Chan is a former marine police officer turned cop that teams up with a Hong Kong inspector played by Yuen Biao and non-cop confidant played by Sammo Hung against a group of pirates lead by bad guy supreme Dick Wei.
Initially named Pirate Patrol , the film was renamed Project A so as to not reveal the movie's narrative and cause other filmmakers to capitalize on potential pirate-centric films. The obviously titled Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and Drunken Master influenced a cavalcade of clones and so Jackie had to be a little more secretive with his future projects for the sake of preventing an oversaturation of the market.
Though this is a Yuen Biao list, it's hard to resist at least mentioning the Chan Man's spectacular stunt work from the iconic clocktower fall to smaller-scale stunt sequences like his bike chase which Jackie produced after a stressful viewing of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial before coming to the conclusion that most audiences would easily overlook any similarities between his and E.T.'s bike stunts. Jackie had only discovered the existence of Hollywood's most legendary stunt actors Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd after critics began comparing Chan's own stunts to that of his older American counterparts inspiring Jackie to pay tribute in Project A to Harold Lloyd's earlier clocktower stunt feat in 1923's Safety Last. But enough about Jackie Chan's stunt skills. Let's talk about the fight scenes. Yuen Biao and Jackie begin as bitter rivals quickly conveyed in a chaotically choreographed bar brawl. Their enmity turns into empathy when agreeing to together take down their criminal adversaries leading to a magnificent mansion melee and eventually the film's finale.
Project A is one of the first of Chan's films besides 1982's Dragon Lord to feature his famous closing credit sequence outtakes as well as his more contemporary kickboxing style of combat. Another innovative feature of the film is how the action did not focus exclusively on pure martial melees but mixed in superb stunts, explosions, and even gunplay on larger set pieces that would become standard for not only Chan's films but Hong Kong action movies in general. The film's crazy climax starts with close friend of Jackie Chan and stunt extraordinaire in his own right, Mars, the martial manhunter, standing side-by-side with Yuen Biao holding the pirates at gunpoint. In one of the oldest instances of gun-fu or "rifle-fu" if you will, Mars and Yuen Biao blast and bash through the first wave of pirates until switching to knives in a 2-against-all until Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung join in. Dick Wei, who prior to his film career was a Taiwanese army combat instructor and Taekwondo stylist, puts on a pirate persona one-handedly wielding a European saber with a Chinese tassel creating an odd yet creative cross-cultural martial aesthetic. It takes all four of our law enforcing heroes to pull the rug out from under Dick Wei, literally, in the process giving a whole new meaning to the military term "carpet bombed". Korean Hong Kong martial arts actor Kwon Yeong-Moon also makes a blink-or-you'll-miss-it cameo as one of the pirates. This final fight is practical in every sense of the word from the pyrotechnics to the painful fighting itself as Sammo Hung's low-frame rate slow-mo drop kick severely injured Dick Wei's back lending an air of authenticity to the already grounded action. Martial arts directors Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Mars, Danny Chow Yun-Kin, Paul Wong Kwan, Benny Lai Keung-Kuen, Wan Fat, and Bruce Tong Yim-Chaan put together their martial minds to craft a beat em' up ballet of blades, bullets, and bombs a full decade before John Woo lit up the screen winning Jackie Chan his first ever Hong Kong Film Award for Best Action Choreography.
#8. Shanghai Shanghai (1990)
By the time the 90s' rolled in Yuen Biao's cinematic star status was starting to fade. However his film fighting fame persisted whether it be opposite frequent on-screen opponents such as Yuen Wah in 1992's A Kid From Tibet and 1993's Kick Boxer or next to younger physical performers like Donnie Yen in 1994's Circus Kids, kung fu prodigy Ashton Chen in 1996's Dragon From Shaolin, or Takeshi Kaneshiro in 1997's Hero. As Yuen Biao's body began to break down his raw athleticism also began going with it but not before giving martial arts cinephiles a bit more of his famous physicality in 1990's Shanghai Shanghai. Also known as
The Shanghai Encounter, this turn of the decade film was directed by famously short-statured Hong Kong actor/music artist Teddy Robin. Yuen Biao is visiting Shanghai to locate his brother who is assigned to protecting the god-daughter of a crime boss (Anita Mui) played by Sammo Hung soon entangling all of them in a planned bank heist.
The grounded grace of the Yuen Biao vs. Sammo Hung fight in Millionaire's Express is certainly superior to the one from Shanghai Shanghai (as you'll soon see), though this seemingly inferior film fight nonetheless has a lot to offer from both cinematic martial artists. Shanghai Shanghai marks Sammo Hung's first time as primary antagonist, a preview of his later villainous parts in his late-career breakouts SPL and Fatal Move. Singer-actress Anita Mui herself is in fine fighting form fending off the other henchmen (not shown in video) while her more experienced action co-stars go at it on ground level. It's Sammo Hung's traditional kung fu shapes characterized by powerful palms and kicks against Yuen Biao's more conventional fists and feet. Yuen Biao's own kickboxing style is slightly demodernized into a "kickboxing fu" hitting specific poses rather than pulling back his arms and legs to conform to Sammo Hung's shape-centric form. In spite of the traditionally based martial arts at play, the fight sequence is kept at a suitably stylized level of realism complimented by wide framing and dynamic camerawork that follows the two from the main floor up the stairs and off a wall or two to vary the geography of the fight.
Throwing off the otherwise realistic nature of the fight scene is one particular wire-fu kick from Sammo. Maybe because Corey Yuen was the action director and the movie's producer and as you may know, the 1990s' is when he really integrated a heavier degree of wirework into his action aesthetic adapting to the general audience's demand for fantasy-oriented martial arts. Yuen and Sammo's scuffle is cut short by Anita Mui but at about 3-4 minutes, this fight scene is a greater highlight of Yuen Biao's individual screen fighting skills than the multi-man action extravaganza that was Project A. Which is admittedly a more ground-breaking and therefore higher calibre fight sequence overall but since this is Yuen Biao's list, we need something with more Yuen Biao and less of his opera bros in it.
#7. Dragons Forever (1988)
The Jackie-Sammo-Yuen triple team has produced some of the most memorable martial arts mayhem ever put to film from Wheels on Meals to the first 2 films in the Winners and Sinners series, My Lucky Stars and Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars. Out of all these beat em' up bangers, it is Dragons Forever that truly brings out Yuen Biao's aerial artistry. Sammo Hung takes the directorial seat here with Corey Yuen as co-director in the final film starring the J-S-Y opera trinity. Each of our favorite opera bros play 3 different men hired in a scheme by a chemical corporation to win an out-of-court settlement against a fishery owner who is trying to sue the corporation for water pollution. But surprise surprise, the corporation turns out to be a disguised drug business and our three heroes band together to take down the shady company at their local factory. After working out their differences in an earlier comedically coordinated 3-way fight, the trio agree to focus on their common enemy.
Much like the finale of Project A, a chaotic ensemble fight scene ends Dragons Forever but Yuen Biao is the one that gets the more jaw-dropping moments before the big 1-on-1 between Jackie and Benny Urquidez. At only a fraction of the final fight's length and lacking the overall action variety of Project A's climax, this relatively brief segment is nevertheless Yuen Biao at his acrobatic best. Biao front, side, and backflips onto and off of rails and beams in glorious slow-motion and one beautiful top-down shot knocking over bad guys into crazy stunt falls while the gaps in between the flashy kicks and stuntwork are filled in by fast frenetic undercranked hand-to-hand particularly against former kickboxing champion and Hong Kong ace antagonist Billy Chow, a frequent foe for Yuen Biao as you may have saw in License to Steal as well as Tough Beauty and the Sloppy Slop. A menacing mini-boss like Billy Chow is given a worthy finishing move taken down in a show-stopping forced splits back-bending kick to the chin onto a concrete edge before Yuen Biao himself is out for the count by an even more amazing jumping spinning side kick from Benny Urquidez.
According to Hong Kong film commentator Bey Logan, Dragons Forever might not have sold as many tickets as did the trio's other team-up movies because of the three having gone against their normally typecast roles. Jackie Chan as a sleazy womanizer rather than an average Joe, Sammo Hung as a mischievous man instead of a bashful brawler, and Yuen Biao as a deranged criminal as opposed to the underrated hero he usually is. Regardless of the movie's disappointing commercial success, a 3-against-all fight sequence of the scale seen in the third act could only be possible through the combined collaboration of both Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan's Stuntmen Associations. Dragons Forever is a martial merging of Chan's action comedy and Sammo Hung's hard-hitting brutality sugar-coated with Yuen Biao's aerial antics culminating into an end fight that can only be described as "graceful grittiness". Simply stated, a sensational send-off to one of the holiest of Hong Kong's holy trinities.
#6. Millionaires Express (1986)
The Jackie-Sammo-Yuen triple threat is indeed a cinematic tour de force to be reckoned with. But even when you take Jackie out of the equation, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao alone are completely capable of crafting some of the most brilliantly conceived fight sequences out there. The small scale war drama Eastern Condors assembled many of the greatest Hong Hong movie martial artists delivering a final showdown pitting Yuen Biao and his allies against a sample of Hong Kong's rogues gallery consisting of Yasuaki Kurata, Dick Wei, and Yuen Wah. Rivaling even the star power of that film's finale and making its way onto the middle of this list however is Millionaires Express. Known in some countries as Shanghai Express, Sammo Hung himself wrote and directed this movie which called together a Hong Kong martial arts action dream team with so many names that you can just read this film's entry on my Sammo Hung list instead (or google it, I won't be offended). If you ever wondered what would happen if you blended together the western and martial arts genres, that is what Millionaires Express is. Sammo Hung plays a local thief planning to bring in some extra wealth to his hometown by derailing a train boarded by some affluent individuals including Wong Fei-Hung and his father Wong Kei-Ying but is caught in the act by the firefighter captain played by Yuen Biao.
Including only a single fight scene from Millionaires Express would be an incomplete showcase of Yuen Biao's physical excellence so I've decided, as is my habit, to give a 2-for-1 deal on this ranking. First is Yuen's bout with big brother Sammo whose hits go so hard in fact that one of his kicks knocked the air out of Yuen Biao's lungs for a few minutes while almost similarly doing so to Yuen's stunt double Chin Kar-Lok after being tossed onto the canopy above. Could you expect any less from a literal Hong Kong heavyweight? This 1-on-1 is an entirely uninterrupted wireless fight scene unlike the mostly without wires Shanghai Shanghai fight. A true testament to what a film fight between these two opera bros can be. Along with Yuen's fight scene against Dick Wei, Millionaires Express presents the Hong Kong kickboxing aesthetic at its fastest and most frenetic even more so than Dragons Forever especially when Yuen Biao is on screen. Broken benches, hard concrete falls, and one beautifully executed sideways scissor-leg takedown memorably mark the moments between the combinations of kicks and punches. The two temporary enemies later ally themselves to protect the townsfolk from nearby bandits and Japanese prisoners all of whom are after a treasure map carried onboard the sabotaged train.
Their alliance ties together one of the most chaotically controlled climaxes in Hong Kong action cinema where every character picks their personal target resulting in a fast and furious fist and foot duel between Yuen Biao and Dick Wei who is a somewhat lower-ranking villain in this film than in Project A. If you thought Yuen Biao's acrobatic artistry in Dragons Forever was too much to handle you probably haven't seen Millionaires Express (or maybe you have, I'm just trying to make a point). Yuen's hardcore Peking Opera discipline culminates into this short but sensationally sweet segment jumping, side rolling, backflipping, and front flipping onto and off of bar tables and stairs. Lets not forget his feat of flexibility doing leg stretches to dodge punches and kicks and to top off all the mid-air magic is that last move worthy of a hundred replays when Yuen Biao's leg is swept off the edge of a balcony to only twirl land and front leg kick his way back on. Prior to these 2 fight scenes, we were already treated to a tantalizing taste of what was to come when Yuen performed a side flip off the rooftop of a flaming building that actually broke his leg. As I'm writing this, I now take back how I said Dragons Forever was Yuen Biao at his acrobatic best. Because honestly, this might be even better. Mesmerizingly made by, who else would it be, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Lam Ching-Ying, and Yuen Wah as the movie's martial arts directors, Millionaires Express is an extraordinary ensemble effort that not only symbolizes the height of Hong Kong action film-making but also Yuen Biao's famed physicality in its fullest form.
#5. The Magnificent Butcher (1979)
Many a movie martial artists' careers have been launched due to the directorial help of King of Choreographed Kung Fu Yuen Woo-Ping. And that of course includes Yuen Biao in The Magnificent Butcher. Sammo Hung stars as as Lam Sai- "Butcher" -Wing, real life student of Wong Fei-Hung. While Yuen Biao plays another of Wong Fei-Hung's real disciples Leung Foon, which he would again portray in Once Upon a Time in China, a film directed by Sammo Hung. The Magnificent Butcher is more or less Sammo Hung's response to Jackie Chan's Drunken Master both of which were directed by Yuen Woo-Ping and feature the historical Chinese martial arts figure Beggar So. The fight scene in focus here centers around the side characters when Fung Hark-On rapes and accidentally kills his own master's goddaughter but lays the blame on Sammo Hung prompting Sammo's fellow classmates including Yuen Biao to step in and defend him in a 2-on-2.
After all that modern kickboxing, this entry on the list takes things back to the older retro operatic kung fu we know and love mixing together a plethora of weapons and hand-to-hand forms similar to the fight scene from The Invincible Armor way back on the bottom of this countdown. It's less of an acrobatic spectacle than Dragons Forever and Millionaires Express and more about the unbroken chain of shapes that can be made in a single take. Yuen Biao faces Lam Ching-Ying, martial arts actor and choreographer most famous for depicting Wing Chun master Leung Yee-Tai in The Prodigal Son and perhaps more well-known as the Daoist priest in a heap of hopping vampire films. Lam Ching-Ying held a reputation for taking on female roles in his Peking Opera days and later stunt doubling female actresses due to his thin effeminate frame. He quickly became one of Bruce Lee's closest choreographic assistants and it was The Magnificent Butcher that became sort of a breakout role for Lam Ching-Ying's on-screen talents after mainly working behind the scenes as one of Sammo Hung's stunt team members. Able to jump from protagonist to antagonist with equal comfort, The Magnificent Butcher would be the first of several film fights against Yuen Biao such as in Those Merry Souls and My Lucky Stars. Lam Ching-Ying breaks out the fan and elbow blades on Yuen Biao who reacts with his opera-like evasive maneuvers and traditional kicks.
Wai Pak, aka Wei Pai, the Snake of Five Venoms Shaw Bros. fame, acts as another of Wong Fei-Hung's students beside Yuen Biao. Like Yuen Biao, Wei Pai starts off empty-handed until arming himself with a sword and tonfa to level the playing the field on the staff-wielding monkey kung fu practitioner played by Hong Kong stuntman/actor Yuen Miu who was the main action designer of a couple other Yuen Biao films Kickboxer and Circus Kids. Their choreographic styles may differ in certain ways but few would argue that the martial arts directorial duo of Yuen Woo-Ping and Sammo Hung in The Magnificent Butcher made nothing short of cinematic gold where even a fight sequence only focusing on the supporting cast is just as stunning as those of the main characters. And that gold wouldn't shine nearly as brightly without their team of assistant martial arts directors three of which are Yuen Woo-Ping's own brothers Yuen Shun-Yi, Brandy Yuen Jan-Yeung, and Yuen Cheung-Yan, as well as Yuen Biao and Lam Ching-Ying themselves, and lastly Billy Chan Wui-Ngai. Dreadnaught followed a few years after giving Yuen Biao the opportunity for leading man under Yuen Woo-Ping's direction and were it not for this secondary part in The Magnificent Butcher, Yuen Biao might not have taken his place among the Three Dragons of Peking Opera next to Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung.
#4. Knockabout (1979)
Made in the same year as The Magnificent Butcher is Knockabout, one fight fest of a movie that raises the quantity of the action above the former. Yuen Biao and Bryan Leung are a couple of brothers that con their way into making cash until getting their asses handed to them by a passerby played by Lau Kar-Wing. Yuen Biao and Byran Leung request they be taken under the "wing" of Lau Kar-Wing and greatly improve their martial arts skills. But upon discovering that Lau Kar-Wing is a murderer on the run, Bryan Leung sacrifices himself to allow Yuen Biao to escape who sets out on a classic kung fu journey of revenge soon training under a mysterious beggar played by Sammo Hung. Knockabout is another one of those old school kung fu flicks that defines what "old school kung fu" means to a fu fan and this fu feast concludes in an over ten-minute long final fight.
The first segment is a 1-on-1 featuring the distinct up and down motions of Yuen Biao's Choy Li Fut and Praying Mantis style complimented by his flexible legwork, gymnastics tumbling, and Peking Opera hardened acrobatics. The grass field showdown moves from mantis to monkey when Yuen Biao crash lands into a small teahouse that happens to have Sammo Hung inside. Simian student and sifu join forces in a 2-on-1 boss fight against Lau Kar-Wing's "evil master" who augments his snake style by sporting a smoking pipe, a weapon of choice for countless kung fu movie masters of the era. To further elevate his status as the film's "big boss" Lau Kar-Wing also gets his own signature "people's elbow" type technique. As the often overshadowed younger brother of legendary kung fu choreographer Lau Kar-Leung, Lau Kar-Wing still stood as one of the top action directors and small-time actors of Shaw Bros. until partnering with Sammo Hung who propelled Lau into becoming a far more prominent player in the Hong Kong action industry. Working with Sammo and Yuen Biao in Knockabout, the three cinematic fighters stir together screwball simian slapstick and classic kung fu choreo into a flawless formula where even something as innocently playful as
jump roping is used as a deadly but comedic martial art.
Normally either part of an ensemble action team with Sammo or on an opposing side from Sammo, Knockabout gave Yuen Biao and Sammo the chance to display their choreographic chemistry as friends rather than foes, a pairing they'd revisit in the 80s' wuxia special effects extravaganza Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain. Knockabout's 1v2 boss battle is masterfully made monkey mayhem highlighted by Yuen Biao's multi-style mastery dynamically designed by none other than the movie's martial arts director Sammo Hung as well as assistant martial arts directors Lam Ching-Ying and Billy Chan Wui-Ngai.
#3. Righting Wrongs (1986)
For the 3rd best Yuen Biao fight scene of all time we have Righting Wrongs aka Above the Law (not to be confused with a certain Steven Seagal movie) directed and produced by Corey Yuen. Yuen Biao is a man of the law who abandons his legal loyalties after his mentor's murder and the massacre of the murder's witness and their entire family. Cynthia Rothrock is an undercover cop who is sent to investigate Yuen Biao's trail of vengeful vigilantism and the two soon uncover how deeply corrupt their own superiors really are. The narrative core of Righting Wrongs is that of a crime thriller's but given it's involvement of Yuen Biao and his fellow film fighters, there's no shortage of martial arts action. From the almost obligatory parking garage fight scene found in most 80s' Hong Kong action flicks at the time to Yuen Biao's indoor scuffle with Cynthia Rothrock and a no-holds barred bout against 7-time world champion kickboxer Peter "Sugarfoot" Cunningham, the film's top fight sequence comes at the very end when it is revealed that the man behind the killings is the police department's own superintendent played by Melvin Wong.
Cynthia Rothrock gets her last few minutes of glory in a minor gun-fu and hand-to-hand segment until "dying a hero" at the hands of Melvin Wong right before Yuen Biao arrives. The previous two entries on the list have been more traditionally oriented but now we're
back to the kinetic kickboxing. Albeit with some of that older school operatic evasion off of vehicles for good measure. It's not as continuous and complex as Knockabout, yet a more gritty hard-hitting martial melee upgraded by the use of wire pulls and power powder complete with some slow-mo full contact kicks to the face and that one flawless falling 540 kick. Dragons Forever and Millionaire's Express may have been more acrobatically show-stopping but the stylized brutality of Righting Wrongs' finale fits the darker tone of the film particularly in the context of the original more pessimistic ending. Yuen Biao's unrestrained rage resonates in every one of his war cries amplifying the emotional weight behind each strike that he lands. Credit should also be given to the less lauded action charisma of Melvin Wong who is possibly the only cast member with an actual legal background having attained a law degree from the University of London and even one in Pharmacy from the University of California. Currently practicing law as a member of the Hong Kong Bar Association, Melvin Wong's legal expertise is supplemented by his study of Wing Chun and White Crane Kung Fu while living in the U.S. Wong later learned Praying Mantis Kung Fu and bulked up for his role in Righting Wrongs working out under the guidance of literal Hong Kong heavyweight Bolo Yeung. To apply to the modern era of the film, his specific kung fu base is translated a more generalized combat form. Though he was doubled by Chin Kar-Lok for some of the more spectacular kicks, stunt falls, and reaction hits, Melvin Wong's martial prowess is undeniably impressive which is saying a lot when crossing fists with someone like Yuen Biao.
To avoid overly depressing audiences outside Hong Kong (mostly due to its initial local reception), an alternate Mandarin and international ending was made in which Melvin Wong is arrested while both Cynthia Rothrock and Yuen Biao live to see him face justice. An ending that required Cynthia Rothrock to pause filming of China O'Brien in LA to fly all the way back to Hong Kong for the new shoot. Regardless of which ending you might have seen, Righting Wrongs' insane climax takes the already high-flying acrobatics of Yuen Biao to an literally high-flying scenario. Yuen said that the plane jump was the riskiest stunt he had ever performed as during one shot crew members believed he had been paralyzed after his support wire broke landing him on his face with his back bent forward. He was already suspended 4,000 ft in the air by rope and despite the desire and prior training to do so, his actual full fall off the plane was doubled by a professional skydiver due to New Zealand laws and film production-based insurance policies. Such spectacular stunt daredevilry is what partly defined 80s' Hong Kong action cinema and it is what capped off this climactic choreographed cult classic of a fight made up by the mad martial minds of Corey Yuen, Yuen Biao, Mang Hoi, and Hsu Hsia. Melvin Wong stated that Sammo Hung was involved as a special guest choreographer for part of the final fight that in retrospect explains its fine fusion of raw realism and slick stylization making it one fight scene that will leave as much of an impact on the memories of martial arts filmgoers as it did on the bodies of Yuen Biao and Melvin Wong.
#2. The Iceman Cometh (1989)
Most of us know Yuen Biao for his aerial flair in contemporary action films but his work in the more magical realm of martial arts movies is sometimes forgotten. Just to name a short list is his wuxia pair-up with Sammo Hung in Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain, wuxia novel adaptations like The Sword Stained with Royal Blood and Deadful Melody, steampunk kung fu flick Tai Chi Hero, paranormal romance Picture of a Nymph, the demon-slaying manga-based movies Peacock King and Saga of the Phoenix, and who could forget his two-time contributions to the jiangshi genre cameo-ing as a hopping vampire in Mr. Vampire and switching sides fighting against the vampires in the sequel. 1989's The Iceman Cometh came as sort of an intersection of both Yuen Biao's supernatural and standard straight-laced action movies. Helmed by Clarence Fok known for directing the erotic action thriller Naked Killer and the MMA-oriented action crime film Special ID starring Donnie Yen, The Iceman Cometh is clearly inspired by Highlander's modern fantasy setting including urban sword fights and all. Yuen Biao is a Ming Dynasty era royal guard pursuing a limb-breaking rapist/murderer played by veteran villain Yuen Wah both of whom are hurdled centuries into the future. In the movie's final act, Yuen Biao confronts Yuen Wah at a museum containing the time-traveling object that sent them into the present-day where Wah intends to return to their original time period carrying 20th century firearms to overthrow the emperor. As a swords-and-sorcery movie spanning several eras, the action sequences are quite varied from the opening sword fight to the blade vs. bullets finale.
The final fight, filmed across a whole month, is one of four on-screen match-ups between Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah, succeeding the one in Eastern Condors, and preceding their later rematches in A Kid From Tibet and Kick Boxer. Yuen Wah breaks out into a Tiger Kung Fu stance and besides a bit of tiger claw grappling many of his moves and especially Yuen Biao's are based more in modern martial arts. Yuen Biao is halfway between his modernized kickboxing and the shapes-driven punches and kicks where he leaves his arm out for a little longer without retracting his fists like a boxer as he did in Shanghai Shanghai. This midway martial form suits the premise since he's an ancient warrior adapting to, in his eyes, a futuristic world. It's a little slower-paced and movements are more traditional than Righting Wrongs but each strike has twice the impact behind it having the brutally hard hits of Sammo's fight choreography like in Righting Wrongs making it somewhat strange that he was not involved in The Iceman Cometh. Not nearly as acrobatically intense as prior fight scenes, some flashy kicks are thrown in per Yuen Biao including a wire-enhanced backflip kick ironically received by Yuen Wah who had performed a similar kick on Robert Wall in Enter the Dragon when doubling Bruce Lee. In another tribute to an earlier but relatively recent film, Yuen Biao also uses the same kick counter executed by Jackie Chan against Benny Urquidez in Wheels on Meals. Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah were the two of the most acrobatically agile film fighters in Hong Kong at the time both members of the prodigious Seven Little Fortunes from the China Drama Academy, the most prestigious peking opera school. And so this fight scene could've gone without wires but maybe because of its semi-fantastical setting there had to be some wuxia wirework incorporated into it.
With that said, the wire fu is fairly limited like in Righting Wrongs but used effectively for the most part, it's greatest application being the wire-aided throwing of Yuen Biao into the glass display case. Honestly, the speed and force of that throw is ridiculous in all the right ways.
Co-starring two Yuens of no relation, we're treated to double the Yuen and therefore double the martial mayhem. The year of '89 was closer to Yuen Wah's physical prime long before his career-defining role as the land lord in the kung fu comedy classic Kung Fu Hustle allowing appreciation of his abilities nearer to his acrobatic apex. The Iceman Cometh's sound effects are bassier than movies before it and started to resemble the more deeply impactful sound style of the 90s', a transitionary phase from the earlier more clappy stick-whacking sounds of the 80s'. Every element choreographically coalesces into a finely tuned quasi-fantasy film fight courtesy of Yuen Biao himself and his very own stuntman association backed by co-martial arts directors Yuen Wah, Yuen Tak, and Chin Kar-Lok. The 2014 Donnie Yen-led remake and its own 2018 sequel attempted to recapture the fantastical fish-out-of-water feel of the original but it's tough to compete with the novelty and oddity of this late 80s' action classic.
#1. The Prodigal Son (1981)
For the top ranking fight scene on this list we have The Prodigal Son, directed and co-written by Sammo Hung, a pioneer of Wing Chun cinema having already directed the old-school fan favorite Warriors Two and eventually revitalizing Wing Chun interest as action director of Ip Man 1 and 2. Yuen Biao plays historical Chinese martial artist Leung Jan in his younger days prior to his grandmastery of Wing Chun going on to teach Chan Wah-Shun who himself would pass his teachings to Ip Man. This comedic version of Leung Jan is a rich but incompetent Kung Fu practitioner who, unbeknownst to him, defeats challengers that are paid by his father to throw their fights earning him the eponymous title "the prodigal son". When discovering that his kung fu clout is all but a lie, he vows to become a legitimate martial artist as a disciple of master Leung Yee-Tai played by Lam Ching-Ying who goes from minor villain in much of this list to the movie's supreme sifu. Sammo Hung also cameos as a colleague of Lam Ching-Ying helping to instruct Yuen Biao in a more unconventional form of kung fu. After a duel with the son of a Manchu lord played by Frankie Chan ends in a draw, the lord has Lam Ching-Ying assassinated to the shock of Frankie Chan who only then realized that he, like Yuen Biao, is also a "prodigal son". Yuen Biao and Frankie Chan agree to engage in an honorable match to reconcile for their unintentionally tragic conflict.
The Prodigal Son's final fight sequence takes things back to the old-fashioned fu a few years before the kickboxing craze of 80s' Hong Kong action. Every kung fu climax needs a worthy opponent to test the hero's film-length training and that opponent comes in the form of Frankie Chan. Frankie Chan is a master of the martial and musical arts as the composer of soundtracks on over a hundred Hong Kong films. He worked as a Jackie Chan Stunt Team member for a short while and even directed a few films including 2011's Legendary Amazons. In The Prodigal Son he appears to be using Dragon Kung Fu but has mentioned that his primary martial art is in Pai Mei Kung Fu named after the infamous Shaolin temple traitor and villain of choice for a sizable chunk of kung fu cinema. Yuen Biao is interestingly not the flashy kicker giving that role to Frankie Chan who has his own signature technique; the jumping spin kick-to-sidekick which Yuen Biao finds a way to counter later and which Yuen himself may have stunt doubled for. Yuen Biao makes up for his lack of acrobatics (aside from a head-bouncing somersault and a final side flip over a brick wall) with some lightning fast undercranked to the max Wing Chun. The martial arts may be more formalized but the Sammo Style full contact fighting we know and love is still there highlighted by a nasty head butt that leaves an almost cartoonishly grotesque bloody lump on Frankie Chan's head. The one-on-one is violent and unrelenting yet kept proper with Yuen Biao granting Franke Chan the chance to get back on his feet after being knocked down. Quite the contrast from earlier fight scenes in the list that keep the combat going even when on the ground.
As an innovator of martial arts action film-making, Sammo Hung not only set the spotlight on a less popular kung fu style like Wing Chun but also filmed it utilizing a higher number of upward camera angles that would become a cinematographic staple of 90s' Hong Kong fight sequences. The occasionally close-up and side-rushing camerawork is just as quick and kinetic as the kung fu itself achieving a frenetic flow paving the way for forthcoming films in the genre. Working double duty on and off screen are the movie's multi-talented martial arts directors Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, and Lam Ching-Ying as well as exclusively behind camera crew member Billy Chan Wui-Ngai. Providing an ever greater degree of authenticity to the movie's martial arts is actor/director/producer Guy Lai Ying-Chau as the film's Wing Chun consultant. It's no surprise that such performative and choreographic talent won them the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Action Choreography. The Prodigal Son is one of the classiest of kung fu cult classics and proof that taking away Yuen Biao's aerial agility in place of a more familiar and formal face-off of fists and feet doesn't at all undermine his pure martial arts mastery. Yuen Biao would depict an older and wiser iteration of this same historical figure in the 2008 Wing Chun series and portray yet another Wing Chun grandmaster in 2011's The Legend is Born: Ip Man. But it all began with The Prodigal Son.
Sorry about being a burnout and procrastinating on this article. It would've been published over a month ago had I not decided to slack off. So what'd you think? Should the acrobatically oriented modern kickboxing fight scenes be higher on the list since they better demonstrate Yuen Biao's specific skill set? Anyone interested in a Yuen Biao weapon fight scene list? Drop a comment on all that stuff and hopefully the next list on Gordon Liu won't take as long to release.....
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