“The Magnificent” Poster
Director: Kim Hyeong-Jun
Co-director: Chan Siu-Pang
Assistant-director: Godfrey Ho
Cast: Carter Wong, Casanova Wong, Chan Sing, Doris Lung, Elton Chong, Chang Il-do, Dragon Lee (Mun Kyong-sok), Martin Chui Man-Fooi, Chan Chan-Wa
Running Time: 90 min.
By Paul Bramhall
In the late 70’s the kung fu genre was evolving dramatically. After the Bruce Lee mania of the early 70’s there came a wave of ‘basher’ flicks, movies that put an emphasis more on scrappy brawling than the graceful movements of Peking Opera, but it wasn’t until the likes of The Secret Rivals that the genre started to significantly shift. Director and producer Ng See Yuen saw the potential in the Korean art of Taekwondo, and soon the likes of Hwang Jang Lee and Casanova Wong began to become regular fixtures in Hong Kong movies (many of which were also filmed in Korea). Taekwondo was a perfect fit for screen fighting, able to both be incorporated into complex exchanges, but also look devastatingly powerful. Similar to how Bruce Lee kicked off the decade, audiences once again became attracted to the power of martial arts, and less interested in the Opera style that had dominated since as far back as the 1940’s.
1978’s The Magnificent stands as a prime example of where the genre was at the time, bringing together a trio of formidable talent in the form of Carter Wong, Casanova Wong, and Chan Sing. It was a hell of a year for everyone, with Casanova also starring in Warriors Two, arguably his most famous role, and Carter Wong playing the legendary villain in Born Invincible (and a movie called The Monkey Love, but let’s not go there). Chan Sing takes the cake though, featuring in a whopping 28 productions released that year, amongst them the likes of Bruce Lee in New Guinea and Amsterdam Connection (and, ummm, also The Monkey Love). Surely that’s some kind of record!?
The plot of The Magnificent is simple, as any old-schooler should be – in 1911 a villainous general (Chan Sing) plans to obtain a coat of arms from an elderly lord, which he can use to overthrow the newly established Republic, and restore the old Qing order. Out to stop him is the local commissioner (Carter Wong), his trusty right-hand man (Casanova Wong), and the lord’s daughter (Doris Lung). I initially wanted to write that the story is so simple that it doesn’t allow for more than 5 minutes to go by without a fight breaking out, but on reflection, I think it’s probably closer to 3.
A co-production between Hong Kong’s infamous Asso Asia Films and Korea’s Hwa Chun Trading Co.,The Magnificent sees Godfrey Ho in a rare genuine assistant director credit, supporting co-directors Chan Siu-Pang (who probably took care of the Hong Kong side of the production) and Kim Hyeong-Jun (who probably took care of the Korean side). For fans of the master of cut ‘n’ paste style filmmaking, Ho even appears in-front of camera here, in one of only 8 times he took on an acting role in his 20 plus year career. While The Magnificent itself is free of any Ho style tampering, that didn’t stop it from being chopped into other titles further down the line. The 1981 Dragon Lee vehicle Enter the Invincible Hero has footage from a fight pitting Casanova Wong versus Chang Il-do awkwardly inserted into it, and significant chunks were used to create the 1990 cut ‘n’ paste flick Kickboxer the Champion.
Speaking of Dragon Lee, The Magnificent is an interesting time capsule as to the popularity of Korean martial arts stars at the time. Despite Casanova Wong only debuting in Hong Kong a year earlier, his impressive turns in both The Shaolin Plot and The Iron Fisted Monk clearly gave the producers confidence that Wong’s talents were enough to sell tickets. At this point Dragon Lee had only featured in The Last Fist of Fury, and hadn’t gained the popularity he’d achieve in subsequent years (he and Casanova Wong would face off against each other in the previously mentioned Enter the Invincible Hero), so it was interesting to see him turn up here as a generic assassin. However even as a generic assassin he puts in a memorably brief performance, still managing to throw in a classic thumbing the nose Bruce Lee-ism despite his limited screen time!
Elton Chong on the other hand had already featured in supporting roles in several local (and Korean shot – look out for him as a monk in The Shaolin Plot) productions, however like Dragon Lee he wasn’t yet considered leading man material (and for many reading, likely never was!), with 1980’s Fist of the Golden Monkey being his first headline role. He’d go onto inflict the world with many torturous kung fu comedies through to the mid-80’s, but thankfully in The Magnificent he can only be seen lurking around in a scene which has Chang Sing challenge his subordinates to take on his Golden Bell technique (not as dirty as it sounds).
I confess that even when I was in the peak of my kung fu flick watching era, there were some movies which induced fight fatigue. 1979’s Monkey Kung Fu and Seven Steps of Kung Fu are both prime examples of movies so crammed with fight action, that by their respective finales the thrill was long gone. The Magnificent is comparable in terms of the ridiculous amount of fights it crams into its run time, however that fatigue is largely avoided mainly due to the aforementioned focus on impact, rather than the acrobatic Opera based choreography. Neither Chan Sing or Carter Wong are even going to be mistaken for a Ricky Cheng or Li Yi-Min, however they do both bring a sense of raw power to their performances, and in The Magnificent this is nicely offset by Casanova Wong and Doris Lung.
In fairness, both Wong and Lung steal the show whenever they’re called into action. Wong had faced off against Chen Sing only the year prior when he played a supporting role as a monk in The Shaolin Plot, in which some say is one of the finest displays of kicking ever committed to screen. Here the pair get a rematch which plays as part of the opening credits, which have Sing travelling through a snow-covered landscape, before being ambushed by several attackers disguising themselves rather conspicuously in mounds of snow. It’s a great start, and the fights remain consistent throughout, even if some are more of a highlight than others. The credits list fight choreography duties between Chan Siu-Pang (who also directs) and Chan Chan-Wa (notably, the Hong Kong Movie Database lists a third choreographer in the form of Chan Sau-Chung).
The fact that The Magnificent has 3 directors at the helm and (potentially) 3 different fight choreographers makes it easy to believe that, rather than being a collaborative effort, certain scenes and fights were being filmed individually. This would explain why some fights appear more tightly choreographed than others, and similarly also explain why the editing sometimes feels a little sporadic (we don’t actually get to see the conclusion of the Dragon Lee fight). However when they’re good, they’re really good. Wong in particular gets to shine in a fight against Chang Il-do which is flurry of feet, and later goes up against a small army which again proves a highlight, as his kicks take out multiple assailants with deadly precision.
By the time we get to the finale Carter Wong and Doris Lung have spent a considerable time hammering away at wooden cut-outs to figure out how to attack Sing’s pressure points (I assume they couldn’t afford a dummy like the one featured in the previous years Executions from Shaolin), and the stage is set for an exhausting 3 on 1 showdown pitting the pair, with a little help from Casanova Wong, against Chen Sing. It’s a worthy finish to a lean old-school kung fu flick which knows exactly what it’s there to deliver. When you throw in characters constantly delivering inner monologues, a scene that proves radishes are perfect for concealing daggers, and a final line which consists of Carter Wong yelling “The genitals!”, what’s not to enjoy?
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10
