''The Fearless Hyena'' is a 1979 Hong Kong

action comedy Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of acti ...

kung fu film Kung fu film () is a subgenre of martial arts films and Hong Kong action cinema set in the contemporary period and featuring realistic martial arts. It lacks the fantasy elements seen in ''wuxia'', a related martial arts genre that uses historical ...

written, directed by and starring

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

. It was Chan's directorial debut. The film was a box office success. The film has been released under several alternative titles internationally, including: * ''Revenge of the Dragon'' (USA video title) * ''Superfighter 3'' (West Germany video title) * ''The Shadowman'' (West Germany video title) The film had a sequel, '' Fearless Hyena Part II'', released in 1983.

Plot

Ching Hing-lung (Jackie Chan) is a youngster, living in a remote village with his grandfather, kung fu master Ching Pang-fei (

James Tien James Tien is the name of: *James Tien (actor) (; born 1942), Hong Kong actor from Guangdong *James Tien (politician) (; born 1947), Hong Kong politician, former Liberal Party chairman and Legislative Council member *James M. Tien, American enginee ...

). Lung does not take his training seriously enough, he gambles, and he gets into fights which lead him to display the skills his grandfather has told him he must keep secret. Lung briefly finds employment selling coffins, working for an unscrupulous proprietor (

Dean Shek Dean Shek (17 June 1949 – 20 September 2021), also known as Dean Shek Tin, was a Hong Kong film actor and producer with over 72 film credits to his name. Shek was perhaps best known as Professor Kai-hsien in the 1978 film ''Drunken Master'', ...

), who even stoops to selling second-hand coffins. Lung is fired when he accidentally traps his boss in one of the coffins. After making his escape, he runs into three thugs he had beaten up earlier, who ask him to teach them kung fu. Lung meets their sifu, Tee Cha (

Lee Kwan Lee Kwan or Li Kun (18 February 1930 – 12 March 2008) was a Chinese actor. He joined Shaw Brothers in 1957 and acted in Mandarin films. He later played supporting roles in Bruce Lee's ''The Big Boss'' and ''Fist of Fury''. Later he became ...

), the unskilled leader of the Everything Clan. Master Tee offers Lung a lucrative job training his students and fighting against the top fighters from rival schools. This boosts the reputation of the school and of the scheming Master Tee. However, Lung makes the mistake of naming the school under the Ying Yee clan name. This comes to the attention of evil kung fu master Yam Tin-fa (Yam Sai-kwoon), who finds and kills Lung's grandfather. But, Lung eventually takes revenge for his grandfather's murder after undergoing rigorous training from The Unicorn (Chan Wai-lau).

Cast

as Shing Lung *

as Ching Pang-pei, Lung's grandfather *

as The Coffin Seller *Chan Wai-lau as Unicorn *Yam Sai-koon as Yam Tin-fa *

as Tee Cha *Rocky Cheng as "The Willow Sword" Bar Tar *Chiang Chih-ping *Chu Siu-wa * Eagle Han-ying as Chin Wa-li *Hp Hing-nam *Chui Yuen *Wong Ken-mei *Kim Sae-ok *Kuo Nai-hua *

Alan Chui Chung-San Chui Chung-San (often known as Shu Zhong Xin, Hsu Zhong-Xin or Alan Hsu; 16 August 1952 – 2 November 2022) was a Hong Kong actor, director, choreographer, martial artist and stuntman. He was known for being an action director and stuntman. Ch ...

*Chang Ma *Peng Kong *Wong Yiu as Stony Egg *Man Lee-pang *Wong Chi-sang as One of Yam's men *Wang Jia-en

Fight scenes

''Fearless Hyena'' features several unusual slapstick fight scenes, including a

chopsticks Chopsticks ( or ; Pinyin: ''kuaizi'' or ''zhu'') are shaped pairs of equal-length sticks of Chinese origin that have been used as kitchen and eating utensils in most of East and Southeast Asia for over three millennia. They are held in the ...

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and ...

(homage later paid in the cartoon film,

Kung Fu Panda ''Kung Fu Panda'' is an American media franchise that originally started in 2008 with the release of the animated feature film of the same name, produced by DreamWorks Animation. Following the adventures of the titular Po Ping (primarily voic ...

), Hing-lung fighting disguised as a cross-eyed

mentally retarded Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signifi ...

man, disguised as a woman, and using "Emotional Kung-Fu", a style that involves vividly displaying the emotions of anger, sorrow, joy and happiness to find the opponent's weakness thus fighting whilst crying or laughing.

Box office

In Hong Kong, the film grossed a total of () at the Hong Kong box office. In South Korea, where it released in 1980, the film sold 436,545 tickets in

Seoul City Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

, equivalent to an estimated (). In France, it sold 187,706 tickets in 1984, equivalent to an estimated (). Combined, the film grossed an estimated in Asia and Europe.

References

External links