''Eastern Condors'' () is a

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

starring and directed by

Sammo Hung Samuel "Sammo" Hung Kam-bo ( zh, t=洪金寶, j=Hung4 Gam1-bou2; born 7 January 1952) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, film producer and Film director, director, known for his work in martial arts films, Hong Kong action cinema, and as a figh ...

. The film co-stars

Yuen Biao Yuen Biao (born Ha Lingchun; 26 July 1957) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist and stuntman. He specialises in acrobatics and Chinese martial arts and has also worked on over 80 films as actor, stuntman and action choreographer. He was one o ...

Joyce Godenzi Joyce Mina Godenzi (; born 28 May 1965) is a Hong Kong former actress and winner of the Miss Hong Kong pageant of 1984. Background Born in British Hong Kong in 1965 to an Australian father and a Chinese mother, Godenzi was encouraged to join the M ...

Yuen Wah Yuen Wah (born Yung Kai-chi; 2 September 1952) is a Hong Kong action film actor, action choreographer, stuntman and martial artist who has appeared in over 160 films and over 20 television series. Early life Born Yung Kai-chi on 2 September 195 ...

Lam Ching-ying Lam Ching-ying (; born Lam Gun-bo (); 27 December 1952 – 8 November 1997) was a Hong Kong stuntman, actor, martial artist and action director. As a practitioner of martial arts Lam starred in a number of notable films that found recognition o ...

Yuen Woo-ping Yuen Woo-ping (; alias: Yuen Wo-ping; born 1945) is a Hong Kong people, Hong Kong Stage combat, martial arts choreographer and film director who worked in Hong Kong action cinema and later Hollywood films. He is one of the inductees on the Avenue ...

Corey Yuen Corey Yuen Kwai (; 15 February 1951 – 2022) was a Hong Kong film director, film producer, action choreographer, and actor. Yuen attended the China Drama Academy and was one of the Seven Little Fortunes. In Hong Kong, he worked on several ...

and

Billy Chow Billy Chow Bei-lei ( zh, t=周比利; born August 24, 1958) is a Hong Kong-Canadian former professional kickboxer and actor. He competed in the Welterweight and Super Welterweight divisions from 1977 to 1992. He was the WKA Super Welterweigh ...

. The film was released in Hong Kong on 9 July 1987.

Plot

Lieutenant Colonel Lam is a Hong Kong-American army officer given a top-secret mission by the US military. The mission entails entering Vietnam to destroy an old American bunker filled with missiles before the

Viet Cong The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the communist-driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam. It was formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, and ...

can get to them. Due to the dangerous nature of the mission, a group of 12 Chinese American convicts are selected to accompany him, led by Tung Ming-sun. Survivors are promised a pardon,

U.S. citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constit ...

and $200,000 each. After a brief training session they are dropped into Vietnam. During the jump, Lam learns too late that the mission has been aborted. One of the convicts miscounts when to pull his parachute and dies during the landing. Once in enemy territory, they are met by 3

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

n guerillas and take refuge in a small town. There they meet Rat Chieh (aka Chieh Man-yeh), and his mentally ill "Uncle", Yeung-Lung. Due to a request by Colonel Yeung who died in a plane explosion off-screen, the commandos extract Yeung-Lung and a reluctant Rat who is forced to tag along with the convicts. Later, the squad is captured and incarcerated in a

POW camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, an ...

, where the prisoners are forced to play

Russian roulette Russian roulette () is a potentially lethal game of chance in which a player places a single round in a revolver, spins the cylinder, places the muzzle against the head or body (their opponent's or their own), and pulls the trigger. If the ...

in a similar manner to the film '' The Deer Hunter''. After escaping, Yeung-Lung is revealed to have been faking being mentally-ill out of protection and reveals that one of the Cambodian guerrillas is a traitor. The Cambodians execute the traitor after she is revealed by Rat. With the Vietnamese military in pursuit, they are able to reach the bunker, but the convicts suffer several casualties during the journey. In the bunker Lam orders the convicts to destroy the missiles but is wounded by the Cambodian guerilla leader who wants the missiles for themselves to destroy the Vietnamese and in the process accidentally shoots Yeung-Lung dead. After a brief standoff, the Vietnamese enter the bunker forcing Tung, Rat, Lam, the Cambodians and the remaining convicts to briefly team up and fight the Vietnamese general and his elite soldiers. During the final battle, the group manages to kill many of the Vietnamese general's elite soldiers but Lam, the Cambodians and most of the convicts are killed in the process. The only survivors are Tung, Rat and Dai Hoi another convict helping them throughout the journey but was tempted to leave several times due to not being told the true nature of the mission. Rat attempts to fight the General but is knocked out in the process. Tung fights and manages to defeat the Giggling General and finishes him by shoving a grenade in the generals mouth. Tung, Rat and Dai Hoi manage to destroy the missiles and escape the bunker through an underground tunnel where they are rescued by a helicopter presumably flown by the Americans out of Vietnam.

Cast

as Tung Ming-sun *

as "Rat" / Chieh Man-yeh * Haing S. Ngor as Lung Yeung *

as Cambodian Guerrilla Girl Leader * Chui Man-yan as Cambodian Guerrilla Girl #2 * Ha Chi-chun as Lau Shun Ying / Cambodian Guerrilla Girl #3 *

as Lieutenant Colonel Lam * Melvin Wong as Colonel Yang Yeung * Charlie Chin as Szeto Chin * Cheung Kwok-keung as Ching Dai-kong * Billy Lau as Ching Dai-Hoi *

as Grandpa Yun Yen-hoy *

as Judy Wu *

Peter Chan Peter Ho-sun Chan (born 28 November 1962), also known as Peter Chan, is a Hong Kong-born filmmaker best known for directing films that span a wide range of genres, including romantic comedies, musical dramas, and historical epics. He is r ...

as Ma Puk-kau / Potato Onion Head * Chin Kar-lok as Nguyen Siu-tran * Hsiao Ho as Phan ManlLung * Lau Chau-sang as Stuttering Keung *

as Vietnamese Giggling General * Yasuaki Kurata as General's elite soldier * Dick Wei as General's elite soldier *

as General's elite soldier * Ng Min-kan as General's elite soldier * James Tien as Village Thug / Angry Customer * Phillip Ko as Vietnamese Corporal Soldier *

Wu Ma Fung Wang-yuen (22 September 1942 – 4 February 2014), better known by his stage name Wu Ma, was a Hong Kong actor, director, producer and writer. Wu Ma made his screen debut in 1963, and with over 240 appearances to his name (plus 49 directoria ...

as Vietnamese Corporal Officer * Kenny Ho as Col Young's commando *

Max Mok Max Mok ( zh, t=莫少聰; born 2 December 1962 in Hong Kong; also credited as Benny Mok, Benny Mok Siu-chung and Max Mok Siu-chung) is a Hong Kong actor and singer. Mok was recruited by the Shaw Brothers Studio and has been a major film star si ...

as Col Young's commando * Chung Fat as Col Young's commando *

Michael Miu Michael Miu Kiu-wai ( 苗僑偉) (born 18 June 1958) is a Hong Kong actor and businessman. His career has been met with popular success in his youth, followed by a resurgence in middle age after a period of hiatus. He is considered one of the most ...

as Col Young's commando * Kent Tong as Col Young's commando * Ben Lam as Col Young's commando * Andy Dai as Col Young's commando * Danny Poon as Col Young's commando * Chris Li as Col Young's commando * Wan Chi-keung as Col Young's commando * Paquito Diaz as Guerrilla *

Eddie Garcia Eduardo "Eddie" Verchez Garcia (; May 2, 1929 – June 21, 2019), colloquially known as Manoy, was a Filipino actor, television personality, and filmmaker. Widely regarded as the greatest Filipino actor of all time, Garcia appeared in nearly ...

as Guerrilla * Joonee Gamboa as Guerrilla

Production

The ensemble of convict soldiers in the film is reminiscent of similar squads in American action war films like '' The Dirty Dozen''. Hung believed his normal size and body shape, whilst suited to his comedic characters in his other films, would be inappropriate for a soldier. In order to get into shape for the lead role, Hung lost 30 pounds in 3 months by surviving on a diet of nothing but chicken, rice, and low salt soy sauce. Although set in

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, most of the film was shot in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The scenes set in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

were actually filmed in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Theme song

*''A Condor's Mission'' (禿鷹使命) **Composer: Jonathan Lee **Lyricist:

Lin Xi Albert Leung Wai Man (, born 7 December 1961), better known by his pen name Lin Xi (), is a Hong Kong lyricist and writer. A prominent figure in Cantopop and Mandopop, he has written lyrics for nearly all major Hong Kong singers, with notable ...

**Singer:

, Prudence Liew, Susanne Ho,

, Billy Lau, Rosanne Lui, Woo Kin-chung, Fundamental

Accolades

Home media

On 2 April 2001, a Region 2 DVD was released by Hong Kong Legends in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The film was released on Blu-Ray by

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...

on December 17, 2024.

References

External links

* {{Sammo Hung 1987 films 1987 action films 1987 martial arts films 1980s action war films 1980s Cantonese-language films 1980s Hong Kong films 1980s war adventure films Films directed by Sammo Hung Films set in 1976 Foreign films set in the United States Films set in bunkers Films set in Vietnam Films shot in Canada Films shot in the Philippines Golden Harvest films Hong Kong action war films Hong Kong martial arts films Vietnam War films