''Legacy of Rage'' () is a 1986

Hong Kong action film Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese culture, Chinese and Culture of Hong Kong, Hong Kong cultures, including Chinese opera, storytelling a ...

directed by

Ronny Yu Ronny Yu Yan-Tai () is a Hong Kong film director, producer, and movie writer. He has worked on both Hong Kong and United States, American films. He is mostly known for his work in the American horror film, horror genre, such as ''Bride of Chucky ...

. The film stars

Brandon Lee Brandon Bruce Lee (February 1, 1965 – March 31, 1993) was an American actor. Establishing himself as a rising action star in the early 1990s, he landed what was to be his breakthrough role as Eric Draven in the supernatural superhero fi ...

, Michael Wong, Regina Kent and a special appearance by Bolo Yeung, who appeared alongside Lee’s father

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (born Lee Jun-fan; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was an American-born Hong Kong martial artist, actor, filmmaker, and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy which was formed from ...

in his posthumous 1973 film ''

Enter the Dragon ''Enter the Dragon'' ( zh, t=龍爭虎鬥) is a 1973 martial arts film directed by Robert Clouse and written by Michael Allin. The film stars Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Ahna Capri, Bob Wall, Shih Kien and Jim Kelly. ''Enter the Dragon'' was ...

''. It was Lee's first leading film role and the only Hong Kong production he worked on.

Plot

Brandon Ma (

) is a regular guy with a job and a girlfriend May ( Regina Kent). He has two jobs, so he can support his girlfriend and his dream of owning a motorcycle. Brandon's best friend is Michael Wan ( Michael Wong), an ambitious and murderous

drug dealer A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...

. Michael also loves May and so he comes up with a plan using a corrupt police officer named Sharky (Lam Chung) that will win her for himself and get Brandon out of his way. It seems that the corrupt cop has been using his police connections to dominate the local

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

trade, so Michael has him killed and uses Brandon as the

fall guy Fall guy is a colloquial phrase that refers to a person to whom blame is deliberately and falsely attributed in order to deflect blame from another party. Origin The origin of the term "fall guy" is unknown and contentious. Many sources place ...

. Brandon goes to jail and meets Hoi (Mang Hoi), although he thinks that he will be released soon thanks to the efforts of his good buddy Michael. However, after 8 long years, Brandon finally gets out of jail and vows revenge on Michael for betraying their friendship and stealing the love of his life. Whilst out of prison he learns that May has had his son. With the help of Hoi, Brandon tracks down Michael. Whilst engaging his guards he learns that May is dead. After killing Michael's guards, Brandon confronts and kills his former friend Michael. The movie ends with Brandon bidding farewell to his friend Hoi (who aided him in fighting Michael's guards) and leaving with his son.

Cast

as Brandon Ma * Michael Wong as Michael Wan * Regina Kent as May *

Mang Hoi Mang Hoi ( zh, 孟海; 1 May 1958 – 9 October 2023) was a Hong Kong actor and action director. He won the Best Supporting Actor at the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards for ''Yes, Madam''. Personal life and death Mang dated American actress and mar ...

as Four Eyes/Hoi * Michael Chan as Yee * Onno Boelee as Prisoner * Tanya Lemani George as Rachel the Belly Dancer in Persian Restaurant *

Ku Feng Chan Sze-man (3 July 1930 – 27 March 2025), better known by his stage name Ku Feng, was a Hong Kong actor. Background Feng studied in Beijing, and appeared in hundreds of films, many of which were produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio S ...

as Prison Guard * Bolo Yeung as Thug * Teddy Yip Wing-cho as Mr. Yip *

Ken Lo Kenneth Lo Wai-Kwong (born 17 March 1959), professionally known as Ken Lo, is a Cambodian-Hong Kong actor, martial artist, and stuntman. He is known for his martial arts and stunt work as a former member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, most nota ...

as Michael's thug *

Blackie Ko Blackie Ko () (February 22, 1953 – December 9, 2003) was a Taiwanese people, Taiwanese film director, Film producer, producer, stuntman, singer and actor. Blackie was considered to be the greatest automotive stunt choreographer in Asia. Persona ...

as Michael's thug * Ha Kwok-wing as U thug *

Ng Man-tat Richard Ng Man-tat (, 2 January 1952 – 27 February 2021), commonly called Uncle Tat (), was a Hong Kong actor originally from Fujian. He was a veteran with dozens of awards in the Cinema of Hong Kong , Hong Kong film industry, including Hon ...

as Captain of the Guards *

Shing Fui-On Shing Fui-On (成奎安; 1 February 1955 – 27 August 2009) was a Hong Kong actor, best known for his supporting roles in Hong Kong cinema. He had only one leading role in his entire career. Biography Shing Fui-On was the fourth of five ...

-as Foo * Stuart Smith as Big Papa *

Kirk Wong Kirk Wong (黃志強; born March 28, 1949) is a Hong Kong film director and actor. Wong is best known for action films '' Crime Story'' and '' The Big Hit''. Wong's other films like ''Health Warning'', '' Organized Crime & Triad Bureau'', and '' ...

as Inspector Lau

Release

The film was released in theatrically in Hong Kong on 20 December 1986. In 1987, it was screened at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

and released in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. On May 16, The film got his cinematic release 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 ...

, under the title of ''Dragon Blood''. In the US the film was released directly to Home media in 1998 after the passing of Lee, its leading star.

Reception

Upon its 1986 Hong Kong release Lee was nominated for a

Hong Kong Film Award The Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA; ), founded in 1982, is an annual List of film awards, film awards ceremony in Hong Kong. The ceremonies typically take place in April, and have mostly been held at the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Cent ...

for Best New Performer in this role. In 1987, it was a critical success at the

and commercial one in Japan. At one point between its Hong Kong release and the 1992 making of Lee's first lead an American Studio film the action thriller ''Rapid Fire'', producer Robert Lawrence screened ''Legacy of Rage'' and saw Lee's potential to be an action leading man in Hollywood, which led to their collaboration. When the film was launched in 1998 in the US, the

was described as a good genre film. In '' News-Press'', film critic Randy Myers gave it three stars describing it as a stylish, but good early film. He added that aside from its flaws it was fast-paced, energetic, and Brandon showcased a lot of talent. Paul Harris of ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' gave it two stars saying it gives a glimmer into the largely unexplored talent of actor Brandon Lee, but found it wasn't up to par with ''

The Crow ''The Crow'' is a supernatural superhero comic book series created by James O'Barr revolving around the titular character of the same name. The series, which was originally created by O'Barr as a means of dealing with the death of his fianc� ...

'' due to the formulaic plot. Rob Lowing of ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' gave it three star, saying it had a generic story but praised Lee's good performance and

's stylish direction. Producer Robert Lawrence was so impressed with Lee's performance in the film that he worked with Lee on developing '' Rapid Fire''.

References

External links

* * {{The Count of Monte Cristo 1986 films 1986 action thriller films 1986 martial arts films 1980s Cantonese-language films Films directed by Ronny Yu Films set in Hong Kong Gun fu films Hong Kong films about revenge Hong Kong action thriller films Hong Kong neo-noir films Hong Kong martial arts films Jeet Kune Do films Kung fu films Triad films 1980s Hong Kong films