''The Magic Crystal'' ( zh, t=魔翡翠; released in the Philippines as ''Fight to Win'') 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 ...

written and directed by

Wong Jing Wong Yat-cheong, known professionally as Wong Jing (, born 3 May 1955), is a Hong Kong filmmaker and actor. A prolific filmmaker with strong instincts for crowd-pleasing and publicity, he played a prominent role in Hong Kong cinema during ...

. The film stars

Andy Lau Andy Lau Tak-wah ( zh, order=t,j, t=劉德華, j=Lau4 Dak1 Waa4; born Lau Fook-wing; 27 September 1961), is a Hong Kong actor, singer-songwriter and film producer. He was named the "Fourth Tiger" among the Five Tiger Generals of TVB in the 1 ...

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 ...

and

Cynthia Rothrock Cynthia Rothrock (born March 8, 1957) is an American martial artist and actress best known for her martial arts films. She holds black belt rankings in seven styles of martial arts and was a high-level competitor in martial arts before becomin ...

. The film is primarily set in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. In the film, a mercenary has to rescue an

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

from the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

Plot

An important document, to be presented as evidence in court the next day against a

triad Triad or triade may refer to: * a group of three Humanities * Trichotomy (philosophy), often called triads * Triad (sociology), a group of three people as a unit of study * Triad (relationship), or ''ménage à trois'' Music * Triad (music ...

boss, has been stolen from the Hong Kong police. Due to time constraints, Sergeant Shek of the Special Duty Unit recruits mercenary Andy Lo, known as the "Eagle Hunter", to retrieve it. Andy breaks into the triad boss's mansion where he fights his

henchmen A henchman is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organisation: minions whose value lies primarily in their unquestioning ...

and tricks the triad boss into opening his safe where the document is hidden. Later, Andy receives a letter from his archaeologist friend, Shum Kwan, where he discovers a mysterious artifact in Greece and wants Andy to examine it with him, but also warns him to be cautious as Shum is being tailed by international spies. Andy arrives in Greece with his nephew, Ban-ban, and assistant, Snooker. While Andy is sightseeing at the

Parthenon The Parthenon (; ; ) is a former Ancient Greek temple, temple on the Acropolis of Athens, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the Greek gods, goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of c ...

with Ban-ban and Snooker, he bumps into Shum. Shum is ambushed and chased down by

thugs posing as Interpol agents. Andy, along with actual agents Cindy Morgan and Billy, give chase and beat up the thugs while Shum escapes. Afterward, Cindy and her partner reveal to Andy that they know of his identity as the Eagle Hunter and inform him of Shum's situation of being hunted by the KGB and persuades him to cooperate with them to help his friend. Shum arrives at the hotel where Andy was residing but gets shot by a KGB thug posing as Andy's assistant, but manages to subdue the thug before escaping. Afterwards, Shum leaves a baggage containing the mysterious artifact in Andy's hotel room before being captured by Karov, head of the KGB. Shum is then tranquilized by Karov when he refuses to tell him the whereabouts of the artifact, but Karov is able to deduce that it may be kept by Andy. After returning to Hong Kong, Andy's older sister informs about a phone call for him made by Shum's younger sister, Winnie, and gives him the address of a gymnasium where she trains. Ban-ban also opens the luggage containing the mysterious artifact, the Magic Crystal, a large piece of jade with magical powers and can talk, and befriends the jade. Meanwhile, Andy arrives at Winnie's gymnasium she states she has no news of her brother for a month. Andy, Winnie and Lo Sai, an aggressive pursuer of Winnie, were ambushed by Karov's thugs and Andy fights them off and rescues Winnie. Winnie goes to hide in Andy's house, while Lo Sai also follows, much to everyone's annoyance. Ban-ban and the jade play tricks on Lo Sai, including swapping his hands and feet and he wakes up in shock. Ban-ban used the jade to defeat a bully at school. When Sergeant Shek comes, he questions Andy, Winnie, and Lo Sai about their attack the previous evening, with the latter trying to hide the awkward limb swap. When Cindy and his traveling companion also arrive in Hong Kong, they meet with Andy for a short time before running into Karov, who demands Andy hand up the jade, which Andy finds confusing. Andy fights off Karov's thug and escape with Winnie and tells Snooker to take a look at their baggage brought back from Greece. At this time, Lo Sai also discovers the jade, who swaps Lo Sai's hands and feet back to normal and gives him a superpower where he can command people to do whatever he says. However, Lo Sai did not catch that the superpower only works within five feet of the jade and he goes to rob a bank by himself and is taken to an asylum as a result. Andy then receives a call from Sergeant Shek that he has found Shum and is at his house. Andy arrives at Shek's home and finds both Shek and Shum dead while Andy was knocked unconscious. Andy wakes up while Cindy and Billy arrest him thinking he murdered Shek. Meanwhile, Andy's sister was attacked by Karov's thug at home but she fends them off. Karov arrives and fights Andy's sister, outmatching her until Cindy arrives and join forces to fight Karov, who kidnaps Ban-ban and takes the jade. Karov then hires a thug to kill Andy with ice bullets but fails. Andy then escapes from prison helped by Billy, who reveals the plan to avoid the attention of moles in the police force. The two join with Cindy, Snooker and Andy's sister at Karov's headquarters where they fight off Karov's thug. Karov escapes after Andy engages in a fight with him but they were able to rescue Ban-ban and Cindy suggests to keep the child protected at the police station. At the police station the jade uses its power where Ban-ban leaves the station and takes the jade to Greece by himself while police mole informs Karov the whereabouts of Ban-ban before being punched by Billy. Andy, Snooker, Cindy and Billy arrive in Greece where Cindy receives intel Ban-ban paid for a boat to a mysterious island. However, Ban-ban is once again captured by Karov on his way to the island but Andy and the crew manage to follow them into a cave. Andy, Cindy, Snooker fall into an underground level full of booby traps while Billy chases Karov, and the trio find a device with the recording Venus detailing his journey to Earth and the jade, which is his technological pet, will help him return to his home planet. Karov, who has Ban-ban in his arms also hear this and a big fight between Andy, Cindy and Billy against Karov and his thugs. Andy and Cindy then join forces to fight Karov who uses a pair of '' Sai'' against them until Andy delivers a devastating punch on Karov. Karov then chase Ban-ban but Andy subdues Karov with a big statue and Ban-ban is able to use the jade to help Venus return home while Karov furious jumps into the wave bringing Venus home and is transported out of Earth. The jade dies after using all its energy and bids farewell to a crying Ban-ban before it hatches a baby jade, much to the delight of the child.

Cast

as Andy Lo (羅力), a mercenary employed by the Hong Kong police and is branded as the Eagle Hunter No. 1 (獵鷹第一號). *

as Billy, Cindy's Interpol partner. *

as Cindy Morgan, an Interpol agent. *

Natalis Chan Natalis "Nat" Chan Pak Cheung (born 3 December 1950 in Hong Kong), also known by his nickname "Smart" (阿叻), is a Hong Kong television host, film actor, singer and producer. Besides his duties as a variety show host, he has also been a hor ...

as Lo Sai (老細), an aggressive pursuer of Winnie with low IQ and can be easily manipulated by the Magic Crystal. *Siu Ban-ban as Ban-ban (彬彬), Andy's nephew who befriends the Magic Crystal. *

as Snooker, Andy's bumbling assistant. *

Sharla Cheung Sharla Cheung Man (born 7 February 1968) is a Hong Kong actress and film producer. Career Cheung was discovered by Wong Jing, who cast her in her first film role in the 1986 film '' The Magic Crystal''. She continued to work with the director o ...

as Winnie Shum (沈雲妮), Shum Kwan's younger sister. *Shum Wai as a

boss captured by Andy. *

Chung Fat Chung Fat is a Hong Kong–based actor, choreographer, producer, and director. He primarily stars in jiangshi fictions and martial art movies. Early life Chung was born on 2 December 1953. He is a native of Guangdong province and of Han et ...

as the triad boss's thug who fought Andy. *Hung San-nam as the triad boss's thug who fought Andy. *

Phillip Ko Phillip Ko Fei (, 18 June 1949 – 31 March 2017) was a Hong Kong actor, screenwriter and film director. Early life Ko was born Lam Pak-hang () in Hong Kong on 18 June 1949. After moving with his family to mainland China, he began learning Choy ...

as Shum Kwan (沈昆), Andy's archeologist friend who discovered the Magic Cristal in

and is hunted by Karov. *Wong Mei-mei as Andy's older sister and Ban-ban's mother. *Eddie Maher as Karovis thug in Greece *Tony Leung Siu-hung as Karov's thug in Greece * Richard Norton as Karov, leader of the

who is after the Magic Crystal. *

Shih Kien Shek Wing-cheung (1 January 1913 – 3 June 2009), better known by his stage name Shih Kien, Sek Kin, Sek Gin or Shek Kin (), was a Hong Kong actor and martial artist. Shih is best known for playing antagonists and villains in several early Hon ...

as Sergeant Shek (石探長), Andy's employer. *

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 a prisoner who is a friend of Andy. *Jackson Ng as Karov's thug who wears a red headband and fought Cindy and Andy's sister. *

Yu Mo-lin Yu Miu-Lin (, born 4 July 1937) is a Chinese actress from Hong Kong. Yu is credited with 145 films. Early life On 4 July 1937, Yu was born as Yu Chi-nga () in Canton. Her late mother Tang Mei-mei (鄧美美) was an actress who was not widely ...

as Maureen Yu, head coach at Winnie's gymnasium. *Albert Lai as a cop. *David Ho as Steve's father.

Production

According to Rothrock, she injured her right ACL while Norton suffered a

staph infection A staphylococcal infection or staph infection is an infection caused by members of the ''Staphylococcus'' genus of bacteria. These bacteria commonly inhabit the skin and nose where they are innocuous, but may enter the body through cuts or abrasi ...

on his leg in the Philippines prior to the start of the film's production. Rothrock re-injured her knee while filming the fight scene in Greece; the pain caused her to accidentally stab her opponent with her spear. She also accidentally slashed Norton on the eyebrow during their fight scene. The film features Rothrock's extensive use of weapons, as well as the

Eagle Claw Eagle Claw (; pinyin: yīng zhǎo pài; ''eagle claw school'') is a style of Chinese martial arts known for its gripping techniques, system of joint locks, takedowns, and pressure point strikes, which is representative of Chinese grappling ...

and

Northern Praying Mantis Northern Praying Mantis () is a style of Chinese martial arts, sometimes called Shandong Praying Mantis after Shandong, its province of origin. It is one of the best known styles of Northern Shaolin kung fu, "Northern" kung fu and it encompass ...

fighting styles.

Release

''The Magic Crystal'' was released in the Philippines as ''Fight to Win'' by Pioneer Releasing, and became a box office hit, introducing Cynthia Rothrock (credited as Cindy Rothrock) to Filipino audiences. Numerous imported films were later released under new titles by various distributors to make them appear as sequels to the film: *''Fight to Win II'' (original title: ''

Righting Wrongs ''Righting Wrongs'' () is a 1986 Hong Kong action cinema, Hong Kong action film produced and directed by Corey Yuen, and also produced by and starring Yuen Biao, both of whom also serve as the film's stage combat, action directors. The film also ...

''), released by First Films on March 17, 1987 *''Fight to Win Again'' (original title: ''

A Book of Heroes ''A Book of Heroes'' (, released in the Philippines as ''Fight to Win Again'') is a 1986 Action film#Action-comedy, action comedy film directed by Kevin Chu, produced by Raymond Wong Pak-ming, and starring Yasuaki Kurata and Yukari Oshima. The fi ...

''), released by Pioneer Releasing on August 25, 1987 *''Fight to Win: New Chapter'' (starring " Billy Chan" from ''

Bloodsport A blood sport or bloodsport is a category of sport or entertainment that involves bloodshed. Common examples of the former include combat sports such as cockfighting and dog fighting, and some forms of hunting and fishing. Activities charact ...

''), released by Pioneer Releasing on July 13, 1988 *''The Last Fight to Win: The Bloody End'' (original title: '' Low Blow''), released by Movierama Films on October 13, 1988

References

External links