YOUNG AND DANGEROUS (1995-2000)
August 16th, 2010 by Mr. C
The YOUNG AND DANGEROUS series (based on 7 films) directed by Andrew Lau is a classic chinese gangster-triad tale depicting HK gang life in the 1980’s & 90’s. These flicks provided much talk at the watercooler,in chinese households,teahouses, & dim sum palaces throughout the deadly 5 venoms of the kevin bacon rule! Video stores at your nearest Chinatown profited from bootleg copies of the VHS & VCD variety & barbershops in C-Town profited from the extraordinary requests with the flock of seagulls hairdo when these films emerged! The 1st movie was released in 1995 & the 7th & last in 2000. This film was based on the triad themed comic book,“Teddy Boy”. Young and Dangerous had its share of haters & naysayers in Hong Kong because many believed that these movies heroicized & glorified the triad lifestyle & would steadily influence kids in thinking that joining gangs would be the cool thing to do. Movies like A BETTER TOMORROW, HARDBOILED, THE KILLER, & HONG KONG GODFATHER(Shaw Brother version NOT Andy Lau’s) amongst many others have had a heavy influence in depicting HK Triads & YOUNG AND DANGEROUS would continue on with the tradition. This collection of 7 movies then went on to pass the torch to “Infernal Affairs” as well as give birth to a few spinoffs and 3 headed triad monsters of their own! Young and Dangerous had a heavy hitting cast of Hong Kong eye candy canto-pop stars at the time such as Ekin Cheng,Jordan Chan, & Gigi Lai as well as veteran actors such as Anthony Wong & Simon Yam along with rising star, Michael Tse. These films centered around Ekin Cheng who plays ‘Chan Ho Nam’ & Jordan Chan who plays ‘Chicken’. Chan Ho Nam & his best friend Chicken grew up idolizing the “Hung Hing Society” and one of their “Dai Lo’s”, Uncle Bee. The smooth talking duo eventually gain enough street cred to join the society as they both make a name for themselves in the game by slaughtering a few foes. Things will soon get hot when Uncle Bee gets executed! Chan Ho Nam would prove himself worthy of being the next undisputed belt holder as one of the leaders of Hung Hing to manage the district of Causeway Bay in Hong Kong which spawns a new path with twists,turns,jealousy, & fate. Young and Dangerous will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride to stories of undercover cops playing triad members,sleeping with the enemy,clashes at a funeral,undercover triad members from other gangs,sexcapades,photo-ops,friendships with taiwanese gangs, a relationship with a priest & his daughter, & Sonny Chiba playing a yakuza boss in the last film of the series. Anthony Wong does a tremendous job with the character “Tai Fei” especially in the 2nd movie! Simon Yam plays a cool mofo mob boss of Hung Hing which led him to his exploration of the underworld in Amsterdam!
Some people like watching “24”,“Lost”, & “Sex in the City” TV series, but I would much rather spend my rainy weekends re-watching the YOUNG AND DANGEROUS over a 5 gallon bucket of instant ramen noodles infused with nathan hot dogs,spam,a fried egg, and a bottle of sriracha hot sauce sporting my upgraded flock of seagulls hairdo from a classic mullet! If you are a Hong Kong gangster film buff & you have not watched or god forbid, not even heard of YOUNG AND DANGEROUS then we all know what your next school project is in Chinatown! You dig?!
–Mr. C
Tags: andrew lau, anthony wong, eking cheng, hong kong gang, jordan chan, micheal tse, simon yam, triad, young and dangerous
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