THE DRAGON TAMERS (1975)
January 31st, 2011 by Mr. C
Director: John Woo
Actors: Carter Wong, James Tien, Ji Han Jae
Genre: old skool martial arts
The DRAGON TAMERS is John Woo’s 2nd effort in the directors chair backed by Golden Harvest! No, it’s not a classic hong kong triad shoot em’ up in a church or hospital setting like THE KILLER or HARD BOILED, nor is it a tale of an ex-gang member trying to mend a relationship with his PO-PO brother like in A BETTER TOMORROW. It’s more like an old school fusion of the fighting arts of karate, tae kwan do, & kung fu competing for chopsocky time! The movie starts off with a bunch of kickass chicks from a karate school duking it out with a bunch of switchblade sisters of the Tae Kwan Do influence! One minute they’re in street gear & the next, BLAM…they’re in their repective gi uniforms! In a matter of a second, before anyone can say KIYAA! chicks are karate choppin’, some are joint lockin’, others bitch slappin’, still others cold clocking each other to oblivion! Moments later, other chicas are rolling around in their gi in the mud with tits hanging out, high beaming each other! Word to the mutha, this is my kinda movie! Karate, cute chicks, tits flashing, & rolling in mud! The opening music soundtrack to this fight sequence is also off the wang chung as it reminded me of what SUPERFLY’s RON O’NEAL, JIM BROWN, STEVE MCQUEEN, FRED WILLIAMSON, or bad ass JIM KELLY might walk out to before demolishing their foes! Hell, if that was an appetizer before the meal, then what is the entree? I was hoping for PAM GRIER whoopin’ some country ass while going topless & then getting some ass after the class, but it was a CARTER WONG show. The story unfolds as Carter Wong, a kung fu technician from china (chiner was the english dub translation in the movie!) who takes a trip to Korea to challenge Tae Kwan Do master JI HAN to a friendly match. Carter befriends a young TKD teacher played by James Tien who has a smattering of lady students who were involved in the 1st fight sequence. Wong runs into some trouble when he gets busted up by a Karate clan headed by an evil trio including one cute but twisted SISTA! This bad bad karate group looks to challenge & squash all martial art schools so they can reign supreme as the chosen one! Carter then meets a worthy Tae Kwan Do master named PA MAK to learn “the secret glow” from..Ooops, sorry wrong film…Sho-nuff…The Shogun of Harlem…cough…cough, THE LAST DRAGON! A few circus acts & snacks from the movie include some side bon chon of romance, a scene in a hot tub with the estrogen connection with some more tits bursting out, & the friendly match that turns into a guilt trip! The finale concludes with the kung fu technician teaming up with the young tae kwan do teacher vs the deadly karate kids. Not surprisingly, the end game also involves some tits waving at you from inside a karate gi/uniform! Dragon Tamers was certainly a no frills film with a simplistic story, but it was most certainly very fun to watch! The martial arts choreography was 1st rate especially for an early 1970’s film! The tae kwan do displayed in the movie was very traditional as opposed to the sport style tae kwan do that we all have come to grips with in the current times. You can see some early seeds of John Woo’s work in this film with the panned out camera shots & slow motion sequences coordinated with gangster like dramatical soundtracks that would eventually give birth to A BETTER TOMORROW, THE KILLER, & HARD BOILED! If you aliens can get a hold of this movie, I would definitely suggest a look see!
Tags: carter wong, dragon tamers, golden harvest, james tien, john woo, planet chocko dragon tamers review
Posted in movies, mr. c | Comments (0)
