It's common knowledge that many of these movies started filming without a script and they made it up as they went along. It was also common to film sequentially and this resulted in the fights getting better toward the end as the actors and stunt men got better at fighting together. Also, story-wise, little or no reason was necessary for a fight to start. This movie is a perfect example of those three "qualities." I feel the movie failed because of the simple question "Whose story is this?" The protagonist is never clear and it also never works turning a hero into a zero. Oddly, all the fights for no good reason were all that held the movie together. I can't rate it any better than slightly below average.
3 Reviews
Assignment (aka Buffalo Hsiung) (1974)
jddog13030 May 2015
Warning: Spoilers
aka Hong Kong A Kung Fu (France Title) which is the video I have, English dubbed and dated 1976. Starring Liu Ping, Lung Tien-Hsiang, Chan San-Yat, Sally Chen Sha-Li and Wong Fei.
The beginning of the movie we see Mr. Ma (Liu Ping) traveling toward town. When he gets there we see a man throw out a lit cigarette but when Ma goes to pick it up, a bully steps on his hand which starts a fight. Obviously, Ma is poor, down on his luck and it seems that everywhere he goes he gets ridiculed. He goes to a restaurant owned by Master Kao (Wong Fei), is refused service, a fight breaks out and after the damage is done, Ma leaves starving.
This is when Ma runs into Shu Ling (Sally Chen Sha-Li) which feels sorry for him, takes him home and feeds him. Unfortunately, as he's leaving, Master Kao and his thugs are waiting outside. They proceed to beat him bad and leave him for dead floating in the river. Shu Ling comes to his rescue, drags Ma from the water, saves his life and takes him home to heal. This is when we meet her two fiends (Lung Tien and Chan San-Yat) who help protect Ma from Master Kao when he returns again, but it costs them their jobs (they worked for Kao at the restaurant).
They give Ma a Kung Fu book and he learns three deadly strikes (armpit, temple and heart). They then give Ma all their savings and he leaves to better his life. A couple years go by and Ma returns as a wealthy man, to exact his revenge on Kao (which he does with the three strikes) and anyone who ridiculed him in the past.
Ma turns his cheek on his friends that once saved him and becomes no better than the bullies he used to deal with. You'll have to watch this to see the rest of the movie and find out the outcome. This is a decent movie. I've seen better and worse so I would say split it down the middle 50/50.
The beginning of the movie we see Mr. Ma (Liu Ping) traveling toward town. When he gets there we see a man throw out a lit cigarette but when Ma goes to pick it up, a bully steps on his hand which starts a fight. Obviously, Ma is poor, down on his luck and it seems that everywhere he goes he gets ridiculed. He goes to a restaurant owned by Master Kao (Wong Fei), is refused service, a fight breaks out and after the damage is done, Ma leaves starving.
This is when Ma runs into Shu Ling (Sally Chen Sha-Li) which feels sorry for him, takes him home and feeds him. Unfortunately, as he's leaving, Master Kao and his thugs are waiting outside. They proceed to beat him bad and leave him for dead floating in the river. Shu Ling comes to his rescue, drags Ma from the water, saves his life and takes him home to heal. This is when we meet her two fiends (Lung Tien and Chan San-Yat) who help protect Ma from Master Kao when he returns again, but it costs them their jobs (they worked for Kao at the restaurant).
They give Ma a Kung Fu book and he learns three deadly strikes (armpit, temple and heart). They then give Ma all their savings and he leaves to better his life. A couple years go by and Ma returns as a wealthy man, to exact his revenge on Kao (which he does with the three strikes) and anyone who ridiculed him in the past.
Ma turns his cheek on his friends that once saved him and becomes no better than the bullies he used to deal with. You'll have to watch this to see the rest of the movie and find out the outcome. This is a decent movie. I've seen better and worse so I would say split it down the middle 50/50.
Best forgotten
Leofwine_draca23 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I caught this low rent Taiwanese kung fu story on Amazon Prime under the re-titling of THE ASSIGNMENT. It's an entirely nondescript story lacking any familiar faces, and the meandering story seems to be made up as it goes along. A guy can't pay for his restaurant meal and gets into trouble, but is saved by the intervention of various allied characters. They then battle against the usual bad guys. The fights start out very poorly and do improve a little as the running time progresses, but it's really not very interesting overall, even for the kung fu fan.
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