Bullet Points: The Three Avengers

It is no lie when I say I am a huge fan of Bruce Li (or Ho Tsung-Tao for those in the know).

That is why I was ecstatic to sit down and watch a Bruce Li movie I had yet to see, 1979’s The Three Avengers…

• A Fight at the Opera: Hong (Bruce Li, Iron Dragon Strikes Back) and Mo Cai (Chin Yuet-Sang, Bolo) are acrobats with a Chinese Opera troupe who are dealing with Murphy’s Law. First, Mo Cai ends up accidentally striking his partner while on stage and things get a little heated between the two, although much to the delight of the enthusiastic audience on hand for that night’s performance… especially when Mo Cai’s pants fall down around his ankles. Later when Hong is up, some punks show up late to the show and start heckling and shouting lewd things at Hong’s female partner. Mo Cai exits the dressing room and tries to reason with the hecklers, but they are having none of it. A fight breaks out, the audience clears out as Hong jumps from the stage and right into the fray. Hong and Mo Cai are outnumbered but their opponents are outclassed… I felt sorry for the audience who evacuated the theater because this fight was awesome. The not so awesome part was when Hong and Mo Cai got their walking papers after they ran off the thugs.
• Bringing the House Down: The next day the jobless Hong and Mo Cai are hanging out at Mo Cai’s smelly shanty of a home with no idea what they will do next. The theater punks show up again and another fight breaks out and this one brings the house down… literally and figuratively. The walls of Mo Cai’s house are getting blasted out as once again Hong and Mo Cai fight the odds. And when the dust clears this time, Hong and Mo Cai are now jobless and homeless as Mo Cai’s shanty is just scraps of wood. That’s when Hong has the bright idea that they can go stay with his aunt until they figure out their next move.
• A Fresh Start: When Hong and Mo Cai arrive at Auntie’s, they see a group of men gathered around a window of Auntie’s house… they are peeping on Hong’s cousin as she is bathing! Hong runs them off and then goes inside to see Auntie. She is so happy to see Hong and does not hesitate to open up her home to Hong and Mo Cai, but she has problems of her own. There’s a businessman looking to buy her home, but the sentimental value of the home is worth more than any financial offer. The businessman who wants Auntie’s home (along with others in the area) is Li Tong. Li Tong may not have Auntie’s house, but he does have a hothead son, Li Fu. Li Fu is always angry and always looking for a fight and even John, his friend from America that is visiting to continue his martial arts studies, can’t talk any sense into him.

• Fast Friends: Ironically, John’s quest for martial arts knowledge takes him to the new school that Hong and Mo Cai have opened up. John shows up looking to see how good Hong’s fighting skills are… by the end of the fight, John is bowing down to Hong and calling him master. Hong, Mo Cai and John become fast friends… and Li Fu has one more thing to be pissed off about. Mo Cai and John even go out on a double date with some girls John knows and they end up at a nightclub with a freestyle dance competition. John “volunteers” Mo Cai to participate in the competition and if Mo Cai’s ensemble was not enough to wow the crowd, his moves certainly did. This may have been the most unexpected scene in any Kung Fu classic I have ever watched and that covers a lot of ground.
• Road Rage: The good times can’t last forever… Li Fu sets a trap for Hong and Mo Cai (and their innocent bystander cab driver), which leads to another big battle this time out on a stretch of country road where all hell breaks loose. Mo Cai has a chain wrapped around his neck and is dragged by a moving car and almost loses the ability to walk. Li Fu is taken out of the game completely and when the cops show up, Mo Cai takes all the heat, allowing Hong to escape. Mo Cai ends up in prison for six months… which is even sadder, when Hong ends up getting into the movie business and living the high life.
• Fast Forward: At this point I feared there would be bad blood between Mo Cai and Hong and these friends would become enemies. On the contrary, after serving his time Mo Cai is reunited with his friends Hong and John and it is a happy reunion (with the exception of Hong’s girlfriend, who doesn’t seem too happy). But once again, the good times can’t last forever and Li Tong is out for revenge for what happened to his son, not satisfied with the punishment dished out by the authorities. Li Tong calls in the dreaded Guo Lie (Lee Hoi-Sang, Dynamo) to exact revenge for what happened to his son and it is going to take all Three Avengers to deal with the likes of Guo Lie.

If The Three Avengers had one negative it is that it may have tried to jam too much into its 86 minute runtime, especially with so many lengthy fight scenes. And speaking of the fight scenes, when it is tough to pinpoint your favorite fight scene in a movie, that’s a good problem to have and The Three Avengers resembles that remark for sure.

A good problem to have at the end of a review is having more to talk about and that’s where Bonus Bullet Points come in…

• AKA: The Three Avengers is also known as The Lama Avenger.
• Soundtraxx: The song that Mo Cai busts a move to in the freestyle dance competition was Alphonso Johnson’s “As Little As You”.
• If You Ever: …felt an old school Kung Fu movie should feature some primitive Photoshopping, then The Three Avengers is for you.
• Bastard Check: There is at least one “bastard” uttered in The Three Avengers.
• Dual Montage: Late in the film we get a dual montage to show off what a badass Guo Lie is and Mo Cai training to regain the strength in his legs.