The Fearless Hyena

The Fearless Hyena is a 1979 Hong Kong action comedy kung fu film written, directed by and starring Jackie Chan. It was Chan's directorial debut. The film was a box office success.[1]

The Fearless Hyena
Theatrical poster
笑拳怪招
Directed byJackie Chan
Written byJackie Chan
Produced byHsu Li-hwa
StarringJackie Chan
James Tien
Dean Shek
CinematographyChen Yung-shu
Edited byLiang Yung-tsan
Music byFrankie Chan
Chen Hsua-chi
Production
company
Goodyear Movie Company
Distributed byLo Wei Motion Picture Co., Ltd.
Release dates
  • 17 February 1979 (1979-02-17) (Hong Kong)
  • 29 June 1984 (1984-06-29) (USA)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
Box officeUS$2.9 million (est.)
The Fearless Hyena
Traditional Chinese笑拳怪招
Simplified Chinese笑拳怪招

The film has been released under several alternative titles internationally, including:

  • Revenge of the Dragon (USA video title)
  • Superfighter 3 (West Germany video title)
  • The Shadowman (West Germany video title)

The film had a sequel, Fearless Hyena Part II, released in 1983.

Plot

Ching Hing-lung (Jackie Chan) is a youngster, living in a remote village with his grandfather, kung fu master Ching Pang-fei (James Tien). Lung does not take his training seriously enough, he gambles, and he gets into fights which lead him to display the skills his grandfather has told him he must keep secret.

Lung briefly finds employment selling coffins, working for an unscrupulous proprietor (Dean Shek), who even stoops to selling second-hand coffins. Lung is fired when he accidentally traps his boss in one of the coffins. After making his escape, he runs into three thugs he had beaten up earlier, who ask him to teach them kung fu. Lung meets their sifu, Tee Cha (Lee Kwan), the unskilled leader of the Everything Clan. Master Tee offers Lung a lucrative job training his students and fighting against the top fighters from rival schools. This boosts the reputation of the school and of the scheming Master Tee. However, Lung makes the mistake of naming the school under the Ying Yee clan name. This comes to the attention of evil kung fu master Yam Tin-fa (Yam Sai-kwoon), who finds and kills Lung's grandfather. But, Lung eventually takes revenge for his grandfather's murder after undergoing rigorous training from The Unicorn (Chan Wai-lau).

Cast
  • Jackie Chan as Shing Lung
  • James Tien as Ching Pang-pei, Lung's grandfather
  • Dean Shek as The Coffin Seller
  • Chen Hui-Lou as Unicorn
  • Yen Shi-Kwan as Yen
  • Lee Kwan as Tee Cha
  • Rocky Cheng as "The Willow Sword" Bar Tar
  • Chiang Chih-ping
  • Chu Siu-wa
  • Eagle Han-ying as Chin Wa-li
  • Hp Hing-nam
  • Chui Yuen
  • Wong Ken-mei
  • Kim Sae-ok
  • Kuo Nai-hua
  • Chang Ma
  • Peng Kong
  • Wong Yiu as Stony Egg
  • Man Lee-pang
  • Wong Chi-sang as One of Yam's men
  • Wang Jia-en

Fight scenes

Fearless Hyena features several unusual slapstick fight scenes, including a chopsticks duel (to which an homage was later paid in the cartoon film Kung Fu Panda), Hing-lung fighting while disguised as a cross-eyed mentally retarded man, disguised as a woman, and using "Emotional Kung-Fu", a style that involves vividly displaying the emotions of anger, sorrow, joy and happiness to find the opponent's weakness, thus fighting whilst crying or laughing.

Box office

In Hong Kong, the film grossed a total of HK$5,445,535 (US$1,088,526) at the Hong Kong box office.[1]

In South Korea, where it released in 1980, the film sold 436,545 tickets in Seoul City,[2] equivalent to an estimated ₩873,090,000[3] (US$1,437,345).

In France, it sold 187,706 tickets in 1984,[4] equivalent to an estimated €506,806[5] (US$399,870).

Combined, the film grossed an estimated US$2,925,741 (equivalent to $12,000,000 in 2022) in Asia and Europe.

See also

References
  1. "The Fearless Hyena (1979)". Hong Kong Movie DataBase. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  2. "영화정보" [Movie Information]. KOFIC (in Korean). Korean Film Council. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  3. Park, Seung Hyun (2000). A Cultural Interpretation of Korean Cinema, 1988-1997. Indiana University. p. 119. Average Ticket Prices in Korea, 1974-1997 [...] * Source: Korea Cinema Yearbook (1997-1998) * Currency: won [...] Foreign [...] 1980 [...] 2,000
  4. Soyer, Renaud (4 February 2014). "Jackie Chan Box Office". Box Office Story (in French). Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  5. "Cinema market". Cinema, TV and radio in the EU: Statistics on audiovisual services (Data 1980-2002). 2003. pp. 31–64 (61). ISBN 92-894-5709-0. ISSN 1725-4515. Retrieved 23 May 2020. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
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