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 | |
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![]() Theatrical poster | |
Traditional | 笑拳怪招 |
Simplified | 笑拳怪招 |
Mandarin | Xiǎo Quán Guài Zhào |
Cantonese | Siu3 Kyun4 Gwaai3 Ziu1 |
Directed by | Jackie Chan |
Written by | Jackie Chan |
Produced by | Hsu Li-hwa |
Starring | Jackie Chan James Tien Dean Shek |
Cinematography | Chen Yung-shu |
Edited by | Liang Yung-tsan |
Music by | Frankie Chan Chen Hsua-chi |
Production company | Goodyear Movie Company |
Distributed by | Long Shong Pictures Ltd. |
Release date |
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Running time | 97 minutes |
Country | Hong Kong |
Language | Cantonese |
Box office | US$2.9 million (est.) |
The Fearless Hyena | |||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 笑拳怪招 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 笑拳怪招 | ||||||||||
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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'd 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
- Chan Wai-lau as Unicorn
- Yam Sai-koon as Yam Tin-fa
- 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
- Alan Chui Chung-San
- 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 (homage later paid in the cartoon film, Kung Fu Panda), Hing-lung fighting 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 $11,000,000 in 2021) in Asia and Europe.
See also
References
- "The Fearless Hyena (1979)". Hong Kong Movie DataBase. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
- "영화정보" [Movie Information]. KOFIC (in Korean). Korean Film Council. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - 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
- Soyer, Renaud (4 February 2014). "Jackie Chan Box Office". Box Office Story (in French). Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- "Cinema market". Cinema, TV and radio in the EU: Statistics on audiovisual services (Data 1980-2002). Europa (2003 ed.). Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. 2003. pp. 31–64 (61). ISBN 92-894-5709-0. ISSN 1725-4515. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
External links
- Fearless Hyena at Hong Kong Cinemagic
- Fearless Hyena at IMDb
- The Fearless Hyena at AllMovie