Hot The Cool and the Vicious, The

Hot The Cool and the Vicious, The      Medium Count 1     Medium DVD     Link [+]     DVD Region 1     Running Time 83     Theatrical Date 2/2/1977     Cast Tan, Tao-Liang / Wong, Don / Chin, Ming / Sun, Chia-Lin / Yeo, Su-jin     Director Lee, Tso Nam     Original Title Nan quan bei tui zhan yan wang     Date Imported 5/5/2025     List Price $13.11     Genre Martial Arts     Copy Count 1     Tag Hong Kong     IMDb Rating 0      What still draws me to the wonderful genre of martial arts are films like this one. Directed by the vastly underrated Lee Tso Nam, who also was behind such movies as Shaolin vs. Lama, Woman Avenger, Invincible Kung Fu Legs & Challenge of Death. It's about a small town police captain Lu Tung Chun (Tao Tan Liang) who has to arrest the town mayor's son. Meanwhile a mysterious stranger & notorious killer Pai Yu Ching (Wong Tao) enters this very same town & gets caught in the middle while pursuing his own agenda. Also in this is Wang Chueh as the town mayor, Tommy Lee as his partner in crime Mr. Lung, Sun Chia Lin as the sister of a slain police captain looking to settle an old score, Phillip Ko as one of the mayor's lackeys & Chai Kai in a cameo role.

The storyline is very straightforward with a few plot twists here & there but very easy to follow. There are some classic lines in this & they're delivered very timely. I usually don't mention anything about the dubbing which I take at face value, but the voice given to Tommy Lee stood out. Rather the way that his voice came across & it's surprising that I've only seen this done only once in this movie. Strange! Anyhow, the fighting is very well done, thanks to action director Tommy Lee. Tan Tao Liang & Wong Tao stay right in their lane with the boot work & Eagle's claw respectively & looks great doing so. Tommy Lee is legendary in this although he arrives to the party late. It's a shame he doesn't have a more extensive catalog of films because he's so good. Sun Chia Lin shows her skills yet she doesn't herself have a long list of films in which she does that. A real shame. Wang Chueh has a couple of fights, but his acting sells it as him being a real tough guy.