Green Dragon Inn (1977)

Green Dragon Inn is reminiscent of old westerns where the powerful landowner/mine owner has a no-good son who is finally apprehended by the law and is thrown in jail to be tried and hung. Minions with torches and six-shooters show up at the jail to bust the boss' son out. In this case the upright official carries a sword and instead of a jail makes it as far as the Green Dragon Inn with the local warlord's murdering son.

The righteous official upholding the law in this movie was played as stiffly and unemotionally as possibly by Yueh Hua, whose stony expression never changed. Fortunately, Lo Lieh swaggered onto the scene as an interested party, with a more compelling performance and kung fu. Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan (yep, that's her whole stage name) popped in from time to time to shake things up with her sword and kung fu. This trusted trio bravely vowed to uphold the law in the face of overwhelming numbers.

With the exception of Polly's and Lo's, the fights felt overly staged at times, but were entertaining enough. The action was fairly non-stop. Oftentimes the story is overlooked, Green Dragon Inn's was simple but engrossing. This movie had a bad case of "run out of film" ending. If you watch a lot of martial arts movies, especially Shaw Brothers, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Green Dragon Inn had two problems that had nothing to do with the story or acting. In the version I watched the film had been ruthlessly cut to fit different screens. Much of the action, fighting and reaction shots were missing if they happened near the edges. This version was also dubbed. I'm pretty sure the same guy voiced all of the men's lines. As bad as dubbing is, in this situation, subbing would have been worse as the words would have been cutoff. I've seen movies where that happened and it was very frustrating. This movie is good enough with a famous enough cast to be remastered and restored to its former glory.

If you enjoy martial arts movies, especially from Taiwan, this is a good one to try. Even with the problems I mentioned, Green Dragon Inn was still a fun way to spend 90 minutes.

*As always, I grade these older niche movies on a curve.

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