{"id":2299,"date":"2024-08-15T15:09:11","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T15:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=2299"},"modified":"2024-10-14T11:19:59","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T15:19:59","slug":"a-hard-way-to-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/15\/a-hard-way-to-die\/","title":{"rendered":"A Hard Way to Die"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A Hard Way to Die <\/strong>(1979)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Transmedia\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 92 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, language, racial slurs)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Shan Hua (as \u201cYi-Jung Hua\u201d)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chan-Wei Lin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Cheung Wah\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Nico Wong (as \u201cWong Man Wan\u201d)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 1980 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Billy Chong, Carl Scott, Louis Neglia, Joseph Jennings, Hsiao-Sung Liang, Chung-You Chang, Biu Gam, Alexander Grand, Chiu-Sing, Yan Hsiao, Ho-Chiu Kei, Shou-Chieh Lai, Ke-Ming Lin, Ting-Gou Meng, Chung-Hsiu Tsai, Hang-Sheng Wu.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0The first time I ever heard of A Hard Way to Die<\/strong> was on a 1981 episode of Sneak Previews. Roger Ebert picked it as his \u201cDog of the Week\u201d. He said it was billed as \u201cthe first modern kung fu movie ever shot in America\u201d. The poster states that it was \u201cFilmed Entirely on Location in Phoenix, Arizona\u201d. So if that\u2019s the case, why did the makers deem it necessary to dub the American actors? They already speak English; it doesn\u2019t make any sense. I might not have cared so much if the dubbing wasn\u2019t so bad. It has to be the worst I\u2019ve ever seen. It\u2019s bad even by the low standards of the genre. The voices don\u2019t match the actors at all. It becomes a distraction. Not that you need to pay too close attention to the plot.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A Hard Way to Die<\/strong>, also known as Sun Dragon, distinguishes itself from other cheesy Asian-made kung fun movies by tossing some blaxploitation and spaghetti western into the mix. The main character Shao-Tung (Chong, Jade Claw) might as well have been called The Chinese Man with No Name. He strolls into town and goes to war with the gang that\u2019s been terrorizing the locals. That\u2019s plot #1. Plot #2 centers on the other main character Tommy (Scott, Soul Brothers of Kung Fu), a black teen looking for revenge against the trio of racist thugs that killed his family and stole their farm.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The two heroes first cross paths when a badly injured Tommy appears in town in need of urgent medical care. Shao-Tung and his friend take him to the local doctor (Liang, Bruce Lee: The Man, the Myth) whose idea of helping the patient entails violently pounding him on the back until he spits up blood. Then he makes Tommy sit in a bathtub filled with some herbal concoction until he\u2019s completely healed. As luck would have it, the good doctor is also a martial arts master. It takes some pleading on Tommy\u2019s part, but he manages to convince the doc to train him. It must have been a crash course because the teen somehow becomes proficient in a matter of days.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here\u2019s a question. Does anybody really care about the acting in A Hard Way to Die<\/strong>? I\u2019ll take the sound of silence to mean no. I wouldn\u2019t know what to say anyway. The weird and inept dubbing renders any efforts made on the part of the actors irrelevant. HOWEVER, it doesn\u2019t have any effect on their martial arts skills and that\u2019s where the movie finds its niche. The players, Chong and Scott in particular, are amazing at what they do which is a definite plus because a fight breaks out every few minutes. There are some good ones. In one of them, Chong goes up against a guy all decked out in Native American gear. We\u2019re talking full-on fake red-skinned Indian, just like the ones from old non-PC westerns. All that\u2019s missing is a feather in his headband. He shows up at the town saloon with one of the head creeps, announcing his arrival by throwing a spear right into a beer barrel. WOW! I didn\u2019t know they taught kung fu on reservations. You learn something new every day.<\/p>\n

\u00a0If anybody\u2019s the main villain in A Hard Way to Die<\/strong>, it\u2019s the leader of the three hoods that kill Tommy\u2019s family. He\u2019s played by three-time world kickboxing champ Louis Neglia. He looks like a buffed-up version of Chuck Norris. He\u2019s one of those indestructible types that always show up in these movies. He\u2019s rotten, mean and nasty. He\u2019s also super-strong. Watch as he chops through thick slabs of ice with his bare hands and feet. He\u2019s the one that our heroes will be up against in the finale. It\u2019s cool how they do it. First, Scott fights him. He doesn\u2019t do so well. Then Chong steps in. He doesn\u2019t fare much better. Finally, they take him on together. I think you can take it from here.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m temporarily surrendering my critic card so I don\u2019t feel obligated to review A Hard Way to Die<\/strong> like I would an A title. This way, I don\u2019t have to talk about the numerous plot holes like Shao-Ting\u2019s search for his grandfather. That\u2019s the reason he comes to the States to begin with. He mentions it to his friend when he first arrives, but never follows up on it. How about this? The three criminals that kill Tommy\u2019s family are looking for a place to lay low for a while. They have with them a bag of money that\u2019s obviously stolen. But from where? And shouldn\u2019t the police be hanging around asking questions? In fact, where are the police? So many unanswered questions, yet I couldn\u2019t care less. In this particular instance, I don\u2019t care about logic or reasoning or even intelligence. All I care about is people punching, hitting, kicking and chopping each other. I\u2019m here for the kung fu fighting, period. To the film\u2019s credit, the kung fu is good, damn good!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Being away from theaters during the pandemic made me realize how much I appreciate B-movies from the 70s and 80s. I\u2019m not ashamed to say I get more enjoyment out of a cheap and cheesy flick like A Hard Way to Die<\/strong> than 90% of the new movies I see at the cinema. I realize I\u2019m putting my credibility on the line by admitting this, but I like what I like and I refuse to apologize for it. Besides, I see nothing wrong with getting lost in dumb, poorly made kung fu movies like A Hard Way to Die<\/strong>. I like to think that\u2019s what heaven on earth is about.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Hard Way to Die (1979)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Transmedia\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 92 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, language, racial slurs)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Shan Hua (as \u201cYi-Jung Hua\u201d)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chan-Wei Lin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Cheung Wah\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Nico Wong (as \u201cWong Man Wan\u201d)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: June 1980 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Billy Chong, Carl Scott, Louis Neglia, Joseph Jennings, Hsiao-Sung Liang, Chung-You Chang, Biu Gam, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/A-Hard-Way-to-Die-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2299"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3288,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2299\/revisions\/3288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}