4 Star

What is the Strongest Bond, Family or Loyalty?

Before lead actor Chow Yun-Fat (Hard Boiled, Prison on Fire, The Killer, The Replacement Killers, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Bulletproof Monk, Wild Search) got noticed by Western audiences, he was taking Hong Kong by storm, as he coolly made his way through mountains of slain enemies, in his gun toting high octane action films. This Eureka Special Edition brings Taylor Wong‘s (Buddha’s Palm, With or Without You) vision of a lifetime struggle of blood and loyalty.

 

In the nineteen-sixties, there was an influx of Chinese migrants into Hong Kong. One of these migrants is a father of two who goes to visit his brother, but finds him dead. He takes in his brother’s young son as one of his own. Now Tang Kat Yung (Alex Man, Rouge, As Tears Go By), Wai Chui (Siu-Fung Wong, Love with the Perfect Stranger, Web of Deception) and stepbrother Lam Ting Kwok (Andy Lau, RUNNING OUT OF TIME 1 & 2, SHOCK WAVE: HONG KONG DESTRUCTION), have grown up and Yung is a wayward gambler who has no luck at the dogs.

It is down to Kwok to try and save him from a beating when Yung tries to swindle the gambling house. This leads Yung into deeper trouble as he now owes thousands of dollars to the mob boss and only ten days to pay before losing fingers. Luckily, Yung’s sister Wai Chui works for Triad boss Li Ah Chai (Chow Yun-Fat) who pays off the debt, and gets the pair of brothers’ jobs, to pay off Chai’s generosity.

Li Ah Chai also has commitments from the past in the shape of Thailand drug Lord Uncle Fan (Mei Sheng Fan, ) who in the past saved Chai’s father and supported the young Chai. Now everyone wants Fan dead, and Chai feels obligated to protect him.

One of Yung’s problems is his mouth, he is always trying to suck up to Chai, because Kwok is doing everything right in Chai’s eyes, and he is being promoted all the time. This does not sit well with the jealous older brother. This leads Yung to favour Chai’s main rival, the Opium drug baron Chu Lo Tai (Chun-Hsiung Ko, End of the Road, Triad Story), who wants Uncle Fan dead to appease his opium suppliers.

The scene is set for professional and personal rivalries, and it will come to a head in this deadly and explosive pair of films, that span the years of Hong Kong between the 1960s to the corporate 1980s. These films benefit from the class acts that are Chow Yun-Fat, Andy Lau, Alex Man, and the unbribable Inspector Danny Lee (The Killer (1989), City on Fire). A must own for the Hong Kong action fan.

RICH AND FAMOUS / TRAGIC HERO (Eureka Classics) Special Edition is available on Blu-ray

SPECIAL EDITION TWO-DISC BLU-RAY FEATURES:*

Limited Edition slipcase (First Print Run of 2000 copies only) featuring artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju) | 1080p presentations on Blu-ray from new restorations of the original film elements | Original Cantonese audio tracks | Optional English dubbed audio options | Newly translated English subtitles (optional) | Brand-new audio commentaries on both films by Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival) | Brand-new video piece looking at the dubbing of Hong Kong films into English during the 80s, featuring an interview with Simon Broad who was the voice of Chow Yun Fat for the English language releases of many of his films | Interview with Manfred Wong (archival) | Interview with Michael Mak (archival) | Trailers | PLUS: A Limited Edition Collector’s Booklet (First Print Run of 2000 copies only) featuring new writing on both films by James Oliver.