Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Na Cha The Great 1974

This is a fun movie, one of Fu Sheng's early roles.  Here he plays a mischievous young man who doesn't respect his teachers and is often punished for it.  Sound familiar?  It was a movie made by Chang's Film Co and distributed by the Shaw Brothers. Chang Cheh did a few of these movies, but seems to have done far more under the Shaw bannner.

These shots are from the beginning of the movie, which pretty much tell you what to expect from the movie.  I reckon this legend is well known enough amongst Chinese audiences so they didn't need much more information than that.
It's a great beginning.  Does anyone know if it has received an R1 DVD release?  I had the R3, it's a gorgeous disc.  I'm kind surprised if it hasn't been released over here.
 Fu Sheng looks great, and it's easy to tell he is going to be a superstar.  His kung fu was not the greatest, but he made up for it with enthusiasm and some great acting.  Had he not been killed in that car accident the Shaws may still be in the movie business today!
He's really kind of a jerk in the first part of the movie, but that makes him seem even more heroic at the end when he makes his sacrifices.

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