The Prodigal Son (1981 film)

The Prodigal Son is a 1981 Hong Kong martial arts comedy film starring Yuen Biao, and also written and directed by Sammo Hung, who also co-stars in the film. The film was released on 22 December 1981 and grossed HK$9,150,729. The Prodigal Son was nominated for two Hong Kong Film Awards and won the award for Best Action Choreography.

The Prodigal Son
The Prodigal Son film poster.
Traditional敗家仔
Simplified败家仔
MandarinBài Jiā Zăi
CantoneseBaai6 Gaa1 Zai2
Directed bySammo Hung
Produced byRaymond Chow[1]
Written by
Starring
Music by
CinematographyRicky Lau[1]
Edited byCheung Yiu-chung[1]
Distributed byGolden Harvest
Release date
  • 22 December 1981 (1981-12-22)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryHong Kong[1]
LanguageCantonese[1]
Box officeHK$9,150,729

The film tells the story of Leung Chang, the son of wealthy man who is half-heartedly studying kung fu. Leung Chang's lack of expertise forces his father to pay people to lose to him in fights. After Leung Chang discovers that his father has been deceiving him, he becomes inspired to study martial arts more seriously and attempts convince a kung fu expert to take him on as a student.

Plot

Leung Chang (Yuen Biao) is a young man in a wealthy family living in Foshan in the mid-19th century. He is a martial artist trained by two instructors in his father's employ. He has fought over three hundred times in Foshan and won every fight, but unbeknownst to him, his father has arranged for his servant Yee Tung-choi (Chan Lung) to bribe Chang's opponents to lose to him in order to protect him. This has caused Chang to believe that he is a world-class fighter, but in truth he hasn't even mastered the basics of kung fu and any real fighter could easily defeat him. Everyone knows this but him, giving him the nickname "The Prodigal Son" behind his back, because of the money he is costing his parents who pay to keep him from getting injured.

One night, three of Chang's friends attend a performance by the Lok Fung Lin Chinese Opera troupe. One of Chang's friends is attracted to the lead actress and asks her out on a date after the performance. She refuses, but he insists and even harasses her. She reveals herself to be a man, Leung Yee-tai (Lam Ching-ying), a master of Wing Chun. He beats up and humiliates Chang's friends. Chang challenges Yee-tai to a fight to avenge the insults to his friends. As usual, Yee Tung-choi tries to bribe Yee-tai to lose, but Yee-tai refuses, easily defeats Chang, and reveals the truth about his martial arts ineptitude to him.

Chang, desiring to learn real kung fu, asks Yee-tai to teach him Wing Chun. Yee-tai refuses because he thinks Chang would probably misuse it, but Chang has his father buy the Lok Fung Lin troupe and gives himself a job as Yee-tai's personal assistant, insisting on following Yee-tai everywhere until Yee-tai agrees to teach him Wing Chun. This continues for six months. The Lok Fung Lin troupe travels to Canton. There, Yee-tai's Wing Chun skills are witnessed by Lord Ngai Fei (Frankie Chan), the son of a Manchu duke, who is also a martial arts master and is hunting for a worthy opponent.

Ngai forces Yee-tai to fight him. Ngai and Yee-tai are evenly matched until Yee-tai has an asthma attack. Ngai stops the fight and postpones it until Yee-tai is healthy and fit for it. It is revealed that Ngai is also a "prodigal son"; unbeknownst to him, his father has ordered his bodyguards to protect him from anyone who might beat him in a fight. However, their methods are more ruthless and brutal than the bribery employed by Chang's parents; they resort to assassination.

During the night, Ngai's bodyguards and a team of assassins infiltrate the Lok Fung Lin theater, massacre the troupe, and burn down the theater. Yee-tai is having trouble sleeping because of his asthma, and he sees light reflected off an assassin's blade through his eyelids and reacts in time to escape along with Chang. The assassins think they died in the fire, as does everyone else. Yee-tai takes Chang to the home of his martial friend Wong Wah-bo (Sammo Hung). With Wah-bo's help, Chang finally convinces Yee-tai to teach him Wing Chun. Chang trains under both Yee-tai and Wah-bo; Yee-tai trains him in Wing Chun and Wah-bo trains him in freestyle fighting.

Over time, Chang achieves proficiency in martial arts, but Yee-tai's asthma is worsening. Chang takes Yee-tai back to Foshan to see a doctor. There, Ngai learns that Yee-tai is still alive, and he visits him. Yee-tai reveals that Ngai's bodyguards have been assassinating everyone who might beat Ngai. The bodyguards murder Yee-tai. Ngai, horrified, has his bodyguards executed. Chang challenges Ngai to a fight. Using everything that Yee-tai and Wah-bo taught him, he manages to beat Ngai.

Cast
  • Sammo Hung as Wong Wah-bo
  • Yuen Biao as Leung Chang, known as Leung Jan
  • Lam Ching-ying as Leung Yee-tai
  • Frankie Chan as Ngai Fei
  • Chan Lung as Yee Tung-choi
  • Chung Fat as Mr. Law
  • Dick Wei as Mr. Suen
  • Wai Pak as Au Ru Kwai
  • Chin Yuet-sang as Kung fu teacher
  • Hoi Sang Lee as Kung fu teacher
  • Wu Ma as Brick Man
  • James Tien as Broken right arm fighter
  • Cheung King-bo as Troupe manager
  • Ho Wai-han as Twiggy
  • Chan Yau-hau as Leung Chang's father
  • Lin Jin as Leung Chang's mother
  • Wang Hsieh as Duke
  • Ding Yue as Magistrate
  • Cheung Hei as Doctor
  • Pang Yun-cheung as Fighter defeated by Bo
  • Pang Yung-sheng as Opera troupe member
  • Ka Lee as Opera troupe member
  • Yuen Miu as Opera troupe member
  • Wellson Chin as Master Mun
  • Chow Kam-kong as Master Mun's man
  • Ng Min-kan as Master Mun's man
  • Lee Man-tai as Angry kung fu master
  • Kei Ho-chiu as Angry kung fu master's disciple
  • Yuen Fat as Angry kung fu master's disciple
  • Ha Kwok-wing as Angry kung fu master's disciple
  • Tony Tam as Angry kung fu master's disciple
  • Johnny Cheung as Angry kung fu master's disciple
  • Siao Yuk as Angry kung fu master's disciple
  • Chan Leung as Angry kung fu master's disciple
  • Siu Yuk-lung as Angry kung fu master's disciple
  • Sek Kong as Angry kung fu master's disciple
  • Chan Ming-wai as Angry kung fu master's disciple
  • Lai Sau-kit as Angry kung fu master's disciple

Production

In The Prodigal Son the depth and framing of the shots were a radical change from the two-dimensional approach to filming that had been used in Hong Kong at this point.[2]

Release and reception

The Prodigal Son was released in Hong Kong on 22 December 1981.[1] The film grossed a total of HK$9,150,729 at the Hong Kong box office.[1] In the Philippines, the film was released by Season Films Universal on 11 January 1989.[3] The Prodigal Son was released on DVD by Image Entertainment on 15 June 1999.[4] It was later released again by 20th Century Fox in 2004 on DVD.[4]

At the 2nd Hong Kong Film Awards, Sammo Hung, Lam Ching-ying, Yuen Biao and Billy Chan won the award for Best Action Choreography for their work in The Prodigal Son.[5] The Prodigal Son was nominated for the Best Film and Best Director (Hung) awards, but lost both awards to Ann Hui's Boat People.[5] In 2012, Time Out placed The Prodigal Son at number 54 on their list of Top 100 Hong Kong films.[6]

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See also

Notes
  1. "The Prodigal Son". Hong Kong Film Archive. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  2. Haflidason, Almar. "BBC - Films - Review - The Prodigal Son DVD". BBC. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  3. "Grand Opening Today". Manila Standard. Manila Standard News, Inc. p. 14. Retrieved 20 June 2020. For the First Time...Samo Hung Revealed the Secret of His Mastery of Kung-Fu
  4. "The Prodigal Son (1982) Releases". Allmovie. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  5. 第2屆香港電影金像獎得獎名單. Hong Kong Film Award (in Chinese). Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  6. "The 100 Greatest Hong Kong Films/5". Time Out. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
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