At one time rumoured to be a third team-up between star Bruce Lee and director Lo Wei (‘The Big Boss’, ‘Fist of Fury’), the Golden Harvest produced ‘A Man Called Tiger’ found its star in ‘One Armed Boxer’ Jimmy Wang Yu. Lee went off to make ‘Way of the Dragon’, but Lo Wei remained on as director and delivers a hard-hitting gangster flick that gets over its more sluggish moments with frequent bouts of impressive violent action.

Wang Yu is Chin Hu, a no-nonsense super cool badass who is in Japan looking for the killers of his father. Chin’s father was rumoured to have ties to yakuza gangs and Chin believes they have something to do with his pop’s death. Working his way into the gangs and gaining their trust he plans to fight them from within and along the way befriends various beautiful women, including lovely nightclub singer Ayako (Kawai Okada), whose fathers have also mysteriously disappeared. Chin becomes an unstoppable force as he systematically takes on and destroys the gangs in a series of brutal fights.

Jimmy Wang Yu has arguably never looked cooler than he does here. Super slick sporting 70s style suits, he’s the epitome of cool that while a seemingly unstoppable fighting machine and consummate ladies’ man, nevertheless carries the film with his ferocious fighting. The flick, even in its longer version, is packed with some powerful and often brutal fight scenes and dangerous stunt sequences, showing Wang Yu at the top of his game. He may come across as always superhuman as he cuts through swaths of bad guys but the action, coordinated by Han Ying-Chieh (‘Fist of Fury’, ‘The One-Armed Swordsmen’), is fierce and crisply choreographed delivering powerful impact. Highlights include Wang Yu taking on a group of thugs riding motorcycles, an incredible fight high above in a cable car, and the epic showdown where he takes on a surfeit of axe-wielding thugs!

Alas, the rest of the flick isn’t quite as good as the action. Wang Yu is fun to watch and is ably backed up by the likes of Kawai Okada and the great James Tien, but the often-convoluted plot, various song performances by Ayako, and Chin swanning about with various women tends to drag after a while. There’s a cool extended gambling sequence that features some eye-popping rolls of the dice (and feels all a bit ‘Casino Royale’!) but the film really only ignites once the action kicks off. Perhaps it’s the expectation of Lo Wei and Wang Yu teaming up and just wanting to get to the action quicker (which the 79-minute international cut does!) that makes one get impatient between the bouts of kung fu ferocity.

Not the best star or director have done but an entertaining slice of super cool 70s style nevertheless (and looks gorgeous in this new Eureka Blu-ray version) and certainly entertaining once Wang Yu erupts into action.