Golden Harvest produced (complete with retro old logo!) 70s action flick, gets a welcome new release and hopefully new audience thanks to this excellent new issue from Eureka.
Much more of a gritty crime thriller of the time than an all-out martial arts flick, ‘The Double Crossers’ sees Il-Ryong’s hardened Singapore cop, Lung, looking for revenge on the gang that murdered his father. Said father was once part of a notorious gang but has since given up the criminal life. But when his former cohorts ask for his help and he refuses the gang retaliate by killing him, the leader of the gang now a powerful kingpin in Hong Kong. Lung also joins forces with Chang (Chan Sing) a former loyal associate of his father’s, the two then setting off to Hong Kong to take vengeance that sees them also sojourning to Bali for the ultimate showdown with a gang of killers.
A somewhat choppy narrative and martial arts action that is all too brief, is given a boost thanks to a charismatic cast, country-hopping locations, and a smattering of other crazy action. Shin Il-Ryong (‘Endless Fight’) gives good cool as the slick no-nonsense lead hero but it’s Chan Sing (‘New Fist of Fury’) who steals the show as his scrappy but tough-as-nails partner, kicking all kinds of ass and bringing oodles of personality to proceedings. Likewise, Michael Chan Wai-Man (‘Broken Oath’) brings a ton of cool bad guy swagger as the main tattooed henchman causing all kinds of grief for our heroes.
The multiple locations, especially the later third set in Bali, brings production value and while the martial arts action is short and sweet, director Jeong Chang-Hwa does pack the film with oodles of vehicle stunts, firepower, and in one particular scene, some effectively nasty torture.
What martial arts action there is, is crisply choreographed and in the later part of the film a very young Sammo Hung pops ups (complete with 70s John Lennon look!) to throwdown with the heroes. Leaning into its crime thriller vibes, ‘The Double Crossers’ see-saws between gritty violence and over-the-top action, that while it doesn’t always gel certainly entertains. In fact, the flick mainly rockets along on its tone-swaying atmosphere offering up cool posing and outlandish action in equal measure.
A mainly cool slice of retro 70s exploitation that while maybe not Golden Harvest’s finest, is an entertaining revenge romp for fans of old school action.
Eureka Entertainment are bringing ‘The Double Crossers’ to UK and US Blu-ray on July 22, and you can order it now from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
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