{"id":25031,"date":"2026-11-09T14:06:27","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T19:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=25031"},"modified":"2026-11-09T14:06:27","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T19:06:27","slug":"the-man-from-hong-kong-1975","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=25031","title":{"rendered":"The Man From Hong Kong-1975"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Man From Hong Kong-1975<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Brian Trenchard-Smith<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Jimmy Yang Yu<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #1,556<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed November 9, 2026<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Man from Hong Kong (1975) is a fast-paced action vehicle that satires James Bond and Dirty Harry films of the late 1960s and early 1970s.<\/p>\n

Our hero high-glides over Sydney, Australia, effortlessly dispatches villains, and is suave with the ladies. Just like Bond or Harry would.<\/p>\n

The movie even features George Lazenby, who played Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969.<\/p>\n

It’s a kung fu film new to me, since this is officially the first kung fu film I’ve ever seen, and the fight scenes are plentiful.<\/p>\n

The main reason to see the film is that it highly influenced director Quentin Tarantino, who I am a huge fan of. Fans will easily spot sequences in films like Kill Bill (2003-2004) and his other work that follow patterns from The Man from Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

A mix of Australian and Hong Kong cultures is used since it’s set in both locales.<\/p>\n

I mostly enjoyed the film for Tarantino’s influence and for how he pinpointed aspects he found unique and fascinating. I suspect this is mostly in the fight scenes.<\/p>\n

I could easily picture the director as a little kid, mouth gaping open in wonderment in a dark theater.<\/p>\n

This felt good to me since I champion cinema and its influences.<\/p>\n

Kung fu isn’t my favorite genre, so I quickly got tired of the endless action scenes. I would have preferred a strong plot, but I then realized that wasn’t the point of the film.<\/p>\n

A Hong Kong policeman, Inspector Fang Sing Leng (Jimmy Wang Yu), who is a kung fu expert, pursues an Australian drug lord, Wilton (George Lazenby), who’s not afraid to fight back with devious tactics.<\/p>\n

Fang arrives from Hong Kong to extradite a Chinese drug smuggler after first bedding a sexy Australian kite flyer and journalist, Caroline Thorne (Ros Speirs).<\/p>\n

He meets up with her again later.<\/p>\n

The rest of the film involves Fang attempting to find and capture Wilton while Wilton and some henchmen try to evade authorities.<\/p>\n

I admire that an Asian character is the central figure of the plot. Fang is charismatic, firm, and tough, but also tender and understanding.<\/p>\n

While clearly patterned after Bond or Dirty Harry, he has a likability all his own, mixed with sensitivity.<\/p>\n

The fact that he beds caucasian women is a testament to the film’s progressive nature. Too often in cinema pre-1970s, races rarely mixed, and usually Asian characters were linked romantically with other Asian characters.<\/p>\n

Lazenby’s Wilton is more cartoonish and played over the top, complete with a silly mustache intact. Still, Lazenby’s cartoon performance is fun, given that he was Bond and now plays a villain.<\/p>\n

One can’t help but think the actor loved doing an about-face and given goofy material to sink his teeth into.<\/p>\n

I quickly realized it would be wise to focus less on the plot and character development and more on the stunts, action sequences, and visuals.<\/p>\n

The choreography and quick nature of the fight scenes are very impressive. With quick editing, snappy camera cuts, and a light-hearted humor, this is the winning formula of The Man From Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

The cinematography is impressive and adds a bold statement to both locales. I noticed at least two extended flyover sequences featuring Hong Kong and Sydney, underscoring the multi-regional action.<\/p>\n

Since Hong Kong was offered first, it immediately piqued my interest, especially given that I have never been to the region of China or China itself.<\/p>\n

Long, aerial shots of the coastal high-rises and lavish sand and waves are featured.<\/p>\n

More or less a mirror image of the cinematography used for Hong Kong, the gorgeous beaches and magical lights of Sydney are breathtaking.<\/p>\n

Cheesy and not to be taken seriously, The Man From Hong Kong (1975) is an entertaining martial arts film that mixes car chases, romance, and fights in a bombastic way.<\/p>\n

And thank you, Quentin Tarantino, for encouraging me to see this film.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Man From Hong Kong-1975 Director Brian Trenchard-Smith Starring Jimmy Yang Yu Scott’s Review #1,556 Reviewed November 9, 2026 Grade: B+ The Man from Hong Kong (1975) is a fast-paced action vehicle that satires James Bond and Dirty Harry films of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Our hero high-glides over Sydney, Australia, effortlessly dispatches … Continue reading The Man From Hong Kong-1975<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,11605,13015,327,207],"tags":[13016,13020,852,10229,13017,13019,10232,13018],"class_list":["post-25031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1975-films","category-action","category-kung-fu","category-martial-arts-films","category-satires","tag-brian-trenchard-smith","tag-frank-thring","tag-george-lazenby","tag-hugh-keays-byrne","tag-jimmy-wang-yu","tag-rebecca-gilling","tag-roger-ward","tag-rosalind-speirs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25031"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25035,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25031\/revisions\/25035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}