The Instant Kung Fu Man (1978)

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真假功夫 (1978)

The Instant Kung Fu Man

Reviewed by: mpongpun
Date: 10/15/2003

There are two twins (both played by Yip Fei-Yang). The oldest one, Hsiao Fu, is skilled in gung fu and is a notorious robber. The youngest one is named Hsiao Hu. His gung fu is not too good, but he is witty. Since Hsiao Hu's gung fu is weak, his older brother sends him to Shaolin to learn it. While at Shaolin, Hsiao Hu finds out that life there isn't for him along with the fact that he could care less about gung fu. Hsiao Hu asks out of Shaolin. The head Abbot complies but in order to leave, Hsiao Hu must past the wooden men test. Of course, Hsiao Hu fails. Using his wits and trickery, Hsiao Hu puts termites in the wooden men and asks the Abbot for another challenge. Due the termites munching on the wood, the wooden men are weakened, and Hsiao Hu passes the challenge easily. Hsiao Hu is free to leave Shaolin. Unfortunately, the Abbot finds out that Hsiao Hu cheated and thus he sends out Wu Kam (John Liu) to retrieve Hsiao Hu back to Shaolin. Meanwhile, Hsiao Fu and his accomplice, Yi Lan (Hwang Jang Lee) rob and kill an official for his money. While splitting up the booty, Hsiao Fu tries to kill Yi Lan to make the booty all his own. Yi Lan barely escapes from death and upon this, goes into training to one day kill Yi Lan. Once Hsiao Hu is outside Shaolin, everybody thinks that he is his older brother. To take advantage of this situation, Hsiao Hu he tries to impersonate his brother. Instead of gung fu, Hsiao Hu uses his wit and a few tricks up his sleeve to make a convincing model of his brother. Hsiao gains followers (Yuen Yat-Chor), free food, and respect. Unfortunately with the good, there is the bad. The bad being that Hsiao Hu has inherited his brother's enemies like Yi Lan, the police, and other thugs not to mention that now Wu Kam is trying to find him also. Inevitably, Hsiao Hu must fight Yi Lan, but before this he has to decide if his new image is feasible or not. Luckily for us, Hsiao Hu's final decision leads to an enjoyable and unanticipated outcome.