Review of Last Hurrah for Chivalry

Introduction

Like 1976`s `Hand of Death`, `Last Hurrah for Chivalry` is a Hong Kong swordplay film which John Woo made during his formative years at the `Golden Harvest` production company. Since the two films are so similar, please forgive me if I repeat myself.

A simple revenge film, `Last Hurrah for Chivalry` centers on Kao (Lau Kong) who survived an attempt on his life by the evil Pai (Lee Hoi San), who takes his practice sessions to extremes by killing and maiming students who aren`t good enough. Kao isn`t up to the task of defeating Pai by himself, so, together with two swordsmen (one retired, one mysterious) who he convinces to aid him in his quest.

Credited this time under the more familiar name of John Y. S. Woo, he was a young and upcoming director in the Hong Kong kung fu scene when he directed `Last Hurrah for Chivalry`: he was many years away from being the renowned master of `bullet ballet` gangster movies and a director of big-budget Hollywood action films.

Video

A beautifully restored 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that looks better than it has any right to, but one that highlights any and all shortcomings in such aspects of the film as the fight choreography.

Audio

The DD 5.1 Mandarin soundtrack is nicely balanced with good use of the surrounds during the fight scenes; there is also the original mono soundtrack, which is not as clear as the 5.1 and has hiss and crackle. As with most, if not all HKL releases, the subtitles are wonderfully clear and free from any spelling or grammatical errors.

If you don`t like subtitles then you can watch the film with a DD 5.1 English soundtrack, although the American dubbing is just horrible.

Features

Sadly produced after Bey Logan left Contender Productions for pastures new, there is no commentary from the `King of Commentaries`, so all that`s left is a retrospective which is nearly eleven minutes of footage of the principal actors in other `Fortune Star` films.

There is also the usual `Further Attractions` with trailers and technical information for the DVD releases of `Heroes Shed No Tears`, `A Better Tomorrow II`, `New Police Story`, `Bullet in The Head`, `Warrior King` and `The Big Boss`.

Conclusion

It is clear that John Woo improved as a director in the period between making `Hand of Death` and `Last Hurrah for Chivalry` as the camerawork is more fluid, making the lengthy fight scenes a joy to watch. It does not have the star power of Jackie Chan or Sammo Hung, with Hark-On Fung, Damian Lau, Kong Lau and Hoi San Lee accomplished martial artists but not great actors. They can all convey enough menace/mystery/power to drive the story but do not have the screen presence of a Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan or Jet Li.

If you want to see where the themes for `A Better Tomorrow` came from then this is the film to watch and a good example of Wuxia, but this is unlikely to thrill devotees of John Woo`s later films. So, like `Hand of Death`, `Last Hurrah for Chivalry` is for martial arts and Wuxia enthusiasts, rather than the casual chop-socky fan.