Themes: Heroic Mission, Culture Clash, Righting the Wronged
Main Cast: Jet Li, Yuen Biao, Jacky Cheung, Rosamund Kwan, Kent Cheng
Release Year: 1991
Country: HK
Run Time: 112 minutes
Plot
Though generally unknown to Western audiences, Tsui Hark is considered a giant among Asian filmmakers and this exceptional epic, combining hard-hitting martial-arts action with romance, comedy, history, genuine poignance, and sharp insight into the effects of the century-long encroachment of Western civilization in Asia more than amply demonstrates why. The story centers on the exploits of Master Wong Fei-hung (a familiar figure in Hong Kong cinema) a 19th-century doctor, Confucian, and exceptional martial artist. As the film begins, he has just opened a new clinic in Canton Province. To help him with patients, he hires a few apprentices including Porky Lang (the comic relief) and Buck Teeth Sol, who was raised outside China and barely can speak the language. Wong is platonically involved with the lovely, worldly Aunt Yee, who has been abroad most of her life. Wong soon gets in trouble when he begins using his skills to protect and assist the poor and helpless in his community. As a result, someone torches his clinic, forcing Wong and his compadres to set off and get spectacularly staged revenge. They also try vainly to stop Western culture from changing traditional Chinese ways, but they soon find that they may as well be shoveling sand against a rising tide. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review
A classic in the martial arts genre, Tsui Hark's Once Upon a Time in China, which has inspired three sequels, is a flashy, spirited film featuring Jet Li in one of his best roles. This period piece set in the 19th century deals with Western customs and modern weaponry and their effect on Chinese culture. It's too bad that this idea couldn't have been taken more seriously, rather than making all the Westerners into comic book bad guys. The plot and politics about Westerners ruining China really don't work, and the humor, like so many movies in this genre, is over-the-top hokey and made worse by dubbed voices that all sound American. What you're left with are spectacular, artful fight scenes, and these make up for the clunky script and goofball comedy. Li is a marvel, defeating hundreds of enemies with his small frame and quick, perfect movements. The final battle aboard a clipper ship is the movie's finest. This could have been an even better film if it took its subject matter and story seriously, but Once Upon a Time in China does succeed in being completely entertaining. ~ Adam Bregman, All Movie Guide
Locals are concerned with the growing influence and presence of westerners and foreigners in Foshan. The general of the Black Flag Army approaches Wong Fei Hung and requests that Wong helps him recruit and train a local militia of civilian martial artists to help defend the town. Among those recruited by Wong include the butcher "Porky" Wing and an American-educated Chinese called "Bucktooth" So.
Wong Fei Hung meets Siu-qun, who is around the same age as him, and whom he addresses respectfully as "13th Aunt". Although they are not direct blood relations, her father was a sworn brother of Wong's grandfather and that technically makes her Wong's senior. Romantic feelings between them gradually develop but it is considered to be taboo in traditional Chinese society and their relationship is often restrained.
Leung Foon arrives in town with a Chinese opera troupe to stage performances. He runs into some trouble with the Shaho Gang, which terrorises local businesses by demanding "protection money" from them. He accidentally runs into 13th Aunt and falls in love with her. After being fired from the opera troupe, Leung meets a martial artist called "Iron Robe" Yim and becomes Yim's student. Yim wants to make his name and establish a martial arts school in Foshan, but he knows that he must defeat Wong Fei Hung, the most powerful and famous martial artist in Foshan in order to achieve that.
Meanwhile, the Shaho Gang set fire to Wong's clinic Po Chi Lam as a warning after Wong interfered when they caused trouble in town. The gangsters went to the Americans led by Jackson from the Sino-Pacific Company to seek protection after the governor issued arrest warrants for them. In return for protection from the local government, the gangsters aided the Americans in their slave labour trade by kidnapping Chinese women to be sold to America as prostitutes. The Shaho Gang meets Yim and agrees to help him if he allies himself with the Americans and their gang.
The Shaho Gang kidnaps 13th Aunt while she was helping an escaped labourer from America to flee from the local government's inspection. Wong Fei Hung and his followers have also been placed under arrest by the governor for hitting government soldiers while buying time for 13th Aunt and the labourer to escape. The prison guards release Wong and his men out of respect for him as they know that he had been wronged. Just then, Bucktooth So reports that 13th Aunt had been captured by the Shaho Gang.
Wong Fei Hung and his followers disguise themselves and infiltrate the Americans' base. They engage in a battle with the Americans and Shaho Gang and emerged victorious. Wong faces Yim and defeats Yim in a fight. Yim is later killed by gunfire from the Americans, who were actually targeting Wong. Eventually, Wong Fei Hung and his followers succeed in rescuing 13th Aunt and the captives from Jackson. At the end of the film, Leung Foon is accepted by Wong Fei Hung as a disciple.
Once Upon a Time in China is largely credited with starting the period martial arts craze of the early to mid 1990s. It was a box office hit. The film ran for almost two months, the longest duration for any of the series, and grossed $29,672,278 HKD in Hong Kong.[1]
The Suspicious Temple (1995) · The Eight Assassins (1995) · The Headless General (1996) · The Ideal Century (1996) ·The Final Victory (1996)
Related films
Great Hero from China (1992) · Once Upon a Time a Hero in China (1992) · Once Upon a Chinese Hero (aka The Kickboxer) (1993) ·Last Hero in China (1993) · Once Upon a Time a Hero in China II (1993)
