{"id":27044,"date":"2023-09-14T02:21:33","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T09:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=27044"},"modified":"2023-09-14T02:21:33","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T09:21:33","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-reviews-the-prodigal-son-1981","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=27044","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Reviews: THE PRODIGAL SON (1981)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray is currently available\nfrom Arrow Video.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recently, Arrow Video has focused a lot of attention on actor\/writer\/director Sammo Hung. The artist famously attended the Peking Opera School with Jackie Chan and, in his homeland, became just as big and revered a star as his classmate. In recent months, Arrow has released several of his titles, like the all-star\/western\/kung-fu comedy Millionaires\u2019 Express<\/a><\/em> (1986)<\/a> and the more traditional Knockabout<\/a><\/em> (1978)<\/a>. This week, the distributor is premiering Hung\u2019s period martial arts feature The Prodigal Son<\/em> on Blu-ray in a special \u201cLimited Edition\u201d package. Watching it for the first time, the feature stands out as one of the filmmaker\u2019s strongest efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set in the mid-1800s, the story follows Leung Chang (Yuen\nBiao), a young man from a very wealthy family who believes that he is the\ncountry\u2019s greatest street fighter. After all, everyone who gets into a fight\nwith him loses spectacularly. Little does Leung Chang know that he really isn\u2019t\ntalented at all, and is even the butt of jokes in the community. As it turns\nout, the protagonist\u2019s parents have told his servants to bribe any potential\nthreat. So, they simply ham it up and take a fall. One day, Leung Chang\u2019s\ndim-witted friends attend a Chinese Opera and make unwanted advances towards a\ncast member. While the performer, Yeung Yee-tai (Lam Ching-ying) looks to be a\nfemale, he is actually a man in drag. The slender but strong artist gives them\na whipping and easily humiliates Leung Chang. All is revealed and the\nhumiliated lead soon begs Yeung Yee-tai to train him. The actor refuses, but\nLeung Chang once again uses his parent\u2019s influence to join the troupe as Yeung\nYee-tai\u2019s assistant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Things get bad for the performers when they draw the\nattention of Lord Ngai Fei (Frankie Chan), the son of a powerful duke. His\nhistory is almost the same as Leung Chang\u2019s, but his family are vicious (the\nduke had paid the son\u2019s bodyguards to assassinate any potential threat). Not\nonly that, but Lord Ngai Fei also has the fearsome skills to back up his\nfighting claims. He challenges Yeung Yee-tai to a showdown. After a brutal\nattack on the opera troupe, Yeung Yee-tai and Leung Chang escape to the countryside\nand stay with an eccentric old friend named Wong Wah-bo (Sammo Hung). Both of\nthese elders help train the protagonist to defend himself as enemy forces close\nin.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The movie is noted for its accurate depiction of Wing Chun\nmartial arts and some incredible fight sequences. It\u2019s a straight-forward and\ndirect style of fighting, but as boasted the battles are quite remarkable to\nbehold. All four main cast members get the chance to show off some stunning\nchoreography and elaborate moves against each other. The assault on the opera\ntheater is amazing, with the heroes attempting to survive and fight off\nattackers while the building around them burns to the ground. One of the main\ncharacters even hurtles themselves into the air over a large, flaming flag. It\nis a jaw-dropping moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And naturally, the final confrontation is memorable as\nprodigal sons Leung Chang and Lord Ngai Fei finally square off against each\nother to see whose skills are superior. There is some interesting strategy\nduring the challenge that results in a series of wince-inducing falls and\npowerful blows. Yet despite some of the heavier subject matter, there are still\nsome laughs in the film. Early on, the arrogant behavior of Leung Chang results\nin chuckles, while Wong Wah-bo\u2019s very physical style of calligraphy is amusing\nto witness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story is simple, but after establishing the memorable\ncharacters, the film doesn\u2019t have much fat and moves quickly. It tells an\ninteresting story and delivers a few unexpected twists along the way.\nAdditionally, the cinematography and sets are striking to behold. All of the\ndifferent elements here congeal here more effectively than in the longer, and\nat times, slower-moving Knockabout<\/em> and Millionaires\u2019 Express<\/em>. The\npicture is likely this reviewer\u2019s favorite among Hung films of the era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Naturally, the new 2K restoration (of both the theatrical\ncut and the home video edition) means that the picture looks much sharper.\nEverything is quite crisp and the image quality really does shine. And as\nalways with Arrow releases, there are plenty of engaging extras as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two commentary tracks. One features martial arts\ncinema experts, while the other comes from action movie authorities. Both are\nvery good. The first focuses on the use of Wing Chun and other martial arts\ntechniques, also giving some background on how difficult it was to shoot and\nnoting some of the remarkable stunts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The second features info on the production, as well as\nbackground details about the various cast members and the movie’s place in Hong\nKong cinema history. There are some fun facts in general between the two, as\nnew viewers will learn that the Leung Chang character was, in fact, a real\nfigure and that other pictures have been made about him. It is even noted that\nthe Sammo Hung film Warriors Two<\/em> (1978) features Wing Chun and one of\nthe characters from this title. So, it is a prequel of sorts to this movie\n(albeit with a completely different cast). There are plenty of fun tidbits\npresent on both audio tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Additionally, there\u2019s an interview with Wing Chun sifu Alex\nRichter, who shows viewers his Manhattan martial arts studio and the basic\ntechniques that are used in this fighting style. There\u2019s also an archival\nfeaturette that contains discussions with Sammo Hung, as well as stars Yeun\nBiao and Frankie Chan. The two leads note how they had to learn Wing Chun and\nthe extensive choreography for their director very quickly, often ending up\nbruised and battered in the process. The Blu-ray also comes with theatrical\ntrailers, a double-sided fold-out poster with original and newly commissioned\nart, as well as a collector\u2019s booklet with more writing on the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The picture quality on this disc is first-rate for a Hong\nKong feature and, from this reviewer\u2019s perspective, The Prodigal Son<\/em> is\none of the best Sammo Hung films in the director\u2019s catalog. If you\u2019ve been\nunsure about picking up Arrow Video\u2019s recent martial arts movies from the\nfilmmaker, this is the strongest movie in the bunch and a great starting point.\nThe Blu-ray is excellent and will definitely win over plenty of converts\n(including myself). Pick it up if you get the chance!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray is currently available from Arrow Video. Recently, Arrow Video has focused a lot of attention on actor\/writer\/director Sammo Hung. The artist famously attended the Peking Opera School with Jackie Chan and, in his homeland, became just as big and revered a star as his classmate. In recent months, Arrow has released […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[113,697,1836,2933,2939,3073,7866,8464,9288,12046,13303,16410,16411,16412,16941,17585,21934,24351,24606],"class_list":["post-27044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-113","tag-action","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-2","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-frankie-chan","tag-golden-harvest","tag-hong-kong","tag-lam-ching-ying","tag-martial-arts","tag-prodigal-son","tag-prodigal-son-blu-ray-review","tag-prodigal-son-review","tag-review","tag-sammo-hung","tag-the-prodigal-son","tag-wing-chun","tag-yeun-baio"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}