#paul wei ping-ao

[lifejustgotawkward]

365 Day Movie Challenge (2017) - #38: The Way of the Dragon (1972) - dir. Bruce Lee

If one can choose how to experience the first time seeing a Bruce Lee movie, it ought to be at the Museum of Modern Art with a theater full of other similarly excited viewers, both longtime fans and newcomers like myself (I had only ever seen Bruce Lee in reruns of “The Green Hornet” when I was kid). The Way of the Dragon is probably a particularly good introduction to Bruce Lee’s film career since he also wrote and directed the film; I don’t know to what extent the finished product represented his original vision for the project, but it certainly is an entertaining film and it’s clear that Bruce Lee was a presence you couldn’t take your eyes off of whenever he was onscreen.

The story is fairly straightforward but action-packed: Lee plays Tang Lung, a man who travels to Rome to help his relatives, including Chen Ching Hua (Nora Miao) and Uncle Wang (Chung-Hsin Huang), whose restaurant business has been threatened by a local crime syndicate. You’ll cringe at the stereotypes at play in the role of the flamboyant gay henchman Ho (Paul Wei Ping-ao), but you’ll delight in the ridiculous fun of the final battle between Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris (as American super-fighter “Colt”), which takes place in the Colosseum (for real!). Not only are these scenes exciting, but you also get the hilarious visuals of Chuck Norris’s weird body hair and bad (but beautifully glossy) 70s hair. Truly, I can’t wait for Enter the Dragon at MoMA tomorrow night.

[clemsfilmdiary]

The Best of November 2021

Best Discovery: A Journey to the Beginning of Time

           Runners Up: Ratcatcher, Track 29, Valley of the Dolls

Best Rewatch: Return to Oz

           Runner Up: Footprints on the Moon

Most Enjoyable Fluff: Over the Moon in Love

           Runners Up: Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: A Very Foul Play, Harvest Love, Hollow Man, Looks Like Christmas, On the 12th Date of Christmas, Taking the Reins, Universal Soldier

Best Performance: Kristen Stewart in Spencer

           Runners Up: Essie Davis, Judy Davis, Caleb Landry Jones and Anthony LaPaglia in Nitram, Deborah Kerr and Robert Mitchum in The Sundowners, Ashley Judd and Luke Perry in Normal Life, Anthony Perkins in Evening Primrose

Most Enjoyable Ham: Theresa Russel in Track 29

           Runners Up: Rene Auberjonois in Eyes of Laura Mars, Sandra Bernhard in Track 29, Sonny Chiba in The Street Fighter, Marilu Henner in Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: A Very Foul Play, Bruce Lee and Paul Wei Ping-ao in Fist of Fury, Dylan Neal in Looks Like Christmas, Sharon Stone and Jeanne Tripplehorn in Basic Instinct, Jean-Claude Van Damme in Universal Soldier

Best Mise-en-scène: Return to Oz

           Runners Up: Eyes of Laura Mars, Footprints on the Moon, A Journey to the Beginning of Time, Ratcatcher, Spencer, Spetters

Best Locations: Footprints on the Moon (mysterious Turquoise Coast resort town)

           Runners Up: Ratcatcher (bleak, grimy Glasgow slum), Spetters (cold, anonymous highways and secret city recesses)

Best Score: Footprints on the Moon (Nicola Piovani)

           Runners Up: Basic Instinct (Jerry Goldsmith), Denial (Harold Budd), A Journey to the Beginning of Time (E.F. Burian), Ratcatcher (Rachel Portman), Valley of the Dolls (André Previn, John Williams)

Best Song: “Take Me to the World” from Evening Primrose (Stephen Sondheim)

Runners Up: “It's Impossible” from Valley of the Dolls (André Previn and Dory Previn), “Love Theme (Prisoner)” from Eyes of Laura Mars (Karen Lawrence, John Desautels)

Best Cartoon: Water Babies

           Runners Up: Betty Boop's May Party, The Cookie Carnival, The Haunted House, Ride Him, Bosko!, Who Killed Cock Robin?

Coziest Film: A Journey to the Beginning of Time

           Runners Up: Footprints on the Moon, Nightflyers, Return to Oz

Best Leading Hunk: Luke Perry in Normal Life

           Runners Up: Hart Bochner in Complex of Fear, Sonny Chiba in The Street Fighter, Tyler Hynes in On the 12th Date of Christmas, Rob Mayes in A Golden Christmas 3, Robert Mitchum in The Sundowners, Scott Porter in Taking the Reins, Kurt Russell in Tombstone, Jean-Claude Van Damme in Universal Soldier

Best Supporting Hunk: Vincent Lindon in Titane

           Runners Up: Michael Biehn in Tombstone, Josh Brolin in Dune and Hollow Man, Peter Holden in A Golden Christmas 3, Anthony LaPaglia in Nitram, Ralph Moeller in Universal Soldier, Jason Patric in Denial, Andrew Shaver in Christmas in My Heart

Assorted Pleasures:

- Rock-textured claymation, post-apocalyptic fantasy aesthetic in Return to Oz

- Uncanny plasticky CGI effects in Hollow Man

- Lovely prehistoric environments and creatures, general atmosphere of childlike wonder and nostalgia in A Journey to the Beginning of Time

[preserved-dragons]

The real villain in FIST OF FURY wasn't Suzuki or the Russian fighter, Petrov. It was interpreter Wu, who was a traitor to Chinese people played brilliantly by Paul Wei-Ping Ao. . . . #brucelee #wu #fistoffury #shanghai #legend #70s #retro #kungfu #martialarts #fight #jkd #jeetkunedo #chinese #china #asian https://www.instagram.com/p/B2w9Hkjp4RF/?igshid=18p9kj8rhh5te