It can’t be stated enough just how much the release of King Boxer (aka Five Fingers Of Death) in North America changed the landscape of this very regional film industry. Suddenly the largest film market in the world was available and a flood of Kung Fu movies would find their way onto 42nd street screens, late night theatres and drive-ins everywhere, later transferring to cable TV thanks to things like Black Belt Theatre, but none of this happens without the Shaw Brothers classic King Boxer in March 1973.
Just a few months later the genre would also lose its biggest star (arguably even to this day) in Bruce Lee and a young upstart production company would start to get into direct competition with the established behemoth of Shaw Brothers Studios. Run by two former execs at Shaw, Raymond Chow and Leonard Ho would set up Orange Sky Golden Harvest, this would later be shortened to Golden Harvest and a name that would become synonymous with Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee was born, and in a classic case of jumping ship was Cheng Chang-Ho, director of King Boxer (his final film for Shaw Brothers, with whom he had been since 1966) who would go on to make Kung Fu classics like The Skyhawk and Broken Oath. However, in between this two films was this real oddity that had more in common with Italian Poliziotteschi movies than anything in the Kung Fu genre, but this was a new era and Golden Harvest allowed their film makers more creative freedom.
The Double Crossers, on paper, should have been a smash hit. The talent involved in making this film is a “who’s who” of 70s Hong Kong cinema. Along with the aforementioned director in Cheng Chang-Ho there were actors like Michael Chan, Chou Hsiung, Chan Sing, even Sammo Hung has a bit part, plus it has one of the best Henry Mancini-esq scores delivered by the legendary Joseph Koo (who is listed as the composer). So why doesn’t this film hit the stratospheric heights of many of its contemporaries? Who knows, because this is an amazing film.
Don’t get me wrong, The Double Crossers is no classic. The fights are dirty and lacking in the style usually associated with the drama, the story is convoluted and full of holes so large that it is danger of swallowing itself… and yet, despite all its flaws and mistakes, I found myself absolutely riveted in all its 70s glory.
The Double Crossers oozes cool in the same way that Pam Grier did in Foxy Brown. Shin Il-Ryong is far from a charismatic leading man, but he delivers enough to keep things rolling along at a fair old pace (even if his kicks early on seem a little half hearted), but amongst all the cliched “Revenge for my father” shenanigans, there is a really entertaining crime caper that eeks out enough joy to make this a very worthwhile movie.
Eureka Entertainment once again deliver on the extras, and whilst it may feel a little thin in comparison to other Hong Kong releases of theirs, this does come with two cuts of the movie, original Cantonese mono audio and a classic Axis International into give any fan of the Wu-Tang Clan the warm and fuzzies. Add to this two new commentaries and there is enough here to justify any fan’s attention.
As mentioned above, The Double Crossers has more in common with Poliziotteschi movies, but what it lacks in Kung Fu action it more than makes up for in that 70s charm and swagger that we have all come to know and love, just don’t go in expecting a classic of the genre.
The Double Crossers is out now on Eureka Blu-Ray
