As Trenchard-Smith, who was making his directorial debut, has noted, the Australian crew did not know how to make an action film like this and were working things out as they went along.
The dangerous situations that resulted – which included a flying car door that nearly levelled the crew – translate into an incredible amount of fun for the viewer.
How Stanley Kwan explored sexuality in his films Lan Yu and Hold You Tight
How Stanley Kwan explored sexuality in his films Lan Yu and Hold You Tight
The James Bond films were the biggest things around in the 1960s and early 70s, and had changed the landscape of commercial filmmaking around the world.
Already a huge star in Asia – although his fame was slowly waning – he was unknown in the West. So Wang quickly agreed to do the project when Golden Harvest boss Raymond Chow Man-wai suggested the role.
Wang was never one for modesty and looked to revel in portraying a suave and slick Hong Kong super cop who is sent to Sydney to extradite a Chinese drug dealer, played by Sammo Hung.
When the dealer is murdered, Wang decides to stay on in Australia and nail the organisation’s kingpin, played by George Lazenby, who had himself played Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Lazenby, an Australian actor, has said that he took the role in The Man from Hong Kong simply because he needed the money – he had declined an offer to make more Bond films, and this had given him a bad reputation in Hollywood.
Drawing on Clint Eastwood and Don Siegal’s vigilante police officer Dirty Harry, Wang leaves a trail of destruction behind him in the film as he tries to capture Lazenby, whose character is adept at martial arts. In true Bond fashion, Wang beds two attractive Caucasian women in the breaks between the action.
Trenchard-Smith, who went on to have a solid career in genre and “Oz-ploitation” films, is a colourful character who began his career in television.
Born in Britain, he travelled to Australia when he was 20 years old, and although he only had vague qualifications in film, talked himself into cutting promos for television shows.
He proved extremely good at it and graduated to making documentaries for television. Two of these, The World of Kung Fu and Kung Fu Killers, were about the kung fu craze that followed the international success of Bruce Lee in 1973.
The 10 best films of martial arts star Jimmy Wang Yu
The 10 best films of martial arts star Jimmy Wang Yu
Trenchard-Smith was travelling to Hong Kong to shoot a documentary about Bruce Lee and planned to show the script – unfortunately then titled Yellow Peril – to film producer Raymond Chow while he was there. But while his plane was refuelling, he saw a newspaper and learned that Lee had died.
Trenchard-Smith quickly reconfigured the documentary as a tribute to Lee and managed to get a pitch meeting for Yellow Peril with Chow, who he had met while filming The World of Kung Fu. Golden Harvest were trying to capitalise on the international success of Lee’s films and were open to co-production ideas.
“I took the script to Raymond Chow, who didn’t like the title but saw the potential of the picture and agreed to fund part of it,” Trenchard-Smith said.
Chow suggested Wang for the leading role. “I’d written it for Bruce, but as he was no longer with us. We got Asia’s number-two star, the ‘Steve McQueen’ of Asia,” Trenchard-Smith said.
Wang puts in an excellent performance, but he was a nightmare on the set. In the documentary Not Quite Hollywood, Australian cast and crew members relate how Wang was condescending and rude to them.
He was described as a “nasty piece of work”, and one interviewee remembered how he would eat flies, or pretend to, to upset the Caucasian actresses before the sex scenes. “He basically had no respect for anybody,” Lazenby said.
He would also challenge Trenchard-Smith’s directorial decisions on set. Tension between the two men became so great that they fought it out in front of the cameras.
The director also played a role which entailed a fight with Wang, and when the cameras rolled, the star went for him. “Every time I see the film, I see him [Wang] kicking the s*** out of him … that’s not acting!” remembered the film’s producer, David Hannay.
Trenchard-Smith said the problems arose because Wang was used to being treated like a star in Asia, but in Australia no one knew who he was. The veteran actor was also dismissive of the director, as it was his debut film.
“I don’t think he had any confidence in me from the start,” Trenchard-Smith said. “He was concerned with protecting his image. It was his first international film and it could have launched him into the international market, so he had a lot to lose as far as he was concerned.”
A war film or a martial arts movie? How Kurosawa inspired a Hong Kong epic
A war film or a martial arts movie? How Kurosawa inspired a Hong Kong epic
Trenchard-Smith said that things improved later in the shoot and when he showed Wang his cut in Hong Kong he approved – although the star did make his own edit for distribution in Asia.
Wang was not the only actor to take a swing at Trenchard-Smith – Lazenby punched him, too. The final showdown entailed Lazenby’s character catching fire. Trenchard-Smith persuaded Lazenby to do the stunt himself by showing it to him.
“After the director set himself on fire, I thought, Jesus, if he’s going to do it, I’ll have to do it,” Lazenby recalled. But the star’s arm caught fire, and he was wrestled to the ground by stunt director Page and covered in a fire blanket. When the fire was out, Lazenby got up and angrily punched Trenchard-Smith.
By contrast, Trenchard-Smith remembered fight choreographer Sammo Hung as a pleasure to work with.
Hung did not speak much English, so the two men communicated by sign language. “I wanted the fights to be bloody but have a cartoonish quality,” Trenchard-Smith said, noting that Hung carried out his instructions to the letter.
The film received some positive reviews in Asia. “The presentation is fast-paced, a good action film,” wrote Hong Kong critic Mel Tobias in 1975. “If the film clicks around the world, it may just prod the fickle public into saying farewell to Bruce Lee. It would then be Welcome to the World of Wang Yu.”
As we all know, that did not happen.
In this regular feature series on the best of Hong Kong cinema, we examine the legacy of classic films, re-evaluate the careers of its greatest stars, and revisit some of the lesser-known aspects of the beloved industry.