Review of Bolo

Bolo (1977)
10/10
Pure Kung-Fu Crack!
8 September 2006
By far thee most hilarious, cracked-out kung-fu movie I have EVER seen!!! I am really sad so few people have ever heard of it; this is pure gold!!

Basically, this is a western gangster movie adapted to a rural Chinese kung-fu setting. VERY rural! These two misfits get out of jail by being "volunteered" to "sheriff" some middle-of nowhere podunk town. The town turns out to be completely run by local gangsters, and much back-stabbing and double-crossing ensues.

But this is a comedy! A really ballsey, absurd comedy! And not only that, but as far as I can tell, there is such a reliance on puns and obscure cultural references that didn't translate through to the English dub (and the dub acting is really bizarre/great as well!), that you'll be screaming WTF all the way through the movie!) really, there is some CRAZY stuff in this movie what makes no sense, unless maybe if you are Chinese? Don't expect to have any idea what is going on until you've seen it quite a few times, and even then, some bits are just inexplicable (the hand game? 426? the oranges!?!)

And to top it ALL off, this thing is actually CHOCK FULL OF SOME GREAT KUNG-FU! And it's kinda long, at that! Sure, much of it is totally ridiculous, but the execution and choreography of it all is really quite tight! And where else do you get to see _Yang Sze_ whooping ash with a chair? Crutches? Sandals!? A freakin wok!?!

Still, the story itself is even interesting. An archetypal, fable-like tale of the big dumb brute teaming up with the smart, witty, irreverent trickster to cause tons of mischief.)

Gloriously absurd and discordian to it's fullest.)
3 out of 4 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed