Bo ming (1977) User Reviews

The Damned aka Bandits, Prostitutes and Silver aka Battle of Shaolin

[gorthu · 7/10 · 18 April 2009]

Don Wong Tao stars as a carriage driver who is in love with a prostitute. He needs $120 to buy her out of the brothel, so he decides to accept an offer to rob some silver. Now he has a bunch of bandits after him including Phillip Ko fei and Angela Mao Ying. Also after him is a corrupt government official played by Lo Lieh. This movie is a bit darker than most and has a fantastic finish.

The fighting is above average, and Lo Lieh is much better in the action department than he usually is. He uses a really cool weapon that is a chain with a handcuff type thing on the end that can lock onto people's neck, arms and legs.

Also starring is Man Kong Lung and Wong Hap and they look good in their fights.

The Crash DVD has a decent widescreen print and the English dub sounds good.

One of the better old school kung fu movie

[ebiros2 · 6/10 · 28 February 2013]

This is one of the better old school kung fu movie featuring Wang Tao, and to a lesser extent Angela Mao.

Wang Tao is a wagon driver who's trying to buy off the girl he hopes to marry from the brothel. He needs to make $200 to buy her. He's offered a job that he's promised $800, but of course the job is of a shady kind, to steal and transport a chest containing silver. Group of bandits headed by Angela Mao is after him also to get the silver.

There's story, and good kung-fu action in this classic movie. Each of the actors can act, and directing is also good. Wang Tao movies really well in this movie. Fight scenes are well choreographed, and showcases the actor's clean body line.

Overall, it's one of the better old school kung fu movies made, and is worth viewing.

Tao,Lieh,Mao does excellent work

[wesle827 · 7/10 · 17 March 2000]

it was good how they set up the robbery and the fighting. there is also something that makes you feel bad for shang yee. it is the thought of how he was treated for stealing when all he wanted was his girl shaochoi but it ends up being a fight over money a rep. very good

More fights please and no phony weapons

[ckormos1 · 6 August 2020]

It starts with our hero, Don Wong, teaches the kid some moves. Little rabbit kung fu? The kid enters a tea house and gets into a fight with a cranky waiter. The big shot, Mr. Wu, gets offended in the action. He expects Don Wong to bow in apology. They fight but Don Wong must let the man have face. The Sparrow, Wen Chiang-Long from "Duel at Forest" intervenes to settle things down. He then hires Don Wong to drive the cart. Cut to Lo Lieh barking orders to his men but his wife is really in charge. Mr. Wu reports in and she bosses him too. They plan to steal a shipment of silver. Don sends a bracelet to his hooker girlfriend and the whole plot is that he plans to buy her out of the brothel.

Angela Mao appears as another bandit gang leader. She has circular saw blades as hidden weapons in the tips of her pretty shoes. Her big fight scene is versus Lo Lieh. I did not like the phony weapons used in this fight.

My copy is a digital file with English dubbing. It plays on a HDTV as wide screen. Though a tad scratchy it is still a good watch on the big screen.

I first watched this movie back in 2013 and made some notes. January 5, 2016 was a rainy day in Los Angeles. I was at the Beverly Hills Marriott watching this with a bottle of Chimay. I wrote up a review but did not post it. Here I am again, looking over my list. Time to complete this post!

The movie did have proper plot and a solid story line. The acting was competent. The ending was, let's just say, not a happy ending. For fans of martial arts movies of the golden age from 1967 to 1984, here's another average movie to mildly enjoy for about 90 minutes and soon forget.

A top trio of villains dominate this compelling kung fu story

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 13 December 2016]

The "say what you see" title hides the quality of this low rent and relatively unknown Hong Kong kung fu film which is far better than expected given the budget, or lack thereof. Ostensibly a vehicle for low rent star Don Wong, BANDITS, PROSTITUTES AND SILVER features an intricate storyline that offers far more characterisation than one would expect from a stock kung fu movie. Okay, so that also means that the first half of the film is relatively slow and action-free, but how often do you get a film like this with proper character motivations?

Wong plays a romantic character who just so happens to fall in love with a prostitute employed by a cruel brothel owner. He wants to set her free but to do so he needs a large amount of ready cash, cash which he doesn't have available, so he agrees to steal a shipment of silver on behalf of some criminals. All goes straightforward until a wide-ranging bandit gang get involved, all desperate to get their hands on the loot, and a master villain shows up with murder in mind.

Although Wong is the listed protagonist in this film he's actually outshone by the supporting players; there are no less than three luminaries present here and all are more than welcome. First up is Angela Mao in a rare villainous turn as a fighter with some wicked spinning blade boots; she burns up the screen as always. Second we get the inimitable Phillip Ko as the bald-headed bandit leader, always a favourite of mine alongside the likes of Dick Wei and Chen Sing. Best of all is Lo Lieh in one of his stock master villain roles, but at least he gets an interesting chain necklace weapon here, a little like the flying blade he used in THE DRAGON MISSILE. Add in plentiful action, some gore, a wagon chase, and a bratty kung fu-fighting kid, and you have the ingredients of an entertaining movie.

A cut above

[InjunNose · 9/10 · 31 May 2016]

This Taiwanese kung fu drama is a cut above standard genre fare in every respect, from the script and performances to the fight choreography. Directed by Kao Pao-shu (who co-wrote the screenplay with Shaw Brothers regular Ni Kuang), "Bandits, Prostitutes and Silver" stars Don Wong Tao as a carriage driver who wants to buy his girlfriend out of a life of prostitution. Thwarted at every turn, he finally resorts to crime, helping a notorious bandit (Wen Chiang-lung, who delivers the film's single finest performance) to commit highway robbery. Getting his hands on a chest of silver doesn't solve Wong Tao's problems, however: it makes him a target for other thieves, led by Angela Mao Ying, and eventually forces him to cross paths with arch-villain Lo Lieh. (Lo's secret weapon is a head-chopper on a chain, similar but not identical to the flying guillotine made famous in other kung fu flicks. This film is too good for such stale gimmicks, but it's got one anyhow.) The odds mount against Wong Tao, and he finds the world in which he lives to be stonily indifferent to his adversity. A few years earlier, Kao Pao-shu had shown her flair for surprisingly mature storytelling (in the context of Chinese martial arts movies) with "Blood of the Dragon", and "Bandits, Prostitutes and Silver" is twice as good. Even the film's desperate, flailing theme music underscores the tragic futility of the hero's struggle. If you're looking for something on a par with Chang Cheh's "Blood Brothers", this is it.