Prodigal Son, made in 1981, is one of the few movies using the martial art of Wing Tsun as a key part of the movie. The entertaining Prodigal Son follows the formula of the 1980s Chinese kung fu movies with the classic over-acting and outrageous (but real!) stunts. The difference is Wing Tsun and the presence of actors Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung, both childhood friends of Jackie Chan in the real Chinese opera. Yuen Biao plays the historical descendant of the system, Leung Jan. This is a fictionalized account set in 19th century Fatshan, southern China describing the circumstances under which Leung Jan became a student of Wing Tsun. In the account written by late Grandmaster Yip Man, Leung Yee Tai and Wong Wah Bo became acquainted with each other aboard a red junk, a flat bottomed boat which transported people and things along the shallow coastal waters of southern China. The boats commonly transported opera troupes.  The people on board often were both crew members and opera troupe performers. Wing Tsun practitioners were said to be rebels against the Manchu government and the opera troupes gave them the excuse to wear heavy make-up to hide their identities. Leung Yee Tai was a sailor aboard the junk with the pole for steering the boat and a master of the long pole techniques of the Shaolin system. They eventually taught each other their individual martial arts styles.

The movie does not address this part of the legend however because events in the movie came later. In the movie, Leung Yee Tai, played by the late actor Lam Ching-Ying, plays the part of a woman in the opera performances, a common thing in those days. Yuen Biao was a spoiled son in a wealthy family.  His parents paid for his martial arts lessons with prominent masters who were also paid to make him believe he was invincible. In addition, fighters were paid to lose in fights with him. Eventually he discovered this ruse in an altercation with Leung Yee Tai.

The role of Wong Wah Bo is played by Sammo Hung with great flair and comedic talent. His role as Wong Wah Bo can be described as an ill tempered recluse, always critical of his Wing Tsun colleague and rival, Leung Yee Tai. He takes over the training of Leung Jan as it seems, Leung Yee Tai was ill suited to teach this spoiled young man.

Prodigal Son is entertaining and amusing and Wing Tsun techniques are displayed throughout although certainly not according to our way of fighting in Leung Ting WingTsun®! It was the best of the Wing Tsun movies until Ip Man. Choreography is done with the usual skill of Sammo Hung, whom incidentally, played in the sequel to Ip Man.

The movie was obviously made for Chinese audiences in 1981. I still recommend this comedy, particularly for kung fu movie fans and Wing Tsun followers! Excellent locations, sets, actors, genre fight sequences.

I recommend using the English subtitles.  The English dubbing on the remastered DVD is hard to understand.  It is rated “R” for Martial Arts Violence.

Prodigal Son does not rise to the level of big budget American made films or even modern Hong Kong films but I give it a kung fu movie genre rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

Link to the Internet Movie Database for Prodigal Son:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085211/

I saw the movie Ip Man quite a while ago in late 2009. The movie was released in Hong Kong in 2008. A movie about WingTsun (wing chun) like this has been a long time coming. It appears to be a dramatization of the real events in the life of Ip Man (Yip Man) prior to his move to Hong Kong after the take over by the Chinese Communists. At this early period in the life of Ip Man, the enemy of the freedom of the Chinese people was not an ideology but the nation of Japan which had invaded certain parts of China and occupied it during WWII. This film is remarkable on many fronts. For the first time in the martial arts genre, the film shows the technical martial arts fighting while also showing the real living habits of the characters, their customs and habits, their moral dilemma, their imperfections and their heroic qualities. Instead of non-stop fighting, interrupted by occasional speaking parts and minimal story, this movie carries the story relentlessly to a dramatic conclusion. The renowned late grandmaster of Wing Tsun (wing chun) was born into a wealthy family. He was the youngest to learn the art from Chan Wah Shun, the grand master of Wing Tsun in that part of China in the late 19th century. Ip Man used a remarkable sum of money in those days to pay his sifu the proper amount for lessons. The movie depicts his fortunate and carefree life and how he established and maintained a reputation as a kung-fu master in the town of Fat Shan and how that all went away with the start of hostilities of the World War. All fight scenes were shot with care and mastery of editing and choreography. The cruelty of the Japanese occupying forces was used for maximum emotional effect. The techniques, while not exactly as we in the Leung Ting WingTsun® system might have done it, were credible enough to give one the feeling of an art of economy and practicality. It is some of the best major motion picture depictions of the art of Ip Man (Yip Man). I strongly recommend it for both martial artists and non-martial artists alike. I give it: Martial arts genre rating – Five Stars. Non-genre movie rating: Four Stars.