Dynamo (1978)

Posted in Reviews by - September 03, 2017
Dynamo (1978)

An interesting Bruceploitation flick in which a Bruce Lee imitator (Bruce Li) is caught in the crossfire between two warring Hong Kong advertising agencies. Li is a taxi driver who becomes a big-shot fighter due to his likeness to the fallen movie star. He’s hired by a ruthless ad lady called Mary (Mary Hon) who flies in from head office during Bruce Lee’s funeral to transform the fortunes of the company’s Hong Kong branch. “A lot of people are cashing in on his death,” says her local fixer, just before Bruce Li can be seen wearing Lee’s yellow jumpsuit from Game of Death and training with his new kung fu master, played by Ku Feng. He is sent on a publicity tour to Tokyo, Seoul and America, where the rival agency send local fighters to duff him up, before a lucrative fight in New York with a Bob Wall clone closes the film. Bruce Li is great in this, and a lot of the action is top-notch courtesy of Yuen Woo-ping‘s brother, Yuen Cheung-yan. Its also particularly fascinating and unusual to find such a strong female character at the centre of a contemporary kung fu film. Seemingly modelled on Faye Dunaway’s role in Network, Mary is an ambitious, independent, no-bullshit corporate exec’ who uses her business skills and sexuality to hoodwink her rivals and crush the competition.

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Editor and creator of Kung Fu Movie Guide and the host of the Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast. I live behind a laptop in London, UK.

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