Kung Fu Executioner is one I sought out after seeing two other Billy Chong vehicles, the must-be-seen-to-be-believed gonzo horror oddities Kung Fu Zombie and Kung Fu from Beyond the Grave. Kung Fu Executioner is much more conventional and has nothing of the insane feeling of those, but remains a decent showcase for Chong's boyish charm.
In some ways, this is a silly chop socky remake of The Godfather, with a family receiving an unwelcome offer to buy into a drug importation scheme and suffering the consequences of refusal. Other parallels include an attack on the elderly patriarch in an open market, followed by a further attempt on his life in a hospital.
This family, however, instead of an Irish consigliere, has adopted a black kung fu fighter, played by the able Carl Scott. Also, while all of this is apparently supposed to be taking place in the 30s or 40s, any illusion of this is destroyed from the outset by the 70s flare collars and other anachronistic fashions.
Fans of schlocky martial arts films of this period will no doubt find themselves at home. Men get angry and punch and kick at the drop of a hat or sometimes even fight with their friends for fun. I don't know the name of the man playing Shima, but he seems to be the villain in almost every kung fu movie I see. There's also a fair amount of gore for this genre, though it looks more like the sweet and sour sauce at your local Chinese buffet than anything that would ooze out of a human being.
