Dragons Forever (1987)
[director Sammo Hung Kam-Bo]
In the early 80s Jackie Chan and several of his brothers from the opera school where they all grew up made a series of unconnected kung-fu comedies. Probably inspired by the Hui brothers’ comic films, these films put three of the brothers (Jackie, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao) in a variety of different settings and roles. Ultimately in each story, they band together and defeat the bad guy, often one of their other brothers, especially Yuen Wah.
This time around Jackie is a lawyer. Sammo is a weapons dealer. And Biao is rigidly paranoid, on almost a professional level. They all team up to defeat Jackie’s client, an unscrupulous heroin smuggler with a nasty sidekick (played by Benny “The Jet” Urquidez). The three brothers play their parts with such aplomb you find yourself taken in, even though Jackie is one of the most misogynist lawyers ever, Sammo sells Ingram sub-machineguns to psychotic thugs, and Biao plays just a plain nutso, whose home decorations will kill anyone less acrobatic than Jackie.
It’s the kind of movie made with such enthusiasm that it’s hard not to smile. The other films the brothers made around this time are Project A, My Lucky Stars, and Meals on Wheels.
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