Danny Lee Movies

This fast paced Hong Kong action film is the second in a three part trilogy loosely based on actual facts told to filmmaker Kirk Wong by a former policeman. The story takes place on a small island near Hong Kong, Cheung Chai where Tung and his lover are hiding. The two shady characters, Tung and Cindy, are hoping to make it to the mainland, but they cannot as the island has been closed off by the eccentric policeman Lee. Lee catches Tung, but loses him when Cindy springs him. They have a major confrontation in the streets. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Popular Hong Kong actor Simon Yam, who had previously portrayed serial killer Lam Guo-wen in a television miniseries, plays his fictionalized counterpart in this gore-soaked exploitation film from producer-director Danny Lee. Starting with Lam's difficult childhood, the story then moves forward to the police capture of Lam after he submits film containing images of a naked woman who appears to be dead to a photo developing lab. The police tactics are quite brutal, but despite beating Lam repeatedly, they are unable to extract a confession until they show his family some explicit photographs he took of his young niece. His confessions are then graphically played out for the remaining hour, with all the sex, blood, and violence which Lee (who also plays Police Inspector Lee here) could fit in, as the catalog of Lam's atrocities is exhibited with an enthusiasm bordering on the voyeuristic. He was working nights as a taxi driver, and used his position to farm female victims from the city's streets on rainy nights, indulging in a penchant for necrophilia, cannibalism, and the photography of the women's dismembered bodies as a souvenir of his activities. The film's success led to a number of so-called "True Crime" films in Hong Kong, mostly following the conventions laid out in Dr. Lamb, although few approach its visceral and graphic violence. Kent Cheng co-stars with Lau Siu-ming and Emily Kwan. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Herman Yau Lai-to spins this notoriously grisly crime yarn based on a real-life case of Wong Chi-hang and his ill-fated venture into the restaurant business. The film opens with Wong (Anthony Wong Chau-sang) fleeing Hong Kong after setting alight a fellow mah-jong player during a major case of sour grapes. Fast-forward ten years, when a bag of severed limbs washes up on the beaches of Macau. When Inspector Lee (Danny Lee) takes over the case, he is inevitably led to the Eight Immortals Restaurant, which Wong manages. After successive beatings from both the cops and fellow prisoners, Wong spills the beans. He gained control of the Eight Immortals after massacring the owner and his entire family. When the cook started getting uppity, he whacked him and turned him into pork buns. Soon numerous others found themselves as the daily special. Anthony Wong won best actor for his effort as the sociopathic cannibal restaurateur. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Though John Woo's lifelong admiration of Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone, Martin Scorsese, and Stanley Kubrick are also evident in this stylish actioner, the film is essentially a tribute to Jean-Pierre Melville and his cult thriller Le Samouraï. During a restaurant shoot-out, hitman Jeff (Chow Yun-Fat) accidentally hurts the eyes of a singer (Sally Yeh). Later, he meets the girl and discovers that if she does not have a very expensive operation very soon, she will go blind. To get the money for the surgery, Jeff decides to perform one last hit. The cop (Danny Lee), who has been chasing Jeff for a long time, is determined to catch him this time. The film's number of victims makes The Terminator or Rambo pale in comparison, but its brilliant visual style and bravura direction earned accolades even from non-action fans. ~ Yuri German, Rovi

Taylor Wong Tai-loi directs this sequel to his gangster epic Rich and Famous. With crime boss Chai (Chow Yun-fat) now a successful legitimate businessman, Yung (Man Chi-leung) wants to kill him more now than ever. While Chai tries to negotiate gangland peace, Yung steady kills off every competitor in the crime family until there is no one but Chai left. War between the two men seems inevitable. Meanwhile, Kwok (Andy Lau), Yung's brother, returns from self-imposed exile in Malaysia to calm tensions. At the same time, one of Chai's underlings tries to take Yung out himself but fails miserably while Yung orders the murder of Kwok's wife and child. Chai and Kwok soon band together to kill Yung. Though this film was intended as the sequel to Rich and Famous, it was actually released first. The producers thought that this film had more commercial promise. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

The ganglord Ho has many loyal followers, thanks to his skill in showering his troops with praise and tangible thanks, giving them much honor in the process. However, in this violent movie, three of his senior associates have been picked up by the police on serious charges, and it is beginning to look as though his trust was misplaced, for they are planning on selling what they know about him for lighter sentences. Regretfully, Ho orders another associate, his most trusted henchman and bodyguard, to see to it that the three men die. At their funerals, he is genuinely bereaved -- both for his now departed men, and for the code of trust which they took with them to their graves. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This tense Hong Kong crime thriller is known best as the film upon which Quentin Tarantino borrowed heavily for his 1992 debut, Reservoir Dogs. Those who criticized the American director for lack of originality have perhaps missed the point. In the highly commercialized, formulaic crime genre of Hong Kong, very few thrillers are truly original, and innovation comes in the form of style, action choreography, and dramatic tension. City on Fire, directed by Ringo Lam, is no exception. The story, told in a more traditional narrative form than Reservoir Dogs, follows Chow Yun-Fat as Ko Chow, an undercover cop who infiltrates a ring of jewel thieves. When a heist goes wrong, Chow is wounded, and tension among the robbers escalates as they begin to suspect a traitor among their ranks. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, Rovi

The film that launched Danny Lee Sau-yin's career and influenced a decade of cop thrillers, this film -- starring and directed by Lee -- concerns a veteran cop named "B" who is respected both by his colleagues and by gangsters alike. While showing the ropes to his new partner, Yip Che-kit (Eddie Chan), B gets a hot lead against career bank robber Blacky (Parkman Wong Pak-man) who is suspected of murder. When B confronts Blacky, a gunfight ensues and B accidentally kills a young boy. B's only chance to clear his name is to apprehend Blacky and have him testify that B was not aiming at the child. Danny Lee eventually won a Best Actor prize in the Hong Kong Film Awards for his performance. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Jin Yong's historical novel The Eagle Shooting Heroes has been adapted into countless Asian television series as well as several films including Ashes of Time and this lengthy and involved Shaw Brothers effort directed by prolific Hong Kong filmmaker Chang Cheh. During the Sung dynasty, a young man named Kuo Ching (Alexander Fu Sheng) is raised and trained by a group of kung fu experts following his father's murder. One day, Ching sees one of his instructors murdered by the Skeleton Claw move, in which the killer straightens his fingers, making them rigid enough to penetrate both flesh and bone. Ching defeats the assassin, then encounters a titled noblewoman named Yung-er (Tien Niu) who is disguised as a pauper. They are subsequently taught by Hung, the Nine-Fingered Beggar (Ku Feng), who can smash a tree into splinters with a single chop of his hand. Ching gains still more knowledge from the master Cho (Phillip Kwok) which prepares him for the three tests he must face and overcome in order to win Yung-er's hand in marriage. The all-star cast includes Danny Lee, Dick Wei, Johnny Wang, and Ti Lung, but most viewers will want to watch for the energetic star turn by Alexander Fu Sheng, whose international stardom was just starting to peak when, ominously, he moved into a house once owned by the late Bruce Lee and known for its negative feng shui. Shortly thereafter, Fu Sheng died tragically young when he crashed into a cement wall in a vehicle driven by his older brother. This film remains one of Fu Sheng's best-known efforts, and led to three sequels. His ghost is still rumored to walk the Shaw Brothers backlot, and his makeup cubicle was left empty for years to appease his spirit. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Pao Hsueh-li spins this wild, eye-poppingly bizarre kung-fu period epic adapted from Jin Yong's 2,000-page tome Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. Two decades after getting his legs whacked off by Prince Tuan Ching-tun -- who used a rare Yang Chi technique that fires bolts of lightening from one's fingertips -- the nefarious Wong Po-yen seeks vengeance on the Prince's son, Tuan Yi (Danny Lee), an earnest young scholar with no discernible martial arts skills. One day while strolling in the country, Tuan Yi happens upon Cheung Ling-ar, an unusual lass who can wield snakes into weapons that can explode heads. When Wong's men catch up to them, Ling-ar tells Tuan Yi to find the legendary swordswoman and Yang Chi master Mou Wan-ching (Tin Lei) who has the habit of killing every man she meets. Because Tuan Yi told her of impending danger, Wan-ching spares his life. He returns the favor when she gets a near-lethal dose of poison from a demon. When he drinks the blood of a giant killer snake, Tuan Yi is suddenly in possession of fantastic kung-fu abilities. Later, Tuan Yi and Wan-ching's wedding is thwarted when Wong -- who is now ambulatory thanks to a pair of metal stilts -- captures the couple with plans to serve them up to his giant man-eating, kung-fu fighting monkey. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Following the controversial death of martial-arts superstar Bruce Lee in 1973, theatres were festooned with unauthorized biographies. One of the best of these was 1976's Bruce Lee: His Last Days, His Last Night. Li Hsiu Hsien plays the title character quite efficiently, though he can't help but be a pale shadow of the original. The film focusses on Lee's relationship with actress Betty Ting Pei, and offers its own theory of the cause of his death. Bruce Lee: His Last Days, His Last Nights was released in the U.S. in 1979 under a variety of alternate titles, including Bruce Lee, His Last Days and Bruce Lee and I. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi