Eastern Condors

Eastern Condors
Original film poster
Directed by	Sammo Hung
Written by	Barry Wong
Produced by	Corey Yuen Wu Ma Jeffrey Lau Leonard Ho
Starring	Sammo Hung Yuen Biao Joyce Godenzi Yuen Wah Lam Ching-ying Yuen Woo-ping Corey Yuen Billy Chow
Cinematography	Au Gaam Hung Arthur Wong
Edited by	Peter Cheung
Music by	Sherman Chow
Production companies	Bo Ho Films Paragon Films
Distributed by	Golden Harvest
Release date	9 July 1987 (1987-07-09)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Languages	Cantonese English
Box office	HK$21,606,063[1]

Eastern Condors (Chinese: 東方禿鷹) is a 1987 Hong Kong action film directed by Sammo Hung, who also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars Yuen Biao, Joyce Godenzi, Yuen Wah, Lam Ching-ying, Yuen Woo-ping, Corey Yuen and Billy Chow. The film was released in Hong Kong on 9 July 1987.

Plot[]

Lieutenant Colonel Lam is an American army officer given a top-secret mission by the US military. The mission entails entering Vietnam to destroy an old American bunker filled with missiles before the Viet Cong can get to them.

Due to the dangerous nature of the mission, a group of Chinese American soldier convicts are selected to accompany him, led by Tung Ming-sun. Survivors are promised a pardon, U.S. citizenship and $200,000 each. After a brief training session they are dropped into Vietnam. During the jump, Lam learns too late that the mission has been aborted.

Once in enemy territory, they are met by some Cambodian guerrillas led by Godenzi and take refuge in a small town. There they meet Weasel (aka Chieh Man-yeh), and his mentally ill "Uncle", Yeung.

Later, the squad is captured and incarcerated in a POW camp, where the prisoners are forced to play Russian roulette in a similar manner to the film The Deer Hunter. After escaping, they discover that one of the Cambodian guerrillas is a traitor. With the Vietnamese military in pursuit, they are able to reach the bunker, where a final showdown with the (giggling) Vietnamese general occurs.

Cast[]

• Sammo Hung as Tung Ming-sun
• Yuen Biao as "Weasel" / Chieh Man-yeh
• Haing S. Ngor as Lung Yeung
• Joyce Godenzi as Guerrilla Girl Leader
• Chui Man-yan as Guerrilla Girl #2
• Ha Chi-chun as Lau Shun Ying / Guerrilla Girl #3
• Lam Ching-ying as Lieutenant Colonel Lam
• Melvin Wong as Colonel Yang Young
• Charlie Chin as Szeto Chin
• Cheung Kwok-keung as Ching Dai-kong
• Billy Lau as Ching Dai-Hoi
• Yuen Woo-ping as Grandpa Yun Yen-hoy
• Corey Yuen as Judy Wu
• Peter Chan as Ma Puk-kau / Potato Onion Head
• Chin Kar-lok as Nguyen Siu-tran
• Hsiao Ho as Phan ManlLung
• Lau Chau-sang as Stuttering Keung
• Yuen Wah as Vietnamese Giggling General
• Yasuaki Kurata as General's elite soldier
• Dick Wei as General's elite soldier
• Billy Chow as General's elite soldier
• Ng Min-kan as General's elite soldier
• James Tien as Village Thug / Angry Customer
• Phillip Ko as Vietnamese Corporal Soldier
• Wu Ma as Vietnamese Corporal Officer
• Kenny Ho as Col Young's commando
• Max Mok as Col Young's commando
• Chung Fat as Col Young's commando
• Michael Miu as Col Young's commando
• Kent Tong as Col Young's commando
• Ben Lam as Col Young's commando
• Andy Dai as Col Young's commando
• Danny Poon as Col Young's commando
• Chris Li as Col Young's commando
• Wan Chi-keung as Col Young's commando

Production[]

The ensemble of convict soldiers in the film is reminiscent of similar squads in American action war films like The Dirty Dozen. Hung believed his normal size and body shape, whilst suited to his comedic characters in his other films, would be inappropriate for a soldier. In order to get into shape for the lead role, Hung lost 30 pounds in 3 months by surviving on a diet of nothing but chicken and rice.^[2] Although set in Vietnam, the most of the film was shot in the Philippines. The scenes set in the United States were actually filmed in Canada.

Theme song[]

• A Condor's Mission (禿鷹使命)
  • Composer: Jonathan Lee
  • Lyricist: Lin Xi
  • Singer: Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Prudence Liew, Susanne Ho, Joyce Godenzi, Billy Lau, Rosanne Lui, Woo Kin-chung, Fundamental

Accolades[]

Home media[]

On 2 April 2001, a Region 2 DVD was released by Hong Kong Legends in the United Kingdom.

See also[]

• Sammo Hung filmography
• List of Hong Kong films
• Yuen Biao filmography

References[]

External links[]

• Eastern Condors at IMDb
• Eastern Condors at AllMovie