Eastern Condors

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;
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Languages	Cantonese; English
Box office	HK$21,606,063

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 a Hong Kong-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 12 Chinese American 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. One of the convicts miscounts when to pull his parachute and dies during the landing.

Once in enemy territory, they are met by 3 Cambodian guerillas and take refuge in a small town. There they meet Rat Chieh (aka Chieh Man-yeh), and his mentally ill "Uncle", Yeung-Lung. Due to a request by Colonel Yeung who died in a plane explosion off-screen, the commandos extract Yeung-Lung and a reluctant Rat who is forced to tag along with the convicts.

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, Yeung-Lung is revealed to have been faking being mentally-ill out of protection and reveals that one of the Cambodian guerrillas is a traitor. The Cambodians execute the traitor after she is revealed by Rat.

With the Vietnamese military in pursuit, they are able to reach the bunker, but the convicts suffer several casualties during the journey. In the bunker Lam orders the convicts to destroy the missiles but is wounded by the Cambodian guerilla leader who wants the missiles for themselves to destroy the Vietnamese and in the process accidentally shoots Yeung-Lung dead. After a brief standoff, the Vietnamese enter the bunker forcing Tung, Rat, Lam, the Cambodians and the remaining convicts to briefly team up and fight the Vietnamese general and his elite soldiers.

During the final battle, the group manages to kill many of the Vietnamese general's elite soldiers but Lam, the Cambodians and most of the convicts are killed in the process. The only survivors are Tung, Rat and Dai Hoi another convict helping them throughout the journey but was tempted to leave several times due to not being told the true nature of the mission. Rat attempts to fight the General but is knocked out in the process. Tung fights and manages to defeat the Giggling General and finishes him by shoving a grenade in the generals mouth.

Tung, Rat and Dai Hoi manage to destroy the missiles and escape the bunker through an underground tunnel where they are rescued by a helicopter presumably flown by the Americans out of Vietnam.

Cast

Sammo Hung as Tung Ming-sun
Yuen Biao as "Rat" / Chieh Man-yeh
Haing S. Ngor as Lung Yeung
Joyce Godenzi as Cambodian Guerrilla Girl Leader
Chui Man-yan as Cambodian Guerrilla Girl #2
Ha Chi-chun as Lau Shun Ying / Cambodian Guerrilla Girl #3
Lam Ching-ying as Lieutenant Colonel Lam
Melvin Wong as Colonel Yang Yeung
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, rice, and low salt soy sauce.^[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

Accolades
Ceremony	Category	Recipient	Outcome
8th Hong Kong Film Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Joyce Godenzi	Nominated
	Best New Performer	Ha Chi-chun	Nominated
	Best Action Choreography	Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Yuen Wah, Corey Yuen, Hsiao Ho	Nominated

Home media

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

References

^ "Eastern Condors (1987)". Hong Kong Movie Database. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
^ Sammo Hung (April 2001). Eastern Condors, interview (DVD). Contender Entertainment Group.