Review: Bolo (1977)

A decision is made to appoint two prison inmates to act as lawmen in a crime-ridden village, after the previous sheriff was beheaded. One is unscrupulous con artist Jason Piao Pai, the other is the hulking Bolo (played by Bolo Yeung). Brains and brawn basically, with Bolo taking the gig far more seriously than his shifty comrade. And that puts Bolo at odds with the village’s corrupt mayor, who tries to poison him.


Yes, scary-looking veteran martial arts henchman Bolo Yeung once directed and starred in a movie. No, this 1977 martial arts comedy is not as cool as you’re picturing in your head. Scripted by Yeung Hon Ning, it’s got some fun moments but not enough to make the film worthwhile. I figured Bolo was tired of playing secondary heavies or one scene cameos and decided to make a film where he’s the lead. He’s certainly the main focus here, but oddly enough he seems to have conceded top-billing to Jason Piao Pai. The latter is fine, but he’s no Bolo that’s for damn sure. Bolo also serves as Production Manager and co-fight choreographer with the aforementioned Jason Piao Pai.


Bolo sports long unkempt hair and a beard here which makes him look like WWF/WCW legend Haku (AKA Meng), another person I’d still be wary of messing with even in old age. There are stories. It’s a bit of fun to see Bolo being silly here, and some of it is genuinely amusing. In terms of action, you can’t say this film is in short supply. There’s plenty of martial arts on show. Bolo does a bit of his patented martial arts style where he looks away from his opponent, but he varies things up quite a bit as well. He makes interesting use of a chair in one fight, and throws a mean kick. Unfortunately the oveall artificiality and dance-like nature of this kind of martial arts does become more apparent than usual. That mean kick for instance rarely lands with much force or impact. I did like one fight where Bolo basically just tosses three guys around and makes them look stupid. That was fun, as was the final two-on-one fight.


On the whole I hate to say it, but I found Bolo’s co-star to have the more dynamic and impactful-looking martial arts here and there’s too much comedy thrown in to the action for my liking as well. Even that final fight isn’t as much fun as it should be because why would you need to team up with someone when you’re built like a brick shithouse like Bolo?


It’s not a bad film, but there’s only fits and starts of something enjoyable here. I can see why it’s somewhat obscure. Please don’t hurt me, Bolo.


Rating: C

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