EDITOR’S NOTE: The Screaming Tiger was on USA Up All Night on August 3, 1990, as Wang Yu, King of Boxing.
Also known as Ten Fingers of Steel and Screaming Ninja — there are no ninjas — this follows Ma Tai-Yung (Jimmy Wang Yu) as he travels to Japan. He isn’t there for the scenery. He’s there because a local karate school, run by the relentlessly evil Ying Wu (Lung Fei), massacred his entire village and his family.
Ma quickly finds himself knee-deep in trouble, first dealing with a pickpocket ring exploiting orphans—led by Chang Ching-Ching—and then aligning with a Korean fighter (Lu Ping) who has his own axe to grind with the same karate school. It’s a three-pronged assault against the local baddies, set against the backdrop of a brewing conflict between the evil karate school and an honorable local kendo school led by Ma Chi.
Basically, Jimmy Wang Yu takes on all of Japan and kills plenty of people.
The choreography by Huang Fei-Long and Pan Chuan-Ling is wild, as it mixes up karate, kendo, judo and even sumo. None of that prepares you for the last 20 minutes, a marathon of violence that starts on a cliff, moves to a train, jumps to a bridge and culminates in a brutal fistfight under a waterfall.
This movie is also brave enough to hijack Morricone’s scores. You’ll hear “The Man With the Harmonica” and “Jill’s Theme” while a mysterious stranger with a literal wastebasket on his head wanders around.
It’s a raw, violent revenge epic where Jimmy Wang Yu punches a guy into oblivion, then punches someone else and whips his arms around.
You can watch this on Tubi.
