ARROW BLU RAY RELEASE: Millionaires’ Express (1986)
Starting in Russia, we meet Ching Fong-tin (Sammo Hung, who directed and wrote this), who gets caught by Russian soldiers as he steals from them. They make him strip and dance for them, but then he throws their grenades into their cabin and blows them all up real good.
Ching’s hometown of Hon Sui Town doesn’t have the same luck that he does. Banks are being robbed and set on fire as everyone struggles to keep it together. But what if that new train that’s coming through town, filled with rich politicians and merchants, and if he works to derail it, everyone will have to spend their money and keep Hon Sui Town alive. And by that, I mean that he’s starting a new brothel and plans on getting rich. Yuen Biao is the fire chief, while Hwang Jang-lee, Yasuaki Kurata and Yukari Oshima are a trio of samurai with a map to the grave of the terracotta warriors and Richard Norton and Cynthia Rothrock show up as bandits dressed like U.S. calvary officers out to rob everyone on the train.
These are just facts. The reason to watch this is that it’s absolutely packed with action, like Sammo Hung found it his mission in life to entertain you and got everyone else on the same page and they were all like, “Let’s make the wildest Eastern Western movie of all time.” Then they called Bolo Yeung, Shih Kien from Enter the Dragon. Is that enough? Well, what if they got Jimmy Wang Yu and he was like, “Remember how awesome I was in One-Armed Boxer and Master of the Flying Guillotine and pretty much popularized unarmed combat? I’m here too!”
It also has a moment where Yuen Biao jumps out of a burning building two stories to the ground below and the camera never cuts as he starts delivering dialogue despite the fact that this stunt broke his leg. This kind of entertainment is dangerous, as in one scene, Hung kicked Biao Yuen so hard in the chest that the actor couldn’t breathe until he got assistance from Kar Lok Chin.
The Arrow Video blu ray set of this movie is just as devoted to being awesome as the movie itself. It has new 2K restorations by Fortune Star.
Restorations? That’s because there are four different cuts of the movie: the Hong Kong theatrical cut, an extended international version, the English export and a hybrid cut that unites every version for the most complete version of Millionaire’s Express. There’s also a double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Gilbey, an illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jonathan Clements and David West and a reversible sleeve featuring original and new artwork by Sam Gilbey,
Extras include commentary on the theatrical cut by Frank Djeng; commentary on the extended version by Mike Leeder and Arne Venemam; select scene commentary from Cynthia Rothrock, moderated by Frank Djeng; three interviews with Rthrock; two with Hung; interviews with Yuen Biao and Yukari Oshima; alternate English opening and closing credits and a trailer gallery.
You can get this from MVD.
You can also stream this movie on the Arrow player. Visit ARROW to start your 30-day free trial. Subscriptions are available for $4.99 monthly or $49.99 yearly. ARROW is available in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland on the following Apps/devices: Roku (all Roku sticks, boxes, devices, etc), Apple TV & iOS devices, Android TV and mobile devices, Fire TV (all Amazon Fire TV Sticks, boxes, etc), and on all web browsers at https://www.arrow-player.com.
Share this:
Like this:
Like
Loading…
