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Chiu Man-Chuk (1973)

Personal Details   Filmography

The rise and fall (and rise?) of Chiu Man-Chuk.

When someone finally writes the definitive overview of Hong Kong action movies in the 20th century, Mainland-born martial arts star Chiu Man-Chuk may finally get his due. This rangy, hawk-featured action hero has spent too long in shadows not of his own casting. When Chiu first made the move to Hong Kong, he became enamoured of sultry songstress Anita Mui. To this day, he his sometimes referred to, dismissively, as 'Mui Yim-Fong's boyfriend'. He made his big screen debut opposite Jet Li in Fong Say-Yuk, then found himself forced to fill the Jetster's wu shu shoes in episode 4 and 5 of the Once Upon A Time In China series. Though he fared poorly in critical comparisons with his prodecessor, Chiu was subsequently cast in an OUATIC TV series. The show ran over-budget to such an extent that it bankrupt the Power Impact production company. This inauspicious start cast a pall over his later work. The hyper-violence of Tsui Hark's epic The Blade turned off Hong Kong audiences. The underrated action comedy Mahjong Dragon also failed to find favour. The muddled pro-China message of The Black Sheep Affair managed to eclipse Chiu's virtuoso martial arts performance. Of late, the star has been reduced to lead roles in a pair of Wong Jing-produced pot-boilers, Body Weapon and Fist Power. Another TV series, Hero Of Shanghai, remains unreleased. All is not lost, though. Chia has been cast as an heroic kung fu master in a big-budget Ching Siu-Tung actioner. Given the Hollywood success of his countryman, and former on-screen sparring partner, Jet Li, it's surely only a matter of time before international cinema beckons. For now, let's look back, without anger, at the career of a dragon still yet to have his day...

Zhou Wing Zhou, now better known by his Cantonese name, 'Chiu Man-Chuk', hails from Harbin, a region to the North-East of the Chinese capital, Beijing. His family was far from prosperous. Chiu recalls that his parents had to save for two years to buy a TV set. Chiu's long limbs and strong build are typical for the men-folk of this region. Unusually, for such a tall youth, he was accepted by a major Beijing sports research institute, and drilled in the Chinese performance martial art of Wu Shu. The actor credits his first five years of training with effecting his transformation from rebellious youth to disciplined student. After studying various forms of Wu Shu and competing in several tournaments, Chiu enrolled in the university of Beijing, where he took a course in physical education. It was there that he first encountered director Tsui Hark, who had come to Beijing to scout new talent. He suggested Chiu for the role of Jet Li's nemesis in the Yuen Kuei-directed Fong Say-Yuk. Yuen crafted a memorable introductory scene for Chiu, who plays the Governor, a high-ranking Manchu official. Travelling incognito, he arrives at a blacksmiths run by Ming rebels. He wipes them out single-handedly in a fight remarkable for its sheer brutality. (It features an arm-breaking technique that Steven Seagal would flinch from) Later in the film, the Governor clashed with Li's heroic Fong, leading to a spectacular duel between two Wu Shu wizards.

Tsui also cast Chiu in a supporting role as a Buddhist monk in his epic failure Green Snake. The film stars Maggie Heroic Trio Cheung and Joey A Chinese Ghost Story Wang as a pair of female snake spirits preying on mankind. Despite the charms of its leading players, the film can't survive the substandard special effects, including a rubber serpent worthy of Ed Wood and an animated fowl that's clearly a first cousin of Sesame Street's Big Bird.

After a falling out between Tsui Hark and Jet Li, the latter declined to return to the fold for a planned fourth film in the Once Upon A Time In China series. Undeterred, Tsui cast Chiu in the role. At the time, Chiu's performance was judged only in comparison with that of Jet Li, rather than on its own merits. Seen again, it seems unfair to blame the film's (relative) failure on Chiu. As had been the case with OUATIC3, Tsui focused more on the arcane Chinese art of lion dancing than the kind of stylised kung fu action seen in the first two films. It wasn't that Chiu lacked the martial arts moves to carry the role. Hands behind his back, he performs an opening Wu Shu routine with regal grace. Later in the movie, he escapes from jail, taking out his captors with a fast-paced display of Wong Fei-Hung's trademark Shadowless Kick. Actingwise, it's true, he lacked experience, but Chiu was given far weaker material than Li. The first three OUATIC films had developed a love affair between Wong and his '13th aunt', Peony, played by Rosamund Kwan. Unfortunately, Kwan is absent from the fourth film, replaced by her character's sister (Jean Wang from Iron Monkey). The low-key romance between her and Wong plays uncomfortably. Chiu shows some of the presence he would display in later films in the scene where Wong Fei-Hung performs the mourning loin dance for a dead friend.

Underterred, Tsui, perhaps intent on showing he could make OUATIC films without Jet Li, went into production with a fifth film in the series. (The film was actually completed a full year before it's eventual release.) This dark epic, which is generally better realised that its predecessor, sees Chiu's Wong Fei-Hung take on a vicious pirate band that stalks the South China coast. Though the plot may own a little to Jackie Chan's Project A, the execution is far removed. The stand-out fight sequence is a battle between Wong and a hundred-year-old pirate king, set in an Aladdin's cave of plundred riches. OUATIC5 also saw Chiu sustain one of the most potentially serious injuries of his action film career. During a scene where he is meant to avoid a thrown gun, Chiu moved right instead of left and was struck in the eye by the weapon.

Chiu went on to play Wong Fei-Hung in a 27-episode TV series, produced by Tsui Hark. This extravagant show drew heavily on the old black-and-white 'Wong Fei-Hung' films for its inspiration. The best cycle of episodes, The Eight Assassins, was inspired by the Kwan Tak-Hing classic Wong Fei-Hung: Combat With The Five Wolves. Though there may have been a sense of old wine in a new bottle, Tsui did deliver new elements to the Wong Fei-Hung cannon. In The Headless General, a kung fu version of Sleepy Hollow, Wong must content with the supernatural, and a female Beggar So (Cheng Pei Pei). In The Ideal Century, Wong and his students make the political gestures of cutting off their pig-tails. This same episode also saw the death of 13th aunt, played here by Maggie Siu. (The character who kills her off is played by Elaine Ng Yee-Lai, the actress who would later achieve notoriety as the mother of Jackie Chan's illegitimate daughter.)

Despite his long association with Wong Fei-Hung, Chiu himself has admitted that he feels that Jet Li was better suited to the role than he. He points out that he was only twenty years old when he first played Wong, meaning that he was significantly younger, and less experienced, than the other leading players. If it did nothing else, the OUATIC TV series gave Chiu an overdue chance to hone his craft as an actor. The result was his finest performance to date, in one of the best Hong Kong swordplay actioners ever crafted: The Blade...

I once heared somwhere, that Bey Logan got his first hint that Golden Harvest were planning a remake of The One-Armed Swordsman when he visited the studio, and came across a GH employee scanning a boot-leg copy of the old Wang Yu classic. His task was to find out how much material they could savely lift from the original. The Blade is a blood-rich tapestry painted on the canvas outline of the 1967 swordplay classic. Chiu plays Ting On, one of the apprentices of a famed swordsmith. When his master's daughter is kidnapped by bandits, Ting On sets out to rescue her, and is maimed by his foes. Surviving the loss of his arm, he develops a unique mono-limbed sword style that enables him to take revenge. Woven around this slender plot-line are twists and twirls romantic entanglements, with the whole piece driven by the most purely energised film-making Tsui Hark has ever delivered. The Blade is one of the few Hong Kong actioners that might genuinely be put in the same class as Kurasara's epic chanbara calssics.

Tsui also cast Chiu in his hilarious filmic food fight A Chinese Feast. Chiu plays a straight dramatic part, that of a Mainland Chinese master chef forced to ally himself with a down-and-out Hong Kong cook, played by Kenny Bee. Though not known for his acting skills, Chiu brings a gentle dignity to this role.

After his contract with Tsui Hark ended, Chiu was signed by the short-lived Cinemagic film company. His only film for the company, Mahjong Dragon, saw Chiu cast opposite his Fong Sai-Yuk co-star Josephine Siao. Though the film failed to find much favour either at home, in Asia, or abroad, among the worldwide fan community, it has much to recommend it. Siao plays Sau Tin, a never-do-well Hong Kong lady cop addicted to gambling. She finds herself coerced into travelling to China in search of a husband. Chiu is Quick Hands, a man on the run from his past. He sees her as his passport to safety, she sees his gambling skills as a ticket to a life in luxury. Though the style of film is unconsistent, their relationship, which lies at it's heart, rings true.

After his contract with Tsui Hark ended, Chiu was signed by the short-lived Cinemagic film company. His only film for the company, Mahjong Dragon, saw Chiu cast opposite his Fong Sai-Yuk co-star Josephine Siao. Though the film failed to find much favour either at home, in Asia, or abroad, among the worldwide fan community, it has much to recommend it. Siao plays Sau Tin, a never-do-well Hong Kong lady cop addicted to gambling. She finds herself coerced into travelling to China in search of a husband. Chiu is Quick Hands, a man on the run from his past. He sees her as his passport to safety, she sees his gambling skills as a ticket to a life in luxury. Though the style of film is unconsistent, their relationship, which lies at it's heart, rings true.

Despite the failure of Mahjong Dragon, Chiu was soon signed by Jet Li's new home company, China Star. Producer Charles Heung cast him in a glossy action thriller entitled The Black Sheep Affair. The film is the perfect Hong Kong video/DVD release, as it makes absolutely no sense when screened start to finish in a theatre. At home you can fast-forward through the heavy-handed political message (basically, China is great, and the Tiananmen protestors got it wrong...), and savour Ching Siu-Tung's bravura action sequences. (Though Allun Lam is credited as helmer, Ching ghost-directed much of the film.) Chiu excels in both the gunplay and hand-to-hand combat scenes. He's one of the few Hong Kong heroes who really looks the part, head-to-foot, and Black Sheep Affairthe first contemporary vehicle in which he really gets to show his stuff. The film provides Chiu's Yim Dong with a worthy foil in the person of Taiwanese-American actor Andrew Lin, who plays a corrupt Japanese cultural leader. The lovely Shu Qi provides the love interest as the former love of Yim's life. Though it may not have delivered dramatically, Black Sheep Affair is, for pure slam-bang contemporary Hong Kong martial arts action, hard to beat.

Unfortunately, Black Sheep Affair proved to be another box office disappointment, and so Chiu moved to the small screen. His series Hero Of Shanghai, loosely inspired by Bruce Lee's Fist Of Fury, featured an all-action star supporting cast, including Yuen Wah, Moon Lee and Yasuaki Kurata. In another show, Mulan, he plays the comrade in arms of Anita Yuen's soldier girl-disguised-as-a-boy. Unfortunately, neither his physicality nor his charm were given much chance to shine among the clunky plots, clumsy costumes and frozen exteriors of this Beijing-based series.

With two films still to run on his big-screen contract, China star loaned Chiu out to prolific producer Wong Jing. Wong rushed two vehicles into production: Body Weapon and Fist Power. The former is a kung fu version of 8MM, with a dash of the camp cult classic Naked Killer thrown in. Chiu is cast as Kwan, a Hong Kong cop whose partner, Lee (Stephen Au), is brutally murdered on his wedding night. The killers are a trio of brutal rapists. Both Kwan and Lee's widow (busty TVB starlet Pinky Cheung) seek revenge, each using their own Body Weapon in a different way. This twisted little film is by far Chiu's weakest offering to date. The fight choreography, by Jackie Chan Stunt Team member Sam Lee, is so choppily edited that it's hard to discern the star's genuine martial arts prowess.

Fist Of Power is slightly better, a flashback to the contemporary martial arts actioners of the 1980s. No one could complain that the film lacks fisticuffs, but it's definetely a case of quantity over quality. Chiu is Brian Cheuk, a Mainland Chinese security specialist. (You know it's a new century when the lead character in an action movie is called 'Brian'.) Cheuk is forced to fight his way across Hong Kong in order to stop deranged former soldier Charles (Anthony Wong) from detonating a school full of kids. This low-budget film's guilty pleasures include Chiu's Shaw Brothers cast of a family (Lau Kar-Wing, Wai Yin-Hung, Cheng Pei Pei) and a brace of duels between him and Jude 'the best they could get for the money' Poyer. It's production values and  pacing are far superior to those of Body Weapon. Unfortunately, the action choreography looks rushed throughout, and, in terms of structure, Fist Power fails to deliver the kind of final reel knock-out demanded by this genre.

Given the heat Hong kong action heroes are generating in Hollywood, it seems natural for Chiu's career to be aiming Westwards. As yet, he speaks little English, but, if Jet Li and Sammo Hung can master the language, this should prove a relatively minor hurdle. More problematic is his relationship with China Star, which has already lost one major to Hollywood. There was talk about Chiu's shooting an international film in Australia, and also rumours that he would be taking up the role of Black Mask in the forthcoming sequel to the Chinese superhero flick. Instead, he's scheduled to shoot another Hong Kong-produced martial arts film. There was ample evidence of his overseas appeal when, under China Star's auspices, he attended the 1998 Cinefantasia festival in Montreal. The ever-lively Canadian audience cheered him to the echo at a screening of Black Sheep Affair. There's also concern from the Jet Li camp that Chiu might one day provide stiff competition. His name was deleted, presumably by Li's management, from a guest list of artistes invited to attend the Hong Kong opening of Lethal Weapon 4. Whatever may befall him in Hollywood, this is one action star who's learnt the value of stamina. Unlikey many of his comrades, he's evidently continued to develop his skills. Both his kicking and his physique are better than they were when he entered the industry. After a career that's presented more than it's fair share of challenges, his sheer ability should stand him in good stead, and Chiu Man-Chuk may yet beat the odds...

Written on April 17th 2002

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