Heart of Dragon


Heart of Dragon, released in the United Kingdom as Heart of the Dragon, is a 1985 Hong Kong action drama film directed by Sammo Hung, who also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars Jackie Chan, Emily Chu and Mang Hoi. It also features Yuen Biao serving as the action director for the film.
It is also known by the titles as The First Mission and Powerman III.

Background

The film is unusual in that although featuring Sammo Hung and Lam Ching-ying, two actors famed for their kung fu abilities, neither actually perform any martial arts. Golden Harvest had wanted Hung to perform fight scenes in the film, but he refused, rationalising "My character was mentally retarded, mentally disabled, so how can you ask me to fall down and suddenly become well again? And fight? They knew my fighting skills and wanted me to be part of the action but I thought that would have completely destroyed the tone of the film, the principles behind the film."
The action is left to Chan and his fellow CID officers, Mang Hoi, Yuen Wah, Peter Chan and Corey Yuen. Despite the relative lack of action scenes, the film was nominated for the Best Action Choreography award at the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards in 1986. It was beaten by Chan's Police Story.
The bad guys are led by James Tien and include Dick Wei, Chung Fat, Phillip Ko and Kao Sau-leung. The film also features a small role for Wu Ma as a restaurant owner, and like My Lucky Stars, Sammo Hung's real life brother makes a cameo appearance as a Policeman.

Cast and roles

As this was intended as a dramatic film, showing a different side of Hung's acting abilities, it contains comparatively few action scenes. Two additional fight scenes were filmed, but these were cut from both the domestic Hong Kong print and the international print of the film. Due to the demands of certain markets, these scenes were included in some prints of the film, notably the Japanese release. They are included as additional features on the US, UK and Australian DVD releases of the film.

Box office

This film grossed HK$20.3 million at the Hong Kong box office. Although a commercial success, it was considerably low compared to the other Jackie Chan action blockbusters of the 80's.

Awards and nominations