A Man Called Tiger Booklet

Reel East is proud to celebrate the career of the OTHER great action hero of the 1970s with The Jimmy Wang Yu Collection.

A native of Jiangsu, Wang Yu was raised in Shanghai, and relocated to Hong Kong in 1960. There Wang became a champion water polo player, and attracted the attention of director Chang Cheh when he became involved in a televised poolside brawl. He was signed to a contract by Shaw Bros, and came into his own when directed by the leading action film-maker of the day, Chang Cheh.

Chang Cheh directed Jimmy Wang Yu in the ground-breaking actioner ‘One-Armed Swordsman’, a huge success that established Wang as the pre-eminent swordplay hero of his day. In 1970, Wang Yu directed and starred in ‘The Chinese Boxer’, a film that revived fist-and-foot, rather than swordplay, action. Its success paved the way for the return to Hong Kong of another kung fu expert, Bruce Lee.

After producer Raymond Chow left Shaw Bros to form his Golden Harvest company, Wang Yu followed suit, breaking his contract and relocating to Taiwan, where he set up his own production base. It was from there that Jimmy produced, directed and starred in a string of films, many of which were distributed by Golden Harvest.

After the success of Bruce Lee’s two films with director Lo Wei, ‘The Big Boss’ and ‘Fist of Fury’, Golden Harvest studio planned for the pair to shoot a third on location in Japan. This was to be a 007 meets the yakuza style thriller. Lee, who was prepared to make his directorial debut ‘The Way of the Dragon’, and rejected Lo Wei’s ‘A Man Called Tiger’ script as sub-standard. Producer Raymond Chow then decided to replace Bruce with Jimmy Wang Yu, who then flew to Tokyo to shoot for Lo Wei along with several key players from Lee’s earlier films, including Han Ying-chieh, James Tien, Tien Feng and Lee Kwan.

Though very much more a Wang Yu style actioner than a Bruce Lee movie, ‘A Man Called Tiger’ was a decent sized hit across Asia.

A Man Called Tiger’ now has its own place in Hong Kong cinema was ‘the film Bruce Lee rejected’. Fans who previously dismissed Wang Yu as being nothing but an inferior rival to Bruce Lee have come to admire Jimmy as a star with his own charisma, courage and persona.

Reel East is proud to share this rare promotional booklet, printed by Golden Harvest to promote the original theatrical release of the film.