Hwang Jang-Lee

Hwang Jang-Lee is a Korean martial arts film actor, who was especially talented in kick fighting. He was nicknamed King of the Leg Fighters and others.

Background

Consistently being given villain roles in B-movie productions, Hwang's kicks earned him nicknames such as King of the Leg Fighters, The Ultimate Bootmaster or even Lord of the Superkickers by his fellow martial artists.

Hwang is the son of Korean immigrates. He was born December 13, 1944 in Osaka, during the time where Japan was bombed by the U.S. A few months later, the family returned to Korea after the Japanese government closed his father's company. At the age of 14, Hwang begins to take taekwondo lessons. As he gets very advanced (he shall reach the 7th dan rank), Hwang becomes an instructor in the Korean army in 1965.

During the Vietnam war, he was sent to Vietnam to train Korean troops and entered a tragic confrontation. A South Vietnamese knife expert challenged him and was killed by him with a circular kick right in the temple. According to witnesses, it was indeed self-defense.

Film career

He played in many Hong Kong movies. At first, he appeared in some "bruceploitation" movies (films starred by Bruce Lee look alikes). He meets Bruce Li in Behind Bruce Lee (aka Bruce Lee Fights Back From the Grave) (1976); Secret of Bruce Lee aka Bruce Lee's Deadly Kung Fu (1976), by Bruce Le; Bruce, King of Kung Fu (1980); Bruce Le Strikes Back (1982) or even a whole myriad of clones at the same time in Enter Three Dragons (1979), with Bruce Li, Bruce Le, Bruce Lai, Bruce Lea and Bruce Thai (!!!), even acting side to side with stock footage of Bruce Lee in Game of Death 2, (1981).

During this period, Hwang is also found in villain roles in two movies who made the celebrity of Jackie Chan: Snake in the Eagle's Shadow and especially Drunken Master (both from 1978). During the famous ending of this latter movie, there are rumors saying that Hwang didn't hold back all his blows and broke some of Jackie's teeth!

Hwang tries to be a director by directing himself, such as in Fearless Master Fighter (1979) or Hitman in the Hand of Buddha (1981), this time playing as protagonists. Alas, those attempts are unsuccesful as Hwang is still associated as a villain by the audience. He therefore keeps his career this way and meets producer Joseph Lai and his associate Godfrey Ho.

Hwang Jang-Lee is then found successively in Martial Monks of Shaolin Temple (1981) and 5 Pattern Dragon Claw (a.k.a. Dragon’s Claw a.k.a. Thundering Fist, 1982), both directed by Ho for Filmark, then in Buddhist Fist and Tiger Claws (1982), Eagle Vs Silver Fox (1982) and Secret Ninja, Roaring Tiger, a.k.a. Secret Ninja a.k.a. Justice of the Ninja (1982), still directed by Ho but for Asso Asia Film Production.

Hwang shall find the peak of this collaboration in the memorable Ninja Terminator (1985), Ho having used his movie-cross between a cheap kung-fu flick and a ninja flick. In Ninja Terminator, Hwang interpretes a villain with a spectacular wig who shall never meet the hero, Richard Harrison, thanks to the "2 in 1" magic (sticking two movies together, a specialty of Ho).

This encounter also occurred in the very promising Challenge of the Tiger (aka Dragon Bruce Lee aka Gymkata Killer, 1980 – 1985 according to the IMDB) directed by Bruce Le himself, with Richard Harrison, Hwang himself, Bolo Yeung, May Hong, Dick Randall … Bruce Le and Harrison played as two CIA agents charged with the mission of preventing terrorists from getting a secret chemical formula that is able to sterilize all male humankind of the world! The first agent (Le) is hot-headed and breaks apart anything that moves (he slashes the skull of a bull bare-handed in an arena), the second one is a hedonist playboy (he plays tennis with babes, their busom in the air, everything shot in slow motion of course…). This movie is apparently a true gem, according to the reviewer from www.rarekungfumovies.com who places it in the same level as the mythical Clones of Bruce Lee.

In 1989, Hwang meets another great camp figure: the great Max Thayer in the explosive action-packed No Retreat, No Surrender 2, which also includes Cynthia Rothrock and Matthias Hues.

Starting from the 90's, after having energically fought in about sixty movies, Hwang makes a job change. No longer on the movie sets, he goes leading a golf-material-making company (which would have quickly gone down), a hotel in Seoul and a bodyguard agency.

He still appears in Emperor of the Underworld (1994) (directed by himself) and in Boss (1996), two Korean movies with a small budget. He is apparently now retired on Cheju island.

External links