Often, I ponder what Hong Kong movies I overlooked on the shelves of the legendary Dave’s Videorama in Carrboro. The store had such an extensive collection of import titles in the mid-90s. I’m willing to believe one VHS box that I passed over was The Postman Fights Back for three reasons. The movie was directed by Ronny Yu (Bride of Chucky) who had become a sensation with The Bride With White Hair. Among the stars on the box was Chow Yun-Fat. He had just become a sensation in John Woo’s The Killer and Hard-Boiled. The film’s producers included Yuen Woo Ping, the director of Jackie Chan’s Drunken Master (and later the action director in The Matrix and Kill Bill movies). This Golden Harvest produced tape had to be part of the store’s inventory. I just didn’t have to time or knowledge to rent it. The good news is The Postman Fights Back is out on Blu-ray and looks better than the VHS cassette.
The action takes place during the Republic of China era in the early 1900s. The Pigtail Bandits occupied the mountain region in the North. Other bandit groups try to claim the territory and cause turmoil. Amongst this constant danger strides Courier Ma (Knockabout‘s Bryan Leung). He delivers the mail to remote villages although he gets a sense that he’ll be replaced when the trains come through the area. There’s a sense that he might need a way to score some money for the upcoming transitionary period of his life. That offer arrives when he’s asked by Hsu (Lethal Weapon 4‘s Eddy Ko) to deliver packages to a remote place as a birthday present. Ma turns him down since all he handles are letters. The offer is too good. His pal Yao Jie (Yuen Yat-Cho) wants them to take the offer. Ma gives in, but they also get explosives expert Bu (Year of the Dragon‘s Fan Mei-Sheng) to join them on the treacherous journey. Hsu insists that Fu Jun (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon‘s Chow Yun-Fat) joins the trio to make sure his parcels aren’t opened. If they can’t be delivered, the boxes must be destroyed. The trip through the wilderness is dangerous with numerous bandit tribes attacking them. There’s even a time when a group with spears and skates attacks them on a frozen lake. This is an epic journey. There’s a question of what’s inside the cases being delivered and who is going to sign for them at their destination. Will this be a fun birthday party?
The Postman Fights Back brings a touch of the Old West to the East. There is that sensation that the industrial revolution was going to change this untamed part of China (actually South Korea). The mailman pushing the story keeps it from feeling like a Western we’ve seen before. There are bullets flying across the screen, but martial arts and handheld weapons dominate the action. Chow Yun-Fat plays the badass to the hilt. He even has cool devices like James West in The Wild Wild West up his sleeves to deal with the bandits. You could sense in this film from 1982 that Chow was going to get even more roles. Even though Chow is so cool on the screen, Bryan Leung doesn’t vanish as the mailman who gets pulled into this dangerous delivery. He gets into a nasty fight for the finale that is brutal with an original finishing move. Ronny Yu visually ramps up the film including the final destination for the packages. There’s a lot of great and unusual fights on the screen. The most unexpected is martial arts fighting on ice. It’s like a bloody drenched Ice Capades. There are two cuts included on the Blu-ray. The Hong Kong Cut is 91 minutes. The Export Cut is 89 minutes. You’ll want to see the Hong Kong Cut first. The Postman Fights Back should not be overlooked on the shelf like I once foolishly did.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The transfer looks sharp. You’ll feel cold during the frozen lake fight. Compared to the clips in the bonus features, they’ve done a major restoration. The Audio on the Hong Kong Cut is Cantonese DTS-HD MA 2.0. The Export Cut has an English 5.1 DTS-HD MA cut. There’s also a Mono English soundtrack with an alternate score. Both versions are subtitled in English.
Audio Commentary with Ronny Yu and Hong Kong Film Expert Frank Djeng. The directors explains so much about how the film came together and the dangers of the location filming. There’s also a second track with just Frank Djeng. The Export Cut has an audio commentary by Stephan Hammond.
Interview with Chow Yun-Fat (7:16) has him recount his TV career that started in 1973. He worked in TV until 1986. He gets into meeting John Woo in 1986 and making A Better Tomorrow. He delves deep into his friendship with Woo over the years.
Interview with Leung Kar-Yan 1 (7:43) is from a previous release. He talks of the half a year it took to shoot the film. He gets into the frozen lake and the mountains. It was not an easy shoot. The coldness was extreme. He illustrates how he got introduced to the Korean’s spicy soup. We get the details on the actress who broke her leg on location.
Interview with Leung Kar-Yan 2 (9:19) is also vintage. He gets into starting out at Shaw Brothers in December of 1974. He worked with Chang Cheh. He didn’t do much training before going before the camera. He learned Kung Fu while working on the films. He talks about his preference for Wing Chun fighting on screen.
Interview with Ronny Yu (8:11) is a vintage interview where he talks about the pony express element in Westerns. He wanted to work with Chow Yun Fat. Because of a dispute with a TV station, Chow couldn’t make movies in Hong Kong so Ronny found a project perfect for South Korea. He speaks about things that happened during the filming.
Ronny Yu Phat Samurai Interview (12:38) has an online interview with Frank Djeng joining in on the teleconference. Yu talks about growing up and watching the Magnificent Seven, The Professional and The Wild Bunch. He gets into Kurasawa’s Red Beard. Ronny didn’t intend to be a director. He wanted to be a producer and package films. Nobody wanted to direct his script that he had funding for so him and his co-writer directed to keep the money from vanishing. They get into The Postman Strikes Back. He explains how they had to stop shooting twice.
Original Hong Kong Trailer (4:00) has Ronny Yu hyped as a “new wave director.” Chow Yun-Fat is billed as “Heaven’s Favorite Son.”
Stills Gallery (2:07) includes posters, press photos and promotional artwork.
88 Films present The Postman Fights Back. Directed by Ronny Yun. Screenplay by Ronny Yu, Chan Kiu-ying, Koo Siu-wah & Yau-tai On-ping. Starring: Bryan Leung, Chow Yun-fat, Fan Mei-sheng, Yuen Yat-cho, Eddy Ko, Cherie Chung & Kuk Ching-suk. Running Time: 91 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: September 12, 2023.
