Li Wen-Tai
|
Biography
Another actor, who worked at Cathay Studios on such films as - From The Highway, Pursued, Mission To Die, Escort Over Tiger Hill, and more), before joining Shaw Brothers. These films (and his villianous look), kind of "stereo-typed" the future roles he would receive -- and he played them well. He threw Chen Kuan-Tai and Cheng Kang-Yeh out of his hotel, in Boxer From Shantung, he tried to cheat Chan Wei-Man out of his wages in Chinese Hercules, and he tried to kill "Tetsuro Tamba" in 7 Blows Of The Dragon. Normally, you can find him in a crowd of hooligans, waiting to sneak up on you and take a stab at you. This screen veteran has been in a number of films (rarely playing a good guy) -- while (always) making his presence known.
He had me cracking up when he fought Li I-Min in the excellent Drunken Arts, Crippled Fists, where he sent his head through a brick wall and had to have his head bandaged up. At times he will display some skills, but never enough to keep your eyes glued on him (unless someone is beating him up). A seasoned actor who like many, worked on numerous films at Shaw Brothers, before finding work in just about as many Independent productions, as you can name. Not the calibre of talent that can carry a movie on his skills or acting alone, his claim to fame was (usually) snitching or setting someone up to be killed. I thought he was funny, as the guy trying to cheat Michelle Yeoh out of her money in Magnificent Warriors, one of his better performances, given the time he (usually) spends onscreen.