The Tattooed Dragon – Eureka Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Hong Kong, 1973
Director: Lo Wei
Writer: Lo Wei
Cast: Jimmy Wang Yu, Samuel Hui, Sylvia Chang, James Tin, Lee Kwan, Erh Chun, Lee Kwok-Keung, Simon Hsu 

Release Date: July 21st, 2025 (UK), July 22nd, 2025 (USA)
Approximate Running Time: 98 Minutes 49 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 15 (UK), NR (USA)
Sound: LPCM Mono Mandarin, LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A,B
Retail Price: £17.99 (UK), $39.95 (USA)

"Wang Yu stars as the eponymous Tattooed Dragon, a virtuous martial artist who makes a habit of defending the defenseless. After he is injured in a fight, he is taken in by a farmer (Samuel Hui, The Swordsman) and his sweetheart (Chang), and soon finds himself having to defend their local village when it becomes the target of a gangster (Tien) and his crew. Determined to lay their hands on the village’s rich resources, the gangsters install a casino and encourage the locals to gamble away everything they have. But the Tattooed Dragon has other ideas…" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "The Tattooed Dragon presented in 1080p HD from a new 2K restoration."

The Tattooed Dragon comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 36.7 GB

Feature: 31.1 GB

The source used for this transfer looks excellent. Colors are nicely saturated, the image looks crisp, black levels are strong, and there are issues with compression.

Audio: 4.25/5 (LPCM Mono Mandarin), 3.75/5 (LPCM Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Mandarin and a LPCM mono mix in English. Both audio tracks sound clear and balanced. That said, the Mandarin language track sounds more robust. Included are removable English subtitles for the Mandarin language track and removable English subtitles for Mandarin text when watching the English language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a U.S. theatrical trailer (1 minute 12 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), a Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3 minutes 30 seconds, LPCM mono Mandarin with burnt-in English and Cantonese subtitles), alternate opening credits from the English-language release (2 minutes 54 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), an interview with martial arts cinema expert Wayne Wong titled Here Be Dragons (16 minutes 12 seconds, LPCM stereo English with non-removable subtitles for Mandarin film clips), an audio commentary with East Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival), an audio commentary with action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, reversible cover art, an O-card slipcase (limited to 2000 copies), and a 20-page booklet (limited to 2000 copies) with cast & crew information, an essay titled The Big Bosses Golden Harvest and The Tattooed Dragon written by James Oliver and information about the transfer titled Notes on Viewing.

Summary:

Lo Wei directed The Tattooed Dragon. He is best known for directing two Bruce Lee films and six Jackie Chan films.

A virtuous outsider helps a village fight back against a gang who own a casino and are cheating the citizens out of all of their money and property.

Although Lo Wei is not a filmmaker who is known for a distinctive style, when it came to building films around an actor, he was one of Hong Kong’s best in this regard. After working with Bruce Lee on a pair of films, Lo Wei would work with Jimmy Wang Yu on four films: A Man Called Tiger, Seven Magnificent Fights, The Tattooed Dragon, and The Killer Meteors. Where Lo Wei’s other collaborations teamed him up with an up-and-coming actor, Jimmy Wang Yu was one of the biggest names in martial arts cinema at the time. Jimmy Wang Yu often portrayed characters who were injured or lost a limb, and in The Tattooed Dragon his character suffers an injury; early on, his leg is stabbed, causing him to walk with a noticeable hobble.

Martial arts cinema, especially from the 1970s, really knew how to create memorable opening sequences that set the foundation for the events that unfold. The Tattooed Dragon gives Jimmy Wang Yu’s character, known as Tattooed Dragon, a grand opening sequence where he comes upon a gang of thieves who have stolen money. Despite being greatly outnumbered, he confronts all of the thieves and retrieves the stolen money. Additionally, a notable aspect of this sequence is that he sustains an injury but cleverly uses his wits to narrowly escape, allowing him to fight another day.

While Jimmy Wang Yu serves as the main draw as the protagonist, Samuel Hui portrays Xiao Yang, a farmer who aids Tattooed Dragon in his recovery from injuries. This character can also be considered a dual lead. This character has a subplot that revolves around him and Ah-xiang, the woman he loves. Samuel Hui’s first four films were all directed by Lo Wei, and he had prominent roles in all of them. Other cast members of note are Sylvia Chang (Immortal Story) in the role of Ah-xiang and James Tin, most known for the two films he had worked on with Bruce Lee; he portrays The Boss.

The action sequences are solid; there is even a Thai boxing sequence. Although the opening setup is action-heavy, outside of a few fights, the bulk of the action is on the backend. The biggest and best fight sequence is saved for the finale, where Tattooed Dragon is once again greatly outnumbered. This sequence, like all of the fights, is brutal and intense, and it culminates with the main villain, The Boss, on fire.

The most memorable moment is a scene at the casino where Tattooed Dragon (who's in disguise) and Xiao Yang win back all the money and property deeds that the gang stole from the locals. Knowing the gang’s tricks, Tattooed Dragon, who’s wearing sunglasses, uses his ears to guess the dice numbers. Martial arts films often have hard-to-watch moments, like women being assaulted. The Tattooed Dragon has a scene where a mother ties herself and her three children up, and they jump into the river and drown. Martial arts films are also known for lifting music cues, and The Tattooed Dragon takes music from Once Upon a Time in the West. Ultimately, The Tattooed Dragon is a fairly routine martial arts film that works as well as it does because of Jimmy Wang Yu’s performance.

The Tattooed Dragon gets a first-rate release from Eureka Video that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and informative extras. Recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer