Synopsis: Chen Chun and San are two low-level gangsters living in mainland China. After opening their own gambling joint, Chen Chun kills the owner of a rival parlour. He flees to Hong Kong and soon falls for a heroin addicted hooker named Fang. But their bliss is soon shattered when Chen learns that his gambling parlour back home has been taken over by a notorious gangster, who has also killed his girlfriend that he left behind. Chen Chun returns to set things right. (85 Mins)

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Views: The gorgeous Max Mok plays Chen Chun, a low level gangster who lives in mainland China, backed by his cousin San (Roy Cheung) who like to cause trouble in their local town, harassing business owners and market traders for protection money. Chen soon falls for Meila, the beautiful daughter of a street based telephone operator who proves to be an overly protective mother. After witnessing another gang of thugs muscling in on his turf and hassling his girlfriend for protection money, Chen saves the day in knowing it will make Meila start to fall for him. Soon after, a notorious gangster named Bolo Guy arrives in town (played by Jimmy Lee) who opens up a new gambling parlour after obtaining a license much quicker than the cousins. Angered, the two of them visit his place to cause a bit of bother and let themselves be known. After a lucky streak, Chen and San leave with their winnings only to find themselves attacked by Bolo's men in the streets, led by Billy Chow – who gives them a good beating! After being warned by Bolo for their actions and thrown from his moving vehicle, the injured cousins are nursed back to health by Meila which soon leads to Chen proposing to her. As they set out for revenge, the pair soon find out that their license has been approved and soon open their own gambling club – much to the annoyance of Bolo Guy and other parlour owners. As business booms and life rolls on, Bolo Guy has been busy trying to find an old friend that could destroy Chen Chun's lucky streak – egging him on as such to become the King of Gamblers in China. The friend agrees and heads to the cousins new parlour, determined to win a match that would see him take over the club. But after losing to Chen in an embarrassing match, the would-be King of Gamblers kicks-off a massive gang fight that leaves him dead after Chen accidentally rams his head into a large hook. Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Chen Chun leaves the club and Meila under the care of San as he escapes to Hong Kong before getting arrested. As he adjusts to living in the city, Chen Chun soon finds solace with Fang – a fast talking hooker with a love for gambling as well as heroin. As he tries to pull her out of her addiction for the latter, cousin San is dealing with attacks on their club by Bolo's men and soon finds his own men double-crossing him under the vengeful gangsters orders. With Meila taken hostage, San fights to rescue her and make their escape only to find that she has been shot during their getaway. Word quickly gets back to Chen Chun who makes his way home to find that San is now a pimp, having lost the club to Bolo and suffering from the guilt of having Meila die in his arms. With Bolo's men around every corner, San is soon executed in a hail of bullets that sees Chen go on the quickest ever revenge mission as he takes care of Bolo and his men in less than a minute. As he drives back to his pick-up point by the harbour, Chen Chun realises he has been lured into a trap as a small army of policemen open fire and kill the gambling baron in his car as his hooker-girlfriend waits on her rooftop back in Hong Kong, for his return...

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Made by the Cheung Sing Movie Company, a short lived production house who made titles like The Complicated Raping Case, Why Wild Girls, and The Armed Policewoman – none of which I have seen as yet – Gambling Baron doesn't offer anything overly exciting or special, but does prove to be a watchable crime drama with a few decent fight scenes. The major let-down for me has to be that god-awful, anti-climatic ending that seems to be crammed in to a few minutes (if even) and sees any main characters that are left, killed off without a problem. Although Roy Cheung's character of San gets a lengthy and impressive fight scene and rescue mission just before the finale, Max Mok's vengeful Chen Chun arrives at Bolo's place with a machine gun, shoots his men down instantly, and tosses a grenade in the back seat of a car that blows the big baddie to bits – and all in under 60 seconds. His immediate arrival at the docks got me hoping that it was going to be the big action finale for Mok, but no! Within seconds of him pulling up, the 15 or 20 armed police just open fire and kill him instantly. And while it may seem more realistic in the grand scheme of things, it's just an odd way to see a Hong Kong movie of this period come to a close. This falls on the shoulders of Jimmy Leung Chi Ming, a writer who had worked as an assistant director on the brilliant I Love Maria, and The Big Heat, as well as working with Richard Yeung Kuen on China Girls the year before they made this. While I've never found him to be the strongest writer in the world, Leung would go on to write many middle-of-the-road features such as The Jail Of No Return, Ultimate Revenge with Cynthia Khan, and a host of DTV movies starring Fan Siu Wong like Shadow Mask (aka Black Mask 3), Power King, and Spice Cop.

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Regardless, Gambling Baron does have its moments. It's far from the best and just as far from the worst of its time, but there's definitely no need to go back to it after one watch. Director Richard Yeung Kuen began working as a director (and assistant director) in 1959, but really got going in the 70s with titles like Chinese Kung Fu, and Duel Of The 7 Tigers, before moving into the 80s with Frankie Chan's Read Lips, Shaw Brothers Seeding Of A Ghost, and Fortune Hunters with Chin Siu Ho and Philip Ko. The 1990s would see his career start to slow down with titles like The Revenge Of Angel with Moon Lee, Bloody Beast, and Gambling Baron being some of his last before Leung retired from the industry with his last project at the turn-of-the-century. In terms of cast, the delightful Max Mok and wonderful Roy Cheung really just work with what they have. Both play characters that we've seen a thousand times over and really offer nothing new to that formula. Mind you, they certainly don't deliver a bad performance and look good when the action comes about, getting to punch and kick their way through battles as well as get in on some stunt work. The great Jimmy Lee returns to his God Of Gamblers roots as the gangster casino boss who causes all the problems. Although he has starred in many kung-fu movies, Lee (or Lung Fong) exchanges his fists for guns in the Gambling Baron, and leaves most fights up to his men – one of which is the fantastic Billy Chow. While he gets a decent bit of action during the night-time attack on the cousins, the fan-favourite villain only really appears once more at the end where he is quickly shot and killed. Jacqueline Ng Suet Man plays Meila, in one of her last few roles. Although having only been in the business for a decade, Ng made enough of an impression in titles like Against All, Martial Arts Master Wong Fei Hung, Gigolo & Whore 2, Raped By An Angel, and Hero From The Boundary Of Time.

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While it may seem lazy in production values and is definitely a case of 'having seen it all before', Gambling Baron is a watchable flick with a few good action scenes courtesy of fight choreographer Lam Moon Wa, who has starred in and choreographed for many great titles such as No More Love, No More Death with Jacky Cheung, Story Of Drunken Master, Kirk Wong's The Club, Journey Of The Doomed, Avenging Quartet, and many more – as well as a brief appearance in this. While keeping things realistic, Lam provides enough watchable fight scenes to save this movie being a complete write-off with the large gang fight in the middle of the movie being a highlight, as well as Roy Cheung's final action scene and rescue mission!

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Overall: Not completely dreadful, Gambling Baron has been done so many times before but is still worthy of one watch at least!