Corey Yuen Remembered

Hong Kong cinema fans have been thrown into mourning by news of the death of legendary film director and action choreographer Corey Yuen Kwai.

He died from Covid-19 in 2022 but until now, Yuen’s family had chosen to keep this a secret. His death was inadvertently leaked by fellow action star Jackie Chan in a social media post this week.

Commenting on the 65th anniversary of the Seven Little Fortunes, the Peking opera school troupe that launched the careers of Yuen and Chan, as well as those of Sammo Hung Kam-bo, Yuen Wah and Yuen Biao, among others, Chan made Yuen’s death public, writing: “It is with profound sadness we bid farewell to Corey Yuen, whose legacy in action cinema is unparalleled.”

Yuen began acting in the early 1970s, with small roles in films such as Fist of Fury and The 14 Amazons, and continued to appear on screen throughout his career, both in the films he directed and those directed by close friends and colleagues.

Once he started directing, Yuen enjoyed frequent sojourns working in Hollywood, either as an action choreographer on such prestigious projects as X-Men and The Expendables, or as director, starting with 1986’s No Retreat, No Surrender, the film in which a young Jean Claude Van Damme first drew international attention.

As we belatedly commemorate the death of a true pioneer of Hong Kong cinema, we look back at five of our favourite Corey Yuen films. Courtesy South China Morning Post

NINJA IN THE DRAGONS DEN

YES MADAM

SHE SHOOTS STRAIGHT

FONG SAI YUK

THE TRANSPORTER