The Singing Killer (1970)

Johnny, a former juvenile delinquent and thief, reinvents himself as a nightclub singer after serving time. He is a big hit, especially with the ladies, but his past catches up with him when his former gang uses his lingering feelings for ex-flame Lily to embroil him in an ambitious heist.

The Singing Killer is unrelated to Chang Cheh's earlier film The Singing Thief, though it does feel like he perhaps wanted to revisit the idea after having a better vision for how it could be approached. It does share some 1960's sensibilities and fashions but it offers a grittier and darker take on the world - closer to contemporary yakuza films than the spy films that influenced the earlier film.

The film is stylishly shot, with striking lighting that features bold colors and deep shadows. Action scenes, though intermittent, are well-executed. Fights utilize the environment effectively, and a shoot-out in the finale features acrobatic gunplay that anticipates Hong Kong cinema's reputation for such sequences in later decades.

There's a stronger female presence than in typical Chang Cheh films, though the two main female characters do basically fall into "saint and sinner" archetypes - albeit both with a troubled past shared with the protagonist.

The Singing Killer packs quite a lot in, with a plot that goes through a number of twists and turns. I liked the detective story that runs in the background, with a young and shockingly unmoustachioed Stanley Fung as the cop who wants to believe that Johnny has been reformed.

It's an interesting reminder that there was more to Chang Cheh than the period martial arts films that make up the bulk of his work. He could produce some interesting curve balls when the mood struck him.