{"id":4213,"date":"2026-04-20T11:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T11:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/4213\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T11:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T11:16:09","slug":"the-amsterdam-kill-easternkicks-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/4213\/","title":{"rendered":"The Amsterdam Kill | easternkicks.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s one you probably weren\u2019t expecting\u2026<\/p>\n

If you can say anything about the surge of restored 70s, 80s and 90s Hong Kong films released onto home media in the last few years, it\u2019s that it\u2019s thrown up some unexpected and even forgotten entries from that era. Few more so than The Amsterdam Kill, a 1977 action thriller starring Robert Mitchum that would be the second of seven collaborations between director Robert Clouse and studio Golden Harvest after Enter the Dragon<\/a>. All hoping to repeat that film\u2019s success and crossing over into the US markets. Mitchum is supported by a solid if not quite A-list cast, including a pre-Airplane\/Police Squad! Leslie Nielsen, Bradford Dillman (Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Piranha), Richard Egan (The Glory Brigade, The Kid from Left Field), and Chinese-American stars Keye Luke (Gremlins, Kung Fu TV series) and stuntman George Cheung (Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rush Hour). Unsurprisingly, there\u2019s some recognisable faces from Hong Kong too, though beyond Callan Leung\u2019s (Jumping Ash, Man on the Brink) small supporting role, most are \u2018blink and you\u2019ll miss them\u2019 type extras.<\/p>\n

Related posts<\/p>\n

Article continues after<\/p>\n

Mitchum stars as a disgraced DEA agent Quinlan, brought back into the fold by drug cartel boss Chung Wei (Keye Luke), who hires him to use his knowledge to feed into global DEA investigations and help bring the cartel down. But when it becomes apparent that someone is tipping off the cartel about those tip offs, his DEA bosses start \u00a0to wonder if they can trust Quinlan, and Quinlan decides he can\u2019t trust anyone save his sidekick Jimmy Wong (George Cheung). The race is on to find who is responsible for the leak, before they catch up with them.<\/p>\n

With their star dead just days before the release of their biggest international success, there\u2019s no doubting that Hong Kong studio Golden Harvest were desperate to repeat the success of Enter the Dragon. And with the popularity in kung fu quickly fading, they hardly had to tools to do it. Comedies from the Hui Brothers were scoring big at the local box office, but would hardly travel. There\u2019s no doubting that instead they looked towards the previous year\u2019s surprising local indie hit, crime thriller Jumping Ash, directed by Po-Chih Leong (Hong Kong 1941<\/a>) and popular actor Josephine Siao (Summer Snow<\/a>, Fong Sai Yuk<\/a>), as well as the film that inspired it, William Friedkin\u2019s The French Connection. Even casting that film\u2019s lead Callan Leung\u2014who plays the dogged inspector trying to bring down a gang lord whose influence spreads from Kowloon Walled City to Amsterdam\u2014in a supporting, if way too minor, role.<\/p>\n

Jumping Ash is perhaps best known as the film that laid the groundwork for the Hong Kong New Wave that would follow. But while Robert Clouse and his co-writer Gregory Teifer may have looked to it for subject matter, it hardly followed Friedkin or Leong\u2019s more documentary style. Instead, Clouse follows more of a Bond approach as he did on Enter the Dragon, casually globe hopping from Hong Kong to Amsterdam and back again in the opening titles, before popping in on London. Later there\u2019s a playful nod to this, as a cut to a scenic Swiss location turns out to be no more than an picture in a camera shop.<\/p>\n

Certainly there is a concerted effort to make a quality, good looking film, with a decent cast, if mainly more from US TV at that point. Mitchum hadn\u2019t long come off another East-West co-production, Sydney Pollack\u2019s The Yakuza in 1974. Though while that film has been reappraised over time, it tanked at the box office. As did a film that same year which that The Amsterdam Kill has the most in common with, Shaw Brothers\u2019 Shatter<\/a>, produced with Hammer Films. Mitchum was still a more bankable star than Stuart Whitman, but faded nonetheless. It\u2019s interesting to see Golden Harvest seemingly walk into the same mistakes as their studio rival.<\/p>\n

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For his part, Mitchum doesn\u2019t stretch too far from the hard drinking gumshoe detective he played so well in 1975\u2019s Farewell, My Lovely as Raymond Chandler\u2019s infamous detective Philip Marlowe, and would reprise again to lesser acclaim in The Big Sleep (1978). There\u2019s something to be said for Mitchum lumbering into action like some aging bruiser. No embarrassing, John Saxon-style pretence at \u2018knowing kung fu\u2019. Well, he did turn 60 the year the film was released. The climax even has him board a bulldozer to bring the machine gun-toting gang down\u2014and an industrial-sized greenhouse with it! But it hardly brings the action audiences would be looking for, while not delivering on the intrigue and suspense either. Even the title for the Hong Kong release, \u8377\u4eac\u558b\u8840, which translates as \u2018Bloodshed in Holland\u2019, promises something more.<\/p>\n

Sammo Hung<\/a> was responsible for the action choreography, with the most extensive part coming from the finale with that greenhouse, the abundance of glass making the stunts appear quite dangerous. Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah appear as thugs trampled by horses, in a scene that bizarrely turns into an extended, Sam Peckinpah-style slow motion sequence, complete with a majestic soundtrack. According to an insightful interview with George Cheung included on the 88 Films release, Biao really was nearly flattened had he not pulled him out in time, Biao being so scared of horses. Other extras playing thugs include Mars and Lam Ching-ying.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see why a film like this, that would hardly have set cinemas alight versus the likes of Star Wars or Close Encounters of the Third Kind, would have been forgotten. (Though apparently the film had quite a second life on the video\/VHS circuit<\/a>.) The last UK home media release for the film was over 20 years ago, and that was pan and scanned to a 4:3 ratio. And perhaps that\u2019s the biggest revelation with the latest release in full 2.35:1 widescreen, it really is well shot. Scenes are well composed, while capturing the flavour of these locations, from the crowded harbours of Hong Kong to the gritty downtrodden streets of London, through to the bicycles and canals of Amsterdam\u2014oh well, at least some things don\u2019t change.<\/p>\n

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That part shouldn\u2019t be a surprise. British cinematographer Alan Hume had an impressive filmography which included everything from Carry On films from the early 60s to Amicus horror anthologies like From Beyond the Grave. He\u2019d even worked on Hong Kong films before, namely another Shaw Brothers East-West co-production, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold. He would go on to work on Bond film himself, including Octopussy and A View to a Kill, as well as effect-laden releases like Return of the Jedi, Lifeforce and Warlords of Atlantis. More unusual was a rare score credit from jazz musician and vocal coach Hal Schaefer. He\u2019d worked with stars like Judy Garland, Robert Wagner and Jane Russell, and helped various Hollywood directors and producers in his long career, but would be perhaps best remembered for his dalliance with Marylin Monroe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Golden Harvest and Clouse would collaborate the following year on Game of Death<\/a>, again with Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, and a smidge of the footage Bruce Lee left behind before his death in 1973. 1980 would bring Battle Creek Brawl, Jackie Chan<\/a>\u2019s US debut (and the first time we\u2019d ever heard him speak), which didn\u2019t actually do terribly at the box office\u2014it just wasn\u2019t the success that partners Warner Brothers were after. Their other collaborations included Deadly Eyes (aka The Rats), and both China O\u2019Brien films. Golden Harvest\u2019s biggest crossover success came with The Cannonball Run in 1981, directed by regular Burt Reynolds collaborator Hal Needham, with its all-star cast including Jackie Chan and Michael Hui.<\/p>\n

Ultimately the mix of Golden Harvest talent and Enter the Dragon\u2019s Close\u2019s writing and directing isn\u2019t really enough to warrant your attention. While it\u2019s interesting to see films like The Amsterdam Kill get unearthed\u2014 even getting to enjoy them in a way we haven\u2019t been able to before\u2014sometimes there\u2019s a reason they\u2019ve been largely left behind.<\/p>\n

The Amsterdam Kill debuts on Blu-ray for the first time on 20 April, released by 88 Films.
\nHome media details<\/p>\n

Distributor: 88 Films (UK)<\/p>\n

Edition: Blu-ray (2026)<\/p>\n

Restored in 2K from an original negative, The Amsterdam Kill looks as good as it did back when it was originally released in cinemas\u2014if not better. This really gives you a chance to see the skilled work behind the camera, perhaps for the first time for many audiences. The original English audio is included, along with the Cantonese dub. This does raise\u00a0an interesting dilemma on the subtitles, which offer a choice of English SDH and English for the Cantonese language version. In the original (and therefore SDH version), we don\u2019t know what\u2019s being said\u2014which seems to be the filmmakers intention. Yet Cantonese speaking audiences would on both.<\/p>\n

The edition includes an audio commentary from Frank Djeng and Michael Worth, as well as an insightful interview with star George Cheung.<\/p>\n

About the author<\/p>\n

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\nAndrew Heskins
Founder of easternKicks.com, which he’s been running since 2002. And it’s all thanks to Monkey, Water Margin and those damn fantastic 80s Hong Kong action movies! Andy works as a graphic designer in London… More \u00bb<\/a>
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Read all posts by Andrew Heskins<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s one you probably weren\u2019t expecting\u2026 If you can say anything about the surge of restored 70s, 80s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4062,4063,23,4064,4065,4066,4067,32,4068,4069,4070,4109,4071,4072,4073,4074,4075,3741,4076,4077,4078,4079,4080,4081,4082,4083,4084,4085,4086,4087,4110,4088,4111,1488,4089,4090,4091,4092,4093,4094,4095,4096,4097,4112,4098,4099,4100,4101,4102,4103,4104,4105,4113,4114,4106,4107,4108],"class_list":{"0":"post-4213","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-amsterdam","8":"tag-88-films","9":"tag-airplane","10":"tag-amsterdam","11":"tag-amsterdam-kill","12":"tag-battle-creek-brawl","13":"tag-bradford-dillman","14":"tag-callan-leung","15":"tag-crime","16":"tag-enter-the-dragon","17":"tag-escape-from-the-planet-of-the-apes","18":"tag-farewell-my-lovely","19":"tag-films","20":"tag-fong-sai-yuk","21":"tag-game-of-death","22":"tag-george-cheung","23":"tag-golden-harvest","24":"tag-gremlins","25":"tag-hong-kong","26":"tag-hong-kong-1941","27":"tag-jackie-chan","28":"tag-jumping-ash","29":"tag-keye-luke","30":"tag-kung-fu","31":"tag-lam-ching-ying","32":"tag-leslie-nielsen","33":"tag-man-on-the-brink","34":"tag-mars","35":"tag-piranha","36":"tag-po-chih-leong","37":"tag-police-squad","38":"tag-procedural","39":"tag-rambo-first-blood-part-ii","40":"tag-recommended-posts","41":"tag-reviews","42":"tag-richard-egan","43":"tag-robert-clouse","44":"tag-robert-mitchum","45":"tag-rush-hour","46":"tag-sammo-hung","47":"tag-shatter","48":"tag-shaw-brothers","49":"tag-slideable","50":"tag-summer-snow","51":"tag-suspense-thriller","52":"tag-sydney-pollack","53":"tag-the-amsterdam-kill","54":"tag-the-big-brawl","55":"tag-the-big-sleep","56":"tag-the-game-of-death","57":"tag-the-glory-brigade","58":"tag-the-kid-from-left-field","59":"tag-the-yakuza","60":"tag-triads","61":"tag-usa","62":"tag-yuen-biao","63":"tag-yuen-wah","64":"tag-4108"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}