After seeing Jimmy Wang Yu in so many swordplay wuxia movies, it's a bit odd to see him in a suit, without a sword, living in a big modern brick house and driving a convertible sports car. “My Son” is an early 70s song and dance, family tragedy about an angry young man, Yang Kuo Liang (Jimmy Wang Yu), the rebel son of Detective Yang.
Kuo Liang lives with his father whom he blames for the death of his mother. The two of them are forever arguing and behaving like enemies. He doesn't have a job, spends his time playing pool in night clubs and gets into fights all the time. Actually he behaves like a spoiled kid with no future. One night, he rescues Mei Lin (Margaret Hsing Hui), a young girl, from being raped and they become worthy friends. Mei Lin comes from a poor family, she works as a bar girl to support her sister and her blind grandma. Kuo Liang takes a shine to all of them and decides to support them financially from the money that his mother left him. In the meantime, he goes gambling hoping to gain more money.
Unfortunately, bad luck falls upon Mei Lin: there's a fire in which her grandma dies, her sister ends up in a hospital and on top of that, she loses her job. Accordingly, this puts tremendous pressure on the still jobless Kuo Liang, who's now slowly running out of money. Once again, he goes gambling but loses, he gets beaten up and worse still, Mei Lin ends up raped. It's at this point that he finally gets a job, Mei Lin also gets herself another bar girl work and both are ready to start a new life together. However, bad luck seems to follow this poor couple, Mei Lin's rapist turns up unexpectedly which leads to guns being drawn as Kuo Liang faces his detective father in a car park with tragic consequences.
Director Lo Chen's “My Son” is basically a cynical youth drama: it has plenty of fight scenes which are more like street scuffles. There are a fair amount of songs and dance routines, and one has Wang Yu playing air guitar while Hsing Hui sings along. The music throughout is of the soft rock guitar variety. This is a world whose population seems to be concerned with earning money and having fun in night clubs.
Wang Yu's makeover from a wuxia hero to a modern day rebel with inner conflict is satisfactory and as usual, he's right at home with the action scenes. One of Shaw's 60s beauties, Margaret Hsing Hui always excels in her dramatic and tragic role, and she's a worthy match here. Tien Feng has a small but important role as Detective Yang; he's the link to Kuo Liang's past. However, another Shaw Brothers' regular Wu Ma who plays a hippie and looks cool in his colorful outfits stand out the most.
Nonetheless, this is a typical 70s movie, with the boy-meets-girl premise in which the leading man wears beautifully custom-made suits and drives a sports car. Although there are some outdoor locations, mostly shot in unusual long takes, most of the time the actors are inside the colorful studio sets. Anyhow, it's light entertainment and has a nice 70s atmosphere to it.
