Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

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Riki-Oh

Directed by	Lam Ngai Kai
Starring	Fan Siu Wong Yukari Oshima
Release date(s)	1991
Running time	91 min.
Country	Hong Kong / Japan
Language	Cantonese
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (力王 Lik Wong [The King of Strength]) is a 1991 Hong Kong film directed by Lam Ngai Kai based on the Japanese comic book Riki-Oh. It stars Fan Siu Wong as Riki and Yukari Oshima as Yomi. The English title given on screen is simply Story of Ricky but later releases were sold under the title Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky. It had a limited theatrical release in the US around 1993.

The head crushing scene became a fixture on The Daily Show accompanying the daily "Five Questions" segment which ran until 1999 and was later featured on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.

There is also a sequel, entitled Dint King, Inside King (aka, Story of Ricky 2 or Super Powerful Man) which was allegedly released on video in Hong Kong around 2003-2005. The film was never released in the United States or in Europe, but is available on DVD (without English subtitles) through Panorama Entertainment. The film follows the events that take place in the manga after Ricky breaks out of prison, though apparently no mention is made of this. Oddly, and possibly due to rights issues, the film is built as a stand alone project despite casting Fan Sui Wong in the title role. Even the characters have different names (Ricky's name is He Shen in this film). Wong even sports the camouflage poncho seen in flashbacks and in the manga.

1 Plot
2 Box office
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Plot

As the film opens, the titular Riki-Oh arrives at a prison to serve a ten year sentence for manslaughter in a privatized prison. Riki is soon involved in fights between himself and "The Gang of Four", a group of prisoners who each control a wing of the prison. The Gang of Four are backed up by the one-eyed assistant warden in their quest to break Riki.

[edit] Box office

Story of Ricky's Category III rating (the Hong Kong equivalent of an NC-17) essentially destroyed its box office chances. It grossed $2,147,778 HKD in Hong Kong.

[edit] Trivia

The X-ray punch is a small tribute to Sonny Chiba's The Street Fighter movie.
It was one of the first Hong Kong movie that used Category 3 film rating system (equalivent to X-rated) for non pornographic media.
Japanese actress Yukari Oshima plays one of the masculine characters in the feared "Gang of Four." She is dubbed with a masculine voice-over.