Leong is currently retired from the Hollywood film industry after suffering a stroke. In 1998, he appeared with Doug Savant, Glenn Morshower, Nancy Cartwright, and Burt Bulos in the American version of Godzilla. Through his career, he co-starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kurt Russell, Brandon Lee, Mel Gibson, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis, Chou-Yun Fat, David Carradine, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Michael Madsen and David Hasselhoff. After that, Leong became one of the most popular and sought stuntmen in the industry appearing in other hit action films like Black Rain (with Stephen Root), Death Warrant, Escape from L.A., and Rapid Fire (with Powers Boothe and Tzi Ma). Leong's big break came when producer Joel Silver called him up after filming John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China, and invited him to appear in both Lethal Weapon and Die Hard as a brutal henchman. He began his acting career in the early 80's, appearing in shows like Knight Rider, Magnum, P.I., The Equalizer (with Keith Szarabajka), The A-Team (with Ray Wise), The Fall Guy (with Dennis Haysbert), and MacGyver. Louis, Missouri, but grew up in Los Angeles. I highly recommend it.Al Leong was born in St. This was film night held at the studio with old 8 mm films by GM Jeff Chan of the Immortal Lion Dancing Troupe, my mentor and family friend. The documentary is very extensive and very detailed. This was the beginning of the Winningest Kung Fu Team in the 70'.s led by co-captain James Lewand Al Leong. You may not know his name but his face is unmistakable. Overall, Henchman: The Al Leong Story is a fantastic watch for movie fans that lived through the 80s and 90s. A good portion of the indie documentaries that I get in for review are rather choppy and bounce between topics like a high school essay but Henchman flows very well and the editing works in it’s favor. Finally, the documentary is edited together very smoothly. We go through Leong’s life and career and learn so much about him this way. ![]() ![]() The topics move along in a chronological order which really works well for this documentary. Everyone goes into great detail about working with Leong, how he helped the production and the scenes he was in, and how wonderful he was to work with. The people interviewed in this documentary care for Al Leong and you can see it in every scene. The interviews in this one are very informative, and at times, very heartfelt. At least, that’s how the movies want you to believe. Sure, looking back he does get points for shocking someone who would later spill out racist banter on more than one occasion but for the most part he was a bad guy. This documentary does a great job humanizing a figure in movie history that was generally considered to be inhumane. Sure, I’ve seen him in all these films but I never knew his name. I didn’t know who Al Leong was before I watched this. I’ll just go ahead and be honest with everyone reading this. Through interviews we follow him from the very beginning of his film career, his health, creating lifelong friends, and life after the movies.**Spoiler Alert** **Spoiler Alert**This documentary follows the life and career of stuntman and occasional actor Al Leong who turned his signature look into the iconic bad guy of the 80s and 90s. This documentary was directed by Vito Trabucco who is responsible for the indie horror film Bloody Bloody Bible Camp. A few days back director and producer Sean Donohue reached out to me to review the documentary Henchman: The Al Leong Story. Most didn’t know him by name but you always recognized him. His signature look made him the prime choice for being the bad guy in many of these films and shows. ![]() If you’ve watched action movies or television shows in the 80s and 90s you have seen the legendary Al Leong in something. When you look at action films you always get movies like Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, and many more. In addition to being the greatest cinematic henchman. These other genres have their own staples that are essential viewing. This documentary explores the life of one of Hollywoods most recognizable faces from 80s action films. I know a lot of picky horror fans that are very critical of the genre that are still open minded enough to watch other genres. Tagline – “One of the most notorious villains in cinema history”
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