5 comments about A Chinese Ghost Story.

1. This movie is for kids, and in that sense, it does a fine job. Not too scary, a little silly/funny, but a moving storyline. There are some oddities that probably resulted from translation, and it may be more compelling in its native language (some of the songs seemed particularly odd), but it was, all in all, an engaging and entertaining movie.



2. I found this quirky little gem at a local video store that specializes in foreign, independent, and classic films. Having exhausted much of the anime and Far East categories, I decided to give this one a chance, even though I had looked over it dozens of times before.
   
   I'm a huge fan of animation in all its forms, so when this piece began, I was bombarded by awkward, bulky CGI images playing as a background to the traditional 2-D approach to animation. Normally, I'd find that sort of thing appalling (hey, if the styles clash, they clash) but at the same time, the odd mixture seemed to work in a very surreal sense and heightened my dedication to the story, which, as it turns out, was about China, ghosts, and a bunch of mystical weirdness that really seemed to draw strength from its bizarre visual scizophrenia.
   
   And then there was the story. Firstly, you've got your underdog who is dense as a rock, but ultimately a good guy, his love interest, who is kind of a retread of that old "bar girl with a heart of gold" character you'd see in old Western movies, three bumbling enemies who start out trying to destroy the underdog's ghost girlfriend but end up mainly fighting each other, and, of course, the vain villainess whose only goal in life (death?) is to hang on to her youth. What kid's flick would have been complete without her, after all? Apparently, kid vehicles in China work much as they do here, in that there was also a cute, anthropomorphic dog sidekick that would drop over or growl or bat his eyelashes comically whenever the situation demanded it. Despite the formula, I found his antics charming, and only ended up liking his character more after I learned that director Tsui Hark provided all his grunts, snarls, and whimpers!
   
   There's definitely something about the idea of a living man and a dead woman being in love--it's that darned Romeo & Juliet star-crossed lovers thing, again!--that stirs the romantic in me, so I found myself really rooting for Ning and SiuSeen's cause when they decided that the best way for them to be together was for them to be reincarnated and try to find one another on earth after their births.
   
   So basically what it comes down to is that it looks weird, feels weird, sounds weird, and that the weirdness is wonderful to experience. I could safely liken it to some of Tim Burton's films, if you really need an American equivalent to get a better idea of what you're in for. But it's still kind of a loose comparison; just check it out for yourself, and I'm sure you'll have more fun with it than you're expecting.



3. It is such a valueless gem produced by Pioneer and Tsui Hark and all the other excellent staff.
   The tune companies every single step of the story and reveal the true feeling between the two lovers.
   Ning is rare for his trueness and loyality and hard to find in reality, who is almost a perfect male for love. And Xiao Cian is just characterised as a super ghost, if more plots and stories added to enrich Xiao Cien that she sacraficed something for Ning, e.g. the scene she grabbing Ning out of "Black Mountian". This story will be perfect. However, this is just an animation for teenagers but not for adults, such a balance between male and female characters is necessary for girls.
   the ending song "Evening Fly" is such a diamond to summarize the "silver-shining" story.
   In all, it just tells you: True love can never be too far away.



4. It starts out extremely lame. that is compared to the rest of the story. This movie is for kids not adults for laughter and not too scary. the animation is good for a 1997 movie. This movie was not made in China but in Japan. I love seeing the ghostbusters having powers.



5. Despite the fact that A Chinese Ghost Story is actually a Chinese production (made in Hong Kong in fact), it's always being classified as an anime everywhere online. If you're still in doubt, you can check the DVD release and see that the only language tracks available are Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. Anyhow, I'll be joining the internet bandwagon by placing this review on the anime index.
   
   The first thing I noticed about A Chinese Ghost Story is the youthful look of the characters. Our hero Ning looks like a 10-year old boy (although he's actually older than that) -- being the vertically-challenged and roundish-ly drawn character that he is. It's kind of hard to believe that he has a girlfriend and that they are of marrying age already (but then people did marry young in ancient China). The female characters look slightly older, maybe around their mid-teens. Ning is immediately attracted to the ghost Siu Seen, and Siu Seen in turn gradually falls for Ning... but theirs is a love that's not supposed to be -- and that becomes the main dilemma of this unique story.
   
   Things happen in a frenzied pace, and get a little too chaotic for my taste. In many scenes, the characters run, scream, fight, and jump around all at once. The art and animation are good. Although the character designs are on the cutesy side, vibrantly rendered visuals abound. The Chinese countryside comes alive with backgrounds that are computer generated, reminiscent of video game FMV sequences. The theme songs and music also add a nice touch. They are unmistakably Chinese in style (performed by popular Chinese artists) and tempo, which suits the film perfectly. The English dubbing is pretty decent, albeit in this case the Mandarin track (if watching the DVD) would give you a more authentic experience. A Chinese Ghost Story gives you a brief glimpse of the intricate and interesting world of Chinese mythology. It's a fairly solid title which the whole family can enjoy.

5 comments about Hsia nu [Region 2].

1. Included in the Time Magazine Best 100 Films of all time list, A Touch of Zen does not disappoint. Though it starts slowly, the momentum gradually increases until the viewer is completely caught up in the story of a refugee woman who seeks the help of two generals, disguised as common townfolk (one a blind man, the other a doctor), and a group of monks led by an abbot whose spiritual strength is expressed in his ability to thwart violence and defeat evil based on deflecting the advances of his enemy and using that deflection to repel whoever attacks.
   
   This mystical bent is strong in the film and lends it some real juice. Also on hand is a poor artist who lives with his mother, a spy who wishes the artist to draw his portrait, the evil eunuch Hsu, a whole bunch of guards/soldiers in service to both Hsu and his "boss" Wei (the equally evil ruler), Mun-Ta (another bad guy), the town magistrate, and, of course, the artist's mother who's on hand for comic relief and as well to provide a touch of humanism to A Touch of Zen. The bad guys had previously tortured and murdered the refugee woman's father and are now out to finish her off, as well as the two generals who have sided with her.
   
   A clear inspiration for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon--as many others have noted--this film boasts quite a few martial arts fights (mainly with swords) and quite a few flying leaps. It's also nice to see that a good looking woman, the refugee, is so adept at martial arts herself--women's lib had apparently hit China before it got to the US!!
   
   This is a three hour film, broken into two parts, so there is actually an opening credit sequence for the second part of the film exactly like the first part sequence and a short (two-minute) recap of the last scene from the first part at the beginning of the second part. In addition, the image is somewhat muddy at times. In spite of these drawbacks (hence the four stars instead of five), this deservedly is part of the Time Magazine Top 100 Film List; it's a gripping story with great visuals and nary a false note anywhere.
   
   Highly recommended.



2. This movie is terrible. It is three hours of nonsense. The pacing is so slow that you have to make a lot of use of the fast forward button. The fight scenes are laughable. The fighters hop like bunnies. Every single fight scene in this film, and in almost every other oriental so-called kung fu film, is absolute worthless garbage. Fast forward through all the fight scenes, which means fast forward through most of the movie. Also fast forward through all the scenes where nothing is happening. That doesn't leave much. They have a 15 minute movie with 170 minutes to skip. And someone tell me why the two stars of the film look so Caucasian. Is that the Chinese ideal of beauty? In the movie they make fun of superstition and belief in ghosts, but at the end they give us a final shot of a godlike image, more superstition. The star is actually some magical Buddhist abbot. Gimme a break. The only good thing about this horse manure is that the leading lady is very cute. Other than that, I can't think of a reason to waste 3 hours on baloney. And for all the people who place this idiocy at the top of their all time movie list, I have to question your motives. Do you want to seem smart? Is it cool to recognize crap simply because it is from another country? That is an insult to all the truly great foreign films. Just cause it's foreign, doesn't mean it's worth a damn. Placing this trash on a par with the truly great foreign films simply because it is foreign is an insult to the great ones. This movie, pure and simple, is inferior. It makes me wonder if the Chinese movie audience has the taste of little children.



3. In the first ten minutes I thought it was just okay;
   then it did nothing but get better for the next 177 minutes. Director King Hu was a visionary;no wonder so many contemporary movies have explicitly and liberally lifted his ideas.
   
   Unlike so many martial arts' movies, character reigns;
   the plot is intricate, evolving and and motivates the action.
   And the natural locations make me want to take a very long walk around China. A feeling of reality and naturalness prevails in every scene.
   
   If you buy this, and you should, read the bio of King Hu Jing-Chaun; amazing what he's done and the lasting impact of his work. His genius really shines in Touch of Zen.



4. Sublime and sprawling, A TOUCH OF ZEN is perhaps the greatest in King Hu's series of ground-breaking, metaphysical period dramas.
   
   Vaguely, A TOUCH OF ZEN is a martial arts film, and it's greatest influence was on other HK martial arts films (and later international crossovers like CROUCHING TIGER, HERO and HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS). But it approaches being martial arts as Tarkovsky would have done it - the film is set up in three methodically paced, long sections (it's a 3 hour film), which all feature a bit of action but devote more attention to character, landscape and narrative. The focus of each section falls upon different characters, with the central character in each section embodying different virtues: the humility and creativity of the artist (the focus of the first act), courage and confidence in the second act, and an assured enlightenment in the third. The three acts are linked by tightly controlled and far more explosive bursts of action in an otherwise meditatively paced film.
   
   Hu explores other elements as well - the first act, mostly devoted to the artist, eases viewers into a framework of intrigues that will shape the plot; this section of the film is very slow, but in hypnotic (and definitely not dull) fashion, with an abundance of careful set detail and some rather astounding landscape photography. Here, palace intrigues and suggestions of the supernatural (A TOUCH OF ZEN is loosely adapted from a number of Pu Songling's gently surreal stories, collected in "Strange Tales From A Chinese Studio") drive the slowly coalescing plot. Intriguingly, the ghost story elements explored early in the film are satirized a bit later, adding a discrete layer of obtuse irony and genre commentary to the overall proceedings.
   
   Gradually shifting into a second act, which moves the focus to an imperial fugitive (Yang Huizhen) who is being tracked in the area. Here another of Hu's advances surfaces - Hu had a knack for creating strong and complex female characters, and the fugitive seen here is one of the most memorable; definitely a touchstone for Ang Lee, among many others.
   
   A TOUCH OF ZEN is divided with an intermission (on the DVD - more on this later) into two halves, and this 'second act' falls on either side of this division. A semi-famous, and much imitated, action sequence is to be found here.
   
   During the third act, the focus shifts again, to a group of monks that make a brief but memorable appearance earlier, and - as the level of action gradually rises, so does the level of mysticality, with Hu's complex and highly personal take on Buddhism recalling Andrei Tarkovsky's similarly mystical and oblique Christianity.
   
   Throughout, we have Hu's sense of humor, a sort of greatly modified slapstick providing extra charm - the very playful sense of humor would seem to be a strange addition, but it somehow works, giving an otherwise slow, meditiative film a breezy sense of rhythm. Again, I would point out the influence of Pu Songling (perhaps upon Hu's entire body of work); Songling's work - a classic of Chinese literature, blends spiritualism, surrealism, unexpected humor, political intrigues, horror and hints of the erotic - and Hu is unafraid of blending these seemingly disparate qualities into a vast, and sublime, cinematic endeavor.
   
   This is a beautifully shot film, on my personal short list of the most gorgeous ever, and the US/R1 DVD does present A TOUCH OF ZEN in all of its' widescreen glory. Unfortunately, the film seems to be otherwise unrestored, with an indistinct print and several spots of faded colors distracting from some exquisite compositions and landscape shots of a variety that would've made John Ford jealous (with at least one explicit visual reference to Kurosawa as well). I would hope to see a fully cleaned-up DVD available at some point in the hopefully not-too-distant future.
   
   But - grainy DVD or not - this is something every cinephile out there should see.
   
   -David Alston



5. This is one of the worst films I've seen in a long, long time. It's very long, very drawn out, very boring. There's little action and little dialog, making it a chore to sit through. The actors don't act so much as move from pose to pose. Very little of the plot makes any logical sense. Perhaps this film is of some interest to people with an interest in the genre. My guess is that the overall positive reviews here are based on a combination of self selection--only people with reason to believe they will like the film go out of their ways to watch it--and cognitive dissonance--I paid $18 or sat through unending hours of this, so it must've been good.

No comments about Encounter of the Spooky Kind.

5 comments about Knockabout.

1. This flick is definately amount the top best performance,,Sammo Hung,,,the most impressive monkey style kung fu ever!! The comedy was greatly choreographed,,,,,and interestingly enough it really was funny!! The training alone was enough to give this flick a 4 star. This is the first flick where Leung Kar Yan is really funny,,,I always see him as a serious actor. The final fight scene was amazing,,,there is nothing like the monkey kung fu, only sammo and Yuen Biao could have pulled this one off!! The monkey kung fu is the most impressive, since crazy horse!!



2. I finally got to see what everybody was talking about with this. A true kung fu classic and one of the best ever for sure.
   
   Made around the same time as 'Drunken Master', this movie has that type of feel. It really feels like Yuen Woo-Ping made this movie with all the comedy and Sammo playing the old beggar who has outstanding kung fu skills, even the outdoor backround shots look the same. Then you have the average fights at the beginning and the way it steadily gets better and better. That is totally Woo-Ping! What sets this movie apart as a Sammo film is the storytelling. Funny and overall a good movie even without the kung fu. There are at least a couple of laugh out loud moments and the movie is just hilarious from beginning to end.
   
   Yuen Biao has his first ever starring role and gets to show off his kung fu skills to the max. Leung Kar-Yan plays his brother and they are con-men who decided to try and con the wrong man. Meet Lau Kar Wing, Lau Kar Leung's brother. Lau Wing beats up the 2 and after they are beaten, they beg him to become his students. He agrees and this is where the movie starts. The action in the first 30 minutes of the movie is good but it really heats up when Lau Wing trains Biao and his brother. Of course after the 2 learn a little they go and show off their skills by getting in fights. I don't want to give away the plot because like I said, the story is very well done. The main plot point is not original(revenge) but Sammo shows up for the final fight and makes it very interesting. The best thing about this movie is that you have probably seen many movies with a bunch of great kung fu stars and then the movie just turns out to be average. This is not one of those. Lau Wing, Yuen Baio, Lee Hoi-San('36th Chamber of Shaolin'), and Sammo Hung are all in top form. Lau Wing uses a long smoking pipe to fight with and combined with the the snake fist this is one of the coolest things I have ever seen in a kung fu movie. Check out 'Deadly Mantis'(aka Shaolin Mantis) if you want to see more of the incedible Hung Gar master Lau Kar Wing in another great fighting performance. Leung Kar-Yan is one of my favorite stars of all time but he just doesn't compare to the other guys in this movie.
   
   I also have to give special mention to Mars who was a co-star in Jackie Chan's 'Dragonlord' and was Jackie's top stuntman who also has a small role in a ton of Golden Harvest and other movies. I have never known Mars as an actual fighter but he has a great one-on-one fight in this.
   
   Overall I can't give this movie enough praise. If you are a kung fu fan then this is one of those movies that you absolutely can't miss. 4.5/5 stars and if I have to choose I EASILY pick the 5 stars.
   
   Also, I know a lot of people are huge fans of animal styles n movies and this does not dissapoint. Yuen Biao's monkey kung fu is right up there with Hsiao Hou in 'Mad Monkey Kung Fu' though it was actually the finale that involved juming rope that did it for me. Brilliant.
   
   The Deltamac version has very good picture quality and is perfectly widescreened but the subtitles have major issues. Around 30% of the subtitles are left out and the movie will not make a while lot of sense if you have the Deltamac version though you will probably still enjoy the movie. I recommend the Fox/Fortune Star version since I have never had a problem with their subtitles. There is also a Hong Kong Legends release of this which has a few good special features.



3. Not his first movie but his first starring role, there is no better film to witness Yuen Biao's incredible talent then right here in 1979's Knockabout. Yuen and Leung Kar Yan star as a couple swindleing brothers known as Little John and Big John. When they meet their match at the hands of the Silver Fox (played by Lau Kar Wing, Lau Kar Leung's lesser known brother) they decide to seek his tutlege and learn his Kung Fu skills. During all this you get glimpses of Sammo Hung's character, a pauper who appears to live in the same scheming fashion as the aforementioned brothers. I don't want to say much more beyond that because there are several solid twists and turns along the way that make things a little more interesting. This is your basic Kung Fu comedy (a la Magnificient Butcher and The Drunken Master)so the dramatic scenes (scene really) are only there to help motivate the characters and are quickly swept under the carpet for another slapstick comedy routine or fight (or a mix of both). What this movie really acts as is a showcase for Yuen Biao and his incredible acrobatic feats... wait until you see the jump rope training sequence WOW! A great cast help round everything out and make this one of Sammo Hung's best directorial efforts filld with his usual top notch choreography. Oh and keep an ear out for the ridiculously funny monkey sound effects that they filter in whenever someone uses that style of Kung Fu... priceless!



4. Yuen Biao never got the acclaim that his Peking Opera brothers Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan obtained (all part of the Seven Little Fortunes), but for martial art movie fans he is still widely appreciated. His breakout in the Hong Kong film industry was his first starring role in Knockabout in 1979. Of course, it helped that the director was Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, but Yuen's reputation was solid for his years of stunt work, being an extra and doubling actors for dangerous or acrobatic scenes (he would continue to do that after this film). This film is full of underappreciated martial artists and performers though.
   
   Knockabout is the fourth film directed by Sammo Hung and is one of the many hybrid Kung Fu comedies (Mo Lai Tau style) produced by Golden Harvest that were popular in the late 70's Hong Kong like Drunken Master (1978) and Hung's earlier film Enter the Fat Dragon (1978). While it was not the resounding success that Drunken Master was, it has had a resurgence in popularity the past few years.
   
   Biao stars as Hei Yu (also called Little John in the subtitles) as a congenial con-artist with his brother Big John (Leung Kar-Yan: Warriors Two, The Postman Strikes Back) who have to cheat or steal to stay fed. After a successful scam on a cheating gold exchange cashier (working off the old adage that the best people to con are the ones who think they are conning you), they decide to gamble their profit at the local casino. They are quite unsuccessful at it and get beat up when unbeknownst to them they try to fool a gambling house with fake money. But like the consummate con-men they are, if they fail once, they will look for another mark. The new rube is an elderly man (the not-so-elderly and underrated Lau Kar-Wing who is mostly known for being the brother of Lau Kar-Leung, though he is an excellent martial artist who has appeared in many supporting roles) who is eating at the local teahouse. Their set-up fails miserably and so they set to take revenge on Jia Wu-Dao by ambushing him. Of course, he just happens to be a Kung Fu master. After they get beat up they ask him to be their sifu. He eventually acquiesces, but there seems to be something mysterious and sinister about him.
   
   There are a few problems with the film. Karl Maka's role as the bald inspector reminds me too much of a clone of Dean Shek. The composition of the film is unbalanced. It starts mostly with comedy for the first 50 minutes and then ends heavily with action. I liked both elements, but the cohesion of the two did not quite work as a whole. The plot's biggest weakness is the inevitable turn of Jia Wu-Dao against his pupils. You knew it was going to happen, but it felt forced. And the prolific use of lifting copyrighted material for music continues with the cue for the Fat Beggar lifted from Ennio Morricone's score in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966).
   
   Luckily, there is so much to like with this movie. Biao and Leung work well together as brothers and would continue to work with Hung on later films. The portrayal of Jia Wu-Dao by Lau Kar-Wing is interesting because he is not a one-dimensional character. He cares for his adopted pupils and trains them well in martial arts (every good teacher always hides something from his students though). This makes the character change more shocking, but also makes it feel less real. I enjoyed the comedic touches like the overly flexible Yuen Biao (that is not his leg) and the ordinary men they look to beat up.
   
   However, the best parts of the film are the training and martial art sequences in the last half of the movie. These segments are so strong that you tend to forget the somewhat meandering and mostly comedic nature of the previous scenes. The training involves some of the more masochistic devices to help, and I will not spoil them here. I will state that you get to see Biao show off his abilities with his excellent forms and most awesome somersaulting ability. The fighting scenes include an excellent team match between Seven Dwarfs (Lee Hoi-Sang: bald as usual), Snow White (Wang Kuang-Yu: The Water Margin (1972)) versus Little John and Big John. Also, I think you might enjoy the "finishing move" of Jia Wu-Dao. I am not sure I've seen much use of this professional wrestling move in Hong Kong cinema, but I have seen The Rock use it many times. Also, in the tradition of saving the best for last, you get a 12 minute fight sequence at the end that is sublime in its intestinal fortitude.
   
   Sammo Hung was not only the director and a supporting actor in this film; he is also the action director (fans of the auteur theory should take note). His knowledge and presence help make this one of the underrated classics in martial art cinema. The competition between him and Jackie Chan during this time period helped create more intricate and daring martial art scenes for there movies. With Knockabout there is one of the best martial art movie sequences of the 70s. Knockabout is a must watch for devotees of this genre and should be a good case study for future action directors on how to choreograph. Knockabout also shows you the skill of Yuen Biao and why he should be regarded as one of the best martial art actors of the 1970s/80s.
   
   The Fox/Fortune Star R1 release is a very good basic release. There are no dubtitles and the film is uncut. There is an English dub, a genuine Cantonese mono track and it is presented in a beautifully looking widescreen transfer. Unfortunately, like most of the Fox/Fortune Star releases you only get trailers as extras. Here is another example where the best release is the R2 Hong Kong Legends version (like so many of the Hong Kong martial art films on the Fox/Fortune releases).



5. Yuen Biao gets his first starring role in this well-directed and even better choreographed Sammo Hung film. Biao and Leung Kar Yan play Little and Big John, con men who aren't really very good at their craft. Strapped for cash, they end up getting the crap kicked out of them by Koo Wu Tai (Lau Kar Wing) who eventually takes them both as students. Their kung fu improves, just in time to take on some enemies of their master. With the new students' help, the foes are all defeated. All is well until Little John witnesses his master in some morally objectionable activities. After a brawl with their master that leaves Big John in a compost heap, Little John comes to train with the Fat Beggar (Sammo) to take revenge.
   
   The plot is by the numbers and the humor silly and rarely funny yet this movie still rocks. All 4 leads are excellent athletes, though Biao steps up nicely as numero uno. The fights start pretty well, and get better and better as the film goes on. By the time Biao starts training with Sammo the movie is in full-on overdrive. The training scenes are UNBELIEVABLE. Throw in Garbage Boxing and some of the best Monkey Style ever put to film and this is a no-brainer.
   
   This is another of the Sammo classics released by 20th Century Fox. All of which are remastered, widescreened, and have multiple language and subtitle options. Now if only they'd tackle "The Victim". Yuen Biao is said to be the most underrated martial arts talent out there. I would have to lean a little more toward Hsiao Hou, only because Biao has had a lot more starring roles. Both of their versions of Monkey Style are amazing and for different reasons. Though if there was a visual debate, the jump rope scene in this one may sway the undecided in Biao's favor. Many a critic has mentioned it and for good reason. Eat your popcorn early because you can't chew with your lower jaw repeatedly smashing to the floor. This flick is definitely RECOMMENDED. If you have no problems with the lame humor and plot, then highly so.
   
   1979

No comments about Project A (digitally remastered) series I & II DVD boxset.

No comments about Pedicab Driver.

1 comments about A Jin de gu shi [Region 2].

1. i would like to see this movie in the english dubbed version. we miss the movie reading the subtitles...

5 comments about Za jia xiao zi.

1. This flick is definately amount the top best performance,,Sammo Hung,,,the most impressive monkey style kung fu ever!! The comedy was greatly choreographed,,,,,and interestingly enough it really was funny!! The training alone was enough to give this flick a 4 star. This is the first flick where Leung Kar Yan is really funny,,,I always see him as a serious actor. The final fight scene was amazing,,,there is nothing like the monkey kung fu, only sammo and Yuen Biao could have pulled this one off!! The monkey kung fu is the most impressive, since crazy horse!!



2. I finally got to see what everybody was talking about with this. A true kung fu classic and one of the best ever for sure.
   
   Made around the same time as 'Drunken Master', this movie has that type of feel. It really feels like Yuen Woo-Ping made this movie with all the comedy and Sammo playing the old beggar who has outstanding kung fu skills, even the outdoor backround shots look the same. Then you have the average fights at the beginning and the way it steadily gets better and better. That is totally Woo-Ping! What sets this movie apart as a Sammo film is the storytelling. Funny and overall a good movie even without the kung fu. There are at least a couple of laugh out loud moments and the movie is just hilarious from beginning to end.
   
   Yuen Biao has his first ever starring role and gets to show off his kung fu skills to the max. Leung Kar-Yan plays his brother and they are con-men who decided to try and con the wrong man. Meet Lau Kar Wing, Lau Kar Leung's brother. Lau Wing beats up the 2 and after they are beaten, they beg him to become his students. He agrees and this is where the movie starts. The action in the first 30 minutes of the movie is good but it really heats up when Lau Wing trains Biao and his brother. Of course after the 2 learn a little they go and show off their skills by getting in fights. I don't want to give away the plot because like I said, the story is very well done. The main plot point is not original(revenge) but Sammo shows up for the final fight and makes it very interesting. The best thing about this movie is that you have probably seen many movies with a bunch of great kung fu stars and then the movie just turns out to be average. This is not one of those. Lau Wing, Yuen Baio, Lee Hoi-San('36th Chamber of Shaolin'), and Sammo Hung are all in top form. Lau Wing uses a long smoking pipe to fight with and combined with the the snake fist this is one of the coolest things I have ever seen in a kung fu movie. Check out 'Deadly Mantis'(aka Shaolin Mantis) if you want to see more of the incedible Hung Gar master Lau Kar Wing in another great fighting performance. Leung Kar-Yan is one of my favorite stars of all time but he just doesn't compare to the other guys in this movie.
   
   I also have to give special mention to Mars who was a co-star in Jackie Chan's 'Dragonlord' and was Jackie's top stuntman who also has a small role in a ton of Golden Harvest and other movies. I have never known Mars as an actual fighter but he has a great one-on-one fight in this.
   
   Overall I can't give this movie enough praise. If you are a kung fu fan then this is one of those movies that you absolutely can't miss. 4.5/5 stars and if I have to choose I EASILY pick the 5 stars.
   
   Also, I know a lot of people are huge fans of animal styles n movies and this does not dissapoint. Yuen Biao's monkey kung fu is right up there with Hsiao Hou in 'Mad Monkey Kung Fu' though it was actually the finale that involved juming rope that did it for me. Brilliant.
   
   The Deltamac version has very good picture quality and is perfectly widescreened but the subtitles have major issues. Around 30% of the subtitles are left out and the movie will not make a while lot of sense if you have the Deltamac version though you will probably still enjoy the movie. I recommend the Fox/Fortune Star version since I have never had a problem with their subtitles. There is also a Hong Kong Legends release of this which has a few good special features.



3. Not his first movie but his first starring role, there is no better film to witness Yuen Biao's incredible talent then right here in 1979's Knockabout. Yuen and Leung Kar Yan star as a couple swindleing brothers known as Little John and Big John. When they meet their match at the hands of the Silver Fox (played by Lau Kar Wing, Lau Kar Leung's lesser known brother) they decide to seek his tutlege and learn his Kung Fu skills. During all this you get glimpses of Sammo Hung's character, a pauper who appears to live in the same scheming fashion as the aforementioned brothers. I don't want to say much more beyond that because there are several solid twists and turns along the way that make things a little more interesting. This is your basic Kung Fu comedy (a la Magnificient Butcher and The Drunken Master)so the dramatic scenes (scene really) are only there to help motivate the characters and are quickly swept under the carpet for another slapstick comedy routine or fight (or a mix of both). What this movie really acts as is a showcase for Yuen Biao and his incredible acrobatic feats... wait until you see the jump rope training sequence WOW! A great cast help round everything out and make this one of Sammo Hung's best directorial efforts filld with his usual top notch choreography. Oh and keep an ear out for the ridiculously funny monkey sound effects that they filter in whenever someone uses that style of Kung Fu... priceless!



4. Yuen Biao never got the acclaim that his Peking Opera brothers Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan obtained (all part of the Seven Little Fortunes), but for martial art movie fans he is still widely appreciated. His breakout in the Hong Kong film industry was his first starring role in Knockabout in 1979. Of course, it helped that the director was Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, but Yuen's reputation was solid for his years of stunt work, being an extra and doubling actors for dangerous or acrobatic scenes (he would continue to do that after this film). This film is full of underappreciated martial artists and performers though.
   
   Knockabout is the fourth film directed by Sammo Hung and is one of the many hybrid Kung Fu comedies (Mo Lai Tau style) produced by Golden Harvest that were popular in the late 70's Hong Kong like Drunken Master (1978) and Hung's earlier film Enter the Fat Dragon (1978). While it was not the resounding success that Drunken Master was, it has had a resurgence in popularity the past few years.
   
   Biao stars as Hei Yu (also called Little John in the subtitles) as a congenial con-artist with his brother Big John (Leung Kar-Yan: Warriors Two, The Postman Strikes Back) who have to cheat or steal to stay fed. After a successful scam on a cheating gold exchange cashier (working off the old adage that the best people to con are the ones who think they are conning you), they decide to gamble their profit at the local casino. They are quite unsuccessful at it and get beat up when unbeknownst to them they try to fool a gambling house with fake money. But like the consummate con-men they are, if they fail once, they will look for another mark. The new rube is an elderly man (the not-so-elderly and underrated Lau Kar-Wing who is mostly known for being the brother of Lau Kar-Leung, though he is an excellent martial artist who has appeared in many supporting roles) who is eating at the local teahouse. Their set-up fails miserably and so they set to take revenge on Jia Wu-Dao by ambushing him. Of course, he just happens to be a Kung Fu master. After they get beat up they ask him to be their sifu. He eventually acquiesces, but there seems to be something mysterious and sinister about him.
   
   There are a few problems with the film. Karl Maka's role as the bald inspector reminds me too much of a clone of Dean Shek. The composition of the film is unbalanced. It starts mostly with comedy for the first 50 minutes and then ends heavily with action. I liked both elements, but the cohesion of the two did not quite work as a whole. The plot's biggest weakness is the inevitable turn of Jia Wu-Dao against his pupils. You knew it was going to happen, but it felt forced. And the prolific use of lifting copyrighted material for music continues with the cue for the Fat Beggar lifted from Ennio Morricone's score in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966).
   
   Luckily, there is so much to like with this movie. Biao and Leung work well together as brothers and would continue to work with Hung on later films. The portrayal of Jia Wu-Dao by Lau Kar-Wing is interesting because he is not a one-dimensional character. He cares for his adopted pupils and trains them well in martial arts (every good teacher always hides something from his students though). This makes the character change more shocking, but also makes it feel less real. I enjoyed the comedic touches like the overly flexible Yuen Biao (that is not his leg) and the ordinary men they look to beat up.
   
   However, the best parts of the film are the training and martial art sequences in the last half of the movie. These segments are so strong that you tend to forget the somewhat meandering and mostly comedic nature of the previous scenes. The training involves some of the more masochistic devices to help, and I will not spoil them here. I will state that you get to see Biao show off his abilities with his excellent forms and most awesome somersaulting ability. The fighting scenes include an excellent team match between Seven Dwarfs (Lee Hoi-Sang: bald as usual), Snow White (Wang Kuang-Yu: The Water Margin (1972)) versus Little John and Big John. Also, I think you might enjoy the "finishing move" of Jia Wu-Dao. I am not sure I've seen much use of this professional wrestling move in Hong Kong cinema, but I have seen The Rock use it many times. Also, in the tradition of saving the best for last, you get a 12 minute fight sequence at the end that is sublime in its intestinal fortitude.
   
   Sammo Hung was not only the director and a supporting actor in this film; he is also the action director (fans of the auteur theory should take note). His knowledge and presence help make this one of the underrated classics in martial art cinema. The competition between him and Jackie Chan during this time period helped create more intricate and daring martial art scenes for there movies. With Knockabout there is one of the best martial art movie sequences of the 70s. Knockabout is a must watch for devotees of this genre and should be a good case study for future action directors on how to choreograph. Knockabout also shows you the skill of Yuen Biao and why he should be regarded as one of the best martial art actors of the 1970s/80s.
   
   The Fox/Fortune Star R1 release is a very good basic release. There are no dubtitles and the film is uncut. There is an English dub, a genuine Cantonese mono track and it is presented in a beautifully looking widescreen transfer. Unfortunately, like most of the Fox/Fortune Star releases you only get trailers as extras. Here is another example where the best release is the R2 Hong Kong Legends version (like so many of the Hong Kong martial art films on the Fox/Fortune releases).



5. Yuen Biao gets his first starring role in this well-directed and even better choreographed Sammo Hung film. Biao and Leung Kar Yan play Little and Big John, con men who aren't really very good at their craft. Strapped for cash, they end up getting the crap kicked out of them by Koo Wu Tai (Lau Kar Wing) who eventually takes them both as students. Their kung fu improves, just in time to take on some enemies of their master. With the new students' help, the foes are all defeated. All is well until Little John witnesses his master in some morally objectionable activities. After a brawl with their master that leaves Big John in a compost heap, Little John comes to train with the Fat Beggar (Sammo) to take revenge.
   
   The plot is by the numbers and the humor silly and rarely funny yet this movie still rocks. All 4 leads are excellent athletes, though Biao steps up nicely as numero uno. The fights start pretty well, and get better and better as the film goes on. By the time Biao starts training with Sammo the movie is in full-on overdrive. The training scenes are UNBELIEVABLE. Throw in Garbage Boxing and some of the best Monkey Style ever put to film and this is a no-brainer.
   
   This is another of the Sammo classics released by 20th Century Fox. All of which are remastered, widescreened, and have multiple language and subtitle options. Now if only they'd tackle "The Victim". Yuen Biao is said to be the most underrated martial arts talent out there. I would have to lean a little more toward Hsiao Hou, only because Biao has had a lot more starring roles. Both of their versions of Monkey Style are amazing and for different reasons. Though if there was a visual debate, the jump rope scene in this one may sway the undecided in Biao's favor. Many a critic has mentioned it and for good reason. Eat your popcorn early because you can't chew with your lower jaw repeatedly smashing to the floor. This flick is definitely RECOMMENDED. If you have no problems with the lame humor and plot, then highly so.
   
   1979

No comments about By Hook or By Crook.

5 comments about They Call Me Phat Dragon.

1. Ground Zero and the Wu-Tang Clan have done it again! This movie is an old school kung fu classic. Starring Tung Wei, Lee Hoi Sam and Samo Hung this little winner is full of chop sockey fun from start to finish. Lots of training scenes featuring wing chun vs five animal shaolin, lama kung fu and a crazy fight with Samo Hung vs a bad guy with double spears! All the above plus a really cute chick make this dvd a must have for real kung fu fans. Buy it now!



2. A great Sammo Hung movie with a complicated plot.It pretty much has two plots running side by side. One is an evil master using deception to get revenge against the two good Kung Fu Masters who beat his brother. The second is a young man who starts secretly learning kung fu from both of the two good masters,but when he is found out gets booted from both schools,so he goes to learn kung fu from his friend Sammo Hung.The two plots meet up at the end when the young man has to defend his two former masters against the evil master, the evil masters three students and the evil masters newly returned brother.



3. I classic from Sammo hung with a cool story great fight scenes and its in widescreen.The fight chorography is great sometimes ecsousting just watching, one fight last like 15 minutes its great oh and Sammo Hung does have a couple fights,one is just awsome like the other reviewer mentioned with the spears.I do recommend this one.



4. I noticed many reviewers refer to this flick as Amazing, Great and the Best Ever. I'm not sure about that. It does have good fight scenes from the start to finish, an acceptable plot and the picture quality and choreograpy was good. But certainly not a 4 or 5 star performance!! Yeah I would recommend it, but don't go into it with your hopes too high, you could fall kinda hard!!



5. Steve Tung Wei stars as a young man named Kung Fu Chin. He really wants to be a great kung fu fighter and tries to learn as many styles as he can. The 2 teachers he is learning from have become rivals, and he has also found a 3rd teacher. Sammo Hung plays the 3rd teacher and tells Kung Fu Chin that kung fu is like food, eat all that you can as long as it's good. So while Kung Fu Chin is learning all the kung fu he can, Phillip Ko has a plan to kill the 2 rival teachers. He sends in 2 spies and says they are his sons.
   
   Nothing much happens in this movie, it is just your standard kung fu flick where a kid gets picked on, learns kung fu, and then takes revenge. The training sequences are some of the best I have ever seen. Tung Wei can do things with his body that made me cringe. I only wish I was a tenth as flexible as him.
   
   The final 25 minutes is non-stop action. It is missing the intensity, but the choreography is certainly there. It's a shame they didn't put much into the fighting unil the last few fights. At least it was a nice surprise to see so many good fights after so many average ones. Sammo looks brilliant, Phillip Ko looks as good as he always does, and Lee Hoi San and Steve Tung Wei also do great work. Lee Hoi San's performance comes close to matching his work in Magnificent Butcher. Austin Tin Chi Wai has a good cameo fighting Sammo, but still, the kung fu is just lightweight. Only in Phillip Ko's fight did I get the feeling that someone may actually die. If you are looking for hardcore kung fu action with Tung Wei, then check out 'Killer Wears White' (AKA Shadow Ninja) which can be found in the Martial Arts 50 Movie Pack Collection. 'Killer Wears White' is fast, furious, and downright brutal. 'Incredible Kung Fu Master' is just a walk in the park. This is a kung fu movie that the kids can watch.
   
   3/5