Sammo Hung

A collection of 25 posts

The 36th Chamber

Septet: The Story of Hong Kong (Various, 2020)

It’s hard to imagine how long I’ve been talking about the film that would eventually become Septet: The Story of Hong Kong. The first time I tweeted about it appears to have been August of 2017, although that tweet is phrased as a reminder, which means I must

King Hu

The King of Wuxia (Lin Jing-jie, 2022)

Joining the ever-expanding pantheon of great Chinese filmmakers given the full-length documentary treatment is King Hu, the man behind many of the most accomplished and influential action films of all-time. But while Johnnie To, Ann Hui, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Jia Zhangke are still very much alive and working, and thus

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Strange Tales

The Best of the Martial Arts Films (Sandra Weintraub, 1990)

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Sammo Hung

The Millionaires' Express (Sammo Hung, 1986)

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Sammo Hung

Dragons Forever (Sammo Hung, 1988)

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Wong Jing

Kung Fu Cult Master (Wong Jing, 1993)

Tsui Hark

The Once Upon a Time in China Series

With the fall 2021 release of Criterion’s Once Upon a Time in China boxset, I put all my reviews of the series together here in one convenient place. Once Upon a Time in China (Tsui Hark, 1991) Tsui Hark is the John Ford of Chinese cinema, and Once Upon

Bruce Lee

Game of Death (Robert Clouse, 1978)

Just the most remarkable collection of 1970s bodies on display: not just Bruce Lee, but Sammo Hung, Colleen Camp, and of course Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (whose body was, like Lee’s, also replaced by a double for a couple of early scenes). Each one iconic in their own way. An accidental

Sammo Hung

Sammo Hung Capsule Reviews

The Prodigal Son (1981) — June 26, 2013 Lam Ching-ying is one of the great supporting actors of kung fu cinema, and this is a great showcase for both his acting and fighting. He plays an opera actor (specializing in female roles, as Lam himself did when he was a stage

Wilson Yip

SPL: Paradox (Wilson Yip, 2017)

It’s unclear if this film is actually a continuation of the SPL series or if it just started as one and then mutated into its own thing. I thought I saw the characters for “Sha Po Lang” on the title card of the movie though, so I’m just

Sammo Hung

My Beloved Bodyguard (Sammo Hung, 2016)

Sammo Hung’s long-awaited return to the director’s chair (known as “The Bodyguard” here in the US and “My Beloved Bodyguard” everywhere else), his first since 1997’s Once Upon a Time in China in America, finds the now 64 year old star playing a recently retired security agent

Roy Chow

Rise of the Legend (Roy Chow, 2014)

Every generation gets the Wong Fei-hung they deserve. A fin-de-siècle doctor and martial arts instructor, the real life Wong has been inspiring cinematic incarnations for most of the history of Hong Kong’s film industry. The first was in a series of productions running form the late 1940s to the

Jackie Chan

Project A (Jackie Chan, 1983)

Comparing Project A to Sammo Hung’s Wheels on Meals, released the next year in 1984, shows some stark differences between Sammo and Jackie Chan as directors. Both films are swashbuckling adventures with ridiculously athletic fights and stunts, slapstick comedy, and a real obsession with beating the hell out of

King Hu

Painted Skin (King Hu, 1993)

King Hu’s final film, it is, like his greatest work (A Touch of Zen) and his first film as an assistant director (The Enchanting Shadow), an adaptation of a story from the 18th Century collection of folk and supernatural tales Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling.

Mabel Cheung & Alex Law

Painted Faces (Alex Law, 1988)

A lovely account of youth spent in the China Drama Academy Peking Opera school, based on the experiences of Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Corey Yuen, and the other members of the Seven Little Fortunes performing troupe that grew up to dominate Hong Kong Cinema from the late 70s

Wilson Yip

SPL: Sha Po Lang (Wilson Yip, 2005)

A rote cop/Triad story somewhat elevated by a serious commitment to operatic melodrama on the part of director Wilson Yip and composer Chan Kwong-wing. Sammo Hung is the gangster, Simon Yam the veteran cop willing to break all the rules to capture him. Donnie Yen is the new guy

Corey Yuen

She Shoots Straight (Corey Yuen, 1990)

Neither “She Shoots Straight” nor the its alternate title (“Lethal Lady”) capture the film very well. It’s a film about family, specifically the kind of family where everyone is a cop. This family just happens to have a lot of daughters and only one son. Joyce Godenzi stars as

Wong Kar-wai

Ashes of Time (Redux) (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)

As with My Blueberry Nights and 2046, a person trying to escape their own past romantic disappointments becomes witness to the stories of other people, and thus learns to cope with their own issues. Like Chow Mo-wan in In the Mood for Love, Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung) has lost the

Angela Mao

Hapkido (Huang Feng, 1972)

An early supporting role for Sammo Hung as he and Angela Mao (the film’s alternate title is the somewhat awesome Lady Kung Fu) travel from Japanese-occupied Korea to China in 1934 to establish a martial arts school, teaching the newly invented style of “Hap Ki Do” which looks like

Sammo Hung

The Iron-Fisted Monk (Sammo Hung, 1977)

Sammo Hung’s debut film as a director, while heavily steeped in the 1970s Shaw Brothers style, already shows evidence of his distinct personality as a filmmaker. Based, like so many kung fu films, on a bit of folklore involving the struggle of the Southern Chinese to resist their new

Sammo Hung

Pedicab Driver (Sammo Hung, 1989)

This 1989 film once again finds Sammo Hung mixing tones in a highly unusual way, as what appears to be a light-hearted farce about human taxis turns into a very dark indeed exploration of human trafficking and prostitution in the lower class Macao underworld. Sammo plays the garrulous leader of

Sammo Hung

Winners & Sinners (Sammo Hung, 1983)

More a straight comedy than any of the other Sammo Hung films I’ve seen, though it does contain some interesting stunts. An amiable hangout movie, with Sammo and his buddies just playing around with goofy jokes and the barest necessities of a plot. Sammo and his four ex-con friends

Sammo Hung

Encounters of the Spooky Kind (Sammo Hung, 1980)

Sammo Hung plays a regular guy whose reputation as The Boldest Man in Town makes him susceptible to all kinds of dares, leading him to an escalating series of encounters with the dead in this smash hit, one of the first major films to combine kung fu, horror, and comedy.

Sammo Hung

Warriors Two (Sammo Hung, 1978)

One of Sammo Hung’s first films as a director, this period kung fu film is very much in the Shaw Brothers mold. It most resembles Lau Kar-leung’s masterpiece The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, also released in 1978, both in its plot and its middle section, an extended series

Sammo Hung

Eastern Condors (Sammo Hung, 1987)

It occurs to me that I’d never actually seen Sammo Hung in a starring role before. I’d seen him as a supporting actor and bit player, and as a director and fight choreographer, but never as the lead. At least not since his late-90s TV series with Arsenio