My Love Letter to Hong Kong Cinema: Part 2

The 1987 classic A CHINESE GHOST STORY (倩女幽魂) film poster

As mentioned on Part 1, my recent nostalgia for Hong Kong movies has led me to write a 3-part series - a homage to the best years of HK cinema from the 80s and 90s. 

So here's my list of Hong Kong films from the 1980s which were memorable to me. 

(Note that I won't be including classics from 2000s onwards like Infernal Affairs, Shaolin Soccer, Election, SPL, Ip Man etc in my list as I have already developed a deep appreciation and critical-mindedness for movies by then. Instead, these movies were the ones that shaped me into who I am today - a movie geek.) 

The ACES GOES PLACES (最佳拍檔) series (I - V), 1982 - 1989

I believe this movie opened me up to Hong Kong movies. 

I can't remember much of the plot points and all. All I could remember are the two leads; the macho handsome Sam Hui and the funny bald-guy Karl Maka, and the spectacular entertainment it offered. Think James Bond with high tech gadgets and action scenes but has much more comedy and no beautiful girls (there's only one memorable lady and she's played by Sylvia Chang. However, she's the fierce and kick-ass type.)

Plus it has a very catchy theme song sung by Sam himself. 

The HAPPY GHOST (開心鬼) series (I - V), 1984 - 1991

Again, I can't remember much of the story line but all I could remember were the pretty girls. 

This film and its subsequent sequels launched the career of the young starlets who were referred to as the "Happy Girls": Loletta Lee, Sandy Lamb, May Lo, Fennie Yuen and Charine Chan. 

I could only remember 3 of the girls: May Lo who is Jacky Cheung's wife, Loletta Lee because she acted in several adult softcore movies, and Fennie Yuen because of her inappropriate English name (fun fact: many Malaysian Chinese girls from that generation also started naming themselves "Fennie" >.<)

Jackie Chan's triple combo: PROJECT A (A計劃) 1983, POLICE STORY (警察故事) 1985 and ARMOUR OF GOD (龍兄虎弟) 1986.

PROJECT A (A計劃)

POLICE STORY (警察故事)

ARMOUR OF GOD (龍兄虎弟)

All of these 3 films were directed by Jackie himself and it sealed him as THE legit international action superstar who does his own stunts. While doing my research for this blog entry I came upon this Kotaku article entitled, Jackie Chan's Major Injuries: A Catalogue of Pain. LOL

I remember after seeing his films, I would imagine myself jumping off high places and crashing into windows. But I didn't...thankfully. 

Bonus:

A big shout out to the third Police Story (1992) film entitled SUPERCOP (警察故事3超級警察 ) which was shot in Malaysia! I remembered it was such an event as I was spotting the different recognizable locations throughout the film. And it starred our very own Michelle Yeoh too!  

   

I also enjoyed watching MIRACLES - MR. CANTON AND LADY ROSE (奇蹟), 1989. It had more story, acting and comedy, instead of his usual fight scenes. And it had the late Anita Mui. It also had some beautiful set pieces and the final fight sequence in the rope factory was classic Jackie Chan: comedy + acrobatic + fighting + stunts.  

WHEELS ON MEALS (快餐車) 1984 and DRAGONS FOREVER (飛龍猛將) 1988 by the "three brothers": Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung.

WHEELS ON MEALS (快餐車)

DRAGONS FOREVER (飛龍猛將)

What I remember most of the three when they are on-screen together:

• Yuen Biao = amazing leg work. Dry "uncle" humour.
• Sammo Hung = "How can someone so fat be so nimble and flexible?!". Clumsy kind of humour.
• Jackie Chan = parkour like movement, jumping through tiny spaces and using whatever items he can get his hands on as weapons. Physical humour.   

Each has their own style and it's just fun and entertaining to see them three together. Although Project A featured the three men, my favourites were still Wheels on Meals and Dragons Forever as they had equal screen time. I could watch their fight scenes from these movies over and over again on YouTube.

MR. VAMPIRE (殭屍先生), 1985

When I saw this film, I was instantly hooked! It had so many elements but yet it blended altogether so perfectly. It had horror (scary jumping corpse!), kung fu, forbidden romance and comedy (the iconic, "Don't breathe if not you'll attract the attention of the vampire!"). And I was introduced to the natural comedic performance of the late Ricky Hui. He was so memorable in this movie.

PEACOCK KING (孔雀王子), 1988

I remembered clearly this Yuen Biao movie was a big budget production because it had spectacular CGI (back then, now it looks cheesy), amazing kung fu action scenes and of course, it had cute as a button Gloria Yip. 

Of course...the versatile and charismatic as hell icon CHOW YUN FATT in these blockbusters:  

My fascination with the heroic bloodshed genre (brotherhood, honour, sacrifice and redemption) started with A BETTER TOMORROW (英雄本色), 1986. Who could forget the slo-mo shootout where Mark Gor strategically placed all his guns in the flower pots. And of course the theme song.  

My fascination for the genre turned into an obsession with its 1987 sequel, A BETTER TOMORROW (英雄本色2). Director John Woo created so many memorable scenes: The fried rice scene in the beginning, Leslie Cheung's character dies (WTF!), Dean Shek whom I remembered as a comedic actor turned in such a dramatic performance and of course, the mayhem blood soaked ending. I remembered I wanted to be an action superstar just like Chow Yun Fatt when I grew up. 

A two-part gangster drama released in 1987, RICH AND FAMOUS (江湖情) and TRAGIC HERO (英雄好漢) were memorable to me because the latter movie was shot in my hometown, Melaka! There is this scene where a two-story wooden house cum seafood restaurant was blown up. The location of that house is in Klebang and if I can recall correctly, it was an abandoned house then. But it was later bought over and turned into...a seafood restaurant!

Anyway, Chow Yun Fatt turned in a more dramatic performance for this two-parter. Andy Lau was particularly good here and so was Alex Man, who played a froth-at-the-mouth villain. Carina Lau starred too. Alan Tam the famous singer appeared in the first part and turned in a memorable performance as a genuinely kind and good guy but was tragically killed off (WTF!). It's one of those movies where it has a "ham ka chan" ending ie. everyone dies at the end...well, almost.   
  .

THE GREATEST LOVER (公子多情), 1988. It was this movie which I discovered the versatility of Chow Yun Fatt as an actor. His performance here started out as a country bumpkin in silly funny fish out of water situations and by the end of the film, he transformed himself into a suave personality. Chow's character was one of the three Mainlanders (the other two were played by Eric Tsang & Shing Fui-On) who swam across to Hong Kong, hoping to prosper. One thing led to another, he was recruited by Anita Mui's character, a speech and image consultant. The storyline is very similar to the Hollywood classic My Fair Lady.

Dou San. Enough said. A classic. GOD OF GAMBLERS (賭神), 1989.

A tearjerker. What an ending. An absolutely heart breaking family drama about the working class, reconciliation and a father's love. ALL ABOUT AH-LONG (阿郎的故事) was directed by Johnnie To starring Chow Yun Fatt and Sylvia Chang and was released in 1989. This story was conceptualized by Chow and Sylvia themselves.

John Woo's ONCE A THIEF (縱橫四海), a breezy entertaining screwball heist film released in 1991, which also starred the dashingly handsome Leslie Cheung and the breathtakingly beautiful Cherie Chung. The action is great with some beautiful locations but the standout is the chemistry among the three leads.

Chow Yun Fatt is back in full action mayhem mode with John Woo's 1992 masterpiece HARD BOILED (辣手神探). This film got the attention of Hollywood and was pivotal to Chow Yun Fatt's move to Hollywood in the late 1990s. The other lead, Tony Leung Chiu Wai turned in a good performance too but it was Chow's show all the way. The hospital shoot out scene is probably one of the best long take tracking action scene ever captured in the history of film. 3 minutes of unbroken crazy epic gun battle. 

TREASURE HUNT (花旗少林), 1994 was one of Chow's last few movies before his move to Hollywood. To be honest, I can't remember much of the plot except the rise of Jacklyn Wu as one of the go-to actress then and the re-introduction of Teresa Teng's The Moon Represent My Heart song.


A CHINESE GHOST STORY (倩女幽魂), 1987

A masterpiece produced by Tsui Hark. A movie which has "everything" and all its elements are integrated perfectly - horror, comedy, action and romance. Can Leslie Cheung's character; a novice tax collector and Joey Wong's character; a beautiful ghost enslaved by a Tree Demoness, overcome the impossible obstacle to be together? The flying sequences were gracefully done while the scary parts were...really scary. And who could forget the theme song sung by Leslie himself. 


CHICKEN AND DUCK TALK (雞同鴨講), 1988

A hilarious take on the David vs Goliath story of a small independent traditional Chinese restaurant selling roast duck going up against a Western KFC-like establishment which opened across the street. It doesn't help that the Chinese restaurant has some serious hygiene problems and the staff are disgruntled with the boss, played by Michael Hui.

Eventhough the silly humour comes in truckload, the movie has a lot of heart as it balances out on the struggles of the characters. There are many memorable scenes like the chicken and duck mascot slugging it out, how to properly eat a roast duck and the infested rats scene.


Movies with an ENSEMBLE CAST
These films which feature many talented actors and actresses (including Chow Yun Fatt, Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao, Sammo Hung, Eric Tsang, Richard Ng, Raymond Wong, Leslie Cheung, Stephen Chow, Jacky Cheung, Carol Cheng, Maggie Cheung, Cherie Chung etc) are usually divided into two categories:

• Nonsense comedy with some elements of sexploitation where the men are usually portrayed as horny as hell and wanting to bed the beautiful women. However, most of the time they would end up falling into their own traps. I can't remember specific plot points as they all follow the same formula but I can clearly remember they were hilarious!  

LUCKY STARS (福星系列) series (spawning 7 movies), 1983 - 1996

   

THE ROMANCING STAR (精裝追女仔) series (I-III), 1987 - 1989

• Family comedies usually released during the Chinese New Year season. These entertaining films emphasizes on family unity and always ends on a happy note where quarrels are resolved, lovers reconcile, villains get their deserved punishment and fortunes are made.

IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (富貴逼人) series (I-IV), 1987 - 1992

THE EIGHT HAPPINESS (八星報喜), 1988

ALL'S WELL, ENDS WELL (家有囍事) series. It spawned 7 movies from 1992 - 2012 with different actors but the one I remembered most is the first one. I've re-watched it several times since then! Highly watchable thanks to Stephen Chow.


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In Part 3, I will be jotting down a list of HK movies from the 90s which shaped me.

If you've not read Part 1 - my POV on the current state of Hong Kong cinema, read here.