Part I. * Part II.
Biography
by Klara
From
the early eighties Sammo not only starred, action directed or
choreographed but he got more and more involved as a producer. The most
important film of 1985 that has to be brought to the limelight is „Mr
Vampire”. Very much like „Encounters of the Spooky Kind” it combined
horror, humour and kung fu, but the secret of the success of this film
lies in the cast, featuring the unforgettable Lam Ching Ying in the
role of a taoist priest, Ricky Hui Koon Ying and Chin Siu Ho, his two
mischievous disciples. The film was an enourmous success (grossed HK
$20,092,129) and resulted in sequels in the following years: Mr Vampire
2 (1986), Mr Vampire 3 (1987), Mr Vampire 4 (1988), all of them
produced by Sammo, and as a highlight, he had a cameo in Mr Vampire 3.
On the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards Mr Vampire won Best original filmscore
and was nominated for best picture, best director, best supporting
actor, best screenplay, best new artist, best art direction, best
editing, best action design and best song. In 1986 Sammo directed an hilarious „Eastern Western” film, „Millionaires Express” (a.k.a. Shanghai Express), one of his finest films, an all-star
action comedy. It had an international cast, featuring Cythia
Rothrock, Richard Norton, Yukari Oshima, Yasuaki Kurata, Lau Kar Wing,
Yuen Biao, Lam Ching Ying, Eric Tsang, Chin Kar Lok, Meng Hoi, Wu Ma,
Richard Ng, and many other stars of that era. The film is a real
masterpiece, full of great, breathtaking fight sequences, including
Sammo Hung vs. Cynthia Rothrock and Yuen Biao vs. Dick Wei, and as a
treat, we can enjoy a brief one-to-one fight between Sammo and Yuen
Biao. According to Sammo, they were very lucky as they got permission
from the government to shoot in the Bangkok train station, and were
allowed to use a brand new railroad track. Several millions were spent
on making the film, they built a whole village, a street set, and a
hotel. The production was worth every penny as it resulted in a huge
box office success, grossing HK $28,122,275. In the same year Sammo produced and starred in a supernatural crime comedy, called „Where’s Officer Tuba?” where Sammo impersonates a cop, who has talent for nothing else but playing on his tuba. His collegue (a funny and unusual role for the great David Chiang) gets killed and the dying man makes Tuba to promise to take revenge. His ghost keeps coming back to haunt Tuba so in the end he is forced to keep his promise. He makes Tuba appear an idiot a number of times. Although this film does not belong to the greatest hits of Sammo (it grossed HK$ 16,822,229), it is an amusingly light comedy, jammed with visual gags and even some stunning action scequences and it is most certainly worth watching it.
1987 kept Sammo busy as a producer, but this year was also a
breaking point both for him and Hong Kong film industry, for this year
he made „Eastern Condors”, the best war movie Hong Kong has ever seen.
Hong Kong does not have military of its own, so a war film has not as
much of an audience in Asia as it has in the West. Unfortunately for
this reason the film had a bigger success among Western audience (Box
Office:
HK $21,606,063.00). The plot is reminiscent of The Dirty Dozen,
Apocalypse Now, among other war films. Making this film was a real
challenge for Sammo. For such a serious theme, Sammo decided to change
style and lost a huge amount of weight to look more serious, thinner
and fitter. The story is about a group of Chinese-American imprisoned
criminals who are promised their freedom if they complete their mission
in the jungle in Vietnam, where they have to team up with female
Cambodian guerillas (their leader is played by the beautiful Joyce
Godenzi) to destroy a secret store of missiles left behind by the
departing American forces.This film is a real gem in Hong Kong cinema
with fantastic camera angles and phenomanal stuntwork these dazzling
martial artists are capable of. A great film where Sammo Hung, Yuen
Biao, Yuen Wah and Dick Wei can really show their impressive physical
abilities. During making of this film serious accidents happened. Chin
Kar Lok was badly burnt while making a stunt. Sammo injured his legs
due to a miscalculated jump from a hillside, just about a week before
the finishing touches. He was adamant to complete his task and finished
the film injured. As a special treat we can see the unique acting
ability of Haing S. Ngor, a Cambodian American physician and actor who
is best known for winning a 1985 Academy Award
for Best Supporting
Actor for his performance in the movie "The Killing Fields".
Unfortunately he was killed outside his apartment in Los Angeles in
1996. All in all this movie is a real entertainment for those who are
fond of war movies, martial arts and it is a real treat to see Yuen
Biao and Sammo working together at the peak of their abilities.
1988 held a special treat for fans, for this year brought the
long-awaited event - the Three Brothers teamed up again, after so many
years to create yet another masterpiece for Hong Kong Cinema: a
terrific action-comedy, Dragons Forever. The title sounds rather
ironic, as up to now to the greatest disappointment of fans, it is the
last film where these great martial artists worked together onscreen.
However, it is not simply a Three Brothers films, as other members of
the legendary Seven Little Fortunes from Sifu Yu Jim Yuen’s Peking Opera School were also involved in it. Corey Yuen Kwai
landed a hand to Sammo as co-director and Yuen Wah played the head
villain. The film was a huge box office success, namely it brought HK
$33,578,920.00. It is not surprising, as it has all the important
indegridients for success: drama, romance, slapstick comedy and
action.. Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan
have a real commitment to make the fight scenes authentic and
realistic, and they brought the best out of their stunt teams as
always. The fantastic camerawork also helped the audience to feel that
they are in the middle of a fight for real. The highlight of this
masterpiece was the fight between Jackie Chan and Benny „The Jet” Urquidez.
Their fight in Wheels on Meals is considered one of the best fights in
the history of Hong Kong Cinema. Ever since those climactic fight
scenes fans were craving for an encore and they were not disappointed.
They got a a bone-crunching confrontation of these two fighting
machines in Dragons Forever. 1988 was remarkable not only in the field of action but regarding drama as well. This year Sammo made „Painted Faces”, a touching biopic about the life in Peking Opera School. Sammo portrays their
Master, Yu Jim Yuen. The films gives us an insight
into the everyday life of these children, we can see the cruel and
brutal training they had to undergo from early morning ’till late at
night for 7-10 years. However, it is far from reality, it only shows a milder, idealised picture of what was going on in that school. The film wasn’t a big success, but it had many remarkable moments. Among them the scenes of the late great
Lam Ching Ying, who played a stuntman who is getting old and tired and
cannot perform as he could in the past. The scene where he is going mad
is one of the most heartbreaking scenes of Hong Kong Cinema.1989’s
Pedicab Driver is generally considered one of the best martial arts
movies of the 80s as well as one of Sammo Hung’s finest works. It
grossed HK $14,784,774.00 in the box office. The story is about a
pedicab driver who at the beginning is only after love, but soon finds
himself in the middle of a brutal story: he has to take revenge for the
murder of his friend and his wife. The film had the usual recipe, a
fantastic mixture of comedy, drama, action and most fast paced martial
arts choreography. It is a film that fulfilled many martial arts fan’s
dream: Sammo Hung versus Lau Kar Leung,
an unforgettable four minute long fight between these two giants of
martial arts movies. The film’s theme music won the Best Original Song
at the 9th Annual Hong Kong Film Awards.
A really busy year arrived for Sammo, as in 1990 he directed, produced
and acted in numerous films, some are real gems in the Hong Kong film
industry. Pantyhose Hero stirred a lot of emotions and negative
feelings since its first release. Admittedly it is politically
incorrect, it is said to be homophobic and even distasteful. But in
spite of the negative reflections it did quite well, it grossed HK
$15,672,845.00 and is a favourite of many fans thanks to its incredible
humour and amazing fighting scenes.
Another
film that was most debated this year is „Island of Fire”. This film has
strongly devided the audience. The cast include some great stars such
as Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Tony Leung, Andy Lau, and a brief appearance by Jimmy Wang Yu.
It is said that Jackie owed Wang Yu a favour, so to return it he had a
brief appearence in this movie, approximately 15 minutes. Fans of the
prison film genre find the key elements, so typical of this genre:
corrupt guards, escapes, fights. Sammo’s role is relatively short, but
it provides the highlights of the film. He portrays a father who does
everything to escape to spend some time with his son. It is a real
treat to see him in such a touching, dramatic role. As always, he
steals the screen.
1990 brought us not only action, drama, but some great comedies as well. One of them is a great cop-comedy „Skinny Tiger Fatty Dragon” directed by Lau Kar-Wing. The stars of the film are Sammo Hung and Karl Maka and they make a good pairing, they have a great chemistry. The bad guy of the movie is played by Lau Kar-Wing himself and as it could be well expected, it resulted in excellent fighting sequences between him and Sammo. In the awesome finale we can admire Sammo’s skills with nunchaku and knives. As a real treat he gives us a little demonstration of his great Bruce Lee impersonation that was so succesful in „Enter the Fat Dragon”.
This year also brought to fans the long awaited sequel of „Encounters of the Spooky Kind” (1981), directed by Ricky Lau. Although it did quite well at the box office, grossing over 13 million HK dollars,
the opinions differ about this film. Some fans are
convinced that the first has no equal, others say the sequel is way
better. It is slightly lighter in tone but doesn’t lack the trademark
Sammo action scenes and chills. The same year brought another special treat for fans:
brothers Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao teamed up in Shanghai Shanghai, and
Little Fortune brother Corey Yuen made the fantastic action
choreography. The ultimate fight happens between Sammo and Biao and it
clearly shows how gifted martial artist they are as they battle up and
down the stairs.
1991's „Touch and Go” (a.k.a. Point of No return) is said to be lighter in tone than what fans got used to when watching a Ringo Lam film, but with Sammo in a leading role you still get an entertaining, solid action movie, jammed with breathtaking fight scenes, explosions, car chases. Sammo’s character is a loveable guy who accidentally witnesses a killing and from witness soon turns into the main target of the killers.
1991
was rich not only in action but comedy as well. Although „Gambling
Ghost” has some action scenes, the emphasis is on comedy. Sammo plays
triple: he portrays three generations of swindlers. Some great cameos
from Lam Ching Ying, Wu Ma and other stars spice it all. The other
film, called „Slickers vs Killers” is a rather underrated Sammo film.
He plays a cell-phone salesman who tries to avoid getting killed by two
of the most stupid murderers played brilliantly by the unforgettable
Lam Ching Ying and Jacky Cheung. Unfortunately none of these films
grossed too much at the box office, both of them stayed under 10
million. "Gambling Ghost" grossed HK $7,729,690.00 while "Slickers vs
Killers" grossed even less, HK $5,724,819.00. "The Banquet" was made as a charity film to aid the flood
victims of China in 1991 and it grossed remarkably well, HK
$21,921,687.00. It can be rightously called an all-star film, as it had
95% of the Hong Kong Cinema actors with bigger or smaller roles, walk
ons and cameos. The whole film was put together in a hurry, but as it
served a good cause, it doesn’t really matter. It was a fun game to
spot all the familiar faces – and with the exception of Jackie Chan and
Chow Yun Fat – pretty much all the Hong Kong entertainment world was present. Sammo spent the biggest part of 1992 as a producer and director. He produced the very underrated „Operation Scorpio” (a.k.a. Scorpion King), a light action comedy with Chin Kar Lok in the leading role. Some say it is a modern old school kung fu flick and indeed it has all the elements of it. Although Sifu Lau Kar Leung is advanced in age here, he shows us his incredible skills. This film is definitely a must see for action fans. „Moon Warriors” was directed by Sammo so it is not so much of a surprise that it ended up a well-paced, breathtakingly beautiful cinematography, with fantastic cast: Andy Lau, Anita Mui, Maggie Cheung.
The
most significant film of this year Sammo produced and had a small role
in is „Lover’s Tear”, a heartbreaking thriller/drama with fantastic
acting from Nina Li Chi. She portrays a deaf woman, an ex-prostitute
who got rescued but she is more grateful to than in love with her
gengster rescuer, played by Elvis Tsui. Lam Ching Ying’s role as a
mute henchman goes hand in hand with Nina’s wonderful performance. He
shows his incredible acting skills as he portrays this man, who is torn
between love and loyalty, because he is in love with his boss’
girlfriend. Finally he sacrifices everything for the girl – he helps
her to get away with her lover. He cannot talk but his eyes show all
the emotions and inner turmoil possible.
1993's „Painted Skin” is a fantasy ghost film by genre and was directed by Sammo’s mentor, the legendary King Hu and Sammo was its action director. The film is reminiscent of „A Chinese Ghost Story” but a bit more serious in tone. HK cinema fans’ favourite Sifu, Lam Ching Ying had a brief appearance in it – surprisingly enough – as a Taoist priest. Unfortunately the film didn’t do too well, during its theatrical run in grossed HK $1,315,857.00 at the box office.
„Blade of Fury” was directed by Sammo but his style comes through more in the action scenes. The film is a real martial arts movie, mixing in a bit of 90’s wuxia style, and has a very interesting but
rather complicated plot. It grossed almost 2 million HK dollars.
Unfortunately we cannot see much of Sammo here, he has only a brief,
but very active appearance. The last film of 1993 that devided the
audience again was
„The Kung Fu Cult Master”. Some give it a really high score, some say
they didn’t like it and I must confess I belong to the latter. The plot
is rather difficult to follow, and although there are some exciting
fighting scenes, there are too much wire and
special effects to make it really enjoyable. Bad or
good movie, it grossed HK $10,437,757.00 at the box office that year. After 1993 things slowed down a bit for Sammo. In 1994 he action directed „Ashes of Time”, the next year he worked with Jackie Chan on „Thunderbolt” – unfortunately this time only behind the camera. The same year he worked not only with Jackie but with his other Peking Opera Brother, Yuen Biao in „Don’t Give a Damn”.
Year 1996 was still a bit quiet, as Sammo only had smaller roles in films like „Somebody Up There Likes Me”,
„How To Meet the Lucky Stars” and „Ah Kam”. Things a bit speeded up in
1997. He directed and action directed „Once Upon a Time in China and
America”, action directed action hero Van Damme in „Double Team”, even
did a voice dubbing for Tsui Hark’s „A Chinese Ghost Story” animation.
The biggest challange that year was directing Jackie Chan in „Mr. Nice
Guy”. Under Sammo’s guidance Jackie always gave his best and this film
is no exception, as usual Sammo brought the best out of him here too.
The fight scenes are incredible, the camerawork is fascinating, Sammo
wants the viewer to be a part of the fights and he gets what he wants.
The film was an enormous hit, grossing HK $45,420,457.00.
With 1998 a whole new era started for Sammo, as this year he got the chance to break into the American market . He got the opportunity to star in
CBS show called „Martial Law”.
The show had two seasons (1998-2000), each season had 22 episodes.
Sammo plays Sammo Law, a Shanghai cop who flies to Los Angeles to help
LAPD's Major Crimes Unit. He gives the biggest surprise to everyone as
at first they can only see his size, but soon they have to learn that
things are not what they seem. He might be fat, but incredibly strong
and fast as lightning. The series was very successful, American
audience loved Sammo, they were amazed by his skills. Soon „Martial
Law” and Sammo fan clubs were founded, merchandise were put on market.
More and more people discovered him through „Martial Law” and a new,
but solid fan-base of Sammo and through him for Hong Kong Cinema was
born. Unfortunately the second season was not as successful as the
first round, due to changes in actors and styles and finally the show
had to be cancelled. Regardless what happened to the show, it paved the
way to succes in America for Sammo.
Apart from „Martial Law”, Sammo had other works as well in 1998. He was the 2nd unit director for Van Damme’s explosive thriller, „Knock Off” and starred in a comedy „The Pale Sky” with Kenny Bee. In 1999 he participated in a comedy entitled „No problem” (a.k.a.: „Yes, I’m Mr. Mou Man Tai”) and „Martial Law” had a crossover with another CBS show, „Early Edition” (1996-2000) with the episode called „Play it Again, Sammo”. 2000 brought yet another crossover episode of „Martial Law”, this time with „Walker, Texas Ranger”, the hit series of Chuck Norris. The title of the episode was „The Day of Cleansing, Part 2”.
Year 2001 resulted in two films for Sammo. One is Tsui Hark’s martial arts fantasy film called „The Legend of Zu”, a spectacular sequal to „Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain”, with unbelieavable special effects and an astonishing cast with Ekin Cheng and Cecilia Cheung in the leading roles. Sammo returns to his role from the first film, White Eyebrows. In „The Avenging Fist” we find the two Peking Opera Brothers, Sammo and Yuen Biao working together again. Their roles were relatively short, but played key figures concerning the plot. The film is a young generation film but we can see some wonderful artists from the 80s, such as Chin Kar Lok and Cecilia Yip Tung. A surprising but brilliant idea it was to bring in Eking Cheng to play the young Sammo. The editing, the cinematography and special effects of this movie is outstanding.
2002
brought a martial arts swordplay, „Flying Dragon Leaping Tiger”.
Despite the fantastic cast that includes Sammo and the legendary Cheng Pei Pei
and they showed some awesome fights, the film wasn’t really successful.
That year Sammo participated in a Chinese film „The Hidden Enforcers”.
He plays a retired cop who trains youngsters crime prevention and
assassination. The film did not gross much at the theaters, only HK
$54,306.00. In 2003 Sammo starred in a Mainland tv series called „Undercover Cop”, which is a kind of Chinese „Martial Law”, and had a cameo in this year’s
comedy hit, produced by genious Eric Tsang, „Men Suddenly In Black”.
The story is about four married men who want to cheat on their wives.
After the hard times of HK cinema, this is an entertaining, fresh and
unique film. Sammo had some brief appearances in the tv series entitled
„The Valley of Lost Vengeance”, he appeared in the first 12 parts.
Apart from involvement in Mainland films, Sammo teamed up again with
Jackie, he action directed „The Medallion” (it was called „Highbinders”
during production) while Gordon Chan took up the task of the director. The cast included comedian Lee Evans, Julian Sands, Claire Forlani, John Rhys-Davies and among the screenwriters we find Hong Kong Cinema expert Bey Logan, whose information packed audiocommentaries are always a joy to listen to.
2004 brought another meeting with Jackie, as Sammo had a brief appearance in Jackie’s „Around the World in 80 Days”, playing the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung, the leader of the Ten Tigers of Canton. He was a martial artist, the master of Hun Gar, a healer and among others, he was the master of Lam Sai Wing (portrayed brilliantly by Sammo in „The Magnificent Butcher”). Sammo also had a brief appearance in his son, Timmy Hung’s film, called „Osaka Wrestling Restaurant” and he did some awesome action choreography on „Kung Fu Hustle” that year.
Year
2005 was a bit busier for Sammo. He starred together with his son Timmy
again in „Legend of the Dragon”, played the father of star Dylan Guo in
a Taiwanese romantic drama entitled „Coming Lies”, and plays the mentor
of the young cops in „Dragon Squad”. This year’s biggest challange for
Sammo was to portray the main villain in „S.P.L”, the best martial arts
film of Hong Kong Cinema of 2005. He played the Triad boss Wong Po
wonderfully. His character is a difficult one to portray as he is not
only this evil, scary gangster, but at the same time a loving husband
and father. From the moment he appears he dominates the screen and one
can feel his power. The impressive, breathtaking end fight between him
and Donnie Yen is a must see for every martial arts movie fan. 2006 reunited Sammo and Yuen Biao in the TVB series „Wing Chun”. In the leading role we can see Sammo’s son, Sammy, who plays the lead
villain. Nicholas Tse
also got a chance to show off his wing chun talents that amazed even
Sammo. The production of super-thief movie „Twins Mission” (a.k.a.:
„Let’s Steal Together”) started in July 2006. The cast includes Sammo, Gillian Chung, Charlene Choi, Wu Jing, Zhang Qian, Yuen Wah, Shek Sau, Steven Cheung.
The film has some challangeing fight sequences with Sammo and Wu Jing.
The film opened on 15 February, 2007. It didn’t get very good reviews,
but one thing is sure: it is good to see Sammo back in action again. 2007 seems to give Sammo a very busy schedule. According to Monkeypeaches Sammo directs a martial arts project, „Howling Arrow” with Wu Jing and Aaron Kwok in the leading roles. The story is set in 19th Century China. Filming started in Februrary 2007.
In October 2006 a new period martial arts epic was formally announced: „Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon”. This $25 million budget film is based on Luo Guanzhong's classic novel series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". The director is Daniel Lee, and the cast includes such names as Andy Lau, Maggie Q, Leon Lai and Sammo Hung, who is the fight choraographer as well. Shooting started in March 2007.
2008 brings another treasure for Sammo fans. He teamed up with Wu Jing again in a movie on triad feuds, directed by Dennis Law and produced by Charles Heung. Hopefully we can enjoy Big Brother's amazing drama and fighting skills soon on the big screen. In an interview he said he won't retire soon from movie-making as he enjoys it very much. Is there anything else a Sammo fan can wish for the future? I don't think so.