Knockabout (1979)
Director: Sammo Hung.
Cast:
Plot: Siu Bo (Yuen Biao) and Tai Bo (Leung Kar Yan) are two wondering small time con men who think they know all the tricks to get some quick cash and are skilled enough in martial arts to defeat any challengers until one day their plans backfire. An attempt to rob one man (Lau Kar Wing) ends in them being beaten up. Determined to learn from this man they beg to be taken on as his students. He eventually agrees, but unknown to the two friends the man is Silver Fox, a wanted bandit and ruthless killer. When Tai Bo stumbles upon the truth he is murdered and Siu Bo is lucky to escape with his life. He turns to an eccentric beggar (Sammo Hung) who is also skilled in the martial arts for help and training. The plan this time is revenge, and Siu Bo will have it at any cost.
Review: After years of playing support roles and being regarded as one of the hardest working stunt doubles in the business, Yuen Biao finally gets to have the lead role in this film where the title almost says it all. "Knockabout" is largely a fun story of two friends (So close they are like brothers.) who travel the country making a living through harmless cons. You know from the beginning that this is going to live up to its title when we get a series of entertaining and energetic fights filled with humour. Yuen Biao is everything you would expect in an action comedy showing charisma and athleticism in abundance with Leung Kar Yan equally matching him with the charm if not so much the physical dexterity. This is not saying that Leung Kar Yan doesn’t impress in his fight scenes too, there is just a contrast in styles with Yuen’s background coming from years of training in Peking Opera, while Leung Kar Yan had no martial arts background at all until he started in films working as a support player at the famous Shaw Brothers studio.
Lau Kar Wing is superb as the enigmatic Silver Fox bringing some considerable skill to his role as the villain of the piece. A talented and versatile martial artist who always impresses with great power and speed he is an occasional collaborator with Sammo Hung and here he provides substance along with his considerable martial arts skills as he teaches Siu Bo the art of kicking and Tai Bo the art of punching. Sammo Hung himself plays the final lead character who appears to be a very intelligent beggar with a certain amount of humour and charm. Playing his role with a combination of strange ticks and twitching you know from the moment you first see him that there is going to be more to his character than you first see. A series of nicely played comic moments between the beggar and Siu Bo make the middle section of the movie very entertaining, with the training sequences a real highlight along with another scene concerning a chicken.
Filled with colourful characters, this is certainly a fun film with the comedy sometimes getting a little too much into the fight scenes. For example, Lee Hoi San’s bald head becomes the target again, as it was in "The Incredible Kung Fu Master", for some over the top abuse that ends up with it looking like a lumpy pink bathing cap. One moment for me that is just plain stupid rather than funny, but as I have said in other reviews, the Hong Kong humour can be a bit of an acquired taste that does not always travel too well. The fact that Lee Hoi San and Wong Kwong Yue are playing an obviously gay killing team has a certain amount of fun to it and is certainly something I haven’t seen in an old school kung fu film before. At certain points some of the sound effects in the fights tend to lean towards the ridiculous too, but I found myself more in awe of what I was watching than being irritated by what I was listening to.
Other notable members of the support cast include Karl Maka playing a local policeman, spending a considerable amount of time rubbing his bald head and he also has a strange fascination with his gun. Mars appears as a mysterious character searching for the Silver Fox and gets to have a short fight with Lau Kar Wing, but generally he ends up being under used here, but with so much else going on it is easy for one character to be played a little short. Ho Pak Kwong has a very funny role as the casino manager who constantly comes off worse whenever our main characters visit his gambling establishment. Worthy of note also is Chung Faat, who in this film plays several roles, sometimes in consecutive scenes. There are a few other members of Sammo’s stunt team who appear morethan once too, but none as prominent as Mr. Faat.
When regarding the classic kung fu films made by Sammo over the years it would be easy to overlook the odd one here and there. This is one that certainly doesn’t get mentioned by me that often when I recall my list of favourites and I should give myself a swift wrap across the knuckles for doing so. Yuen Biao’s first starring role is quite easily as worthy of praise as the later "Prodigal Son". As out and out action comedies go this has both in abundance. I always felt the skipping routine goes on a little longer than need be, but that is a minor fault amongst a series of impressive and entertainingly choreographed fights. Assisting Sammo with the action was Billy Chan and Lam Ching Ying. Lam Ching Ying appears in the film only briefly in the casino scenes and also in a market place scene but most likely playing different characters. The few moments of drama in this are well played, but primarily this is a fast and furious comedy with an impressive cast, all at the top of their game. Label this as another one under the must see banner, and if you haven’t done so already you certainly have my permission to get yourself a copy straight away.
Rating: 4/5
Cast:
Plot: Siu Bo (Yuen Biao) and Tai Bo (Leung Kar Yan) are two wondering small time con men who think they know all the tricks to get some quick cash and are skilled enough in martial arts to defeat any challengers until one day their plans backfire. An attempt to rob one man (Lau Kar Wing) ends in them being beaten up. Determined to learn from this man they beg to be taken on as his students. He eventually agrees, but unknown to the two friends the man is Silver Fox, a wanted bandit and ruthless killer. When Tai Bo stumbles upon the truth he is murdered and Siu Bo is lucky to escape with his life. He turns to an eccentric beggar (Sammo Hung) who is also skilled in the martial arts for help and training. The plan this time is revenge, and Siu Bo will have it at any cost.
Review: After years of playing support roles and being regarded as one of the hardest working stunt doubles in the business, Yuen Biao finally gets to have the lead role in this film where the title almost says it all. "Knockabout" is largely a fun story of two friends (So close they are like brothers.) who travel the country making a living through harmless cons. You know from the beginning that this is going to live up to its title when we get a series of entertaining and energetic fights filled with humour. Yuen Biao is everything you would expect in an action comedy showing charisma and athleticism in abundance with Leung Kar Yan equally matching him with the charm if not so much the physical dexterity. This is not saying that Leung Kar Yan doesn’t impress in his fight scenes too, there is just a contrast in styles with Yuen’s background coming from years of training in Peking Opera, while Leung Kar Yan had no martial arts background at all until he started in films working as a support player at the famous Shaw Brothers studio.
Lau Kar Wing is superb as the enigmatic Silver Fox bringing some considerable skill to his role as the villain of the piece. A talented and versatile martial artist who always impresses with great power and speed he is an occasional collaborator with Sammo Hung and here he provides substance along with his considerable martial arts skills as he teaches Siu Bo the art of kicking and Tai Bo the art of punching. Sammo Hung himself plays the final lead character who appears to be a very intelligent beggar with a certain amount of humour and charm. Playing his role with a combination of strange ticks and twitching you know from the moment you first see him that there is going to be more to his character than you first see. A series of nicely played comic moments between the beggar and Siu Bo make the middle section of the movie very entertaining, with the training sequences a real highlight along with another scene concerning a chicken.
Filled with colourful characters, this is certainly a fun film with the comedy sometimes getting a little too much into the fight scenes. For example, Lee Hoi San’s bald head becomes the target again, as it was in "The Incredible Kung Fu Master", for some over the top abuse that ends up with it looking like a lumpy pink bathing cap. One moment for me that is just plain stupid rather than funny, but as I have said in other reviews, the Hong Kong humour can be a bit of an acquired taste that does not always travel too well. The fact that Lee Hoi San and Wong Kwong Yue are playing an obviously gay killing team has a certain amount of fun to it and is certainly something I haven’t seen in an old school kung fu film before. At certain points some of the sound effects in the fights tend to lean towards the ridiculous too, but I found myself more in awe of what I was watching than being irritated by what I was listening to.
Other notable members of the support cast include Karl Maka playing a local policeman, spending a considerable amount of time rubbing his bald head and he also has a strange fascination with his gun. Mars appears as a mysterious character searching for the Silver Fox and gets to have a short fight with Lau Kar Wing, but generally he ends up being under used here, but with so much else going on it is easy for one character to be played a little short. Ho Pak Kwong has a very funny role as the casino manager who constantly comes off worse whenever our main characters visit his gambling establishment. Worthy of note also is Chung Faat, who in this film plays several roles, sometimes in consecutive scenes. There are a few other members of Sammo’s stunt team who appear morethan once too, but none as prominent as Mr. Faat.
When regarding the classic kung fu films made by Sammo over the years it would be easy to overlook the odd one here and there. This is one that certainly doesn’t get mentioned by me that often when I recall my list of favourites and I should give myself a swift wrap across the knuckles for doing so. Yuen Biao’s first starring role is quite easily as worthy of praise as the later "Prodigal Son". As out and out action comedies go this has both in abundance. I always felt the skipping routine goes on a little longer than need be, but that is a minor fault amongst a series of impressive and entertainingly choreographed fights. Assisting Sammo with the action was Billy Chan and Lam Ching Ying. Lam Ching Ying appears in the film only briefly in the casino scenes and also in a market place scene but most likely playing different characters. The few moments of drama in this are well played, but primarily this is a fast and furious comedy with an impressive cast, all at the top of their game. Label this as another one under the must see banner, and if you haven’t done so already you certainly have my permission to get yourself a copy straight away.
Rating: 4/5
Review by D. M.
Photos by Klara
Photos by Klara
For bigger photos please click on thumbnails
For more pictures visit the Knockabout Photo Album