Rev Pickpocket

Carry on Pickpocket (1982)

Director: Sammo Hung

Cast:

Plot: Rice Pot (Sammo Hung) and Chimney (Frankie Chan) are students of Master Kim (Lau Hak Suen) in the dubious art of pickpocketing. With Kim’s daughter Ann (Didi Pang) they manage to earn quite a living on the streets of Hong Kong until Master Kim takes all of their money and they are forced to get involved with local gangsters. Meanwhile Rice Pot meets Ling (Deannie Yip) at the disco and instantly falls in love with her. It turns out she is an undercover policewoman, and she calls upon Rice Pot and his friends to obtain some diamonds from a crime boss (Peter Chan). The only problem they have now is staying alive, as the crime boss is prepared to kill to get his diamonds back.

Review: No. This is not another film in the famous series of British close to the knuckle comedies. This is something all together different. This entertaining low budget feature from Sammo Hung was his follow up to the rather more high profile “Prodigal Son”. Frankie Chan must have impressed Sammo so much on that film because he was brought back for this contemporary set project to be his co star. Like many of Sammo’s films from the eighties this is a fairly light comedy for the most part with the occasional action set piece, but this film does carry a sting in its tail when the final reel unleashes some brilliantly choreographed, but extremely violent fights. Sammo has always gone for a level of realism in his films where characters are often left bloody and bruised, but this film is brutal even by his standards with Didi Pang dispatching one poor villain with an axe, while Dick Wei’s demise here is one of his most gory ever. Saying that, I must admit the action was fresh and completely different from fights previously seen, and for that I can only praise this movie. The decision to change the tone so much in the action finale was something Sammo would also do again a few years later with the phenomenal “Pedicab Driver”.

This is one of those rare gems that gives us a chance to see exactly how versatile Sammo Hung can be. We get everything here, from touches of gentle comedy, some light disco dance moves, some nice dramatic touches, some full on fight action plus a great pastiche of the famous dancing bread buns that was originally done by Charlie Chaplin in the silent era. If that is not enough we also get a touch of romance thrown in. As for the rest of the main cast, Frankie Chan doesn’t disappoint either giving solid support as the dependable, if not too bright sidekick. His perfect comic timing is a definite highlight, but more importantly he proves to be most agile in the action scenes. Some of his more athletic fight moves are doubled by the ever reliable Yuen Biao, but quite a bit is done by Frankie himself. Deannie Yip is marvellous as Sammo’s love interest, playing her role with just enough mystery for the viewer to suspect that things may not be quite what they seem. Didi Pang gets to play the unlucky lady who gets the hardest time in this film as she goes from one difficult situation to the next, while Lau Hak Suen is probably the weakest of the main performers, leaning a little towards over acting at times. For me, another highlight of the film has to be the presence of Richard Ng. Once again he manages to effortlessly steel every scene he appears in with his flawless comic timing and a wonderfully understated performance.

Ever reliable and playing the main villain of the piece we have Peter Chan. He even gets to throw a few punches in this film, something that he rarely does when playing his character roles. Dick Wei, another Sammo regular, in distinctive white suit gets to be the main fighting heavy again. His kicking here is really something to watch, but he must have been carrying an injury at the time this was filmed as he is also doubled for a few shots by Yuen Biao, who along with Lam Ching Ying and Billy Chan assisted Sammo with the action choreography. As a point of interest, Lam Ching Ying makes a short cameo too as one of the villains on the ship, but sadly he does not fight, instead here he wields a shotgun, something I honestly can’t remember seeing him do in a movie before. We also have James Tien making an appearance as Richard Ng’s very strict Superintendent at the police department. A rare good guy role for him during the eighties and an opportunity for him to also play some subtle comedy.

The story may start a little slowly, and to me I find it amusing that they show so many tricks that are employed by professional pick pockets, but overall there is plenty of variety at hand. Seeing how light Sammo can be on his feet while dancing is a pleasure, and along with the usual action set pieces this film includes quite a memorable motor bike chase. Sammo also gets to wear some dreadful clothes during the course of this film. At one point the wears a Mickey Mouse tracksuit that does nothing for him and later he wears an appalling suit. The action builds in intensity and gets more brutal as the film goes on, mirroring the plot as it becomes more serious. The typical eighties blend of comedy and action is once again the film’s main strength. You care about the characters and you feel quite a lot of empathy for their situation. The ending is a little sad with a heartbreaking twist for Sammo’s character, but the good guys come out on top, as they should. This is one of Sammo’s lesser known films and one that I came to discovering only recently, but if I had to rate this anywhere it would certainly be amongst the must see of Sammo‘s long and varies career.

Rating: 4/5

Review by D. M.
Photos by Klara

For bigger photos please click on thumbnails

For more pictures visit the Carry On Pickpocket Photo Album

"I'd love if the audience remembered me.
Everything about my movies, my characters.
Don't forget me.
I'm happy that you guys don't forget me.
I love you."
(Sammo Hung)