🍿 A great 75 minute movie that is, unfortunately, 97 minutes long. And much of that extra 22 minutes is a Dean Shek performance that is excessively weird even by the excessively weird standards of Dean Shek.
Though not directed by Sammo, I’m still throwing this one in my Early Sammo Retrospective because of its production company, Gar Bo Films, founded by Sammo, Karl Maka, and Lau Kar-wing. The company only made two films, this one and Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog. It might have lasted longer, but Sammo’s relationship with parent company Golden Harvest soured in the 1980 and he went independent, creating a new production company.
Sammo gets a lot of attention as a star and director/choreographer. But I knew less about his role on the business side of things. Letterboxd lists him as a producer of 45 movies, while HKmdb lists 47. And the companies he founded (or co-founded) made many classics of HK cinema. Mr. Vampire, Yes Madam, Tiger Cage, Righting Wrongs and many more. Sammo gave a lot of people in Hong Kong the time and money they needed to make their movie, and the industry is all the richer for it.
Unfortunately The Odd Couple might have needed less generosity. The core idea of the script is great – two feuding masters decide to settle fight by training students to fight in their place. Old master Sammo Hung teaches a young stubborn Lau Kar-wing. And old master Lau Kar-wing teaches a young goofy Sammo Hung.
But the script introduces all sorts of weirdness that gets in the way. Lee Hoi-Sang with clown-like eyebrows. Mars (who is called either “Potato” or “Big Stupid”, depending on your translation) wearing inch-long buck teeth. The aforementioned Dean Shek who weaves through the film to a rocking drum solo. Basically, any time the characters aren’t fighting things get pretty goofy. But it was written by Raymond Wong, so maybe that’s to be expected.
As for the fighting, it’s pretty great. Sammo and Lau Kar-wing handled the choreography with a stunt team made from a mix of Sammo and Lau’s crews. The talent here is good. But Lau Kar-wing’s direction tends to lean in to the film’s goofiness. There’s a lot of comedic undercranking here. The framing and editing are less clear than Sammo’s usual style, which can get in the way. But the quality still shines through, especially in the film’s final 20 minutes.
