Where's Officer Tuba
Director: Phillip Chan/ Ricky Lau Koon-wai
Year: 1986
Rating: 7.0
This sweet action/comedy
from Sammo Hung is full of laughs and contains a few great action scenes
as well. Sammo does his “shy” persona here and you can’t help but love
his character. The film begins with an action sequence that has nothing to
do with Sammo or really the rest of the film, but there is an amazing stunt
in it. During a chase, a cop first shoots out the windshield of an oncoming
car and then jumps through the front window as it is bearing down on him.
No doubt the car was slowed down for this stunt, but it is still quite amazing.
We then move on to Sammo who plays the
tuba in the police band. Later that night he is giving a dinner party for
four of his police friends and their wives. It turns out to be a hilariously
disastrous dinner in which all four buddies side up to Sammo and tell him
that he has to tell his wife that he was with them the previous evening.
Sammo’s attempt to come up with a story that includes all his activities
with his friends – fishing, folk dancing, a wake and playing mahjong come
to an ignominious ending. On top of this Sammo is saddled with a gigantic
amorous blind date.
Eventually, Sammo meets Joey Wong and a
little romance springs up between them. First though Sammo gets involved
in a case in which a cop is killed while Sammo is hiding as best he can (no
hero is our Sammo). Before the cop dies though, he makes Sammo promise to
bring the crooks to justice. Sammo has no intention of doing this though
until the ghost of the cop comes back and makes Sammo’s life miserable (and
very funny). This leads to Sammo and his partner Jackie Cheung (in his film
debut) tracking down the crooks and there is a rip-roaring fight at the end.
One of the crooks is another one of the Seven Fortunes – Yuen Wah. This isn’t
one of Sammo’s better known films, but I thoroughly enjoyed both the comedy
and the small amount of action. There are a ton of faces that you will recognize
in this film.
