Sugar Daddies
Directed: Sun Chung
1973
One might certainly expect more from director
Sun Chung who was behind classics like “Big Bad Sis”, “Human Lanterns”
and “Avenging Eagles”, but I would assume this was an assignment that he
was stuck having to do. Perhaps the same is true of the leading man, Chung
Wa, who was a kung fu fool in “The Bastard” in the same year. Of course
he also starred in “Sexy Playgirls” as well in 1973 so maybe the Shaws
were trying to figure out what to do with him – but he certainly looked
more comfortable fighting off bad guys in “The Bastard” than he does in
his fumbling love scenes. This film is also graced with the sleek cool
presence of Betty Pei Ti (“Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan”)
as well as small roles for future star Ricky Hui and one for Ha Ping. Though
spiced up with some female nudity it never raises its head much above mediocrity.
Siao Wu (Chung Wa) is basically a small time conman
who isn’t very successful in his job or in his attempts to wangle money
out of people. His girlfriend Ming Li (Lau Ng-kei) is losing patience with
his promises to marry her when he gets rich. He hits upon a capital idea
though to make money. He knows a girl Sally (Lam Yi-wa) who needs to make
money and isn’t too particular about the how of doing so – so he organizes
an office lottery in which his male co-workers buy tickets for a mere $5
and the winner gets to sleep with Sally. Ah, it makes you yearn for the
good old days when men ruled the office and you could be a pimp without
getting called in by HR. Siao gets his cut of the earnings and is on the
way up in the world especially when his boss wins the lottery. This is
only the beginning for this self-made pimp – he runs into his immoral equal
when Irene (Betty) tries to swindle him – and instead he sets her up with
four wealthy businessmen as their mistress – all not knowing they are sharing
the same goods. The film sort of wanders back and forth between comedy
and drama without successfully doing either.
My rating for this film: 5.0