Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog
Director: Karl Maka
Year: 1978
Rating: 7.0
I don't know if the many action actors in this
film were officially part of Sammo Hung's team at the time - but over the
next ten years they became an integral part of why his films were so great.
There is a cornucopia of talent in this film with a cast that became very
popular. This is produced by Gar Bo Films, a company formed by Sammo, Lau
Kar-wing and Karl Maka in 1978. It was only to produce one more film before
dissolving - the classic The Odd Couple. This is directed by Maka which to
me is a danger sign that the movie will be one of those idiot comedic kung-fu
films - and to a small degree it is but it doesn't go overboard with the
exaggerated silliness as some of his films do. It is more genial than stupid
and the many well-choreographed action scenes by Sammo and Lau allow you
to overlook the cornier moments. Sammo and Lau make a great team and their
interplay is precise and very clever and constant. Lau plays the sneaky trickster
while Sammo is missing a few brain cells and is outwitted by Lau time after
time.
One doesn't have to wait long for the action
to begin - about 30 seconds. Three men (Chung Fat being one) come looking
to kill Tiger (Lau) and he handles them with some fast moves and sends them
packing. He is asked by a very unattractive old wife (Chan Lap-ban) to bring
her husband back home. A much younger husband - Frog (Sammo) who at the time
is gambling in a casino. A female pickpocket (Meg Lam) with many tricks up
her sleeve sticks the stolen wallet into Sammo's pocket and he has to fight
a group of men (Yuen Biao, Mars and Mang Hoi among them). They are unable
to hurt him though because he is wearing mesh armor under his shirt - called
Invincible because no blade can pierce it. He stole it from his wife. He
is seduced by the pickpocket and has his armor stolen and dropped down to
her confederate (Fung Hak-on). She then later steals it from him with her
fake arm trick which she uses often.
Everyone wants the armor - the Coffin King
and the Bandit Brothers and their father (Dean Shek, Jason Piao and Lee Hoi-sang).
Tiger and Frog want it back as well - after Tiger captures him for his wife,
he uses Sammo as the horse for his carriage. Over the next hour there are
constant fights between all the parties. Some small, some bigger. Within
the bandit brothers minions are Lam Ching-ying, Billy Chan and Peter Chan-lung.
The town sheriff is Karl Maka. I mean everyone is here. It must have been
a lot of tough work but fun too.
The main set-up is between Tiger and Frog
who are sometimes on the same side, sometimes not, but always looking to
screw the other. When they later fight their main enemy, their teamwork is
amazing, full of rolls and somersaults. Among Sammo's work this is not considered
near his best and it feels slight in some ways - but if you just analyze
the martial arts of him and Lau, there are some beautiful moves, graceful
and gymnastic that fly by so quickly that you can barely notice it before
the next one. All these folks would go on to appear in many classic films.
