Za jia xiao zi (1979)

Za jia xiao zi: Directed by Sammo Kam-Bo Hung. With Ka-Yan Leung, Chia-Yung Liu, Biao Yuen, Kuang Yu Wang. The brothers and small time crooks Yipao and Taipao convince a martial arts expert to take them on as students.

“u0026quot;Knockaboutu0026quot; is a prime example of all the virtues of old school kung fu movies. It has cool characters, comedy, seriousness, a classic type of story, and loads and loads of great fighting and training sequences (especially, of course, towards the end). And it has these elements in such gold standard versions that it comprises a superb representation of the classic Hong Kong martial arts movie genre.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Knockaboutu0026quot; brings together three of that timeu0026#39;s top names in the world of kung fu movie-making, Sammo Hung, Ka-Yan Leung and Yuen Biao. Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao went on to do many movies with Jackie Chan, and actually Ka-Yan Leungu0026#39;s comedic role in this movie could well have been played by Jackie Chan. But I guess, at the time (1979), Ka-Yan Leung was a hotter name. This is the first time Iu0026#39;ve seen Ka-Yan Leung in a comedy role; heu0026#39;s usually very intense and serious, and often even bitter (see u0026quot;Lightning Kung Fuu0026quot; and u0026quot;The Postman Strikes Backu0026quot;). So this is quite a change. He pulls off the comedy part very well indeed, demonstrating that his acting range isnu0026#39;t limited to one kind of role.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe main reason Ka-Yan Leungu0026#39;s such a hot property, however, is his marvelous kung fu skills. In u0026quot;Knockaboutu0026quot; he and Yuen Biao are a couple of thieving brothers whou0026#39;re pretty good at kung fu. But when they encounter a guy they canu0026#39;t beat, they beg to become his students. And indeed, he teaches them to become so good that (as he tells them) u0026quot;ordinary peopleu0026quot; are no match for them. So, the happy-go-lucky brothers promptly go out in search of some u0026quot;ordinary peopleu0026quot; to test their new skills against. They find a bunch of extortion racketeers at the local marketplace, who, when asked who they are, claim to be u0026quot;merely ordinary peopleu0026quot; – and then, of course, the fighting breaks out! Very effective comedy.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSammo Hung plays a beggar/thief who follows the naive brothers, consistently fooling them out of half their loot. When their newfound master turns out to be a bad guy who only trained the brothers in order to fight off his enemies (who were using combinations of styles that no one person could counter, but two could), Sammou0026#39;s the only one who knows enough kung fu to beat him. And thatu0026#39;s leaving out a *lot* of details! This is a very good movie with a good story, but parts of it are not as entertaining as it could be. The seriousness is *too* serious, considering how wacky the movieu0026#39;s comedy dimension is, so it comes off as not being very well balanced.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI rate u0026quot;Knockaboutu0026quot; an 8 out of 10. Itu0026#39;s among the really good ones, although one movie with a similar cast that is even better, is u0026quot;Prodigal Sonu0026quot; (1982), which I rate a 9. (9 is my top rating for movies without several layers and other exceptional qualities, like aesthetic cinematography, etc. So far, the only kung fu movies Iu0026#39;ve rated a u0026quot;10u0026quot; are u0026quot;Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonu0026quot; and u0026quot;Herou0026quot;.)”