Pedicab Driver

"Qun long xi feng," directed by the legendary Sammo Hung, is a thrilling, complex, and, at times, masochistic ride through the underbelly of Hong Kong. It's a film that wears many hats, blending martial arts, action, comedy, romance, and drama with a hint of social commentary. While it has its flaws, it's an underrated gem that deserves a wider audience and a proper release.

The story follows our hero, Sammo, as he battles evil villains, fights for love, and revolts against exploitation, particularly that of women. The film has an impressive range, seamlessly shifting from romantic moments to extended, brutally choreographed brawls. One scene, in particular, stands out: Sammo, covered in bruises, shares a tender moment with his love interest, a stark and touching contrast.

The villains are truly despicable and ruthless, and you'll love to hate them. They are nasty, relentless, and deserve every bit of the punishment Sammo dishes out. The finale, however, feels rushed, and an extra ten minutes of comeuppance would have been satisfying. The film also struggles with tone, with extreme shifts that may turn off viewers who prefer a more consistent pace.

"Qun long xi feng" is a unique entry in the Hong Kong action genre, offering more than just impressive fight scenes. It has a compelling narrative, an anger toward social injustices, and an emotional core that will leave you surprisingly moved. It's a shame that this film is hard to come by, as it is one of Sammo Hung's greatest achievements, and with a few minor tweaks, it could have been an undisputed classic.

Great stuff! Sammo beats, takes beatings, and falls in love while driving a rickshaw in 1930s Portuguese controlled Macau.

Sammo's got something to say about the plight of women under patriarchal management, be they bakers or prostitutes, and he mostly finds the right tone for it. Which is nice in a 1980's HK feature because it does sometimes feel like the inherent feminine warrior of 1970's wuxia fell away and the 80's kung-fu films became mostly a masculine ordeal (save of course for the GIRLS WITH GUNS subgenre and a few other, rare, examples).

The action is scorching. A fight between Chia-Liang Liu and Sammo in a gambling house is for real. Yet, strangely, this awesome character never gets a callback for the rest of the film. Why couldn't the Gambling House Boss return to knock heads for the super awesome final fight? Surely they could've cast one more white guy to get his butt handed to him. Oh well.

It is the want of many a Sammo film to have the action measured out, decorating the hood and trunk of the movie but letting the the bulky center sag under the weight of romantic comedy and tragedy. The same is true here. So be it. If you're a fan, you won't mind.

But why Macau in the '30's? No idea. It seems to add nothing to the film. Fortunately, it doesn't detract from it either.

You know your film is off to a strong start when you aren't even 5 minutes in and it's already staging its own lightsaber fights, albeit with fluorescent bulbs. Marking the end of Sammo Hung's greatest period as both star and director with a mighty bang, Pedicab Driver exemplifies the type of cinema that Hong Kong loved during the 80s. What that means is it's a mismatched series of bizarre comedy, heightened emotions, sudden tragedy and yes, incredible fight scenes. The extended fight between Sammo and Lau Kar-Leung in the gambling den stands as one of the film's most memorable moments, despite its complete irrelevance to the plot. Although it seems a little overambitious at times in its storytelling, with several seemingly unrelated threads running parallel, the film does manage to hold it all together in a way that only Hong Kong cinema can. While the story threads are certainly only diversions from the main spectacle, they do enhance the film somewhat, thanks largely to the cast's terrific performances and great music. It all starts happy-go-lucky but by the end, revenge is the name of the game and it is one Sammo delivers tenfold with some fantastic direction. For its uneven mishmash of genres and tones, Pedicab Driver succeeds wholeheartedly thanks to its easily empathetic and loveable characters and their plights, it's as entertaining as they come and features something for everyone. While not quite a masterpiece it is well worth seeing.

This was pretty great. I'm a little embarrassed I didn't know this movie existed until yesterday, but it's better late than never. Pedicab Driver begins as a lightweight martial arts movie, but takes a shift toward melodrama in its second half that actually worked pretty well. There's one kind of comedic scene earlier on that I didn't like, but then when contrasted against something more serious that happens later (keeping things as vague as possible), it ends up being justified.

Sammo Hung starred in this and directed it, and the action's largely stellar. There are shots where the camera lurches back and forth, following the impact of a punch or a kick, and those shots work. The effect doesn't look silly or forced, and makes key moments of impact hit harder. I also appreciated how there were a few more close-ups used in some fight scenes, but never in a way that felt like it was disguising poor fight choreography. Those moments largely worked to make certain parts of certain fights more intense, and while lots of close-ups in fight scenes can make a fight harder to follow, that wasn't something I found with the fights here.

There might be some other things that can be nitpicked here, but much more of Pedicab Driver works than doesn't work. It's pretty underrated, and the finale plus a one-on-one fight with poles early on (the one with Lau Kar-Leung... and no, it doesn't matter if that conflict isn't hugely important to the rest of the movie) are all-timer martial arts set pieces, and are reasons enough to watch this one.

Sammo Hung's 1989 film Pedicab Driver is considered by many to be his masterpiece. I have to agree to some extent as the film in its greatest parts really gets as incredible and fantastic as any Hong Kong film ever has. It is a combination of pretty good and well written drama, interesting and sympathetic (and also non-sympathetic) characters, some genuinely funny humor and truly over-the-top hyper kung fu that is guaranteed to make many jaws drop when someone not familiar with Hong Kong cinema watches the film as well as it does to the experienced enthusiasts of the unique industry.

Sammo and Max Mok Siu Chung play two pedicab drivers who live in Hong Kong in the middle part of the last century, I think. They drive their cabs and are also desperate for love. Sammo is interested in local baker girl Ping (Nina Li Chi) while Max one day meets a mysterious and beautiful Fennie Yuen Kit-Ying he falls madly in love with. Many other characters get introduced, too, and they remain pretty clear all the time if the viewer really concentrates on the film and its plot so I cannot say the film is confusing as it could be much worse especially in Hong Kong! Soon we get to know, for instance, that a ruthless gangster family is terrorizing the neighborhood and of course their violent acts affect our protagonists, too, and so the premise for some of the most incredibly choreographed kung fu fight sequences has been created. As well as some nice drama.

The film has a great cast. The leads are all very good and restrained (not as painfully awful over-acting and "humor" as in Sammo's otherwise great Eastern Condors (1987), for example) and they are also, thanks to the carefully written screenplay, pretty likable and easy to identify with. The cast includes many familiar HK cinema faces and directors in small roles like Corey Yuen Kwai (the legendary action director and director of films like Saviour of the Soul 1 and 2, Ninja in the Dragon's Den and Fong Sai Yuk 1 and 2), the masterful composer Lowell Lo Koon-Ting (John Woo's The Killer and Ringo Lam's School on Fire and Prison on Fire among many others, Pedicab Driver included!), the Shaw veteran Liu Chia Liang (whom with Sammo has a furious fight with sticks), Alfred Cheung Kin-Ting (the director of dark HK noir classic On the Run from 1988), the late great Lam Ching Ying (best known for his friendly face in various HK vampire horror/kung fu/comedies) to name just a few. In fact, the cast in Pedicab Driver is one of the most interesting I've seen in any other HK production.

The film has some interesting peaceful moments most notably about the love affair between Max Mok and Fennie Yuen and one crisis they confront thanks to Lowell Lo's character. They really could have done this a completely serious piece if they had wanted as the discussions about human values and meaning of love, no matter what's your past or what you've done for living, get so serious and genuinely effective at the middle part that the film immediately gets much more noteworthy than our average kung fu spectacle actioner. Also the other characters' efforts to cure things is very touching and tells delightfully much about right human relations and friendship, and of course love. Still I think what Fennie says to Max (about the future "bad cooking") is very unnecessary and tones the potential of the whole segment and its themes down pretty effectively, unfortunately.

But then we get to the thing the film makers were interested the most in. Which is the action, the outrageous and over-the-top action. The fight scenes include traditional kung fu, some sticks, meat cleavers and the like and they're used here as hysterically as in the most mind blowing kung fu scene I've seen in any film ever, Jackie Chan's Drunken Master II (1994), they really are that great! There are wires and they're used very cleverly and people literally fly to the opposite corner of the room when they get kicked or punched. Simply amazing and again something ONLY Hong Kong cinema can deliver. Also the dangerous stunts make the viewer hold his/her breath as the film has one fast car vs. pedicab chase sequence and various dangerous looking jumps and twisting bodies flying through the air and crushing with force to the hard destination. Still the film makers seem not to "accept" the violence of the film as Sammo is, like the late Bruce Lee, willing to give himself up after the final murderous mayhem at the gangster villa, and I think this kind of morale, no matter how obvious or shallow it may be, is a good thing even in a harmless film like this, as cinema is meant to be much more than just brainless entertainment.

The film has also some very witty bits of humor that I'm not sure everyone in Hollywood or America (for example) would understand or like at all. The hilarious Star Wars gag at the beginning is definitely among these and it literally forced me to laugh when I realized what I was seeing. Also some funny scenes are created out of Sammo's passion for Ping. Still, the greatest amazement-filled laugh came during the scenes depicted in the former pharagraph as the imagery of big and tall men flying with great force over the screen to the walls or furniture is simply INSANE and so breathtaking I just cannot hide my feelings and thoughts about these Eastern film makers when I witness something like this, and this is nothing but positive and appreciating reaction, of course.

Pedicab Driver is among the most incredible Hong Kong action films that I have ever seen and easily among Sammo's greatest achievements. If the few minor flaws were not there, this could rate even brighter and higher. 8/10