Pedicab driver

Good movie that combines action with romance.

Tung (Sammo Hung) is a pedicab driver. He has a pretty girl (LI Chi) that he gets attracted to that works at the baker next door. Malted Candy (Siu Ching Mok) who's also a pedicab driver runs into (literally) a girl (Fannie Yuen). Upon seeing her, he's instantly in love with her. He tries to mend the wrong, and his sincerity catches her heart too. There's a gang boss that's running a prostitute ring, and she works for him. Malted Candy's attempt to marry her, and get her out of the influence of the gang boss gets them in deadly harms way.

This is how a kung fu action movie should be. The actresses are good looking, and fight scenes are pretty awesome. There's humor to the side stories, and the supporting casts puts in a good performance. Nina Li Chi (Who's now Jet Li's wife), and Fannie Yuen looks really good in this movie. They were the actual focus of this story.

Bitter Sweet romance between Fannie Yuen, and Siu Ching Mok was nicely written.

This is one of Sammo Hung's best movie and is recommended for viewing.

Pedicab driver effortlessly mixes genres in a way that feels like it uniquely belongs to HK cinema. It has comedy,tragedy, kung fu and it manages to be a period piece while it's at it! I love absolutely everything about this film from its cast, to the choreography and its constantly interesting and genre-bending story.

A legendary film

10 out of 10!

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, "Prodigal Son" and "Eastern Condors" are my favourite Sammo Hung films. The Fat Dragon is fatter in this outing than he was in "Condors", but he's no less sure-footed as director or actor. He is, in fact, at the top of his form and delivers a devastating, brutal actioner that boasts half a dozen amazing sequences and manages to tell a compassionate, sweet love story also. Love and romance are not the director's priorities here, but they serve as curious adjuncts to the action, and insure that viewers don't hit the fast-forward button between the physical clashes.

The opening scene, which features a funny light sabre duel, sets a solid but deceptive tone. A sequence in which Sammo's pedicab is chased by a car is beautifully staged and sweetened with a sharp, comic tone. The fast and furious stick fight between Sammo and Lau Kar Leung is a model of dazzling choreography and sharp, superb direction, and easily one of the best ever of its type. The film's violence escalates slowly until, finally, when the climactic showdown comes, we are subjected to some of the most brutal altercations ever seen in a Sammo production. The director/actor's assault on Billy Chow and a house filled with angry, menacing opponents is a bone-cracking, physically punishing delight.

Terrific on every level and one of the best martial arts movies ever made.

Great score, too.

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.