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Pedicab Driver

 

Starring :

Sammo Hung

Nina Li Chi

Suen Yuet

John Shum

Liu Chia Liang

Billy Chow

Meng Hoi

Mok Siu Chung

 

Action :

Sammo Hung

Meng Hoi

Brandy Yuen

 

Producer :

Chan Pooi Wa

 

Director :

Sammo Hung

 

 

 

PEDICAB DRIVER  (1990)

Reviewed by Tony Ryan


Set in 1930's Macao, Sammo plays Tung as the title role of a pedicab driver (the taxi's of the day!). The story seamlessly combines comedy, tragedy and superbly choreographed Kung Fu.

When Sammo inadvertently stops a powerful whorehouse owner (John Shum) from harassing a female worker (Ping) from his aunt's bakery, he is chased by thugs only to eventually evade them by crashing through the window of a gambling house owned by the legendary Liu Chia Liang. Tung fights Liu in order to get back money dropped by Ping when they flew in. The fistfight that follows combines great power, pace and one-liners, and would be a worthy main fight in many films. However, the two shortly go at each other with poles with Sammo in particular showing some superb acrobatics, before being defeated! Liu returns his money as a sign of respect allowing Sammo and Ping to leave.

The film quickly becomes more dramatic following Sammo's fellow driver Malted Candy (Mok Siu Chung) deciding to marry his girlfriend, only to discover she is one of Shum's prostitutes. As a result, Shum has them both killed setting the scene for Sammo to enact his revenge. The final reel is raw power and energy as Sammo takes on a small army of goons before meeting his match in Billy Chow ('Dragons Forever', 'Eastern Condors').

This is easily one of Hong Kong’s finest films and a must have for anyone interested in the genre.

 

Rating: 

 

 

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Region:  0

Distributor:  Pan Media

Chapters:  8

Picture:  Disc 1 contains the Cantonese version (bar any Golden Harvest and/or Bojon Films introduction - the latter is included in the English version) in a letterboxed ratio (4:3) at around 1:62:1 non-anamorphic. The simple laserdisc to DVD transfer displays artefacts, wear, print damage, poor hues, weak contrast, poor bright levels and gatefloat. Disc 2 contains the abridged English version presented in a letterboxed ratio (4:3) around 1:83:1 non-anamorphic. The transfer is as problematic as the 1st disc but worse unfortunately as colour signals bleed occasionally and artefacts are more prominent. Both versions are not the same source.

Sound:  Disc 1 contains Dolby Digital 2.0 dual mono Cantonese soundtrack with English and Chinese subtitles (burnt-in). Disc 2 contains Dolby Digital 2.0 dual mono English (very low/poor quality).

Trailers:  None.

Extras:  Disc 1 includes Celestial's 'Cinema Hong Kong: Wu Xia' Documentary. Disc 2 includes Eastern Heroes' exclusive set of interviews with Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao.

Notes:  About half-way through the Cantonese version, the film stops and a blue screen appears with 'Change Laserdisc Over' for roughly a minute! Standalone DVD Players may not have this problem and automatically skip it.

 

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