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Starring
:
Michael
Hui
Samuel
Hui
Ricky
Hui
Shek
Kien
Richard
Ng
Action
:
Sammo
Hung
Producer
:
Raymond
Chow
Louis
Sit Chi Hung
John
Woo
Director
:
Michael
Hui
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THE
PRIVATE EYES (1976)
Reviewed
by Andrew Saroch
Every
star who can rightfully be called a 'legend' usually has one
film that leaps to mind when their name is mentioned. These
legends will obviously have made countless other great films,
but in the public consciousness there remains a landmark film
that stands out in particular. For Jackie Chan it may be 'Police
Story', for Chow Yun Fat 'The
Killer' and Bruce Lee's would be 'Enter
The Dragon'; for Michael Hui it is undoubtedly 1976's 'The
Private Eyes'. Hui found himself in the partly enviable and
partly unenviable position of having to top his 1974 smash hit
comedy 'Games
Gamblers Play' - a film that became a box-office
phenomenon in his native Hong Kong. After a two-year
development period, Hui came out with 'The Private Eyes' and
the rest is history.
Joseph
Wong (Michael Hui) is the resourceful yet not always
successful head of the Manix Detective Agency and, in the
film's opening exposition, his slight ineptitude is
well-detailed. Working for this tyrannical boss is the nervy,
neck-braced assistant Pighead (Ricky Hui) and a young female
secretary who keeps out of her employer's way. After being
sacked from his job at a bottle factory, Lee (Samuel Hui)
decides to see if the Manix Detective Agency can also offer
him some kind of employment and if he can use his hero-like
skills to their fullest. Wong, however, is not entirely
impressed by this eager young upstart and decides to exert his
usual amount of arrogant authority on this new employee. What
follows is a series of sketch-like encounters in which Wong
and Lee have to use their wiles to catch cheating husbands and
crafty shoplifters. This culminates in a chance for the Manix
Detective Agency's two top workers to prove their worth as
they face a gang of organised criminals who are holding a
cinema to ransom.
According
to some sources, 'The Private Eyes' remains the all-time
box-office king of Hong Kong cinema when inflation is taken
into account. This is an incredible feat when one remembers
the immense financial success of 'Titanic' and various other
big Hollywood productions. The film's achievement is not just
counted in dollars though as the film is a critical triumph,
uniting commercial aspects with artistic ones and pleasing all
camps. This is very much in evidence when one remembers how
'The Private Eyes' was named among the best Hong Kong films of
the last century in a recent poll..
Watching
the 'The Private Eyes' from a western viewpoint means that,
due to obvious translation differences, the film loses some of
its famous edge. Therefore, giving the film full marks would
be somewhat presumptuous and naive. However, there is no doubt
that 'The Private Eyes' is a definite classic of Hong Kong
comedy cinema and offers much to anyone who watches it. The
Hui brothers concreted their reputation as the Hong Kong Marx
Brothers with this comic tour de force and as with the
legendary Marx Brothers, each member of the trio has a unique
personality to offer to the film. Michael Hui is naturally the
star of the film with his dead-pan delivery taking centre
stage, but Samuel and Ricky also prove vital cogs the film's
machinery. All of their characters give the film its magic and
would be further utilised in future comedies such as 'Security
Unlimited'. As a blue collar comedy, 'The Private Eyes' is
much more than just 90 minutes of buffoonery and this too is
to Hui's credit; the common theme of the working man
struggling against the system is resonant throughout the film.
It's important to keep in mind that this is still a comedy
first and foremost and again this department is not found
wanting. There are numerous excellent comic situations and
some classic routines that have been quoted and regurgitated
ever since. Among these are the confrontation between Michael
Hui and a supposed pickpocket in a kitchen and the sublime
aerobics/cookery skit.
Without
any reservations, 'The Private Eyes' is a highly accomplished
and highly recommended milestone in Hong Kong cinema.
Rating:
 
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