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Starring
:
Sammo
Hung
Jacky
Cheung
David
Chiang
Joey
Wong
Hwang
Jang Lee
Action
:
Hung
Ga Ban
Producer
:
Sammo
Hung
Director
:
Ricky
Lau
Philip
Chan
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WHERE'S
OFFICER TUBA? (1986)
Reviewed
by Tony Ryan
Throughout
the 80's Sammo and his team managed to effortlessly create a
plethora of hugely entertaining action comedies, albeit on
fairly small budgets. This addition to the Hung collection is
a fairly generic cops and robbers tale, with a little
supernatural thrown in to make it a little different.
Sammo
plays "Tuba", a fairly cowardly cop who would rather
play in the police band than get involved in anything remotely
dangerous. The precinct's "supercop" (David Chiang)
uses him in an undercover operation to deal with some
extortionists, but gets killed when the exchange becomes
violent. Sammo is left holding his hand as he dies and
unwillingly promises to avenge his death. Unfortunately,
Inspector Chiang returns as a ghost, only able to communicate
with Sammo, and forces him to fulfil his promise.
As
mentioned, the 80's are full of action comedies, with most of
the best being produced or directed by Sammo. He has superb
comic timing, and his performance here will have you laughing
out loud. As ever, a Sammo film must have action, and although
sparse, we are treated to some quality encounters featuring
the likes of Yuen Wah and Hwang Jang Lee amongst the rest of
the talented Hung Ga Ban. Lightning fast movements with
perfect editing combine to add to Sammo's huge list of
entertaining fight scenes. Jacky Cheung performs capably, and
with some artful doubling is made to look a pretty tough
fighter.
The
attractive Joey Wong provides the female interest, but is
given little to do, and the story would not change much if her
character were never there. However, she does provide a source
of comedy moments, one of which involving a family meal which
is absolutely hilarious. Overall, this is an above par HK
action comedy and would please all fans of the genre -
especially fans of Sammo like myself.
Rating:
 
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