Dead and the Deadly (1983)


	The Dead and the Deadly		Return to Review Archive - D
	Year:	1983	Sammo Hung and Wu Ma
	Director:	Wu Ma
	Writer:	Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Barry Wong Ping-Yiu
	Action:	Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Billy Chan Wui-Ngai, Yuen Biao, Lam Ching-Ying
	Cast:	Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Wu Ma, Lam Ching-Ying, Cherie Chung Chor-Hung, Hui Leung-Mei, Chin Yuet-Sang, Chung Fat, To Siu-Ming, Cheung Ging-Boh, Peter Chan Lung, Hui Ying-Ying, Kwan Yung-Moon, Chin Leung, Yue Tau-Wan, Lau Yat-Fan, Fung Lee, Yuen Miu, Billy Chan Wui-Ngai, Tai Bo, Tsang Choh-Lam, Chow Kong, Ng Min-Kan, Melvin Wong Kam-Sum, Yuen Bun
	The Skinny:	The fighting in this action-comedy is sparse, but decently done. Sammo Hung fans might find this reasonably entertaining.
	Review by Kozo:	Eighties ghost kung-fu comedy from the ace (?) team of Wu Ma and Sammo Hung. Hung is Fatboy, a bumbling kung-fu student who works for uncle Lam Ching-Ying. When pal Luncho (Wu Ma in a hideous prosthetic nose) dies, Hung find himself beset by his old pal's ghost. Luncho possesses him to avenge his murder, leading to lots of wackiness, a few fights, and the sight of Sammo Hung naked. Lam Ching-Ying does some of his patented Taoist shtick, and a very young Cherie Chung appears as Fatboy's long-waiting fiance. The Dead and the Deadly is typical HK stuff with action, laughs, and too many hijinks to bear. The plot is all over the place and given to long stretches which seem to go nowehere. Also, Wu Ma's performance is annoying to a fault. Otherwise, Sammo Hung and Cherie Chung are agreeable performers, and well worth watching. There's also some decent kung-fu, but you have to wait a long time to get to it. This isn't one of Sammo Hung's best efforts, but it's a relatively entertaining HK flick. However, it was nominated for Best Picture at the Hong Kong Film Awards, which is something I wouldn't necessarily agree with. Then again, I didn't see everything that came out that year. (Kozo 1997)
	Availability:	DVD (Hong Kong) Region 0 NTSC Joy Sales 16x9 Anamorphic Widescreen Cantonese Language Track Dolby Digital 2.0 Removable English and Chinese Subtitles

		image courtesy of Mega Star Video Distribution, Ltd.
back to top