This superb kung fu comedy pairs Sammo Hung and Lau Kar-wing, each in dual roles as mentor and student, in a film packed with screwball antics, oddball characters and incredible weapons fighting featuring the “Deadly Sword” and “Lethal Spear.” The King of Swords (Hung) and the King of Spears (Lau) are aging martial artists who have been dueling to a draw for 15 years. After their latest fight ends the same way, they agree to each take on a student and train him to fight the other in their place. In a clever bit of casting, Lau takes on a second role of a butcher who becomes the King of Sword’s student while Sammo is a boatman who becomes the King of Spear’s pupil. In this way, the two actors and action directors dominate the entire film in their combined roles with equally brilliant displays of sword and spear training, sparring and fighting. Had this been all that the film was about, it still would have been good enough but a number of entertaining subplots involving different fighters are added. Highlights include a comical confrontation with a moronic man of wealth named Master Rocking (Deak Shek) who saunters about the village backed by his entourage and a funky drumbeat. This portion includes an amusing parody of Chinese opera fighting. The film’s main subplot sees Leung Ka-yan enter the fray as an old enemy of the sword and spear masters with a mission to kill them both with the aid of four specially-trained fighters. This allows for amazing fighting between three skilled screen fighters. There is never a dull moment in the film with Sammo and company delivering some of the funniest and most impressive weapons handling to be found in kung fu cinema. While some viewers may find the humor to be too silly at times, it’s balanced much better with consistently light-hearted action than some of Sammo’s past films that tended to steer into darker territory. Despite some mild bloodletting and killing, this can truly be called a kung fu comedy and easily one of the best of its kind, alongside the likes of kung fu comedy classics DANCE OF THE DRUNKEN MASTER and RETURN TO THE 36TH CHAMBER.
Golden Harvest • Lau Kar-wing • Leung Ka-yan • Odd Couple (1979) • Sammo Hung
