Michael Hui Movies

The Jackie Chan-headlined action farce Rob-B-Hood concerns Slipper (Chan), a character caught up in a hornet's nest of problems. Raised by poor parents and expelled from school at an early age, Slipper became notorious for his lightning-fast footwork and quick-fingered hijinks, but managed to tally up a massive amount of gambling debt. With no other choice, he accepted his crooked landlord's bid to participate in a series of crazy heists. They paired up with another shady character, Octopus (Louis Koo), and successfully kidnapped BB, a tycoon's grandson, but unforeseen complications led the trio to keep the baby longer than they had originally intended. Now, when the men learn that a triad intends to collect on some unpaid ransom and kill the child in the process, they decide to keep the baby indefinitely, as an unofficial "adopted son," and train him in the ways of burglary. They receive assistance, in this endeavor, from a teenage hanger-on, Pak Yin (Charlene Choi); a nurse named Melody (Gao Yuanyuan); and the landlord's missus, (Teresa Carpio). Suddenly, however, the rollers and the triads begin to close in, and the men must figure out a way to return the baby to his folks. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Following up on his award-winning look at blue-collar life in Hong Kong in Cageman, Jacob Cheung directs this well-crafted comedy-drama featuring comedian Michael Hui. With his eccentric wife growing ever more lonely and his kids growing ever more resentful, workaholic television newscaster Chang Yau-wai (Hui) is already burning the candle at both ends. One day while on the air, he suffers from abdomen pains so severe that he needs to be helped off camera. The doctor confirms his fears -- intestinal cancer. Predicted to have only three or so months to live, Chang hatches a scheme to leave his family well off after he dies while keeping the seriousness of his condition from them. Back on air, he becomes a super-reporter -- nabbing a robbery suspect single-handedly on camera. With his ratings through the roof, Chang gets his salary doubled and carte blanche to do whatever he wants on-air. As the money, acclaim, and celebrity endorsement offers come pouring in, Chang learns that there is an experimental operation that might, might, save his life. Does he die quietly giving his family more money than they could possible even need or does he try to save his life? ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

A Hui (Michael Hui) is a petty, stingy man who owns a restaurant specializing in a certain kind of duck dish. Although the restaurant is filthy, thanks in part to the unspeakable habits of its chef, and the service is awful, the food is good, and he has a loyal clientele. That is, until an international chain opens up a fried chicken restaurant across the street, and hires his admittedly incompetent headwaiter to parade back and forth across the street in a chicken costume to advertise the place. Now his customers are departing in droves. In this comedy, this classic tightwad is forced to take notice and meet the challenge of his competition. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Michael Hui both directed and stars in this entertaining comedy as an inventive, plucky musician. He overhears some gangsters plotting a murder in an alleyway and when he is caught, he tries to fake blindness to escape with his life (and limbs) intact. Ultimately, the hapless musician is rescued by his roommate, a female band member. He ends up tagging along on a trip to Bangkok with her all-girl band. After arriving in Bangkok with this bevy of musicians, the young man begins to fall for one of them. But as he soon finds out, romantic life never develops in a flawless straight line. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Ronny Yu Yan-tai, who would be later known for his 1993 classic Bride With White Hair, spins this atmospheric horror flick set in 1922 Xiang Xi. When an iterate musician runs afoul of the local warlord, the potentate has him killed and hires a band of opium runners to dispatch with the body. While travelling through a swamp, the corpse falls into a sulfuric spring. Not wanting to deal with the stink of the spring, the lackeys decide to leave the body there. The combination of bog juice and sulfur revives the dead man, sending him on a vengeful killing spree. After knocking off a bunch of pigs, he kills everyone related to his death. The culprits retaliate with Taoist charms, virgin urine, and a host of other tricks of the zombie-killing trade. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Burt Reynolds and director Hal Needham team up for the fourth time, this time bringing an all-star cast of characters on a cross-country car race in the vein of 1976 release The Gumball Rally. The police are the least of the Cannonballers' worries as they push the pedal to the metal in a race from Connecticut to California. Reynolds stars as J.J. McClure, a speed-loving racer disguised as an ambulance driver to outsmart the police. He is paired up with Dom Deluise, who plays his dimwitted sidekick Victor and who, on occasion, dons the suit of Captain Chaos. Rat Packers Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. join the lineup as Ferrari-driving priests, while martial arts expert Jackie Chan takes on one of his first U.S. film roles driving a souped-up Subaru. Among the many other stars are Roger Moore doing a parody of his 007 character, complete with secret devices and weapons, Farrah Fawcett as Pamela, a woman McClure and Chaos pick up, and Jamie Farr as a deranged Islamic sheik. Jack Elam joins the cast as a crazed proctologist along for McClure's ambulance ride, and Needham makes a cameo as a patient. ~ Rachel Koetje, All Movie Guide

Respect for people with connections in high places is so great in Chinese society that a simple newspaper photo of the head of the Manix Detective Agency shaking hands with an important government official is enough to win him scores of clients, though his track record is somewhat spotty. Despite this, he has enough work to consistently get into a lot of trouble in the most unexpected places (i.e., a supermarket). He has double the fun when he hires a young man who was fired from his job in a bottling factory for practicing kung fu on soda bottles. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide