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Axe gang references?
There's an axe gang in one of the Drunken Master movies too... is this part of some mythology/history?
Edited some of the plot information to note that he saves the town by defeating the Axe Gang and its hired assasins, not a "toad-human lifeform" (Which, by the way, The Beast wasn't.).
Actually, the Beast killed Brother Sum and Sing just beat up the rest of the Axe Gang (again). I think that the Axe Gang just took the Beast as their leader (at least to kill Landlord and Landlady) and that after sing defeated the Beast, ending the assassination attempt, the gang fell into disarray.
Intro
"Many early fight scenes were packed with real Chinese martial arts."
Shouldn't that be:
"Many early fight scenes were packed with real Chinese martial artists."
I think it's referring to the number of martial arts, not the practicers -tinlv7
- tinlv was right. I wrote that paragraph originally back in Aug 2005. I meant to say many different disciplines of martial arts, such as fists, kicks, staff, qigong etc. I never meant martial artists. Kowloonese 23:13, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
Lame "Powers" text
I've removed the following text:
- NOTE: These slightly exaggerated special abilities were mentioned in a U.S. advertising campaign for the movie.
- Sing: Blasts running speeds up to 250 mph. Busts through metal, copper, and granite. Flies at 32,000 feet above ground.
- Sing's Sidekick: Eats a 12 course meal in 3.3 minutes flat. Creates earthquakes of 8.8 on the Richter scale. Crushes any man or woman in his seating path.
- Landlord: Kisses and accosts women at speeds of 132 mph. Cowers in fear from wife.
- Landlady: Speeds at 252 mph to form dust clouds 104 feet high. Screams at 3,031 decibels that have made men's ears bleed.
- Brother Sum: Killer breath can bring any man or woman to their knees. Dances until his feet bleed.
- The Beast: Transforms body into a slimy bullfrog. Possesses the fastest kung fu fighting style ever.
- Donut: Slams foes with his baking rod at 153 mph. Forms tornadoes 200 feet high with winds of 354 mph.
- Tailor: Deadly steel rings can knock down evildoers and evil spirits. Delivers blows at 143 mph.
- Coolie: Can kick the assses of 45 men while carrying 28 sacks of grain. Literally kicked the crap out of a man with a force of 167 mph.
- Lollipop Girl: Scoops ice cream with deadly precision. One stare into her lollipop will make you relive bad memories.
- #1 Killers (a.k.a. The Harpists): Can strum ghosts and knives at 200 mph from their harp. Can decapitate with a single strum of a chord.
I'm glad the "NOTE" is there, but it's not enough. I'd love to see a section about the various characters and their powers, but the above is poorly written and not even accurate to the film. Maybe someone can rework it? --Staecker 05:21, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- I'll get around to it when I have the time. That text doesn't even mention the name of their martial arts. Landlord practices Taichi, Landlady practices Lion's Roar etc etc. CABAL 18:27, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I've gotten around to smashing it up a bit, complete with pictures. Comments? CABAL 11:02, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- Looks great! thanks --Staecker 18:39, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- I questioned whether this "U.S. advertizing campaign" actually took place. I have not seen that myself. Perhaps I wasn't looking. I am glad it was removed because even if the source can be verified, it was not accurate anyway. Kowloonese 01:06, Jun 21, 2005 (UTC)
- Thanks to whomever added the Chinese names and sources for the martial arts. On another note, who the hell came up with all that nonsense for this American advertising campaign, if it ever existed? CABAL 14:19, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)
staffs
Are you sure that the staff is 五郎八卦棍? Seems wrong to me, but I might be wrong, too. (The Chinese characters in question are a staff set in Hung Gar and some other arts.)
- Why would anyone, let alone a martial artist, use a set of purpose-built melee weapons as baking rods in the first place? CABAL 11:58, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- When the #1 killers were in the Ax gang's headquarter negotiating the "contract", they sized up the project and mentioned each of their opponents' specialty kung fu techniques in Cantonese. Yes, indeed, Hung Gar was mentioned then. Also when the three masters were standing on the stairway right before sunset, they praised each other of their masterful skills and each type of kung fu was announced in Cantonese. I don't know which language edition you watched so the name of the kung fu might have been lost in translation. Since the director is Cantonese, I will go by the Cantonese edition. These kung fu masters are like hermits in hiding. Their weapons are in disguise too, I think. Kowloonese 21:01, Jun 24, 2005 (UTC) - revised Kowloonese June 28, 2005 20:47 (UTC)
- I got the Mandarin edition. The differences indeed alter the names of the martial arts. Donut's martial art is rendered either as "Eight Trigram(s) Spear" or "Eight Hexagram(s) Spear" depending on which DVD you watch. CABAL 06:17, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- Trigrams is correct. Hexagram refers to the 64 symbols of the I Ching. There's no such thing as 'eight hexagrams'.--CharlieHuang 21:15, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
Hong Kong poster
Why can't we use the Hong Kong poster instead of the lame US design?
I have seen one of the many Hong Kong posters used in the Netherlands, and even when I was on the Dutch Antilles.
Napoleon Factor
This movie is like Napoleon Dynamite-- The audience loves it, even though there's actually nothing to it but clichés which literally get the shit beat out of them (as do most things in this movie).
To be fair, Napoleon Dynamite's bullettime scenes were only in how slow the characters thought. All of them, multiplied together, gets an IQ of less than 50.
Is this the new style? To have something suck so badly (saving special effects) that people can't help but love it? I am going to kill someone; this is the new blockbuster style.
And before anyone starts trying to find out where I live, so they can hunt me down, I will reinforce that crochety old man persona with these parting words:
Pfeh! Bah humbug! Hrmph!
Good day, sir.
...no, nonononononjesusfuckingchristno! Don't say anything. Think first this time.
I said good day, sir.
- Why don't you ignore the silly parts of the movie and just enjoy the fight scenes. They are great Kung Fu by some real martial artists. The moves are still great despite the computer enhenced imagery. BTW, this is not new style. Stephen Chow has been doing this kind of silly movies for decades. It is the opposite, the Western audience is new to his mo lei tau style. If you don't like it, just ignore it the same way you ignore all his other movies. Kowloonese 21:59, 3 February 2006 (UTC)
Hidden plots?
- sing is the lost child of the landlord and lady - he was the same age as their son and could be a doctor or a lawyer. they thought he was killed by their enemies but due to sing's special ability of fast healing (like wolverine and the saiyans) and escaping certain deaths (cobra bites, beast's beating), he survived
- during beatings, sing acquires some kind of amnesia which probably caused him to forget his parents, slightly forget the girl, the snake bites
- he was trained by the 2 masters and surpassed them which was not shown in the movie. it might be implied since they were seen with cervical collar (wooden)and skeletal support as sign of beating to a fast learning kung fu genius
- the bum offered a FAT CHILD with kung fu pamphlets in a 1940s setting - could it be the secret to samo hungs martial arts prowess?
Anti-gay scenes
In the Cantonese version of the movie, the taylor was laughed at as "屎忽鬼" which is the slang for gay. The English subtitle translated it as "fairy" which is also a slang of the same meaning. The characters also laughed at the taylor for wearing a red underwear. And he whimpered "Wearing red underwear is not a sin". I am not sure if the same scenes made it to the US screens or DVDs because these could be controversial topics in the Western market. Kowloonese 01:47, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
- So black slaves can not be called "Negro" in a Civil War movie?--Skyfiler 18:04, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
- The two situations are quite different. You cannot make a Civil War movie without mentioning the slaves because the US civil war was about liberating the slaves. Besides Negro was the name for the slaves at the time. It later became pejorative to call someone Negro after slavery had been abolished. However, Kung Fu Hustle can do without an effeminate taylor with a pejorative nickname. 屎忽鬼 literally means the "shit hole daemon" which is very offensive choice of words to insult a gay man. The screenplay writer only wanted to ridicule this character to create some comic effects for the movie. Depending on cultural differences, it may generate a good laugh in China. But as I've pointed out in the original posting, the same scene may be very offensive to the Western audience. I heard that SONY has cut out many gory scenes from this movie in the US edition. I was just wondering if they also censored out this particular sensivity scene. Kowloonese 20:19, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
- So black slaves can not be called "Negro" in a Civil War movie? That makes no sense at all. There's a difference between using a word in a historic sense and using it for a inflammatory sense. Obviously if you are making a piece set in a time period where one word is a common word that's been since replaced you can't swap them. Perfect example besides your Civil War movie, M*A*S*H*. One episode in particular dealt with a medication that couldn't be given to "negro soldiers" because of side effects. The show took place during the Korean War but was filmed in the early 80s. They had to use negro even if by the 80s it wasn't as accepted a term.
- The same goes for gay references. Obviously if it's a movie about Stonewall or Laramie there will be some slurs thrown out and some scenes of violence against gays. As a historic reference though it has to be shown. However, if it's a movie about some punks that run around beating up gays at will and calling everyone "fags" simply for shock value of making him look tough, then it's considered offensive.
- The scene where she calls him a fairy is still there as is his crying and saying it wasn't a sin. As far as gory scenes go, Since I haven't seen the movie in it theatrical release I'm not sure if it differs from what I have on DVD. I say this because I know that the theatrical release of Shaolin Soccer was horribly cut but the DVD restored it. There are some scenes that are somewhat gory.--Skeev 22:02, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
- Even if you try to look at it that way, I think you're missing the point of the whole movie. The hidden message behind all of the comedy and outlandish characters is that masters can be found in the most unlikely of places, and be the people we least expect. Specifically with Donut, Coolie, and especially the Tailor, they show three average people, and what we'd think to be the least likely of masters, and when it came down to it they were noble and quite powerful. Just because he was gay doesn't mean he was weak by any means, and that's what they were getting across with this. He puts up with the hate and slander and all yet still fights for whats right. They go further with this when they show the Landlord and his wife, that they're hiding form that responsibility, and then the Beast even, who looks like a guy that just got off of work and would probably be sitting on his couch eating hot pockets. It's the context of how the word is being used that tells you what the purpose is. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Firestorm117 (talk • contribs) 03:57, 20 January 2007 (UTC).
I actually thought this movie was pro-gay, by bringing in gay characters and having the land lady treat them equally the same as she treats everyone else. JayKeaton 03:04, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Gu Qin
I'm changing Guzheng to Gu Qin because the song that was played during the Harpist battle was called "The Blade of Gu Qin"
- It's not strictly a guqin because it it organologically incorrect. The guqin does not have bridges. The 'instrument' in the film is a semi-hybrid of guqin (the main body of the instrument) and guzheng (the bridges and the sound). --CharlieHuang 21:11, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
- A more detailed discussion about this issue can be seen in this video: "Dajia" with Li Xiangting (112MB). --Charlie Huang 【正矗昊】 16:52, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
of course it isn't a proper quqin or guzheng, what type of quqin/guzheng can shoot out machetes,and be pluckd with such a force with bear hands that it can make projections like fists or skeletal soldiers. user:wongdai 16:32 31 march 2007
Matrix references
In addition to the Agent Smith/Neo fights, the Landlady also make a remark that Sing is The One, also a reference to Neo.
- Neo is "one" scrambled. Sing means "single" in this case. :-) Kowloonese 21:57, 10 February 2006 (UTC)
- It took me a bit to understand what that meant, I never noticed that. So, besides the name similarity they also are both considered "the one" as in the one that would destroy the evil (machines/the Beast)--Skeev 21:58, 14 February 2006 (UTC)
- The "single" part was just a joke. Stephen Chow's Chinese name is 'Sing' and the characters he plays in his movies are often called "Sing" independent of any Matrix reference. Kowloonese 01:37, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
fictious city or Shanghai?
The scene with the street car is a movie set commonly used to depict Shanghai in the 1930's or earlier era. Back then, there was not many places in China that had that kind of buildings and traffic conditions. People grew up in Shanghai probably can identify which cross street that was. Despite there was no mention of where the city was, the street scene positively identified Shanghai. Likewise, do you have to spell out New York, NY after you show the Empire State building? Kowloonese 00:40, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
- I noticed that one reason why Shanghai was changed to fictious city was because of the Cantonese spoken by the residents there. If the same logic applies, then the story in the Memoir of a Geisa took place in a fictious English city because the residents there spoke English. Kowloonese 00:54, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
Possible Slip up?
This movie is set around the 1930/40s. In one scene, Sing flashes back to his childhood; assuming Sing is in his late twenties/early thirties in this movie, and assuming he was no more than 9/10/11 in the flashback, the flashback took place around 1910 or 1920, however powerlines are clearly visible in the background. I'm not sure if 1920s Hong Kong had bulk power grids and power lines like that. --67.181.131.193 07:03, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
- The street cars and the street scenes looks more like Shanghai than Hong Kong. I believe back then Hong Kong was just a rural village compare to the big Shanghai metropolitan. Kowloonese 22:51, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
Does suspension of disbelief come to mind? I don't think the producers expect you to actually care. --69.109.44.79 05:30, 12 June 2006 (UTC)
Whatever the case may be, regarding the city, one thing is perfectly clear: The setting is most definitely not the 1930s! Look at the cars that were in the movie. I recognize many of those cars from 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949 and even 1950! The setting in this film is most definitely 1947-50, just before or after Chairman Mao's rise to power.
Axe Gang
Does a version of the Axe Gang appear in Project A II? I know it's in Drunken Master 2.--MythicFox 02:11, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
- Anyone know the real history of Shanghai back in the 1930s? Was the Axe Gang a real group back then? Many Chinese gangster movies are set at the same time and same place so some of the characters may be based on some historical figures. Kowloonese 22:47, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
Land Lord and Land Lady relations...?
In the statement : "The landlord and landlady are Yang Guo and Xiao Long Nü from Jinyong's The Return of the Condor Heroes. " Maybe I missed something, but how are those two related to the Yang Guo and Long Nu characters?
- The screenwriters of the original Cantonese version named these two characters after Jinyong's characters. They are not related except the names. These names are not preserved in the English translation of the movie, so the info should be put in the trivia section at best. Yang Guo and Xiao Long Nu are devoted lovers and they are very nice to each other. On contrary, the Land Lady abuses the Land Lord. I guess the screenwriters use the names to add some comic effects for the Cantonese audience. Kowloonese 22:33, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
- Hahaha, a friend lent me the movie. It had a weird transalation. When the Beast and the Landlords were going to start the fight, the Beast asked them: "Who are you? A pair of fighting lovers?" Then the LandLady answered, "Yes, we're Paris and Helen from Troya" Paris and Helen are two mythological figures from greek literature.
- Account less user, 05 March 2007
One move done by the Harpists...
There was one part where Donut had his staff in his hands and was right in front of them. They strummed their instrument and broke his staff. They then sent out another attack (green colored) as Donut made an "X" type hand shape which guarded it. What was the attack?
- Do you mean those ghostly soldiers in Chinese armours? The computer imagery remind me of the final scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Kowloonese 22:44, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
- I know what you mean. I also dont know what was the attack he blocked with the X shape. But it was a light attack, since it just made Donut to fly back and get injured his hands misteriously. Maybe the harpists attacked that part of the hand so Donut couldn't grab a pole weapon again. - Account less user, 05 March 2007
hustle
what does "hustle" exactly mean in the title?--Sonjaaa 01:23, 11 October 2006 (UTC)
Among other things, I believe it's the dance the Axe Gang performs in the opening.--129.15.228.160 22:25, 22 October 2006 (UTC)
- It could also be taken to mean "to cheat or trick," as Sing and his partner do during the beginning of the film. The hermit basically "hustled" Sing with the pamphlets, even though it turned out they were of some value. That's what I took beyond the dance allusion. Cybertooth85 04:21, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
romanization & redirects; no mention of deaf woman?
Hi,
According to www.sonyclassics.com :
- Chan Kwok Kuen = Chan Kwok Kwan
- Lam Chi Chung = Lam Tze Chung
I also added a redlink to the actress who plays Sing's deaf love interest, according to the same site. No mention of her in this article??
Regarding today's triple revert
I've reverted 3 edits made by anons and a user because:
- The first edit is incorrect: God of Cookery contains a serious tone at the end.
- The second edit removed detail from the plot, whereas it is already concise enough according to The WikiProject Films.
- The third edit again is incorrect, Chow has chosen to avoid using modern music at all costs in the fight scenes, so no Matrix music in the film.
Thank you for your attention.--Kylohk 09:31, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
HK release date?
Does anybody know what the movie's release date was in HK itself? Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 14:16, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
- The release date is December 23, 2004.--Kylohk 15:06, 23 May 2007 (UTC)