Features

(洪金寶) Sammo Hung: From Peking Opera To Kung Fu legend

sammo1
sammo1

Who would have thought back in the days when Sammo was just a young boy, running away from school and fighting all the time that he would become one of the greatest kung fu legends of all time and one of the best fight choreographers.

Born in 1952, Sammo was only 7 years of age when he enrolled in Yu Jim Yuen's school, where he would train to fight, somersault, sing, act whilst baring the pain that himself and the others would have to engage by his masters. Having to get up around 5am and train for most of the day must have been very hard work for someone at his age, running, kicking, punching, having to hold positions for around 30minute to an hour at a time, but all this practice certainly made him to legend he is today. It was at peking opera that he would meet fellow kung fu stars such as , , Yuen Wah, Corey Yuen and so on, guys he still remains friends with till this day. When Sammo was still training at his school, he would become a child actor, starring in a few movies at that time such as Education of Love (1961), Big And Little Wong Tin Bar (1962) and Eighteen Darts (1963).

Movie Business 1960's-1977
After appearing in a few movies as a child, Sammo got his chance to show his fight choreography by helping on the movie Come Drink With Me, as assistant action director. In the next 4 years until 1970, he would appear as a stunt man in some movies and also with small parts such as Black Butterfly, Raw Courage, The Golden Sword and The Iron Buddah.

He can been seen popping up in the background and as a few small fights in the movie A Touch Of Zen, a movie by renowned director King Hu. Sammo would team up with King Hu later on also with the movie The fate Of Lee Khan, which also starred Angela Mao. Another movie around this time was Hapkido, where we get to see Sammo and Angela Mao back on the screen together, this is a great film and shows Sammo back as action director for the movie.

In 1973, Sammo got a call from Bruce Lee and was asked if he wanted to shoot a scene for Enter The Dragon, at the time Sammo agreed but heard nothing after, so he decided to go to Korea and film another movie as he needed the money. When he got back, he spoke with Bruce and Sammo made it clear he could not wait forever for the phone call so needed to film elsewhere. This was resolved shortly after and you can see Sammo taking on Bruce Lee in the opening scene of Enter The Dragon.

In the few years to follow, Sammo appeared in a fair few movies and also as action director, making his name in the movie world. Some of these movies included The Skyhawk, Valiant Ones, The Traitorous and Hand Of Death.

As Time Goes By
By this time, Sammo was already in much demand and it wasn't long until we started to see the real talents of the big man on and off the screen. The Shaolin Plot was first up in 1977, a movie which stated to showcase Sammo in both lights, placing people such as Casanova Wong in the spotlight with some awesome choreography. After this movie came the Iron Fisted Monk, his first movie as director. This as some very good fight scenes and also stars Fung Hak On as the leading villain.

The few years that followed, Sammo brought us some of the best kung fu movies of it's time delivering a new wave of kung fu action to the audience. These movies would include Warriors Two (1978), Enter The Fat Dragon (1978), Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog (1978), Odd Couple (1979), Knockabout (1979), Incredible Kung Fu Master (1979), The Victim (1980), Magnificent Butcher (1980) and The Prodigal Son (1981). If you have yet to see most of these movies, you need to watch them as soon as possible. These showcase some of the best kung fu fights put down on film.

What i loved during these years was the amount of people he brought into the kung fu world and made them look better than they ever have been. Sammo brought us Angela mao early on, introduced Yuen Biao to the world, gave Shaw Brothers actors such as Leung Kar yan and Fung Hak On a chance to shine on screen and made them look even better with his movies.

Encounters Of The Spooky Kind was a movie where Sammo could switch from the usual kung fu movie to mixing it up with Horror which worked a treat. Staging some excellent fight choreography, mixed with good humor and an all star cast, shown Sammo was here to stay, not only as a kung fu star, but Director and also as a action Director. This was also the time the three dragons would start to appear in movies together, Jackie, Sammo and Biao made movies together such as Winners And Sinners (1983), project A (1983), Wheels On Meals (1984), Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985) and my favorite Dragons Forever (1988). Some of these movies include top notch fight scenes with incredible stunt work from himself, Jackie and Biao as well as there stunt teams.

In your looking for other great Sammo movies during this time and until the final parts of the 1980's, these are the ones i would include, Millionaire's Express, Eastern Condors, Pedicab Driver and Painted Faces as well producing movies and doing the action for movies such as Mr Vampire, Yes, Madam, Rosa, Righting Wrongs (End fight), Picture Of A Nymph and On The Run.

2000-2016

1990-2013
By the mid 1980's, kung fu movies were becoming less and less with audiences getting tired of the same thing, so modern day action films started to take over. This is clear in the late 80's and the 1990's would stay the same. He did start the decade of with a follow up to his successful Kung Fu/Horror movie Encounters Of The Spooky Kind, showcasing himself and Lam Ching Ying in a great movie which needs to be seen with some excellent choreography.

Over the next 10 years the movies Sammo would bring out were good, but not a patch on his early movies, they had good moments dont get me wrong, just not as good as his earlier work. Some of these movies i should mention are The Tantana, Island Of Fire (good movie), Blade Of Fury, Kung Fu Cult Master, Don't Give A Damn and starring in his own American cop series Martial law. Sammo even worked with Jean Claude Van Damme on the movies Double Team and Knock Off, working as action director.

It wasn't until 2005, that we seen a more brutal character for Sammo with the movie Sha Po lang starring Donnie yen and Wu Jing. Here Sammo would play a triad boss, who kills anyone who tries to get in his way. A part i really enjoyed, showing how powerful he is and how good he is as an actor. Dragon Squad would follow this movie, another film where we get to see Sammo kicking butt in a few scenes, but the tv series Wing Chun was the one that put Sammo back in the kung fu spotlight. This series was a brilliant watch which starred Yuen Biao, Nicholas Tse, Gordon Liu and Ji Chun Hua. Based on the characters from his early wing chun movie The prodigal Son, Sammo certainly knows how to showcase wing chun to the screen.

sammo

2008 saw Donnie Yen hit the screens as Ip Man, a movie that changed the way kung fu films should be made for the future. Incredible acting, superb fight scenes, great directing and Sammo back in the action directors chair. This was a perfect team up, Donnie yen on screen, in a wing chun movie with Sammo doing the action and it worked perfectly. This is one of the best kung fu movies made in a real long time, probably seen Drunken master 2 and then Fearless. The second Ip Man movie saw Sammo take center stage and appear in the movie as the leader of Hung Gar who challenges Ip Man to a duel. This is another good movie, not as good as Ip Man 1, but it certainly has some great fight scenes.

In the past few years Sammo has been the action director of movies such as My Kingdom, Tai Chi 0 and the follow up and has recently made the movies The Last Tycoon and Princess And Seven Kung Fu Masters. It doesn't look like any time soon Sammo will be stepping away from kung fu cinema which is a great feeling. It will be a sad day when he finally calls it a day, i hope he carries on as long as his health lets him. So, if your a real fan of Sammo, loved his work on and off the screen then go back and re-watch some of his classics. Not only is he a superb kung fu performer, fight choreographer and director his acting skills have always been there for all to see, weather its dramatic or comedy he always does a great job.

Any news in the future of other movies starring this legend, we will certainly post.

About the author

kingofkungfu

Hi my name is Justyn Hughes, I have been involved or watched martial art kung fu movies most my life. I started muay thai when i was around 4-5 years old for ten years. I became a fan of kung fu flicks after watching prodigal Son in the mid 90's and that blew me away. Some of my favorite stars are: Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, lam Ching Ying, Lau Kar Leung, Ti Lung, David Chiang, Chen Kuan Tai and many more.

King Of Kung Fu (Justyn Hughes)

Favorite movie: The prodigal Son

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

>