Odd Couple (1979) User Reviews

"Odd Couple" - Among the best kung fu weapon fight scenes ever

[ChungMo · 8/10 · 17 September 2006]

The combo of a youthful Sammo Hung and the legendary Liu Chia Liang's brother Liu Chia Yung is a perfect match here. While not as elaborate as the Liang's classic "Legendary Weapons of Kung Fu" the fights between Sammo Hung and director Yung are absolutely incredible.

The plot is simply this: Two old kung fu masters, the King of Swords and the King of Spears can't defeat each other after 15 years of annual fights to the death. They are also known as the Naughty Old Man and the Dirty Old Man. They decide to see who can train the best student and make them fight each other in ten years. Cut to ten years later, the students are sent out to find the other and fight but suddenly an old enemy of the two old masters reappears and captures the students. The old men must now rescue their students.

There's a lot of Chinese humor, some visual and some spoken which doesn't translate well. Many of the secondary characters are classic Chinese comedy characters and the humor is broad and exaggerated. There's a guy named "Potato" who's got buck teeth and the strangest hairdo or hairy moles on his head. Sammo and Yung are in great acting form here and both seem to be really enjoying their dual roles. They play the old men and the two students! Breezy and fun, the film should be very enjoyable for kung fu movie fans. Unusual for this type of movie the film doesn't immediately end after the bad guy is dealt with, it keeps going. Sammo and Yung have lots more energy to show.

A film that is here for unabashed kung fu talents to show themselves. Very well done and recommend for those who enjoy watching real physical talent on screen. And there's actually a moral to the story!

Top old-school martial arts fare

[Matti-Man · 8/10 · 11 March 2007]

I'm amazed this film isn't better known among kung-fu fans. I didn't get to see this film until recently, despite being a fan of Hong Kong fight films since 1972 (when KING BOXER (aka FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH in the US) was released in the UK - a movie that pre-dated the Bruce Lee craze by a couple of months.

As the 1970s wore on, I kept up with the kung-fu films, even after the first wave of "fans" moved onto the next craze. I saw DRUNKEN MASTER when it came out and thought Jackie Chan was great - and I even liked his fat pal Sammo. And while I also caught up with early Sammo classics like WARRIORS TWO and THE VICTIM, somehow Bo ming chan dao duo ming chuang managed to pass me by. And that's a real shame ...

Flash forward twenty-odd years and I'm helping out as technical consultant on the UK partwork mag "Hong Kong Legends" and I'm asked to analyse the action sequences for an old-school film called ODD COUPLE. I figure anything with Sammo in it has to be at least worth a look, but I wasn't prepared for the overall excellence of the martial arts skills on show here. The combination of Sammo and Leung Kar Yan is nothing short of electric and some of the kung-fu techniques they display are jaw-dropping. Especially worthy of note is the sequence where the Old Sammo and old Kar Yan are duelling and Sammo is one moment disarmed by Kar Yan's pole and the next has neatly recovered his sabre and carries on fighting. Bravo!

If you appreciate solid martial arts skills, you could do a lot worse than check out ODD COUPLE.

Comedy actioner let down by slightly lacking choreography and awful dubbing

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 30 September 2016]

ODD COUPLE isn't a bad knockabout comedy but I was expecting more from the team. This is slightly lacking in the action stakes when compared to something like MAGNIFICENT BUTCHER or KNOCKABOUT, both of which had far better fight choreography and more fluid and exciting action scenes. In many moments of ODD COUPLE, Sammo will kick an opponent only for his foot to go nowhere near the guy. This happens multiple times and became something of a distraction for me.

Otherwise this is a straightforward Hong Kong comedy with lots of action scenes to keep it moving along nicely. Sammo Hung teams up with co-star and director Lau Kar-Wing to play a couple of martial arts masters who seem to spend most of their lives sparring. To confuse matters further, both actors also play their young apprentices, so double dual roles for the pair. I wasn't really fond of this plot development which seemed pretty silly. The supporting cast is rounded out by Mars playing a character called Potato who is one of the goofiest you'll ever see, smaller parts for Lam Ching-ying and Lee Hoi San, and the great Beardy as a stock villain.

The action scenes are acceptable but where this film falls down is the comedy. I usually don't mind Chinese humour but it goes way over the top here and quickly becomes grating. It doesn't help that the dumb American dubbing really saps the film of vitality and the exaggerated voices sound like they're from some idiotic cartoon. I can't believe that they made Spice Girls jokes during this dub, it really is the worst ever and unfortunately affected my enjoyment of the movie.

The opinion of a recently converted Sammo Hung fan

[carrickters · 26 April 2000]

This movie portrays old rivals,played by Sammo Hung (King of the sword) and Lau Kar Wing (King of the spear) who meet every 10 years to find out whose weaponry skills are better.These duels always end up in a draw and as the two warriers are aging they decide to each take on a pupil so that the duel may continue. What makes this interesting is that Sammo plays Lau's student and Lau plays Sammo's student. Some amusing scenes eventuate. This from the video cover: "Skillful balletic duels between the sword and the spear rival even the best work of Jackie Chan and Liu Chia Liang in their intricacy" With these comments I would have to agree. However this film would have to be the silliest Sammo hung movie I have ever seen. There are some scenes which I don't feel contribute much at all to the overall plot. Having said that, The duels between the elderly Sammo Hung and the elderly Lau Kar Wing with their respective weapons are masterpieces. Their mastery of these weapons has to be seen to be believed. So too, the duels between the young Sammo with the spear and the young Lau with the sword as the students of the elderly masters just goes to prove how versatile and how skilled these men are. Towards the end of the film they unite to defeat a common foe in a brilliant fight sequence and then go on to fight each other to a draw just as their old sifu's had done in another incredible fight sequence so ultimately the riddle of whose weaponry is better goes unanswered. An unusual movie with some really silly scenes but a lot of great action.

Brilliant

[coconutkungfu-30704 · 10/10 · 19 February 2020]

Amazing weapons choreography and a double dose of Sammo and Lau Kar Wing in dual roles! This is one of the finest weapons fighting films ever made!

One of the silliest kung fu movies

[sujesh80 · 9/10 · 31 January 2004]

This one goes in my top ten kung fu movies as one of the silliest. the weapon fighting scenes are excellent. As with any good kung fu movie, it contains a lot of over-top-characters:

* The king of the spear * the king of the sword * The exthortionist at the market (what a moustache!) * The king of the spears' sidekick, Potato (with the funky ummm.. hair) * The king of the swords sidekick, the humpback * And last but not least: Mr. Rockin', who has his own theme music.

All in all, an excellent and very funny martial arts movie.

Always bring your magnets to the sword fight!

[ckormos1 · 8/10 · 26 November 2020]

Creativity seldom describes movies from the golden age of martial arts movies from 1967 to 1984. This movie starts with a plot used many times before in which two masters settle a grudge by training students for a challenge fight.

Sammo Hung and Lau Kar-Yan both play younger versions of each other in the same time frame. That was brilliant and never done before. The movie is also a parody of all martial arts movies and of Peking opera too. Almost every added character adds a twist to the story. These movies also have a reputation for filming without as much as a script and making it all up as you go. To produce this movie required fine details and precise scheduling because the two leads had two different characters to play. I have been watching these movies in chronological order to determine some "Best" and "First" moments. As of the release of this movie I rate it the most creative so far.

None of this would matter if the fights were just average. The fights were some of the best of 1979 and likely also some of the best fights ever. The spear versus sword idea worked fabulously. Many other weapons were also used including improvising props for weapons. At first I rated this movie 9/10 but then I noticed something in comparison to the other great movies of 1979. I deducted a point because in this movie they forgot that women can fight. My other top movies for 1979, though male dominated, also had at least one excellent fight with a female.

My copy is wide screen and typical DVD resolution. There are English subtitles and dubbing. I recommend playing both because it's amusing how the spoken and written words rarely match. I rate this 8 of 10 and highly recommend it for all fans of the genre.

"It's human affection which is invincible."

[poe426 · 10/10 · 21 May 2013]

The title sequence of ODD COUPLE features Sammo Hung on spear and Liu Chia-Yung on sword, and it's a tightly choreographed ballet, to be sure: both men are amazing to watch. When Sammo delivers a sign reading KING OF THE SWORDSMEN to blacksmith "Dog Face," it triggers a reaction from a pair of swordmasters who have just arrived looking to take on the finest swordsman in town. Sammo and Dog Face pit them against one another before Sammo reveals himself and sends them both packing. Liu, using his Poverty Spear, literally gives a wannabe assassin a close shave before his annual showdown with Sammo. Sammo, using his sword, relieves Liu of his eyebrows; Liu cuts off Sammo's beard- a draw. They each go in search of a student to train for the next ten years (at the end of which, the students will be pitted against one another to see whose kung fu is best). Here things get interesting, because Sammo and Liu both play the younger disciples of the two older masters. Sammo saves Liu from a trio of would-be protection men, then proceeds to convince him to be his student by burning down the younger man's house. Meanwhile, Liu recruits Ah-Yao, a ferryman (played by Sammo), after convincing Sammo to sink his own boat. The stage is thus set for a number of great fight scenes between the two stars. When the elder masters both die at the hands of Hsiao Pa-Ten, the inevitable showdown is set in motion.

Top Quality Kung Fu Action

[bs3dc · 15 March 2006]

Odd Couple is definitely one of the best kung fu weaponry films as the choreography of the sword and spear fighting is absolutely brilliant and is the main draw of the film. Sammo Hung (sword)and Lau Kar (spear) Wing play two kung fu masters who fight every year, a contest which always ends in a draw. So they come up with the idea of each training a student to fight for them in 10 years. However an enemy from their past (Leung Kar Yan) has not forgotten injuries they have done him...

the clever part of this is that each master finds a student that is played by the other main star, which gives each a chance to demonstrate their impressive skill with both weapons - these are the kind of fight scenes that cannot be filmed any more as few people have good enough timing.

As with most films of this genre and era, the plot is irrelevant and as with most Sammo Hung films the comic relief is present and for once not too tiresome - however not enough to get in the way. Leung Kar Yan makes for a fearsome opponent and the final showdown does not disappoint. Highly recommended.

Definitely one of Sammo's best performances!

[greghulme · 10/10 · 25 June 2005]

I have to say that I have seen an awful lot of Sammo Hung movies and not only is this one of his best films, but it is probably the finest weapons movie in the history of kung fu movies, and there have been a lot. This film is not like many other kung fu films in the way that the fights start small and then get bigger and better as the film progresses. The fights in this film practically start from the word go, with the standard remaining high throughout the rest of the film. The first (and in my opinion the best) big fight in the movie starts about fifteen minutes into the film where the old Sammo and the old Lau do battle with their weapons. The fight is so well choreographed that you wish that it would never end. After this fight the fight scenes become shorter until Leung Kar Yan comes into the picture, then the fights turn violent. Leung is such a menacing villain that you really are rooting for the good guys to win. Once the young fighters have killed the villain its time for them to fulfil their masters wishes and fight each other until one of them wins. this culminates in a duel that is similar to the fight earlier in the film and is outstanding in its execution. This film is so great that no kung fu fan should be without it. Even if you hate weapons films this film may well change your mind, and if it doesn't there are a few open hand fights which are equally as fantastic. An absolute masterpiece, I can't recommend it enough!

Fun cheesy acting with wonderful martial arts action aplenty makes for a dated but very enjoyable film

[bob the moo · 15 October 2008]

The King of the Sword and the King of the Spear are, as their names suggest, masters of their respective weapons and have never been defeated. Each year they meet to battle one another but each time the result is the same – a draw. They come to the conclusion that, because they know one another so well, it will always be equal and the only way to decide who is best is to each take a student and train them for ten years before letting them loose on one another without revealing the connection between them, whoever wins has therefore been taught by the better man. So they head off to do this, unaware of the darker forces of competition that await them and their new students.

LoveFilm treated me well for once and although it through up a "someday" film in place of one of the ones I wanted sooner rather than later, on this occasion it was a very enjoyable pick. I started watching it in the subtitled mode but after five minutes I decided to watch it in dubbed mode – not a choice I normally make but in this case I had a reason. The reason was that it was immediately obvious that this was going to be a very dated and cheesy martial arts film with wild hair, overacting and the like and I figured that I might as well go the whole hog and enjoy a typically cheesy American dub. This will upset purists of course and it did mean that some of the dialogue was changed (including the addition of a joke that references the Spice Girls) but it did add to the fun as I got the impression (looking back at some scenes with subtitles on) that a lot of the original humour doesn't translate particularly well.

This is certainly true of the characters, some of whom do feel like they were created and acted with everyone smacked out of their heads – Master Rocking in particular; dubbing doesn't make him any less weird. The plot is a simple affair and the "evil" of my plot summary is very much thrown in at the very end to provide a focused conclusion. It doesn't matter too much though because the film is still fun and engaging even though the focus is on the training for the majority. The main reason for this of course is the action, which is roundly brilliant. There are one or two moments where it is sped-up to the detriment of the action (ie it ends up looking stupid silly) but otherwise it does deserve its praise for how good it is at the weapons stuff. All the fight sequences are well choreographed with humour and skill making them exciting and fun at the same time. Carrying the fun thread, all the actors play well into the silly humour. Sammo and Yung-Lia are both really good in their dual roles and work really well together, getting laughs off one another equally as the dynamics change between the two parts of the film – allowing each to be the elder or younger. The support cast are mixed in how they entertain but they all do entertain. Ka-Yan makes for a strong villain full and is just as memorable as the many weird, exaggerated characters in smaller roles. Everyone appears to have weird hair growing everywhere – in one case right out of a large mole and everyone overacts in a way that even actors from silent films would feel was pushing it, but yet it works. It does need you to be in a cheesy mood though but if you are it is a lot of fun.

Odd Couple deserves viewers for the quality of its action scenes, which are technically impressive and really well choreographed, but it is also worth coming to for the very silly humour that dominates everything from the characters, the hairstyles and the performances. Those seeking a "serious" martial arts film may baulk at this but the majority of viewers will be too amused to care.