You can't imagine what the 1985 John Woo film Run Tiger Run looks like and there's no way I can capture it in words. Here's the trailer. It's a comedy, one of the few he made in that genre, and it's very Chinese. It certainly falls into the category of Makes No Sense comedy. If you've seen samples of Hong Kong comedies from the 1980's then you have an idea what this might be about. It's certainly more juvenile than most Stephen Chow movies of the time but not by much. I'll post some Stephen Chow comedies some time soon. I see there is a bunch of them on YouTube. Sadly this isn't on there. Joe found the Hong Kong dvd online somewhere and it sure turned out to be a hoot. We laughed along and often it was at the jokes. It stars Teddy Robin Kwan who's been in a couple of dozen movies and composed music for about the same number of films. About the most famous film he's acted in would be Jackie Chan's Twin Dragons. He was the front man in the 1960's Hong Kong English Pop band Teddy Robin And The Playboys.
That's Bin Bin, Teddy Robin Kwan, Tsui Hark and Yin Tze Pan in the pictures above. Bin Bin plays two roles, he's Babe, the grandson of rich Tsui, and Benny, the son of poor Teddy. Babe lives in a nice big house and Benny and Teddy live in a shack by a small river. Babe's parents were killed in a car crash before the movie starts. Yin Tze Pan is the governess that Tsui hires to take care of his grandson before he's murdered by his other son. The reading of the will puts the inheritance in Babe's hands, unless he dies, then it reverts to the other son. You can see where that's going. The other son has some goofy henchmen and they all plot to kill Babe. Yin hides Babe, telling the other son he's run away. The henchmen pick up Teddy and Benny, thinking he's Babe. Back at the big house mayhem ensues. Mostly all of the other son's schemes backfire and he takes a fierce beating. The henchmen fare no better. There's a bit of romance, and violence, as Teddy and the other son fall for Yin. When things look pretty dire for the good guys they are aided by the local street kids who come to the rescue. At one point dozens of kids pee down on the heads of the henchmen. That's the most peeing I've ever seen in a movie. As you can see there's a lot of stuff going on in the movies 87 minutes. It might not be very sophisticated but it's hardly ever dull.
I got a copy of Pagan Island from NetFlix and we watched this 1961 film next. It's written and directed by Barry Mahon. He made a lot of exploitation films between 1959 and 1970, usually with plenty of nudity. This is on a dvd from Something Weird Video with Fiend Of Dope Island and a bunch of short subjects that have a south sea island theme. The film is cast by Bunny Yeager. She was a photographer who mostly shot nudes. The under water sequences were filmed in the Seaquarium in Miami Florida. You can certainly tell.
A sailor, played by Eddie Dew, is pulled from the sea and recounts his sad tale to the men on the ship that rescued him. Eddie's ship went down and he managed to get on a raft and make it to an island. There he finds a bunch of young women who worship the sea god depicted by the statue above. He's suspected by the women but he kills a bunch of invading natives with his gun and they give him the run of the island and the ladies. It never gets too hot and heavy. Things don't work out so well when he falls for the young woman who is the intended bride of the sea god. It's kind of slow moving but there are some pretty girls and they flash a boobie now and again. We all enjoyed the statue of the sea god and I wouldn't mind one in my front yard.
The statue seems to be the work of Lewis Van Dercar. He was a painter and sculpture who worked in Maimi Florida. There's a short on the dvd about him and in the short the head of the statue on the sea god is on his mantle. Here's the first part of an hour long memorial about him.
He seems like a character and his house is pretty cool. Here's a few screen caps of his art.
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