{"id":26265,"date":"2023-03-28T22:09:02","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T05:09:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=26265"},"modified":"2023-03-28T22:09:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T05:09:02","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-knockabout-1979","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=26265","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: KNOCKABOUT (1979)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This film is now available for purchase from Arrow Video.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the past few months, Arrow Video has been going out of their way to focus attention on films from Sammo Hung. For those unfamiliar with the martial arts legend, this figure went to the China Drama Academy and Peking Opera School, forming a friendly rivalry at the time with younger student Jackie Chan. While less well known in North America, Hung\u2019s career exploded in his homeland at about the same time and he quickly began making films as well as starring in them. Knockabout<\/em> was his fourth film as director and is considered one of the best martial arts movies of its era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viewing the new Blu-ray, it certainly is better than most\ntitles of this period and is packed with memorable showdowns. Arrow Video has\ndelivered another great looking Blu-ray with vastly improved picture quality\n(specifically, a 2K restoration). When many features from this part of the\nworld were initially released on disc in North America, they looked poor, as if\nthey were transferred from a dirty print laying around on a vault floor. While\nit doesn\u2019t look as awe-inspiring as some big budget epics, there is a\nnoticeable clean up and it looks as if the cinematographer did try to give the\nfilm a nice look. Of course, it also helps that the movie itself features some\ngreat fight scenes and that there are plenty of interesting extras that help\nviewers get a sense of film production during this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story follows brothers Yipao (Yuen Biao) and Taipao\n(Bryan Leung) who work the streets as con artists. While they are criminals,\nthe pair\u2019s scams are comical and often take advantage of those who are already\nmanipulating customers. After the two try to pull a fast one on the elderly Jia\nWu Dao (Lau Kar Wing), they get tricked and beaten up by their intended target.\nIt turns out that Jai Wu Dao is a powerful kung-fu master who uses the \u201cSnake\nStyle\u201d technique. Impressed, the brothers beg the expert to train them so that\nthey can protect themselves. He ultimately agrees, but partway through their\ntraining, Yipao discovers that their master is a ruthless killer. Yipao and his\nbrother are attacked once again and tragedy ensues. Badly wounded and hiding\nout, Yipao encounters an overweight Beggar (Sammo Hung) with amazing \u201cMonkey\nStyle\u201d fighting ability. He becomes an apprentice of this kinder figure and the\ntwo set out for revenge on Jai Wu Dao.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story is very simple, but Biao and Leung make for a\nlikable pair. Early in the film, their exploits are quite funny and it results\nin some amusing escapades as they get into confrontations with their marks,\nbarely escaping retribution. There is some good back and forth between the two\nas well as they try to pull off some crazy schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tone changes considerably after they come under the tutelage of Jia Wu Dao and end up battling with him. To North American audiences, it is a jarring snap as their brutal master suddenly tries to wipe them out, causing great loss and suffering in the process. Later, the gags pick up again as the Beggar attempts to train Yipao, often being distracted by free drinks and food. As the film heads towards its climax, there\u2019s another towards deadly seriousness as the heroes and villain fight to the death. Yet, while one can\u2019t help but be struck by the story\u2019s strange tonal shifts, the fights are incredibly well-choreographed fight scenes, often captured with long takes featuring elaborate moves and blows being traded back and forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s certainly an eccentric movie, but one can see why it\nmade such an impression and became a big hit. The heroic cast members are\ncharismatic and there are some laughs early on before the story takes a serious\nturn. And when that does happen, the movie\u2019s fight scenes are as well-staged\nand exciting to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a very good film and Blu-ray offers some excellent\nadded features. The first plus is that there are two different cuts of the\nfilm. The Hong Kong Theatrical Cut and a shorter Export Cut. Obviously, the\noriginal Hong Kong version is the stronger, with more character moments that,\nto some degree, help to smooth out some of the sudden twists from comedy to\nserious action. Still, it\u2019s nice to have both cuts for the sake of comparison\nand interest. You can watch the Hong Kong edition either in its original\nlanguage with English subtitles (as this reviewer did) or with two choices of\ndubbed audio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The audio commentaries are very enjoyable as well. The first\nis from martial arts cinema experts, who are very knowledgeable and share\nplenty of history about the production and Sammo Hung himself. They also have\nplenty to say about the cast and their careers in the Hong Kong film industry.\nIt seems that many, in both the commentary tracks and other interviews, one\ntidbit that continually comes up is that Hung would rarely hold back his\npunches for the cameras, leaving many cast members taking some bruises in order\nto attain the designated shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s also a second commentary on the shorter, exported\nedition from film fans from the western world. They discuss the film in detail,\nexplaining that this version was how they were introduced to the movie. The\npair are pretty honest about some of the bizarre tonal shifts and confusing\nelements present (that to some degree is rectified in the longer version).\nThese authorities aren\u2019t as scholarly, but are enthusiastic and fun to listen\nto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Naturally, there are some great interviews with Hung, who\nexplains that he was set to star in the film, but decided to take a chance on\nthe young Biao (who would also become another famous action actor in his\nhomeland). He rewrote the script and added the Beggar character for himself,\nstating that it was an enjoyable role. Bryan Leung is also interviewed and\ndescribes being in constant pain (and nearly in tears, most days) during the\npainful fight sequence shoots. Additionally, there is a talk with Grandmaster\nSau Chang, a master of \u201cMonkey Style\u201d kung-fu, who goes over all that it\nentails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a great teaser promo for the film\u2019s Japanese\nrelease. It features Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung and features a funny interchange\nbetween them as they promote the title. And, of course, there\u2019s a trailer and\nan illustrated booklet with press materials and an essay on the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While Knockabout<\/em> isn\u2019t without its peculiarities, it\ndoes feature some of the best martial arts in any movie of that period alone.\nOne can see its influence on later titles. It also contains some laughs and a\nlikable cast who would go on to even bigger and more elaborate projects. If you\nare an aficionado of these types of movies, the Blu-ray of this important title\nis a must-own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This film is now available for purchase from Arrow Video. In the past few months, Arrow Video has been going out of their way to focus attention on films from Sammo Hung. For those unfamiliar with the martial arts legend, this figure went to the China Drama Academy and Peking Opera School, forming a friendly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":26266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[110,697,1836,2933,2939,3073,3626,4256,4660,9288,11861,11862,11863,11864,11866,13303,15922,17585,24688],"class_list":["post-26265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-110","tag-action","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-2","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-bryan-leung","tag-china","tag-comedy","tag-hong-kong","tag-knockabout","tag-knockabout-blu-ray-review","tag-knockabout-disc-review","tag-knockabout-review","tag-knug-fu","tag-martial-arts","tag-period","tag-sammo-hung","tag-yuen-biao"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}