Where's Officer Tuba
This sweet action/comedy from Sammo Hung is full
of laughs and contains a few great action scenes as well. Sammo does
his “shy” persona here and you can’t help but love his character.
The film begins with an action sequence that
has nothing to do with Sammo or really the rest of the film, but there
is an amazing stunt in it. During a chase, a cop first shoots out the windshield
of an oncoming car and then jumps through the front window as it is bearing
down on him. No doubt the car was slowed down for this stunt, but it is
still quite amazing.
We then move on to Sammo who plays the tuba
in the police band. Later that night he is giving a dinner party for four
of his police friends and their wives. It turns out to be a hilariously
disastrous dinner in which all four buddies side up to Sammo and tell him
that he has to tell his wife that he was with them the previous evening.
Sammo’s attempt to come up with a story that includes all his activities
with his friends – fishing, folk dancing, a wake and playing mahjong come
to an ignominious ending. On top of this Sammo is saddled with a gigantic
amorous blind date.
Eventually, Sammo meets Joey Wong and a little
romance springs up between them. First though Sammo gets involved in a
case in which a cop is killed while Sammo is hiding as best he can (no
hero is our Sammo). Before the cop dies though, he makes Sammo promise
to bring the crooks to justice. Sammo has no intention of doing this though
until the ghost of the cop comes back and makes Sammo’s life miserable
(and very funny).
This leads to Sammo and his partner Jackie Cheung
(in his film debut) tracking down the crooks and there is a rip-roaring
fight at the end. One of the crooks is another one of the Seven Fortunes
– Yuen Wah.
This isn’t one of Sammo’s better known films,
but I thoroughly enjoyed both the comedy and the small amount of action.
There are a ton of faces that you will recognize in this film.
My rating for this film: 7.0
