Naughty Boys
Reviewed by YTSL
As unlikely as it may seem to some people,
when I first heard the news a couple of months back re this not particularly
well known 1986 movie having received a (budget) DVD release, I actually
was gripped with a fairly high degree of excitement. This was primarily
due to it being so that, for all of this Jackie Chan production being a
minor entry in her filmography, that which is unlike such as “Shanghai,
Shanghai” and “Stagedoor Johnny” in not being a period piece -- but similar
to them in terms of it boasting kinetic action sequences and stunt work
galore (by members of Jackie Chan’s stunt team and others who have been
professionally associated with the “Big Brother” of Hong Kong cinema) --
has been touted as being former TVB actress Carina Lau’s maiden entry into
the world of Hong Kong films (even while she also may have previously appeared,
albeit in a much minor capacity, as one of the back up singers for “The
Losers”, in “Armor of God”).
Other casting choices that made NAUGHTY BOYS a
“must check out” in this prepared-to-be-indulgent fan girl’s admittedly
quirky book included those that resulted in the awarding of prominent roles
to: An easily recognizable stunt veteran of many of Jackie Chan’s star
vehicles (including “Project A” I and II, “Police Story” I and III) but
also decades older works like “Come Drink With Me” (The uniquely monikered
Mars was a member of the Drunken Beggar’s youthful troupe); a former Shaw
Brothers movie personality who was a HKFA Best Actress winner back in 1981
for her portrayal of the titular “My Young Auntie” (in the seemingly criminally
under-rated -- by fans of post 1980 Hong Kong cinema -- Kara Hui Ying Hung);
and a fellow whose most major claim to fame surely is for being the director
of “Naked Killer” (i.e., the attractively boyish looking Clarence Fok).
If nothing else, there also was the -- pretty fully fulfilled, as it turned
out -- promise of its featuring a number of celebrity cameos (including
by the film’s producer as well as Ricky Hui) along with appearances by
many with familiar faces but less well known names (e.g., character actors
Stanley Fung, Dennis Chan and Charlie Cho, and Jackie Chan’s former bodyguard,
Ken Lo).
Considering the number of main plus minor characters
that there are in NAUGHTY BOYS, it’s a wonder that its story -- which has
a whole bunch of people seeking, for various reasons, to get their hands
on a cache of diamonds (which Mars’ Sheng character and three of his buddies
-- who are played by Tai Bo, Lo Meng and Phillip Ko Fei -- were sent to
prison for stealing, and whose whereabouts they had never revealed to the
authorities) -- was as intelligible as it was. Similarly, upon bearing
in mind that the bulk of filming time, energy and budget probably was spent
on the copious amounts of often very imaginatively choreographed fight
and related scenes that are the visual highlights of this action plus comedy
oriented movie, this (re)viewer is wont to look upon this offering’s script
as having been serviceable enough, even if obviously being not all that
well crafted or polished.
After all, it did fairly logically establish connections
between NAUGHTY BOYS’ main male protagonist Sheng and Kara Hui’s Chuan
character (a loyal childhood friend of his whose fighting abilities men
underestimate at their peril), two private investigators (The capable,
including in gymnastics, Bonnie is portrayed by Carina Lau (and an obvious
stunt double!) while her more bumbling partner -- whose personal name is
Kuang and surname is Fu -- is played by Billy Lau) plus the manager of
what turned out to be a fraud-incurring travel agency (named Liang and
essayed by Clarence Fok). And while this Wellson Chin directed effort’s
characters’ courses of action often aren’t too clever plus advisedly orthodox
(E.g., Bonnie’s engineered first encounter with Sheng involved her running
her car into the less than fortunate man!), they do provide the reason
for the occurrence of those encounters on places as varied as someone’s
apartment, a rooftop, a junkyard and a godown that involve the kind of
expertly enacted as well as designed action that distinguished many a 1980s
Hong Kong action film (and are missing from those contemporary plus bigger
budget actioneers that are over-reliant on CGI, wires and fancy camera
-- as opposed to honest stunt -- work).
As one might expect, Kara Hui, Mars and his Jackie
Chan’s Stuntmen Association cohorts are the individuals who provide the
bulk of NAUGHTY BOYS’ action highlights while Carina Lau, Clarence Fok
and Billy Lau have greater comic responsibilities. Something that
came as a bit of surprise though was the far from ugly, to my eyes, Kara
Hui having the role of a plain Jane who the fellow her character appears
to have carried a flame for for some years -- the hardly handsome Sheng
-- overlooks in favor of a newer plus admittedly more buxomly female friend.
With regards to this offering’s other leading lady: For all of Carina Lau
being cast as the physically attractive woman of more than one man’s fantasy
in the film, this early work of hers -- that involves her being lasciviously
ogled, groped and having cockroaches thrown onto her person as well as
taking her share of knocks -- is one more entry in the evidence list for
this Suzhou-born beauty really having had to pay her dues in order to become
as established and respected as she now is as a Hong Kong film personality.
My rating for this film: 6.5
