Ban jin ba liang (1976)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Michael Hui

Writer:

Michael Hui (writer)

Release Date:

1 June 1981 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Cantonese | Spoof

Cast

Michael Hui	...	Joseph Wong
Samuel Hui	...	Lee Kwok-kit
Ricky Hui	...	Pighead
Angie Chiu	...	Jacky
Richard Ng	...	Police Officer
Kien Shih	...	Gang Leader
Mu Zhu
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Billy Chan
Chun Ying Chang
Kim Wun Chan
Lap Ban Chan	...	Audience member in cinema
Yam Chan
Siu Ping Cheng
Sin-ming Cheung
Yuan Chieh
Chih-Kuang Huang
Ha Huang
Stanley Hui
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo
Hsiung Kao
Eddy Ko
Siu-Fong Lai
Suen-yin Leung
Wei-chi Lu
Hsin Shen
Kam Siu
Chieh Kuang Wu
Leng-kuang Yin

Also Known As:

The Private Eyes (Hong Kong: English title)
Boon gan bat leung (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIA | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Golden Harvest Company

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: The reflection on a bus driving through shows the crew members lined up, this is during the scene when Michael Hui had just gotten demoted and is taking his anger out on the car.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Gwai ma kwong seung kuk (2004)

A Warmhearted Comedy With Significant Insight

A ground-breaking comdey of Hong Kong Cinema of 1970's. After Bruce Lee, Hui's Brother, Michael Hui and Sam Hui, dominated the Hong Kong show business for about a decade and "The Private Eyes" represents the peak of their career.

Some scenes are still very funny. Something like Mr Bean's style. Simple setup and no visually attractive cinematography but the content is the name of the game. Other than something funny, this simple detective story also reveals the innocence of Hong Kong people at that time, perhaps more important, the bright-side of capitalism.

The message is very positive. Don't be an escapist and only the fittest can survive. But surviving itself is not the ultimate objective of life and in fact just a condition to achieve that ultimate objective. In other words, we earn money for living but not live for earning money. It is also a belief of Hong Kong people at that time.

The consistency between the message of the movie and the belief of the people made The Private Eyes become a very influential comedy in HK cinema. Educating audience is something very important in Michael Hui's films. In fact, we can also find such kind of style in Jacky Chan's movies, but of course at a level very different.

The box office of The Private Eyes is about HK$ 8 millions in 1977, but measured at today ticket price, is about 120 millions. Titanic's box office in HK is only about 116 million and Jacky Chan's "First Strike"(1996), the most successful Chan's movie in HK in sense of box office, is nothing but about 58 millions. Of course the competition they faced is different and my calculation may not be absolutely valid. But the popularity of Hui's Brother in 70's is something definitely unquestionable.

A warmhearted comedy with significant insight is a short but full description for this movie. I like the ending very much. To the people who are interested in HK cinema's development, it is a must-see. To the people who just want a movie entertaining, also worth seeing.