Mad Mission (1982)

A "James Bond" type burglar named King Kong (Sam Hui) tries to redeem himself and joins forces with Albert "Baldy" Au (Karl Maka), a bumbling police detective from the states, to try to ... See full summary »

Director:

Eric Tsang

Writer:

Bak-Ming Wong

Stars:

Samuel Hui, Karl Maka, Sylvia Chang

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Samuel Hui	...	King Kong
Karl Maka	...	Albert Au (as Carl Mak)
Sylvia Chang	...	Supt. Nancy Ho
Dean Shek	...	Gigolo Joe
Carroll Gordon	...	Marge (as Ku Ka-Lou)
Robert Houston	...	White Glove
Kwok Choi Hon	...	Squealie
Biu Gam	...	Szeto (as Piao Chin)
Man-yee Lau	...	Mary
Yuen Yee Ng	...	Rose
Wan-On Shing	...	Cheong
Andrew Miller	...	Antonio
Jimmy Shaw	...	Monterosso
Gai-Keung Si	...	Laurel
San Tai	...	White Glove's Thug

Storyline

A "James Bond" type burglar named King Kong (Sam Hui) tries to redeem himself and joins forces with Albert "Baldy" Au (Karl Maka), a bumbling police detective from the states, to try to track down a rare set of stolen luscious diamonds before it ends up in the hands of a notorious European gangster named "White Gloves." The two unlikely duo are supervised by Supt. Nancy Ho, a masculine, fiery-tempered policewoman.

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Plot Keywords:

policewoman | diamond | detective | burglar | priest | 

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Genres:

Action | Comedy

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Certificate:

12

Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese

Release Date:

15 April 1983 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Mad Mission

Filming Locations:

Tang Shiu Kin Hospital 282 Queen's Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong, China

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinema City & Films Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 79 min (theatrical) 80 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in Adjust Your Tracking (2013)

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Soundtracks

Swan Lake, Op. 20: Act IV - Scene 28, Allegro agitato - Molto me
(uncredited)
Written by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

User Reviews

The start of something...

Aces Go Places is—not that the credits will ever tell you—a remake of the Dick Emery film Get Charlie Tully. The storyline is identical, but the characters are distinctly Chinese.

King Kong (Sam Hui) is a Simon Templar-like thief, known for pulling off a major jewel heist in Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Police are stumped and decide to enlist overseas help from a shortlist which includes Inspector Clouseau—but realizing that actor Peter Sellers is now dead (an interesting use of in-jokes mixing reality with the film world), they turn to their next choice, American-based Albert Au (Karl Maka), the 'Bald Detective' (the literal translation of the series Kojak in Cantonese). Sylvia Chang plays a police superintendent who Au falls for.

Apart from some changes to the story, and action sequences which arguably inspired Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and other film stars, it is Get Charlie Tully from there. Without revealing too much, the clues are identical; even certain gags.

It doesn't mean to say this is a poor version of Get Charlie Tully. It has been cleverly changed to Chinese tastes, and the movie is still funny 18 years on. Arguably, the Hong Kong writers have created something even funnier than the Emery movie through a careful use of puns and metaphors. The pace and timing remain an odd, if hilarious, mixture of British and Chinese.

It was, after all, successful enough for four more sequels through the 1980s, although after this outing, the Emery connection ended and Maka and company went for more - for want of a better term - originality.