The Road to Hong Kong (1962) User Reviews

The Road Ends In Hong Kong

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 2 July 2004]

This turned out to be the end of a great cycle of comedy films. Two mega-individual stars, pooling their talents to come up with comedy classics.

Since this was the only Road picture not done on the Paramount lot it has a whole different feel to it and not for the better. Unfortunately the decision was made to dump Dorothy Lamour from her traditional role as sex object for Crosby and Hope to pant over. Joan Collins was years away from her career role as Alexis Carrington. Here she's just not into the same spirit of things that Dotty was. Dotty was brought in and did one of her numbers Warmer Than A Whisper towards the end of the film.

It's been pointed out that 29 year old Collins looked ridiculous falling for 58 year old Crosby. I can see the case for it, but I would remind everyone that four years earlier, Bing in fact took as his second wife, a woman with just such an age difference.

One of the inside jokes of the film was that Hope's name in the film was Chester Babcock which is the birth name of Jimmy Van Heusen who wrote so many film scores for Crosby. Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn contributed a ballad for Bing dueted with Collins called Let's Not Be Sensible. And Bob and Bing get two patter numbers, Teamwork and the title tune. There's a lot less music in this outing and that's not for the better of the film.

Still the film has some good comedic moments the best of which involve a hilarious scene in a Hindu doctor's office with an unbilled Peter Sellers as the doctor. The doctor advises Hope to take a cure for amnesia at a hidden lamasery, a la Shangri La, where they find David Niven committing Lady Chatterley's Lover to memory. And at the end when the boys and Collins arrive on another planet in a surreal ending they find Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin waiting for them.

Among the rest of the supporting cast Robert Morley as a mad scientist and chief villain and Felix Aylmer as the Grand Lama stand out.

Before Crosby died in 1977, he Hope and Lamour and signed to do still another film entitled Road to the Fountain of Youth. I wish it had been done. Road to Hong Kong is all right, but not up to the standards of those wacky days at Paramount.

OK - but the other "Road to" films were better

[bob the moo · 17 December 2001]

Chester and Harry are con-men working their way around Asia. When an accident puts Chester in hospital with memory loss, the two contact a doctor who advises them of a ancient herb that will bring back all his memories. The herb also gives him the ability to memorise anything he reads.

A mix-up at the airport with an agent of a cult puts Chester in possession of formulae for a space rocket which the cult plan to use to put weapons on the moon and take control of the earth. The cult pursue the two leading to a range of crazy situations on earth.......and beyond!

That's the plot and, to quote Dorothy Lamor in this film "That's the plot so far? I'd better hide you.....from the critics!". The plot is, as always, a flimsy excuse for banter between Hope and Crosby. However in other "Road to...." movies the plot has been a little less silly. Here it's daft and too complicated to be totally forgotten about. And unfortunately the banter feels a little tired between the two, the other road movies felt fresher.

And it feels like they know it too - there's lots of tired routines, "special effects!" for one, and they have too many self-deprecating jokes. They're quite funny but after a while you realise that they're just saying it before anyone else does. However there still is much to like here - Hope and Crosby are still funny in a bad movie and some of their banter is still great, although the situations that give them the dialogue are daft.

Hope and Crosby play their characters with well rehearsed ease. A young Joan Collins is OK but comes over as a little over earnest. The larger-than-life Robert Morley plays the cult leader with seriousness and Peter Sellers wins the film with his Indian doctor cameo. There are a range of small cameos, some funny some not - Dorothy Lamor returns to the Road series, David Niven turns up for a few silent seconds and Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra take a gentle swipe at their rivals (although it's not very funny -"special effects!").

Overall this is a gentle comedy that you'll enjoy because of Hope and Crosby. The ridiculous plot takes away from it a lot (did they have to make it quite so silly?), and the musical numbers slow it down a bit. But to be honest, there's much better movies in the road series that this one.

The Seventh Voyage of Bing and Bob.

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 28 July 2019]

The Road to Hong Kong is the seventh and final film in the "Road To" series of films starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. It's directed by Norman Panama and Panama co-writes the screenplay with Melvin Frank. Music is by Robert Farnon and cinematography is by Jack Hildyard. Plot pitches Hope and Crosby in the middle of a mistaken identity scenario and thus mixed up with an organisation intent on world domination via the moon!

There had been a ten year gap since The Road to Bali was released in 1952, but such was the success and popularity of the series the boys were once again trundled out for one last "Road To" hurrah. Behind the scenes squabbles and stipulations tainted it some what, most notably the shunting out of the way of the series' previously leading lady Dorothy Lamour (who ends up making an extended cameo), who was replaced by a youthful Joan Collins. So with some scratchy back history and a word of mouth reputation as the worst of the series, with claims of the dynamic duo being too old and long past their best, The Road to Hong Kong must be a stinker then? Right? Actually no.

Sure it lacks some of the energised nuttiness of previous instalments, but this definitely isn't a stinker. Yes the boys are a bit long in the tooth, and Collins, whilst no Lamour in screen presence and chemistry value with the duo, is sexy, spunky and grounds some of the more older frayed edges. The sci-fi plot is delightfully bonkers, very much capturing the space age zeitgeist of the 60s, and there's a whole bunch of great gags as usual (my favourite is about an elephant thermometer). Not all the intended humourous scenes work, but most do, while there's even a quite surreal one involving banana feeding machines! Bonus sees a cameo from the great Peter Sellers as his patented Indian Doctor, a scene where you can see Bing and Bob looking on and thinking the torch is being passed, while a strong support cast includes Robert Morley, Walter Gotell and Felix Aylmer. Funky opening credit sequences as well!

Worst in the series? Well that's a harsh statement, more like it's a lesser light than the rest it is probably more fairer to say, but it's a fun film that adds weight to what fine entertainment value Bing and Bob were. 6.5/10

A fond farewell

[horrorfilmx · 7/10 · 8 October 2009]

There are no bad ROAD movies, and I do not except this one from that statement. As someone once said of the Marx Brothers film AT THE CIRCUS (and I paraphrase) in the career of any other comedy team this picture would be considered a classic. It not only holds its own with the rest of the series but I actually prefer it to ROAD TO RIO, which (while still adhering to the Road Rule stated above) always seemed like the weakest of the series to me. It's funny the reasons some other posters have given for not liking the film: It looks like it was made in the Sixties (it was), the stars looks like they're nearing their sixties (they were, and so what?), it's not as funny as the others in the series (in any given horse race one horse will come in last, but he still had to be pretty damn good to get into the race in the first place). And nobody seems to much like Joan Collins. Well, she was gorgeous and a competent enough actress and in a movie like this who cares anyway? It's Bob and Bing's movie and despite what anyone says they prove they've still got the goods and deliver them with ease. I say quit carping and enjoy.

My first "Road" picture

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 30 April 2004]

This is actually the first Cosby/Hope "Road" picture I ever saw. I knew it was the last (after a 10 year break) and (for some reason) was in b&w--probably because Cosby and Hope looked better that way. I also heard it was pretty bad. While it's not great, I sort of enjoyed it.

The plot was REALLY silly and involves the boys in espionage with Joan Collins along for the ride and a (surprisingly) very bad job by Robert Morley as the lead villain. Dorothy Lamour decided to not costar in this one but she does pop up (playing herself) in an amusing cameo and sings one song (Cosby sings too). There's also a really silly and pointless bit when Cosby and Hope are sent to outer space. And the ending is desperate.

Still, it was well-made and Cosby and Hope were a wonderful team--their easy banter is great to watch and they made the worst lines seem funny. Also it's fun to see Collins (who's quite good) so young and full of sex appeal.

So, it's enjoyable way to kill 90 minutes. I'm seen better but I've seen worse too.

The Road to Hong Kong was quite a funny way to end the iconic Road series that starred Bing Crosby and Bob Hope

[tavm · 7/10 · 23 March 2016]

Until now, I had never seen this-the seventh in the Road series-but I had seen all the others previously. Made 10 years after Road to Bali, Bob and Bing are noticeably older but they're still energetic when doing their punchlines and physical stuff. Dorothy Lamour, by this time, had been off the movie screens after Bali and initially didn't want to do this since it would have originally have her just perform a number so now she also has a few banter lines with her former co-stars which I liked immensely. As for new leading lady Joan Collins, she's quite stunning and it's easy to see why she became a superstar years later on TV's "Dynasty" and she's certainly tolerable with what she was given. Hey, she's even a little enjoyable when singing with Bob and Bing! Before watching the whole thing, I managed to see the scene with Peter Sellers on YouTube and he never failed to get a laugh from me every time I watched this especially on his last line that concerned a snake bite! Nice to also see surprise cameos from David Niven, Jerry Colonna-his third appearance in a Road movie after Singapore and Rio, and-to quote Crosby-"the Italians": Dean Martin (who had previously appeared in Bali with Jerry Lewis) and Frank Sinatra! Oh, and I didn't find the scene on the rocket with the bananas force-feeding the boys embarrassing, in fact, I was laughing throughout it all. So on that note, The Road to Hong Kong was as good a way to end the iconic series as one could especially when the movie began and ended with the song "Teamwork".

Often painful, this proves the old saying is right...'you can't go back'.

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 1 January 2011]

I have recently re-watched all the Hope & Crosby road pictures and saved this one for last--mostly because it's the hardest to find and because it was their last film. Unfortunately, the decade that separated this and the previous film was too long and the nice momentum from the earlier films was clearly lost. It proves the old saying that 'you can't go back'--as the team probably should have just called it quits after "The Road to Bali".

The problems with "The Road to Hong Kong" are many. The most serious of which is the age of the team. While the jokes might have worked okay with the 40-something Hope and Crosby, here they are positively geriatric and seeing them making googly eyes at very young and pretty ladies just seemed creepy. While Crosby was cast as the suave lover in earlier films, here he just conjured up images of a creepy old man...and Hope wasn't much better. Starring them opposite a young and very sexy Joan Collins (instead of perennial co-star Dorothy Lamour) didn't help matters any, as this only seemed to accentuate that they were just past their prime. The other super-serious problem was the script. You'd think after all this time they'd have held out for a GOOD script, but they didn't. The plot manages to be significantly more weird and outlandish than their previous films and the notion of the team battling super-spies and manning a rocket to space just seemed very forced and stupid.

I remember back in the 1970s before Bing Crosby died that the two men had talked about doing yet another Road Picture. Thank goodness it never got past the talking stage, as given the direction their careers took in this decade, the results would have been horrid--especially in light of the films Hope made in the twilight years of his career. I know that devoted fans might take exception to this review, but as for me, the whole experience in watching "The Road to Hong Kong" was sad...and almost too painful to watch. Like the last films of Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, this film just reaffirms that in comedy it's best to go out on top.

Road to Hong Kong is my favorite of the Crosby/Hope Road films.

[holdencopywriting · 9/10 · 31 January 2013]

I love The Road to Hong Kong. It's my favorite Road picture. I don't know why so many people dislike it. So Bing and Bob are older than they used to be. Who isn't?

My favorite scene is the boys' Fly-It-Yourself scam. The "native pilot" is a no-show (can't blame him) so, of course, Bing bamboozles Bob into taking over and nearly getting himself killed. I love the bit of dialogue when Bing is helping Bob into his ridiculous flying gear. It goes something like:

------------------------------------------------------------

Bob: Why do I always have to do the dangerous stuff?

Bing: It's the nature of the relationship. Just like one of us is brawn and the other is flab.

Bob: Have you got a program? So far I don't recognize anyone.

Bing: Well, don't get sore at me. It's just a plot point.

------------------------------------------------------------

I've always been a Bing Crosby fan, but I've never thought he was particularly attractive. However, I think he's really quite cute in his silly love scene with Joan Collins. He could warble a love song at me, anytime.

Although I enjoyed the earlier Road films, The Road to Hong Kong is the only one I've bought on DVD. It was that good. I've watched it umpteen times and it always makes me laugh.

Oh, and yeah, and then there's Bob Hope's perfectly timed line after Robert Morley delivers an impassioned I'll-take-over-the-world-speech: "I think he rolls his own."

The end of the road for Hope & Crosby

[ShadeGrenade · 8/10 · 11 May 2010]

'The Road To Singapore' ( 1940 ) starred Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. It was a winning team - Hope provided the gags, Crosby the singing, and Lamour the glamour. Five more pictures in similar vein followed. With 'The Road To Bali' ( 1952 ), it looked like the end for the musical comedy series, but a decade later it returned for an encore, which was filmed in England despite the title!

'Hong Kong' has Bob and Bing as 'Chester Babcock' and 'Harry Turner', con men trying to sell a flying device that looks like the one Woody Allen used to escape security guards in 'Sleeper' ( 1973 ). During a demonstration, Chester loses his memory. Harry takes him first to an Indian doctor ( an uncredited Peter Sellers reprising his 'Milionairess' role in all but name ) and then to a Tibetan monastery. Chester is cured but then accidentally memorises a formula for space navigation, and agents of a mysterious organisation known as 'The Third Echelon' are after both of them. Luckily, one such agent is 'Diane' ( Joan Collins )...

When I first saw this on television many moons ago, I assumed that Hope and Crosby were spoofing 'James Bond'. The S.P.E.C.T.R.E.-like 'The Third Echelon' hides out in an underground lair ( beneath sea level ) accessible through a secret entrance, employs agents in black, roll-neck jumpers ( worn by at least every spy at some point in the '60's ) and is led by a 'Blofeld'-like megalomaniac ( Robert Morley ). Their plan for world domination involves space rockets ( also the premise of 'Dr.No', the first Bond movie ). I was surprised to learn that 'Hong Kong' actually came out before 007's debut, meaning that Norman Panama and Melvin Frank beat all those spy spoofs to the punch by a few years. The titles were designed by Maurice Binder, by the way!

Dorothy Lamour is unfairly relegated to a small role ( she's on screen for no more than five minutes ) while the main female role is given to Joan Collins, despite her having virtually no flair for comedy. Still it was good to see 'Dottie' again with the boys.

The gags come thick and fast. One is 'borrowed' from Chaplin's 'Modern Times' - Bob and Bing are flying around in a space capsule and a machine feeds them bananas and milk ( the ship was originally intended to house monkeys ). The Hong Kong setting allows for racial stereotyping which probably would not be allowed now, but the most interesting scene is Chester and Harry's encounter with Sellers. It is the old guard of comedy handing over the baton to the new. Allegedly they tried to delete it as they felt the ex-Goon to be upstaging them.

Loads of British faces on view - Dave King ( as a Chinese restaurant owner ), Roger Delgado ( later to play 'The Master' in 'Dr.Who' ), Walter Gotell ( 'General Gogol' of the Bond movies ), Felix Aylmer, and a fleeting appearance from David Niven! The ending has our heroes stranded on an alien planet, where they bump into Rat Packers Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin! Not one of the best 'Road' films by a long chalk, but Bob and Bing are always watchable. Too old? Well, they were in their sixties, but it would only have been a problem if they had been playing young men. They weren't.

In 1977, Bob and Bing planned to make 'The Road To The Fountain Of Youth' but the latter's death made the project impossible. For better or worse, 'Hong Kong' was the end of the pair's long journey.

Sad Finale.

[rmax304823 · 3/10 · 8 January 2009]

Same writer, producer, and director. Same two leads and a cameo by the third. Same whimsy and ipsative jokes. It no longer works.

The first impression a viewer gets is that the photography is too GOOD. It's in nice, crisp black and white, whereas it ought to be in fuzzy 1940s gray. And the boys now ride around in boxy 1960s cars and fly on 707s and walk through modern airport lobbies. They should be sitting on onagers and polar bears. Everybody knows that.

The story should put the fellows in some exotic locale. Hong Kong would do nicely. But the sets should be cheap and ludicrously shoddy, not at all realistic, as they are here. This story is all wrong. It puts them in space suits and sends them to a distant planet after escaping the clutches of a James-Bondian gang called The Third Echelon. It looks to the future instead of looking to the colonial past as their previous Road pictures did. Too much time is spent with the queerly costumed villains and too little with Hope and Crosby.

And the gags are worn out; they come more slowly and they're sillier. One of the gags, an automatic feeding machine gone berserk, is lifted from Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times." When the most amusing scene is handed over to Peter Sellers as an Indian neurologist, you know there's trouble somewhere. Sellers toots randomly on a wooden flute and a cobra rises out of a basket. Hope shrinks back. Sellers tells him not to worry. If he gives you a nip, you just cut an X on the bite, suck out the poison, and spit it out. "But what if he bites me someplace I can't reach?" Sellers takes a step forward, pauses, and says earnestly, "That's when you find out who your true friends are." This kind of nihilistic nonsense is a young person's game, or middle-aged anyway. Hope and Crosby are past their 1940s prime and it shows in their appearance and their pacing. Not to blame them. It is God's will that we change with age. But there are times that almost rival those in Laurel and Hardy's last team effort, "Utopia," when pathos trumps amusement.

Several cameos -- not just Sellers, but David Niven, Sinatra and Martin, and Jerry Colonna. They don't save the picture. Everyone seems to be working too hard and, overall, it shouldn't have happened.

End of the Road

[wes-connors · 3/10 · 31 May 2013]

Bosom pals Bing Crosby (as Harry Turner) and Bob Hope (as Chester Babcock) are in India when Mr. Hope loses his memory; no thanks for that. Hope is taken to Tibet by Mr. Crosby, where the duo hope to find a cure. At an airport, pretty young spy Joan Collins (as Diane) appears. Also serving as the story's part-time narrator, Ms. Collins thinks Hope and Crosby are secret agents. She joins them on "The Road to Hong Kong". The opening song "Teamwork" is followed by some funny banter. Special effects help an amusing title song. Then, this attempt to revive the "Road " series crashes...

The worst part of the film occurs when the Hope and Crosby ape "Modern Times" while shot into space. They are force-fed bananas and get bounced around in fast-motion while strapped in chairs, accompanied by amateurish sound effects and trick photography. Also, the comedy team has zero rapport with Collins, who is uncomfortable and cardboard as their romantic interest. Frankly, Hope and Crosby are too old for Collins, anyway. To make matters worse, their more age appropriate leading lady Dorothy Lamour has a featured cameo and song. Other big name bits are scattered about.

*** The Road to Hong Kong (4/27/62) Norman Panama ~ Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Joan Collins, Dorothy Lamour

The Road is Long...well this one seems to be.

[Scaramouche2004 · 4/10 · 6 April 2008]

Ten years had passed since Bing and Bob had embarked upon a Road together and for whatever the reason they decided to get together again in 1962 for a final trip.

However some Burk made the monumentally bad decision of dropping Dorothy Lamour from the fun, and replacing her with the much younger and much less talented Joan Collins.

Lamour had been their friend and co-star in all the Road Pictures and had joined both Bing and Bob in other solo vehicles for over twenty years and being all but dropped from 'Hong Kong' must have felt like a right royal smack in the teeth.

However she is given a ten minute cameo three quarters of the way in, and to be honest it is the only segment of this rather drab movie that really shines. It makes you realise that had Dorothy held on to her usual third billing status, then this film would have been 100% more entertaining and 150% better received than it was.

Joan Collins fails to interest the audience but does nothing but interest our two nigh on sixty year olds, who as usual swindle, cheat and hoodwink the other in an attempt make her their own...it would have been more appropriate if they were fighting over which one would adopt her.

Even the gags are rubbish and far from the standard we expect from a Road film. there is one scene in particular when on a space craft Bing and Bob are auto-fed by a machine which starts to malfunction. It's no wonder this joke seems old and dated to a 21st Century audience; it was practically resurrected from the dead in 1962 as the great Charlie Chaplin brought us that old chestnut in Modern Times almost twenty five years earlier.

It was also the only movie in the series not made by Paramount and was mainly a British made film, with many of the cast and cameos coming from notable British actors, As well as Collins, there was Robert Morley, Peter Sellars, David Niven and Felix Aymler, with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra dropping by in the final reel to help out their old mates and provide much needed American presence.

If you have the wherewithal to sit through this turkey to the very end, it is clear that this was literally the end of the road, and as swan songs go this was probably the worst in movie history. They should have finished on the high note of walking into the sunset with Dorothy and Jane Russell on that far away and colourful Balineese Island.

Despite the fact that at the time of Bing's death in 1977, the three were planning yet another Road film reunion, their glory days had long since gone and another dirty smear joining this one, on the otherwise spotless Road To.. brand would have been a major mistake.

A never-ending 'Road'...

[moonspinner55 · 3/10 · 21 April 2008]

Fairly terrible comedy co-written by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, the final "Road" movie for co-stars Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Central Intelligence mistake the bantering duo for Russian astronauts; turns out they're just petty hucksters trying to make a dishonest buck, tangling with spy Joan Collins and getting mixed up in moon-mission espionage. Best part of film is the first twenty or thirty minutes, which includes a funny bit by Peter Sellers and an excursion to a Himalayan lamasery. Collins (with a beehive hairdo) is attractive, but her role makes no sense (why is she passing along secret documents to Hope at all when she's already working closely with Robert Morley, the mastermind behind the nefarious plot?). Panama, who also directed, tries out different themes (amnesia, space travel, Morley's underwater base of operations) all with the same bumbler's approach, but it's no use; the hectic globe-trotting and overly-complicated narrative are both strenuous and dull. The star cameos and songs keep it somewhat afloat, and the production isn't bad (despite sloppy over-dubbing to cover up several instances of apparently risqué humor), but the plot is for the birds. *1/2 from ****

Fun Finale

[BruceCorneil · 7/10 · 20 May 2016]

After a break of ten years, this was to be the last entry into the long - running and extremely popular series of "Road" movies.

Space rockets, espionage and international intrigue provide the backdrop on this occasion as Hope and Crosby are kidnapped by the leaders of a mysterious and thoroughly evil interplanetary organization known as the "Third Echelon" who force them to become unwilling astronauts in order to take over the world. The two stars were in their late fifties by the time this one came along and they were obviously due to retire from their familiar, high-energy roles as roustabout con men / adventurers. But, even though they may have been slowing down, just a tad, the generally snappy pace and witty banter of earlier outings remained intact.

Made in England and shot in black and white, this quirky, low budget offering must have been a visual disappointment for audiences after the color escapades of its immediate predecessor - 1952's "Road to Bali". Although Dorothy Lamour makes a brief appearance, she had been largely replaced as the love interest by the younger British sex symbol, Joan Collins. The rest of the supporting cast, headed up by Robert Morley, is excellent and playful cameos by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin just before the curtain falls added a topical touch to the proceedings as Sinatra's "Rat Pack" was constantly in the news. As usual, there are a couple of good songs, the best of which, "Team Work", opens the picture.

Despite its somewhat bargain basement look, "The Road to Hong Kong" still manages to provide a fun finale to the series.

The End of the Road

[Uriah43 · 7/10 · 27 August 2016]

After an accident leaves "Chester Babcock" (Bob Hope) with amnesia, his partner "Harry Turner" (Bing Crosby) takes him to a Tibetan lamasery in search of a special herb that will restore his memory. What they don't know is that upon taking this drug certain people develop a photographic memory as well and Chester just happens to be one of them. This comes into great use when Chester is accidentally given a secret formula for rocket fuel which he memorizes prior to Harry haphazardly destroying it. Unfortunately, a secret criminal organization known as the "Third Echelon" desperately wants this formula in their quest for world domination and Chester now becomes their number one target. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I thought that this film served as a rather fitting ending to a very successful comedy series. I especially liked the scene featuring Chester dressed up to look Chinese and Dorothy Lamour as the songstress. Absolutely hilarious. In any case, I enjoyed this movie and I have rated it accordingly. Above average.

My first "Road to" movie

[HotToastyRag · 6/10 · 21 March 2018]

As everyone knows, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope starred in seven "Road to" movies. For no real reason, I started at the end and watched The Road to Hong Kong first! I have nothing to compare this one with, but it felt like a very well-oiled installment, with jokes and references to the previous flicks included in the dialogue, and with chemistry between the two leads that was obviously cultivated through the decades.

In this last "Road" movie, Bob and Bing get mixed up in two very dated concepts: a space race with Russia and making fun of the Chinese. There are tons of mimics and offensive gags about the Chinese people and their culture, so if you're going to sit through this one, you'll need to expect and overlook those. With Joan Collins serving as the fodder for the love triangle, and a pretty cute cameo from regular cast member Dorothy Lamour, the rest of the un-offensive script is pretty funny. Bob and Bing have a constant push-and-pull relationship and their jokes are a great mixture of old-school vaudevillian banter and sixties sex comedy gags.

While this was my first "Road" movie, I liked it enough to check out another. This one has really funny, unexpected cameos from Peter Sellars, David Niven, Pat O'Brien, Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra! I can't wait to see what the other movies have in store!

Hilarious moments, well worth watching.

[dlgart · 3 August 2003]

I liked this movie a lot! The cameo appearances are great and the gorilla space suit/ banana and milk auto-feed scenes are roll around on the floor, tears in your eyes, make you smile when you think about it for the rest of your life funny!

Laughed out loud!!

[Tashtago · 8/10 · 24 June 2012]

One of my favourite of the road movies. The Peter Sellers "Indian Doctor" cameo is worth seeing all by itself. And then Hope and Crosby still had wonderful chemistry. Joan Collins is as beautiful as Elizabeth Taylor in her prime. The sequence -stolen from Chaplin's Modern Times- with the feeding matching is hilarious. It's just unfortunate that Bing's brother Norm could not have been more a part of this wonderful production. Bing's son Harry was cast briefly in the roll of a small baby camel but due to budget restrictions the part went to Trunk Davis. By the way the shots of Hong Kong early 1960s? Compared to now are shocking!

It's a Guilty Pleasure of Mine

[russellalancampbell · 8/10 · 16 July 2023]

Yes, Bob and Bing are almost elderly and Dotty only gets a minor role in it but I really enjoy watching this, the last of the Road films. I am old enough to rightly claim that I saw it as a kid when it first hit the screen and it has gotten better as I have grown older. I certainly didn't get some of the quips like "I think this guy rolls his own" in response to the supreme leader's rant about dominating the world from his bases on the moon. I didn't know why Peter Seller's was so funny as he spoofs his Indian doctor from "The Millionairess". I didn't know why David Niven was sniggering as he was remembering "Lady Chatterleys Lover". I loved the dynamic between Bob and Bing. I enjoyed the songs - no classics but very catchy and witty. There was some broad comedy and the salute to Chaplin's "Modern Times" as the machines designed to feed and comfort the apes rather than humans whilst in space go out of synch and at double speed. There was the usual breaking of the fourth wall and cameo that became a staple in the series. The film was almost prescient in being a spoof on Bond films that had not been made. Walter Gotell playing the cold blooded right hand man in much the same manner as he did in "From Russia with Love". There is a super villain who plans to take over control of the world from space. There is a beautiful agent to be won over to the side of right and good. Even the chess master in "From Russia with Love", Peter Madden, turns up as a monk who tells Bing and Bob that money and women are of no importance. To which Bob retorts, "He needs to spend a weekend in Vegas". Another strangely prescient quip that only a year later was echoed by Major Kong in "Dr Strangelove". But I digress - as does the film. I suppose the film is a case of the film being like an old vaudeville show. It's got all sorts of bits and pieces cobbled together with the storyline being of least importance. At one point Bob asks Bing why he is foolishly going to try to fly with a "malted milkshake machine" strapped to his behind. Bing explains it in terms of the money etc. But then adds, " Besides it's a plot point". Again, that one flew over my head as a kid but today it gives me a smile if not a laugh. Yes, people who are not of my vintage and sensibilities are free to not enjoy the film but I am glad to be able to enjoy the last of Bob and Bings' teamwork.

Amusing, occasionally inspired "spy-fi"

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 26 December 2018]

At its most inspired when it breaks the fourth wall ("That's the plot of the movie? Come on, I must hide you" -"From the killers?" -"No, from the critics"!). Of special interest to James Bond fans, as it was released the same year as the first official Bond movie ("Dr.No"), so it got the pulse of the era early, and the outlandish plot could actually be considered a precursor to "Moonraker"! Other plusses include an excellent villain in Robert Morley, the ravishing young Joan Collins and the equally ravishing not-so-young Dorothy Lamour, and a series of funny cameos which I, for one, will not spoil. **1/2 out of 4.

Road to Hope and Crosby.

[anaconda-40658 · 6/10 · 19 June 2015]

Road to Hong Kong (1962): Dir: Norman Panama / Cast: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Joan Collins, Robert Morley, Peter Sellers: Final Road To comedy flawed in that it mainly takes place in space, not Hong Kong. Bing Crosby and Bob Hope play con men who end up in space. Hope loses his memory but gains it back with enhancement. He accidentally memorizes and destroys a Russian formula for improved rocket fuel. Typical setup but detailed with plot twists sending the comic duo about an array of circumstances. Director Norman Panama has timing and chemistry with Crosby and Hope. Crosby is the straight man who easily manipulates Hope into schemes such as this. Hope is hilarious as the bubbling sidekick whose timing is on target both physically and verbally. Joan Collins is sent by Russian enemies to retrieve the formula thus positioned as the seductive vixen. Robert Morley plays the villain whose scheme isn't exactly unique but his maddening delivery is perfect. Peter sellers makes a memorable and equally amusing appearance as an Indian Physician who would be the last person to hit the top of his job requirement. Production is fine as the duo is sent through several odd procedures before being shipped off to space. Perhaps it should have been more accurately called Road to Outer Space. It is a satire of spy films that is not broad entertainment but certainly a road worth traveling. Score: 6 / 10

Maybe not up to snuff...but nice to see Bing and Bob cavorting one more time

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 29 July 2018]

I think some of our reviewers here are a bit too critical. But on the other hand, others of our critics here are too generous.

My take on this -- it was "nice" to see Bing and Bob cavorting again one final time (although they continued on television specials) on the road to...ah, let's see...Hong Kong this time. But to me there were two problems. First, in an urge to be ultra modern at the time (1962), they had to put the boys in a space movie. That didn't really work. And, they exchanged a singer who couldn't sing -- Dorothy Lamour -- for an actress who couldn't act -- Joan Collins. Although in all fairness, it wasn't until later in her career (as in "Dynasty") that Joan Collins learned how to be a really poor actress; earlier in her career (and here) she was "okay". Frankly, I'd much rather have had Dorothy Lamour as the appropriate age love interest here (instead of Bob and Bing at 59 and Collins at half that). But, at least we had the extended cameo with Dorothy Lamour. And speaking of cameos, there are great ones here by Jerry Colonna and Dean Martin with Frank Sinatra.

I guess I'd have to say that this is my least favorite road picture, but it's still okay...and a nice family reunion.

Incidentally, I watched this on the Olive Films Blu-Ray disc, which was...well, I can't say crisp, because I find many of the Olive Film restorations to be grainy...but it still looked pretty darned good.

The last -- but not the least -- of the Roads!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 15 October 2014]

An amiable excursion! Admittedly, Bing has lost a bit of the old bounce, but Hope is as enthusiastically ingenuous as ever. The team's old Road companion, Dorothy Lamour, has an ten-minute scene at the climax and proves that she can still hold an audience even though she hasn't been on the big screen since the 1952 Road to Bali. This time, however, the main femme role is taken by Joan Collins who certainly looks very alluring. On the other hand, her ultra-cultured voice tends to get a bit monotonous. It's also unfortunate that the screenplay has her spending the last twenty minutes of the movie in an unattractive Chinese coolie outfit. As we might expect, the screenplay employs some good gags and amusing situations – though some of the scenes could stand a bit of trimming, particularly a long encounter between Hope and Dave King (who plays a Chinese restaurant proprietor).

Norman Panama's direction tends to be loose rather than tight, flaccid rather than taut. And the same remarks could be applied to the script. Sure, the plot is a ludicrous enough peg on which to hang various "in" jokes, guest star spots and the musical numbers, plus a bit of gentle ribbing. Unfortunately, at times, some actors choose to play the game perfectly straight – particularly Collins, Morley and Gotell – instead of tongue-in-cheek. Fortunately, other credits are up to par and the movie has been realized on a fair- sized budget, including even a tiny bit of location filming in Hong Kong.

An OK movie.

[Melllvar · 5/10 · 3 March 2001]

The Road to Hong Kong was the last and least of the Hope-Crosby Road pictures but that still made this a funny movie.Hope and Crosby are con men who get involved accidentally with international spies. Some of the humor could be considered "politically incorrect" in this era but the rest is typical Road picture. Joan Collins takes over the Dorothy Lamour role and doesn't quite have the talent for it especially when compared to Ms. Lamour who makes a cameo in the movie. Peter Sellers is not to be missed,however.His cameo as the Indian neurologist is one of the funniest scenes in any movie.

I can't strongly recommend this movie,but if you like the other Road pictures or are a Peter Sellers fan you will want to check this out.

Hilarious moments

[aramis-112-804880 · 16 April 2023]

Whatever other reviewers may say this is not the worst (of seven) Hope and Crosby "Road" movies. That honor goes to their first, "Road to Singapore," made before they nailed down the formula. They quickly figured out how "Road" pictures worked and "Road to Zanzibar," their second, is my favorite.

Hope and Crosby weren't a comedy team but two skilled performers already notable in their own right(s) whose chemistry was amazing. Outside the "Road" pictures they shared plenty of cameos in each others' movies.

"Hong Kong" has a lot going for it, not least that twenty years after the first "Road" movies Hope and Crosby were even more secure in their movie personas. Their stars had not dimmed. How many of today's stars in any field will be more than trivia questions in 20 years?

Then there's an early (unbilled) appearance by rising star Peter Sellers. If they made a mistake with Sellers it was plugging him in too soon. Sellers is already so good he steals the scene right out from under the boys and makes the rest of the movie feel like denouement. We hope against hope he'll make an encore but by the climax they make room for other (already established) rising stars. It's like they are handing over the laughs and music to the next generation of performers.

And performers, Hope and Crosby were. Though Hope is considered the comedian and Crosby the song stylist, Crosby could be funny and while he's no Crosby Hope could sing (and dance: watch their opening song-and-dance routine; not bad for a couple of boys barreling toward 60). They could sing, dance, tell jokes and be all-round entertainers.

A lot is made by some reviewers about their ages but movies are about fantasy. And this is a fantasy often satirizing the early space program. Ignore the wrinkles and you'll hear two wonderfully honed entertainers still in tip-top form.

Also starring Robert Morley and a young Joan Collins (in a role far removed from Alexis). Collins has never been my cup of tea but she does okay.

Not the best Road movie nor the worst, but it has enough moments of pure fun to be a worthy capper to the series and not just two old guys trying to squeeze out a few more bucks from a weary road.