Movie Sunday: Kung Fu Hustle

I thought I'd do an Asian film this week for Movie Sunday. While the Asian film industry isn't nearly as big as either Hollywood or Bollywood, a number of countries in east and southeast Asia have decent film industries, including South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. This particular film, Kung Fu Hustle, while it did very well in the U.S. for a foreign language film, was huge here in S'pore. The film is usually played several times per year on S'pore TV now. The problem with preparing for this post was not a lack of videos to chose from (the most common problem), but keeping the number down to my traditional two. There are so many great comic and fight scenes to choose from. :) BTW, these clips are the first time I've seen this film dubbed in English; prior to this I had only seen the film in the original Chinese (with subtitles).

Trivia:

• The name "Pig Sty Alley" (Zhu Long Cheng Zhai) is a play on the Chinese name for the Walled City of Kowloon (Jiu Long Cheng Zhai), a Chinese enclave in Hong Kong for much of the 20th Century, and well-known as a breeding ground of crime, slums and disorder. It was torn down in 1993.
  
• The "Landlady," played by Qiu Yuen, appeared in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun at the age of 18. She played one of two teenage girls who, together, beat up almost every male student in a Thai martial arts academy, allowing Roger Moore to escape. She starred in Kung Fu Hustle by chance. She had accompanied another actress to the audition, where she was seen by the director, Stephen Chow, smoking a cigarette while having a sarcastic expression on her face. Chow convinced her to appear in the film only after much persistent persuasion.

Donut: [nearing death, grabs the landlord] With great power comes great responsibility...

Landlady: Donut, you are badly hurt. You must keep still.

Donut: This could be the end of a beautiful friendship!

Landlord: Oh, Donut. Tomorrow is another day!

Sing's Sidekick: Memories can be painful. To forget may be a blessing!

Sing: I never knew you were so deep.