Bolo (1979)
Reviewed by: STSH on 2002-04-15
Summary: Silly fun
Bolo Yeung is a puzzle. He seems to have spent half his career looking mean and nasty, and the other half trying to look dumb and nice. This film is in the latter category, and Bolo plays perhaps the dumbest ox of his long career. As director, he makes himself the butt of a battalion of idiot jokes, with his crafty partner Ma.

I found Jason Pai the more watchable of the pair. His fu is very impressive, and he has a wow of a time in several scenes. The support cast of dozens was hard to keep track of - nearly every well-known character actor of the time seems to have made it into this one.

The story is a kind-of patchwork, which seems to have been designed (I use the word loosely) to allow all the support cast to somehow share the screen. The entire film is played as very silly comedy, including several awful pieces of toilet humour. Most of the cast seems to be enjoying themselves, and it's infectious. Be warned - get into a silly mood for this one, or the film will eventually drag you into it.

The two cross-eyes get in. This is the largest part I have ever seen for To Siu Ming as the mayor's son, and Ma Chao gets a brief scene as a Japanese champion karate fighter. Lots of other cameos.

About the only person I couldn't find was Bruce Ly, who was billed as the star on the video cover I rented. Recommended and fun.
Reviewer Score: 7