By Hook or by Crook (1980)
Reviewed by: Kncklz2000 on 2001-06-28
Summary: Mexican eastern/western
Since no one has a decent review of the movie, I guess it's up to me to write one up. The strange thing about this movie is that it's not very well known. Heck, I dind't know about it until I saw it for sale.

The movie starts out with some guy in black stealing some jewelry (I think).
So the guy whose merchendase was stolen beleives it was the famous FLOWER KID (this guy steals from the rich and gives to the poor) and so he hires the sheriff (Karl Maka). But the rich guy's wife insists that someone else help.

So Karl Maka gets this someone else (Dean Shek Tin- the beggar from "Half a Loaf of Kung Fu", and the instructor Jackie emberassed in the beginning of "Drunken Master"). Dean is introduced in a very humorous way.

Wha wha wha wha wha, Dean manages to find Flower Kid. Except it's not the real Flower Kid, it's Sammo who pretends to be Flower Kid (you following along?). Very very very little action and some good humor here.

So Dean tells Maka that he wants to set up Flower Kid. As it turns out, Dean and Sammo set the whole set-up up, and after Sammo helps Dean escape from jail, they go to find the real flower kid. There's some action here and there- not too long, but it's good stuff. Also some good comedy in a whore house.

Wha wha wha wha wha wha, so the rich guy's wife hires an assasin (Chung Faat- guy from "Spooky Encounters" (the good wizard)) to kill the real flower kid (Wu Ma).

Sammo and Dean manage to find Ma, and when Ma learns that Faat is out to kill him, the boys must train him. Oh, they try to get a bodygaurd for Ma but it doesn't work out. They find this huge guy that throws knives. So he is paired off ( a Mexican stand-off) against Eric Tsang (who's dressed as a Mexican with an eye patch)- some really funny stuff here.

So things don't work out, and the boys must train Ma. But before they do, they have to get him to beleve in himself. So Dean bets with Lam Ching Ying that everytime Ma hits one of Lam's guys, Dean will give him a dollar. But if Lam's guys hit Ma, then Lam owes Dean 4 dollars. Watch the movie to see what happens. Then they begin to train/prepare Ma. Really funny stuff, especially with the background music.

The three of them go to find Faat. First, you have Sammo and Dean pair up against Faat's two guys. They both have a chain with a ball at the end of it, while Sammo and Dean are dressed in goofy ass costumes. The fights are awesome and really funny.

Them Ma fights Faat for a little while, and Sammo steps in. The battle continues, and I must say, it's really awesome.

So basically you have a really good STUPID comedy with great fights, even though they were undercranked. I know at points during the movie you'll want to stop and just leave, but stick through it. It's really a light/fun-filled movie.