I Love Maria (1988)

[Bearserk]

I Love Maria

Quite a few images in need of an ID

[STSH]

I recall Victor Wong playing Curly's boss (in a brief cameo at the beginning, where he sacks Curly), not T.Q's boss. The pictured actor looks somewhat too young to be Victor.

Most of Victor's acting was done in American movies, for instance as a Japanese martial arts master
in "3 Ninjas" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103596/

At least in the 1990s, he has played mostly grandfathers.

[Michael Kistner]

ID of To Wai-Wo and Chow Kong.

I think David Wu is not correct. The image shows Benz Kong who is in the cast list!

[Bearserk]

I can check the DVD when I get back home STSH and see if I can spot him.

Thanks for the ID's Michael, changed the picture to Benz Kong To-Hoi.

[Bearserk]

Just checked the DVD, there are no scenes with Curly getting sacked, his boss at the Secret police research dep. is Dennis Chan which refuses to use his idea for a high velocity rifle, after that Curly takes a trip to a bar to drown his sorrows and meet up with Whiskey played by Tsui Hark.

[STSH]

Just checked the DVD, there are no scenes with Curly getting sacked, his boss at the Secret police research dep. is Dennis Chan

I might have seen a different cut.
Curly stands outside the window to hear his boss reject an idea of his, which I recall leads to him being sacked. Curly's feelings of rejection lead him to programming the robot (Sally Yeh) to obey commands only when someone first says "I love Curly" (which is indirectly where the title I Love Maria comes from).

In my recollection, Victor Wong appears only in the short scene where Curly listens outside the window. If Dennis Chan was the boss speaking those lines, then your ID is confirmed.

I still need more evidence for the pictured Victor Wong, as he looks way too young.

Also, I noticed Sally Yeh's role listing has been truncated. I entered her two roles quite some time ago. The current listing shows only "Maria [2 roles]". She also plays the villainess, whose name I cannot recall. Someone please add that name back in.

[Bearserk]

Added her second role, do you still have your version of I Love Maria and could take quick check, because after Curly has had his idea rejected, he meets Whiskey at the bar who has run away from the gang and tries to protect him when some bullies tries to have have some fun at whiskey's expense, Curly then takes him back to his apartment to let him sober up a bit, where some of the members of the hero gang sees them.
When the leader of the hero gang hears of this thinking that whiskey is collaborating with the police, the hero gang sends the sally yeh robot to kill him, which after some running and shooting ends up broken in the hands of Curly and Whiskey.
Later on after it has been learned that Curly have had contact with someone from the hero gang, a squad of policemen lead by paul chun pui wait for him in his apartment one night thinking he works for the hero gang, whiskey which has hidden in his apartment comes to his rescue after it seems they are about to take Curly in and they take off in a strange contraption of a car, kinda reminded me a bit of the ghost busters car from the movie by the same name, they end up in a run down house out on the country side close to a lighthouse, where they also finds a dog which they befriend, it is here Curly programs the Sally Yeh robot to only obey people who says I Love Curly first.

[STSH]

Added her second role,

Good.

do you still have your version of I Love Maria

No. The shop I rented it from threw it out years ago.

and could take quick check, because after Curly has had his idea rejected, he meets Whiskey at the bar

The scene where Victor Wong appears is when he gets the idea rejected.
Is the bit where he listens at the window missing from your copy ?

who has run away from the gang and tries to protect him ................ it is here Curly programs the Sally Yeh robot to only obey people who says I Love Curly first.

Yes, all of that happens in between. But Curly is motivated to do this because of the rejection.

[Bearserk]

The scene where Victor Wong appears is when he gets the idea rejected.
Is the bit where he listens at the window missing from your copy ?

No that scene is present, here is a picture of it

[Brian Thibodeau]

So many Wong Chi-keung's in the DB. Could another one go by the name Victor? To me, the two portraits now residing in Victor's DB entry couldn't be more dissimilar, the newer one definitely not being him.

[Bearserk]

Yeah, the one from I Love Maria is probably wrong so I removed that one, I suspect there has been a little misunderstanding and that there are only one Wong Chi-Keung in the movie, that being Che-Kirk who plays the bartender, took a quick peek at the credits and could only spot one Wong Chi-Keung mentioned there.

[STSH]

Yeah, the one from I Love Maria is probably wrong so I removed that one, I suspect there has been a little misunderstanding and that there are only one Wong Chi-Keung in the movie, that being Che-Kirk who plays the bartender, took a quick peek at the credits and could only spot one Wong Chi-Keung mentioned there.

Yeah, your pic above pretty much confirms that the boss in Dennis Chan. Pity I don't currently have access to a print to definitely confirm.

In which case, Victor Wong should be removed from this movie. The remaining portrait looks like a pretty good match.

Anyone seen Cageman or Give And Take ? That should settle it.

So many Wong Chi-keung's in the DB. Could another one go by the name Victor?

So many prominent people in the HK film industry with the same names. I've said before there should be a law against it
As certainly as one can be on these matters, there's only one Victor Wong Chi Keung.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Anyone seen Cageman or Give And Take ? That should settle it.

I haven't seen CAGEMAN yet, but I HAVE seen several stills from a scene from it in David Bordwell's book PLANET HONG KONG, used to illustrate some editing styles unique to Hong Kong cinema.

The Victor Wong of Hollywood movie fame does indeed appear in these scenes, and he's DEFINITELY the grizzled old guy in the photo that appears in his DB entry. He also had major roles in John Carpenter's BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA and PRINCE OF DARKNESS. As usual, I can't back this up with scans, but I'm absolute 100% certain on this one. Perhaps if another contributor here has a copy of the Bordwell book....