Animated chicken and duck in the Hui Brothers movies

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Animated chicken and duck in the Hui Brothers movies

Postby Brian Thibodeau » Mon Jan 10, 2005 5:10 pm

Having recently watched some of the 70's Hui Brothers comedies, I'm curious as to the significance of the animated chicken and duck that appear in the opening credits of THE LAST MESSAGE and GAMES GAMBLERS PLAY (not sure about PRIVATE EYES). The chicken appears to be a associated with Sam Hui and the duck associated with Michael Hui. What is the significance of these characters and are they tied somehow to how Hong Kong citizens regard the Hui Brothers, sort of like nicknames? Are they holdovers from their days in television? I'm aware of the later Michael Hui comedy CHICKEN AND DUCK talk, but don't recall Sam being in that. Was the title to that movie in reference to these animated characters or some facet of the brothers personalities?

Just curious...
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Postby odresel » Tue Jan 11, 2005 9:01 am

Have not seen these films. But Hong Kong slang:

Chicken = prostitute (female)
Duck = gigolo/male prostitute
Goose = bisexual male prostitute

Probably does not apply to these films, but useful to know.
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Postby Brian Thibodeau » Tue Jan 11, 2005 2:25 pm

Yeah, not really applicable in this case, at least not in any way I can figure. I was aware of the slang translations, but I'm sure other readers might find them interesting to know.

Not to go off topic, but this reminds me of two of the best Hong Kong movies I've seen in recent years, GOLDEN CHICKEN and GOLDEN CHICKEN 2, both starring Sandra Ng and a host of big name stars in smaller roles. She plays a prostitute who's life mirrors some 30 years of socio-economic development in Hong Kong, from 1974 to 2003. The sequel starts off in 2046, where she reflects ostly on the year 2003. Probably two of the greatest love letters to Hong Kong, and the ability of the Hong Kong people to take suffering in stride, that I've seen in ages.

Stlll, any help on the Hui brothers thing is greatly appreciated.
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Postby odresel » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:31 am

Yes, I agree, the Golden Chicken series was quite on the mark...and contained lots of "inside" jokes and criticisms of the laughably incompetent government and antics of Tung Chee Wah and his cronies. When whores have to bail out stick-up artists, you know a place is on the skids...I think here the tone was felt to be much darker than it might appear overseas.

The title, Kam Gai, BTW, really means something like "Goldie the Hooker". Sandra Ng's character is called Ah Kam (kam means gold) and gai is chicken (= prostitute).
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