Pedicab Driver (1989)

Pedicab Driver is one of Sammo Hung’s more popular older movies. I wasn’t as enamored by it, but there was one fight that made the film worth watching despite all of the ogling of women’s breasts.

Lo Tung (“Fat Lo”), Mai Chien Tang (“Malted Candy”), San Cha (“Cake”), and “Rice Pudding” are four buddies who drive pedicabs. Mai meets a young woman named Hsiao Tsui when he runs into her and romance blooms. Lo begins a romance after threatening Ha Ping with a torch who happens to work in a shop in his auntie’s building. Despite the rocky beginnings, true love takes its course though conflicts arise. Hsiao has a dark past and the local triad boss (John Shum with a huge gold grill) wants Ha Ping.

The film begins with a big workers’ brawl and soon after has a car vs pedicab chase. The chase ends with the best fight of the film. Old school Shaw Brothers actor and martial arts director Lau Kar Leung and Sammo fight with fists, kicks, and Lau’s specialty---weapons. Lau was 53 and Sammo was pushing 40 but you’d never know it from their speed and agility. I found the choreography highly entertaining. The middle of the film sank into romantic melodrama before the murderous fights began giving Sammo a reason to clean house at the Triad lord’s. Sammo fought perennial baddie Billy Chow while Mang Hoi (criminally underused) took on Chung Fat. With Sammo, Mang Hoi, and Brandy Yuen choreographing the fights, none of them were disappointments.

There were things that did not work for me. The story was uneven, with characters disappearing and reappearing. Ha Ping’s boss pushed her hard for a romance. I don’t mind age gaps, but the nearly 60-year-old Sun Yueh constantly creeping on 28-year-old Nina Li (his employee) screamed “Me, too” moment of harassment. The camera focusing on women’s clothed bouncing breasts for long lingering minutes was uncomfortable. Ha Ping was pretty, with no other backstory or development, as if that created enough of a character to fight over.

This film, like so many Hong Kong kung fu comedies, started out light and fluffy then devolved into something resembling the Manson Family Christmas* before the final funny credits that erased the horror of the prior losses. Sammo Hung fans will likely not be disappointed as the big guy put on quite a kung fu show. As always, I rate these pre-1990s martial arts films on a curve.

29 October 2025
*Scrooged (1988)
Triggers: The final fights were bloody if you are squeamish

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As entertaining as they come

You know your film is off to a strong start when you aren't even 5 minutes in and it's already staging its own lightsaber fights, albeit with fluorescent bulbs. Marking the end of Sammo Hung's greatest period as both star and director with a mighty bang, Pedicab Driver exemplifies the type of cinema that Hong Kong loved during the 80s. What that means is it's a mismatched series of bizarre comedy, heightened emotions, sudden tragedy and yes, incredible fight scenes. The extended fight between Sammo and Lau Kar-Leung in the gambling den stands as one of the film's most memorable moments, despite its complete irrelevance to the plot. Although it seems a little overambitious at times in its storytelling, with several seemingly unrelated threads running parallel, the film does manage to hold it all together in a way that only Hong Kong cinema can. While the story threads are certainly only diversions from the main spectacle, they do enhance the film somewhat, thanks largely to the cast's terrific performances and great music. It all starts happy-go-lucky but by the end, revenge is the name of the game and it is one Sammo delivers tenfold with some fantastic direction. For its uneven mishmash of genres and tones, Pedicab Driver succeeds wholeheartedly thanks to its easily empathetic and loveable characters and their plights, it's as entertaining as they come and features something for everyone. While not quite a masterpiece it is well worth seeing.

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