Trigger

I started (and dominated) a Stephen Chow thread back in 2001 asking questions and the thread keeps getting bumped occasionally to this day (probably because it's referenced in the sticky Asain film FAQ thread)...

Anyway, I'd just like to start a new one with a more comprehensive list of his films. Kung Fu Hustle just got released in HK and we will soon all be able to see it on DVD (eventually anyway) and it will probably get a theatrical release in the US (I think). On top of that, Mei Ah is remastering and re-releasing many of their Stephen Chow catalog on DVD. It's a global Chow-mania! Ok, not really - but it's a good time for him. He gained alot of attention with Shaolin Soccer which hopefully means we may see better DVD releases for all his films. All For The Winner was finally released on DVD recently, so there's enough reason to celebrate. So please use this thread to discuss all things Stephen Chow. It's not a One and ONLY thread, so don't worry about making threads about movies he's in or whatever.

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So following is a list of his films that are (or have been) available on DVD and/or VCD with English subtitles. I know because I have (nearly) all of them. The obvious exception is Kung Fu Hustle - but at least now this thread is ready for when the film comes out. The list is in more or less chronological order from newest to oldest.


I may come back at some point and grade these if I have a SC marathon or something. It's been awhile since I've seen most of them though, so I don't want to guess what I thought of them.

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1962 - born in Hong Kong and grew up as the only boy with three sisters. Chow has talked about his poor upbringing and has mentioned that after a year of kung fu classes, he had to quit because his folks couldn't afford it. Regardless, he grows up to be a talented Wu Shu stylist and physical comedian. At times he has been referred to as the HK Jim Carey due to his expressive rubber-like face.
1982 - enrolls in Shaw Bros. TVB acting school after graduating High School
1983 - landed first gig hosting children's show "430 Space Shuttle" (ironically, he's reported to dislike children)
- meets Ng Man Tat (who later becomes his sidekick and co-stars in many of his films)
- meets Tony Leung
1987 - After some time as a television actor starring in comedies and dramas, he starred in Final Justice which earned him a coveted Golden Horse award for his acting talents. He put off his comedic talents to persue some serious work in action and dramatic films. He worked with the likes of John Woo and Jet Li.
1990 - Chow lands his first box-office success in All For the Winner - a spoof of the previous year's God of Gamblers starring Chow Yun Fat and directed by Wong Jing. Wong decided to hire Stephen Chow for the sequel to GOG after that. Working with Wong Jing, Stephen refined his style of comedy often referred to as 'nonsense comedy'. The cantonese term is 'moy len tau' which roughly translates to 'nine comes after eight, but eight has nothing to do with nine'.
1991 - Fight Back to School was the top grossing film in HK of all time (at the time) and Stephen continued to make spoofs of popular films as well as other comedies. He had his fair share of hits and flops over the next several years.
1997 - God of Cookery not only gave Chow notoriety as one of Asia's top stars, but also one of Asia's top writers, directors, and producers as well. Hollywood took notice and enlisted him to direct a Hollywood remake starring Jim Carey - he eventually backed out of it after becoming sick of Hollywood red tape.
2001 - Shaolin Soccer is HK's top grossing film of all time for a domestic product and Hollywood takes notice again - Miramax screws the US release up, but that didn't hurt his rise in international notoriety.
2004 - Kung Fu Hustle is completed after a long production period with the help of american hollywood funding by way of Columbia in the amount of 20 million USD.

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God of Gamblers explained (by YellowHammer):

English Name ~+~ Chinese Name

1. God of Gamblers ~+~ God of Gamblers (CYF)
2. All for the Winner ~+~ Saint of Gamblers (Stephen Chow)
3. God of Gamblers II ~+~ Knight of Gamblers (Stephen Chow, Andy Lau, and CYF cameo)
4. God of Gamblers III - Back to Shanghai ~+~ Knight of Gamblers II (Stephen Chow)
5. God of Gamblers Return ~+~ God of Gamblers 2 (CYF)
6. Saint of Gamblers ~+~ Saint of Gamblers II (Eric Kot)
7. God of Gamblers 3 - The Early Years ~+~ God of Gamblers 3

Conman Knight of Gamblers 1999 (Andy Lau)
Conmen in Vegas Knight of Gamblers in Las Vegas (Andy Lau)
Conmen in Tokyo China Knight of Gamblers (Eric Koo)
My Name is Nobody Saint of Gamblers III (Nick Cheung)

Trigger

First thing I want to ask is - how are the new Mei Ah remastered DVDs? If someone has one we can do a screenshot comparison since I have the old ones.

Djangoman

All for the Winner is OK - the DTS audio is quite aggressive, the picture is more than adequate. My washed-out color with terrible burnt-in Indonesian sub VCD can retire now, although not completely, since the English sub on DVD is not good either. There's a slight cut at the very end of movie, where Chow shook Cheung Man's hand.

I'm very keen on getting remastered Fight Back to School series and remaining GOG series (I've got the original with CYF), but I just haven't got the time.

Trigger

All for the Winner is the only new Mei Ah release chow film I have. Let me know how Fight Back to School looks if you get it.

slateef

what do you think is his best movie?? i've only seen king of comedy and shaolin soccer...

what is a must see?

Trigger

Well, you should really see God of Cookery if anything. Out of the Dark is a must-see, but unfortunately - it's not available on DVD... well, it is, but without Chow's voice. Love on Delivery is friggin funny... There are others, but it's been awhile for me - so I'll let someone else answer.

Djangoman

What I'm interested in getting now besides his comedic roles, are the titles where he wasn't famous yet. I believed he co-starred Danny Lee in one cop movie that I dont' remember the title, and also John Woo's Just Heroes? if I'm not mistaken. There's also another cop movie I forgot. They were definitely not his comedic roles - can anyone mention the title I meant? I wonder if the DVD exists.

tinlunlau

All for the Winner was not directed by Wong Jing. it was directed Jeff Lau and Corey Yuen.

and it's "Mo Lei Tau", not "Moy Len Tau".

Trigger

I don't see where I said All For the Winner was directed by Wong Jing... I said the God of Gamblers movies.

and I understand it's acceptable both ways wrt M L T... your way is more widely accepted it seems, but I just went with the version that was on the site I lifted alot of that info from. Besides, it's too late to change it now.

and -
John Woo's Tragic Heroes is on VHS in the US, but afaik the only appearance on DVD was in Japan without English subs. Final Justice is on DVD in HK - published by Universe Laser... it has English subs. Chow stars with Jacky Cheung in Curry & Pepper which is a buddy cop action movie with some humor in it... it's also on DVD by Universe with English subs. Thunder Cops 2 is an unrelated sequel to the first film and is a serious crappy cop movie until about halfway through when Chow saves it from being a complete disaster with some comedy - it's on DVD as well. Chow was even in a film with Jet Li that's kinda tough to find... haven't seen it.

tinlunlau

Stephen's films which he filmed with Metropolitan Films is being re-released on DVD completely remastered. the first to come is "Look Out, Officer" coming early 2005 by Mei Ah.

Trigger

Mei Ah has been remastering a bunch of his movies - is this a new list of films? Do you have a list of what's gonna come out or what films he did with metropolitan?

Zenigata

Fight Back to School old + remaster comparison

I did a lot of research on this over the summer and found this site plus a few others stating the remasters are a big improvement

Old -
Remaster-
I think it mentions better subs too.

Trigger

Anyone buy the Shengchi [Taiwan] DVD from 2003? It's got Mandarin only so it would seem. How's the video/subs? I have a VCD and am thinking about picking this up. Or maybe someone could tell me if Mei Ah is going to release it.

Zenigata

Trigger

whoa...

ninelives

gangster or gimmick?

tinlunlau

i saw the video clip...it was hilarious....
this japanese guy is apparently a famous Japanese wrestler who didn't like the fact that it's using the name of his cheerleading squad.Apparently, Stephen Chow looked surprised when this Japanese man approached the stage and thought it was all an act until his assistant told Stephen that this is for real. Stephen was forced to leave the stage and come back with a few words

Zenigata

Might that video clip be online somewhere?

tinlunlau

links are down.... i do have it, though.
roughly around 7mB. i'll try to upload it somehow..

Zenigata

That'd be awesome, thanks

Trigger

I'd love to see it as well.

Krug

Would like to see it too..

Kumar J

This is the wrestlers info.He is quite famous in Japan because of the Hustle chant
http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/f...?fighterID=307