Follow the Star (1978)
On that side of the track is Ah Sing (Roy Chiao), uncouth, unkempt, a garage repairman, a bravado with plenty of tricks up his overall sleeve. And on the other side of the track is rich, young recording artist Gayle (Rowena Cortes), idol of the young with her songs and dances, but an orphan. Harry is her manager. They should not meet, least to say forming some kind of partnership, but they do. Gayle goes to Ah Sing's garage for repairs. When Harry and she drive off, the car's undercarriage Ah Sing and drags him along. Fate steps in the form of five toughles who stop the car and kidnap Gayle to a farmhouse. It so happens that Gayle's father and the five were robbers but the father took off with all the money while the five were caught. They want the money back now they have served the time...
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Such a frustrating disappointment
Please don't spend money on this.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
They just don't make em like this anymore-and before you cynics say something cynical like 'Thank God', then proceed to crap on about how good Garden State is, let me tell you that this gem is what John Woo had fun with before he got too famous making Hong Kong actioners, resulting in the never ending recent Hollywood bashing for his overused gun play. Fact is, he should go back to making stupid farcical stuff like this- the plot is basically about a motor mechanic who accidentally gets involved with a famous film starlet and has to save her from bad guys who want to kill her to get inheritance money her father left her.The last section kinda loses its pace ( the graveyard scene gets REALLY long in the tooth) but the way ROY CHIAO gets rid of the bad guys is real cinematic invention at work. And watching this guy who clearly doesn't know martial arts, take on a whole team of assassins three times(!) just adds to the silliness. But for me its all about the characters ( check out the blind hit-man with pingpong eyes and the kung fu master with the metal claw hand) . These days cinema is too damn serious , farce especially is frowned upon and Comedy is unfortunately anything with Ben Stiller in it, but this is the stuff that Chinese do so well ( see Winners and Sinners and other classic 80s comedy) i bought this film on VCD from some Hong Kong E-bay outlet and as far as i know its unavailable until TAISENG video release it in the States. So ..... 7 out of 10 - not as great as Jackie Chan/Samo Hung but still damn funny.
Follow The Star is a starring vehicle for 70's pop star Rowena Cortes featuring Roy Chiao as her drunk guardian. It's a very interesting film because John Woo employs his visual trademarks throughout the movie, i.e. wipes, montages, slow motion editing, motorcycle stunts and quick paced editing. There's his usual heavy handed melodrama mixed in as well. For a comedy, there's quite a few actions set pieces that Woo would later reuse in his other films (The Killer, Once a Thief and M:I 2). The villans in the film are very amusing to see because there so obtuse. A monkey masked Mr.Big type, a very effeminate asassin, a hit man with cateracts and one is armed with a decks of poker cards. Check out the final showdown in a Church! It's a real hoot. Highly recommended, A-.