Yet another old school classic courtesy of the master, Sammo Hung. Yuen Biao and Leung Kar Yan are brothers, Yipao and Taipao. They're always trying to scam or fool someone. They try to fool Chia (Lau Kar Wing), but he outsmarts them. They try to beat him up, but his kung fu is too good. They follow him around until he takes them as students. Chia teaches Yipao kicking, while Taipao learns punching. While Chia is out, two strangers visit and start a fight with the two brothers. Yipao and Taipao are beaten. The strangers issue Chia a challenge. Chia with Yipao and Taipao fight the two. The two strangers are killed by Chia. Later Yipao watches Chia fight a kill Mars, who is a polic inspector. Chia is really a criminal and the two strangers were his partners looking for revenge cuz Chia bailed on them. Yipao and Taipao fight Chia. Yipao escapes, but Taipao is killed. Yipao runs into a beggar (Sammo) who teaches him garbage boxing and monkey style. Yipao runs into Chia and the two fight. They run into Sammo and Sammo and Yipao take on Chia. In the end the two defeat Chia(of course!).
Knockabout is Yuen Biao's starring film debut and he's off to a good start. Kung fu mixed with Sammo style comedy makes this film pretty good. The kung fu is cool with a few different styles like monkey. It's all fast and entertaining. The fight of Yuen Biao and Sammo vs. Lau Kar Wing is nice and long. The trainging scenes with Sammo and Yuen are good too. Leung Kar Yan is good with the kung fu and the comedy as he plays the slower brother. He always seems to have a stupid looking expression on his face. I really liked this movie and I've watched it a few times since I bought it. I have the VCD and in a few spots the subtitles are hard to read cuz they're small and white, but that's okay. Just try to watch it.
"Reviewed" by Keith