Odd Couple
Odd Couple
| 09 August 1979 (USA)
Odd Couple Trailers

Hailed as possibly the greatest classical weapons movie ever made and starring world-renowned martial arts master, director and action-choreographer, Sammo Hung. This film showcases some of the most spectacular and intricate weapons duels ever committed to film. Sammo Hung and Lau Kar Wing play dual roles as both masters and students of the sword and spear styles of kung fu. Comic mayhem ensues when the students get kidnapped and the masters must rescue them.

Reviews
Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away
WiseRatFlames An unexpected masterpiece
Asad Almond A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
poe426 The title sequence of ODD COUPLE features Sammo Hung on spear and Liu Chia-Yung on sword, and it's a tightly choreographed ballet, to be sure: both men are amazing to watch. When Sammo delivers a sign reading KING OF THE SWORDSMEN to blacksmith "Dog Face," it triggers a reaction from a pair of swordmasters who have just arrived looking to take on the finest swordsman in town. Sammo and Dog Face pit them against one another before Sammo reveals himself and sends them both packing. Liu, using his Poverty Spear, literally gives a wannabe assassin a close shave before his annual showdown with Sammo. Sammo, using his sword, relieves Liu of his eyebrows; Liu cuts off Sammo's beard- a draw. They each go in search of a student to train for the next ten years (at the end of which, the students will be pitted against one another to see whose kung fu is best). Here things get interesting, because Sammo and Liu both play the younger disciples of the two older masters. Sammo saves Liu from a trio of would-be protection men, then proceeds to convince him to be his student by burning down the younger man's house. Meanwhile, Liu recruits Ah-Yao, a ferryman (played by Sammo), after convincing Sammo to sink his own boat. The stage is thus set for a number of great fight scenes between the two stars. When the elder masters both die at the hands of Hsiao Pa-Ten, the inevitable showdown is set in motion.
greghulme I have to say that I have seen an awful lot of Sammo Hung movies and not only is this one of his best films, but it is probably the finest weapons movie in the history of kung fu movies, and there have been a lot. This film is not like many other kung fu films in the way that the fights start small and then get bigger and better as the film progresses. The fights in this film practically start from the word go, with the standard remaining high throughout the rest of the film. The first (and in my opinion the best) big fight in the movie starts about fifteen minutes into the film where the old Sammo and the old Lau do battle with their weapons. The fight is so well choreographed that you wish that it would never end. After this fight the fight scenes become shorter until Leung Kar Yan comes into the picture, then the fights turn violent. Leung is such a menacing villain that you really are rooting for the good guys to win. Once the young fighters have killed the villain its time for them to fulfil their masters wishes and fight each other until one of them wins. this culminates in a duel that is similar to the fight earlier in the film and is outstanding in its execution. This film is so great that no kung fu fan should be without it. Even if you hate weapons films this film may well change your mind, and if it doesn't there are a few open hand fights which are equally as fantastic. An absolute masterpiece, I can't recommend it enough!
sujesh80 This one goes in my top ten kung fu movies as one of the silliest. the weapon fighting scenes are excellent. As with any good kung fu movie, it contains a lot of over-top-characters:* The king of the spear * the king of the sword * The exthortionist at the market (what a moustache!) * The king of the spears' sidekick, Potato (with the funky ummm.. hair) * The king of the swords sidekick, the humpback * And last but not least: Mr. Rockin', who has his own theme music.All in all, an excellent and very funny martial arts movie.
carrickters This movie portrays old rivals,played by Sammo Hung (King of the sword) and Lau Kar Wing (King of the spear) who meet every 10 years to find out whose weaponry skills are better.These duels always end up in a draw and as the two warriers are aging they decide to each take on a pupil so that the duel may continue. What makes this interesting is that Sammo plays Lau's student and Lau plays Sammo's student. Some amusing scenes eventuate. This from the video cover: "Skillful balletic duels between the sword and the spear rival even the best work of Jackie Chan and Liu Chia Liang in their intricacy" With these comments I would have to agree. However this film would have to be the silliest Sammo hung movie I have ever seen. There are some scenes which I don't feel contribute much at all to the overall plot. Having said that, The duels between the elderly Sammo Hung and the elderly Lau Kar Wing with their respective weapons are masterpieces. Their mastery of these weapons has to be seen to be believed. So too, the duels between the young Sammo with the spear and the young Lau with the sword as the students of the elderly masters just goes to prove how versatile and how skilled these men are. Towards the end of the film they unite to defeat a common foe in a brilliant fight sequence and then go on to fight each other to a draw just as their old sifu's had done in another incredible fight sequence so ultimately the riddle of whose weaponry is better goes unanswered. An unusual movie with some really silly scenes but a lot of great action.