Sammo Hung Kam-bo
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Posted by Gus Leous in Martial Arts section |
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Sammo Hung Kam-bo (frequently spelled Samo) was born on January 7, 1952 in Hong Kong. He is probably most famous to American fans as the "chubby one" from all those Jackie Chan films.
As an influential pioneer in modern Hong Kong cinema with over 140 films to his credit as either an actor, director or action director, Sammo Hung has earned the respect and the nickname "Big Brother" from most of the Hong Kong film industry where he has launched the careers of international stars Yuen Biao, Michelle Yeoh, Andy Lau and Cynthia Rothrock. Alongside classmates Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao, Sammo attended the Peking Opera School where he learned a wide variety of skills including acrobatics and martial arts. There he excelled as a member of Sifu Yuen's opera troupe known as the "Seven Little Fortunes".
Upon leaving the Peking Opera School, Sammo entered the film industry as a stunt man and quickly worked his way up the ranks to the role of stunt coordinator and action director. During this time, Sammo became the action director of choice for international female action star Angela Mao. Sammo made a more visible splash in front of the cameras in 1973 when he agreed to fight his friend Bruce Lee to spice up the opening of Lee’s film “Enter The Dragon” Several years later, Golden Harvest would ask Sammo to step in as the fight choreographer for the unfinished Bruce Lee movie “Game Of Death” which coupled pre-existing sequences already shot by Lee with sequences using a double thus making the completion of Lee’s film possible following his untimely death.
Sammo made his feature film directorial debut with the film “The Iron Fisted Monk” in 1977. The following year Sammo paid tribute to his friend and Hong Kong’s biggest star Bruce Lee by with the comedy “Enter The Fat Dragon” which saw Sammo both starring and directing. These two movies, along with Jackie Chan’s “Snake In Eagle’s Shadow” and “Drunken Master”, started the whole kung fu comedy genre, which quickly became a mainstay of Hong Kong cinema. Sammo also created and popularized the comedy kung fu horror genre with “Encounters Of The Spooky Kind” in which he starred and directed and “Mr. Vampire” which he produced.
In the eighties, Sammo directed “Winners and Sinners”, the first in a series of successful movies starring a team of comedians collectively known as the Lucky Stars. Not only did this movie mark the first collaboration of Sammo with both of his Peking Opera classmates Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao, but it also smashed all Hong Kong box office records at that time. Sammo, Jackie and Biao would collaborate together several more times in 1980’s becoming known as the “Golden Trio” One of these movies directed by Sammo “Wheels On Meals” would match up Jackie Chan against undefeated kickboxing sensation Benny “The Jet” Urquidez for what “Inside Kung-Fu” magazine would call the best fight ever put on film.
After watching the Sammo directed film “Eastern Condors”, Oliver Stone proclaimed the beginning of a new wave of Hong Kong cinema. Sammo once again caught the attention of the cinematic world working as the action director on Wong Kar Wai’s art-house martial arts film “Ashes Of Time”. Then Sammo directed a pair of movies that both topped the Hong Kong box office first with the Jet Li film “Once Upon A Time In China And America” and then with Jackie Chan’s “Mr. Nice Guy”. The latter film was the highest budgeted Hong Kong film at the time and was a co-production with New Line Cinema. After this, Sammo worked as the special action director and 2nd unit director for Tsui Hark on the 2 American big budgeted Jean-Claude Van Damme movies “Double Team” and “Knock Off”.
Sammo would continue to venture into Hollywood by starring in the hit CBS show “Martial Law” which garnered Sammo a TV guide nomination for favorite star of a new series. After working as the fight choreographer for the forthcoming Gwenyth Paltrow movie “A View From The Top”, Sammo is now working as the action director on the most expensive Hong Kong movie ever - the $35 million dollar Jackie Chan supernatural action comedy “Highbinders”.
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