The Private Eyes (1976 film)

The Private Eyes is a 1976 Hong Kong comedy film written, directed by and starring Michael Hui and co-starring his brothers, Samuel Hui and Ricky Hui, and also starring Shih Kien and Richard Ng in his second film role. John Woo was the production designer and also co-director, though he was uncredited.[1] Sammo Hung served as the film's action director and Jackie Chan was also a stuntman. This is the third film of the Hui Brothers and it is the first film that established the Hui Brothers' comedies internationally.

This article is about the 1976 film. For the 1980 film, see The Private Eyes (1980 film).

The Private Eyes
Traditional半斤八兩
Simplified半斤八两
MandarinBàn Jīn Bā Liǎng
CantoneseBun3 Gan1 Baat3 Leong2
Directed byMichael Hui
Produced byRaymond Chow
Written byMichael Hui
StarringMichael Hui
Samuel Hui
Ricky Hui
Music bySamuel Hui
The Lotus
CinematographyCheung Yiu-cho
Edited byPeter Cheung
Production
company
Golden Harvest
Hui's Film Production
Distributed byGolden Harvest
Release date
  • 16 December 1976 (1976-12-16)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
Box officeUS$16.7 million (Asia)

Overview

The film's Chinese title is 半斤八兩. The film is also known as Mr. Boo in Japan.[2][3]

Plot

The film revolves around the exploits of a detective agency in Hong Kong called Mannix Private Detective Agency. It is headed by private detective Wong Yeuk-sze (Michael Hui) with his emotionally drained assistant Puffy (Ricky Hui). Meanwhile, Lee Kwok-kit (Samuel Hui), a kung fu expert, who works at a Vitasoy plant factory and spends most of the time doing kung fu tricks to impress a girl, ultimately loses his job. Seeking to find another line of work, Lee attempts to joins Wong's detective agency. Despite Lee's impression with his kung fu talent which involves his snatching trick, Wong was not impressed. Then, as it appears that Lee would not get the job, Wong discovers that his wallet was missing and was presumed stolen by one bystander who bumped into them, which led to a scene where Wong fights the thief in the kitchen using sausage nunchaku as a weapon. Wong's onslaught backfires, and just as the thief walks away, Lee intercepts him and recovers the wallet, thus impressed Wong to hire him for the job. In truth, the wallet was in Wong's possession the whole time; they attacked an innocent bystander and stole his wallet.

The trio work together to serve their clients in many situations. For example, they were hired by a woman to capture photos of his husband's affair with another woman so she can get reward money at court. Later, they were also hired by a supermarket owner to foil an upcoming shoplifting case which leads to a scene where Lee puts his kung fu skills in use to fight thugs.

The most important part of the film is when a gang of robbers led by Uncle Nine (Shih Kien) who demands ransom from a cinema mogul. He then leads his gang to extort movie goers and Wong is one of them, who struggles against Uncle Nine in the mayhem, injuring his leg in the process. Lee, in the midst of the chaos, catches a few of the thugs and beats them up. Later, the gang leaves in an ice cream truck that one thugs stole from the street, but Lee had defeated the thug earlier as he drives them to the police station. Along the way, Lee turns on the freezer which freezes the gang in the back. At the police station, Lee hands in the thugs to a police sergeant (Richard Ng), who appears throughout the film, both as a pursuer and as an investigation case to Wong and Lee. Lee later receives a good citizen award and leaves Wong's agency to start his own. Puffy also joins Lee.

Months later, an injured Wong returns to his agency with no assistant and no clients, who all went to Lee's agency known as Cannon Detective Service. Lee makes a deal with Wong to work together with Lee getting a higher share of profits. Wong refuses, and later learned a snatching trick from Lee, who was doing it in the beginning. Lee then offers a deal to work with Wong where they share half of the profits.

Cast
Cast Role Notes
Michael HuiWong Yeuk-sze, boss of the Mannix Private Detective Agency.[4]
Samuel HuiLee Kwok-kit, a ku-fu expert[5]
Ricky HuiPuffy, Pighead[6]
Shih KienGow-suk (aka Uncle Nine)[7]
Richard NgPolice sergeant[7]
Chu MuMr. Chu[7]
Angie ChiuJacky[7]
Marsrobber
Tsang Choh-lambomb blackmailer of theater
Huang Hashoplifter in supermarket
Chan YamSubstitute at the factory
David Cheung[cameo] at hotel
Siu-Fong LaiMrs. Mok[7]
Chan Kim-wanThief of Wong's wallet
Ko HungBiu
Lily LeungMrs. Chu
Chieh YuanBig Brother in gym
Lo Wai-chiMrs. Chow
Cheng Siu-pingshoplifter in supermarket
Ng Kit-keungHung
Wong Chi-keungdrink in supermarket
Wan Leng-kwongpoliceman
Siu KamJunior Brother in gym
Chan Lap-bantheatre robbery victim
Yu Mo-lintheatre robbery victim
Gam Laueats dim sum
Billy Chanrobber
Stanley HuiHotel owner, manager of the Love Hotel[7]
San Sin
Cheung Sin-mingKing Kong
Joe Junior
Melvin Wongtheatre robbery victim
Jackie Chanstuntman

Box office

The film grossed HK$8,531,700 at the Hong Kong box office and broke the record during that time.[8][9] Its Hong Kong gross was equivalent to US$1.7 million . The film went on to gross US$5 million in Southeast Asia and US$10 million in Japan, for a total gross of US$16.7 million in Asia.[10]

Remake

The 1990 film, Front Page (新半斤八兩), reunites the trio of the Hui Brothers, which is also the last film the three appeared together. This time, the story revolves around the exploits of a tabloid magazine company. Like The Private Eyes, their exploits throughout the film resulted in investigation on celebrity scandals and their unfortunate situation involving the trio and a group of bank robbers.

Album
The Private Eyes
半斤八兩
Studio album by
Samuel Hui
Released23 December 1976 (1976-12-23)
GenreCantopop
LanguageCantonese
LabelPolyGram
Samuel Hui chronology
The Last Message
天才與白痴
(1975)		 The Private Eyes
半斤八兩
(1976)		 Fortune God Comes
財神到
(1978)

The Private Eyes is Hong Kong singer and the film's costar Samuel Hui's third Cantopop album. The title song is the film's theme song with the same name, which was a hit, using especially colloquial street Cantonese in the lyrics which was a breakthrough at that time. The use of street Cantonese was justified as the film, which depicted the working class, struck a chord with Hong Kong people after its release.[11]

Track listing
  1. "半斤八兩"
  2. "浪子心聲"
  3. "打雀英雄傳"
  4. "梨渦淺笑"
  5. "大家跟住唱"
  6. "有酒今朝醉"
  7. "知音夢裡尋"
  8. "鬼馬大家樂"
  9. "夜半輕私語"
  10. "斷腸夢"
  11. "追求三部曲"
  12. "流水恨"

References
  1. "The Private Eyes". hkcinemagic.com. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  2. "Film Screenings - The Private Eyes". lcsd.gov.hk. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  3. "The Private Eyes". hkiff.org.hk. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  4. "The Private Eyes". fareastfilm.com. 26 June 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  5. "The Private Eyes". letterboxd.com. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  6. "The Private Eyes (1976)". allmovie.com. 1976. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  7. "The Private Eyes". videodetective.com. 16 December 1976. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  8. Fonoroff, Paul (9 September 2012). "Classic comedy captured spirit of Hong Kong". scmp.com. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  9. "abouthk.com". Archived from the original on 7 July 2011.
  10. "Chow, Past Reporter, Now Very Rich Filmmaker". The Daily Herald. 22 October 1979. p. 44. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  11. "許冠傑* – 半斤八兩 - The Private Eyes". discogs.com. 1976. Retrieved 20 October 2020.


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