King of Beggars

Hong Kong martial arts star Stephen Chow is in top form as So Chan - talented when it comes to martial arts but lazy, spoiled and illiterate. But when he falls in love, his determination to turn things around doesn’t exactly go according to plan…

The opening scene presents our ‘hero’ So Chan in a nutshell, namely lazing on a chaise longue, smoking and fanning himself before attempting to write his name in huge calligraphy letters on a sheet of paper. Emphasis is on attempting, because Chan, despite his wealthy and respected father General So (Ng Man-tat) desperately trying to educate his wastrel of a son, seems incapable of spelling his own name, never mind spelling any other words or sentences! Even General So’s daughter (Yang Mi) is despairing. Things change when So Chan decides to visit an upmarket brothel to celebrate his 25th birthday and is immediately smitten by Ru-Shuang (Man Cheung), a high class prostitute he intends to marry! Perhaps it should come as no surprise that Ru isn’t exactly taken with Chan, nor with his dishevelled appearance. Worse still, when another admirer of Ru, namely the dastardly Chiu Mo-kei (Norman Chui Siu-Keung) - one of the Emperor’s (Matthew Wong) most dangerous bodyguards, challenges him and humiliates Chan in the process. What both men don’t know is that Ru is not really a high-class prostitute but a secret undercover agent and a member of the so-called ‘Association of Beggars’ who has infiltrated the brothel to take revenge on the person responsible for killing her father, the former leader of the aforementioned Association (currently without a leader). However, Chan won’t give up his plans to marry Ru in a hurry and eventually, she is willing to compromise: if Chan is willing to enter a Kung Fu Scholar Tournament held in the Imperial City, and if he wins the competition, she will marry him!

Off he goes to the Imperial City, accompanied by his long-suffering father. Despite Chiu Mo-kei also participating in the competition (how could it be otherwise), and despite Chiu attempting every trick in the book to outsmart his rival, Chan comes out trumps when it is revealed that Chiu used foul play by throwing a poisoned dart at Chan. His triumph is short-lived however when someone spills the beans regarding Chan’s illiteracy this particular flaw is brought to the Emperor’s attention, as it can only mean one thing: Chan must have cheated on the written exam! The Emperor doesn’t like it when he’s being made a fool of and sentences Chan to death. In a desperate attempt to save his son’s life, Chan’s father So suggests that he’s put to death instead of his son. Only the intervention of the Minister of Justice (Pak-Cheung Chan) saves father and son from execution. Instead, both Chan and So are sentenced to a miserable and humiliating existence as beggars… for the rest of their lives and they are also not allowed to demonstrate any martial arts skills as street performers in order to earn some peanuts. As for General Su, he’s stripped of his title and his house while Chan is badly wounded (his legs and arms are mangled). As for Chiu, he is adamant to become the next emperor himself and is willing to go the full hog in order to achieve his goal.

Up until that point, there’s a fair bit of slapstick and comedy to be savoured but from the moment Chan’s limbs are mangled at the hands of Chiu and father and son need to beg, the film strikes a more serious note filled with pathos. That said, there’s suddenly also a lot more magic and trickery on display and plenty of wire-work during the (admittedly impressively) choreographed fight scenes. Still, one can’t help wondering whether the whole saga may have worked better without so much hocus pocus.

When one day, Chan knocks on a door to beg for food and finds himself standing opposite Ru, he quickly smears his face with dirt in the hope she won’t recognise him. Alas, she does but pretends not to have noticed the beggar is him… Instead, a plan is put into action to thwart Chiu’s evil plans and once Chan’s legs, arms and hands are back again to function normally, he, his dad, Ru and the Association of Beggars turn out to be a force to be reckoned with…

There are some funny moments when both Chan and father So are forced by the Emperor’s guards to eat dog food and remark that it tastes better than any human food they had, or the ‘mass pissing’ scene (wait and see), just as there are some truly astonishing scenes such as Chan and the Beggar warriors marching along the Great Wall.
All in all, it’s an entertaining if somewhat disjointed adventure with a great performance by Stephen Chow as the eternal underdog made good.

This Blu-ray release includes the following Special Features:
Limited edition O-card slipcase / Limited edition booklet / Various audio options / New audio commentary with East Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng / Kung Fu Scholar – new interview with director Gordon Chan / So Chan and Stephen Chow – new video essay by East Asian cinema scholar Gary Bettinson / Original theatrical trailer