''Laughing Times'' () is a 1980 Hong Kong

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

written and directed by

John Woo John Woo Yu-sen ( zh, t= ; born 22 September 1946) is a Hongkongers, Hong Kong film director known as a highly influential figure in the action film genre. The recipient of various accolades, including a Hong Kong Film Awards, Hong Kong Film Award ...

. The film stars

Dean Shek Dean Shek (17 June 1949 – 20 September 2021), also known as Dean Shek Tin, was a Hong Kong film actor and producer with over 72 film credits to his name. Shek was perhaps best known as Professor Kai-hsien in the 1978 film ''Drunken Master'', ...

as the Chinese

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

. This is the first film produced by Cinema City, a film company established by Shek, Karl Maka and Raymond Wong.

Plot

In the post-war community, where the economy is falling and many businesses are bleak, a starving wanderer named the Chinese

meets an orphan (Wong Wai) who was used to do illegal things by bad guy Master Ting and the two become fast friends. Later Charlie also meets a poor singer, whom he develops a funny romance with, and a drunkard. Due to humiliation from Ting, the drunkard turned to drinking. Later, Ting abducts the kid and the singer, prompting Charlie and the drunkard to finally rise up with ambition and risk their lives to save the kid and the singer and eventually, Ting was unable to evade the law.

Cast

as Chinese

*Wong Wai as the Kid * Karl Maka as Master Ting *

Wu Ma Fung Wang-yuen (22 September 1942 – 4 February 2014), better known by his stage name Wu Ma, was a Hong Kong actor, director, producer and writer. Wu Ma made his screen debut in 1963, and with over 240 appearances to his name (plus 49 directoria ...

as Drunkard *Lee Chung-keung *Chic Lau *Tai San as Man wearing shades *Tsang Cho-lam as Barber Cheung *Wong Sau-man as Singer *Ho Pak-kwong as Chiu Siu-man's Father *

Hoi Sang Lee Lee Hoi-sang (April 15, 1941 – September 9, 2024) was a Hong Kong martial arts film actor and martial artist, known for his roles in ''The 36th Chamber of Shaolin'' (as Abbot Li Hai Sheng) (1978), '' Shaolin Challenges Ninja'' (1978), ''The In ...

as bodyguard *Fung King-man as Man eating noodle * Chiu Chi-ling as street performer * Wong Yat-fei as Man getting scalp *

Sai Gwa-Pau Lim Gan (林根), better known in Hong Kong by his stagename Sai Gwa-Pau (西瓜刨) (7 October 1918 – 12 March 2001), was a Hong Kong film actor who played roles in over 600 movies from the 1950s onwards. His stagename "Watermelon Slice" refe ...

as Man who chokes on noodles * Raymond Wong as Man eating banana *Ting Yue *Shing Wan-on *Chan Fei-lung *Luk Ying-hong *Chu Tak-wai as policeman *Ho Wan *Leung Hung

Box office

The film grossed HK$5,186,448.50 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run from 24 December 1980 to 11 January 1981 in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Reception

Sean Gilman of Seattle Screen Scene called the film a "Chaplin homage".

References

External links

* *
Laughing Times
' at

Hong Kong Cinemagic Hong Kong Cinemagic, sometimes referred to as HKCinemagic, was a bilingual ( French and English) website providing a repository for information about Chinese language films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and the people who created them. The we ...

* 1980 films 1980 comedy films 1980s adventure comedy films 1980s Cantonese-language films 1980s Hong Kong films Films about kidnapping Films about orphans Films directed by John Woo Films shot in Hong Kong Hong Kong adventure comedy films {{1980s-comedy-film-stub