Pantyhose Hero (1990) July 6, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Comedy, Action, 1990s films , trackbackDirector: Sammo Hung Main Cast: Sammo Hung; Alan Tam; Joan Tong; Jaclyn Chu Territory: Hong Kong Production Company: Bojon Films
A serial killer is targeting the Hong Kong gay community, so the local police decide that two cops should go undercover as gay lovers to track down the murderer. Enter Jeff (Sammo Hung) and Alan (Alan Tam), two “real men” who are less than pleased with their new assignment.
If you were being charitable, you could simply describe the humour of Pantyhose Hero as “sneering”. It’s full of the kind of humour that schoolboys normally grow out of in their teens, and at worst is probably one of the most offensive films you could see. Seemingly every sentence and joke is made from a position of supreme ignorance. Even the English title implies that all gay men are transvestites (and presumably vice versa) and has no bearing on the film’s plot.
Pantyhose Hero presumes all gay men are rapists, or at the very least sex-obsessed perverts. It’s hard to choose specific examples of dialogue when the entire script is full of clichés and the worst kind of stereotyping possible, but the training sequence in which Jaclyn Chu lectures Sammo and Alan in the art of acting gay is probably the most ignorant speech you will ever hear in a movie. They are taught to mince about while given such advice as “cultivate the mentality of disliking girls” and that there are “three types of gays” and that the third kind are “born gays and have to sell themselves to sate their lust”. There’s much talk about who’s “male” and “female” in a male gay relationship (incidentally, there are no lesbians in Pantyhose Hero’s universe) and a “psychological test” that is so pathetic a schoolboy probably thought it up. Perhaps trumping that is the scene where the police raid a gay bar and separate the men from their “girlfriends” for searching purposes. Ironically, it’s clear that this scene was meant to be somewhat “pro gay” in showing the police to be piggish, and even more ironically, ignorant. It’s a great disappointment that the script for this film was co-written by the late Barry Wong, who was responsible for so many great action comedy scripts in the 80s.
To give some credit, there are about two funny moments in the film: one dialogue between Sammo and Alan with much punning in Cantonese on the word “gay” which is completely lost in translation, and the scene where Sammo chats up the wrong man in a sushi bar. And, like a lot of Sammo’s comedies, the heterosexuals don’t come across too well either (he and Tam are so sex-crazed they can barely keep their hands off Jaclyn Chu).
This being a Sammo Hung film, there are fights and stunts included of course. These are definitely overshadowed by the “comedy” and it seems obvious that Sammo was hoping this was going to stand in its comic merits as the action is pretty sparse. Where present, the action is sporadically brilliant, and the finale with a tacked-on drug smuggling sub-plot (even now, I can’t think where that came from) is Sammo at his frenetic best. He does what he always does and makes an ordinary non-performer (this time Alan Tam) look great at action. It doesn’t last long though and as it does literally seem to come out of nowhere it feels like it came from another film.
At the time, there was considerable backlash against this film for its blatant homophobia, but I’ve noticed in recent times that the backlash itself is getting some backlash. It should be realised that the humour of Pantyhose Hero has nothing at all to do with modern “politically incorrect” comedy, which is conscious of the sensitive issues it jokes about. This is just an exercise in sneering superiority and lacks the most basic human decency. It’s amazing that for a performer who made so many great things in the 80s, Sammo pissed it all against the wall in such a spectacular way as soon as the decade was over. This was the first (and by no means last) seemingly deliberate attempt to sabotage his own career by alienating his audience.
Comments»
Sounds like a blast - when can I watch it!!
Well, you can have my VHS with my blessing. Only thing is, Eastern Heroes released it and decided the name “Panyhose Hero” wouldn’t sell so retitled it “Pantyhose Killer” - making the title even less relevant. That was one of their tricks - whenever they got a film, they’d insert “Killer” into the title so “New Kids in Town” became “New Killers in Town”. Dumbest asses in the world, and I don’t miss them in the slightest.
How come you named your site after them then….?
I take it you reviewed this from the DVD that EH released or are you just working off the video cassette there? By the way, another couple of classic subtitle quotes above.
Believe me, you’ve seen nothing yet with the subtitles for this film! I think I’ve got enough for an article on dodgy subs now so I’ll be putting that together soon.
Both this film and PEDICAB DRIVER have never had a legitimate release on DVD but they have “grey market” releases like that Empire DVD shop we went to in NY, and those are what I’ve used for these reviews. This film is identical to the EH release, and the PD DVD is actually inferior to my VHS tape. Why someone doesn’t release them is anyone’s guess. Well, maybe not THIS film, but definitely PD…