Machine Girl (2008) October 28, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Uncategorized, Horror, Comedy, Action, Exploitation, Bad Films, 2000s films , add a commentDirector: Noboru Iguchi Main cast: Minase Yashiro; Asami; Kentaro Shimazu; Nobuhiro Nishihara Territory: Japan
After schoolgirl Ami’s (Minase Yashiro) younger brother gets killed by a gang of bullies, she stumbles on a list of his tormentors and goes on a rampage of vengeance. Even after losing an arm, Ami hardly misses a beat – especially after a huband and wife team of mechanics fix her up with a replacement in the form of a high-calibur machine gun. But the final revenge will not be easy – the head bully’s father is a Yakuza chief, expert in the use of a katana. But even he is no match for his psychotic wife…
Machine Girl is the latest film from Noboru Iguchi, the man responsible for the ultra-mad Sukeban Boy. As you would expect, it’s another blend of gore, bad acting and unconvincing fight scenes, but this time it looks like he had a budget for the film. There are even a few bargain-basement CGI effects thrown in for good measure, and it’s got more of a cinematic feel to it.
With lines like: “Wash your hair in your son’s blood!”, random ninja attacks and a soundtrack that sounds like your typical 80’s straight-to-video action film, you know you’re talking major-league exploitation revenge-flick trash, and this is probably as good as it gets. In fact, I’m really surprised not to see Tarantino’s name anywhere on the Region 1 release, and I imagine it’s already up there as one of his favourite films.
It seems pointless to talk about characterisations, but there has been an effort to give mechanic Miki (Sukeban Boy’s Asami) some character developement from her initial hostillity towards Ami (she believed Ami’s parents were murderers) to being a strong friend when her son is killed alongside Ami’s brother. Even bully Sho’s father is a more interesting character than at first appears due to his villainy being trumped at every turn by his demented wife.
Which brings us back to the gore. This really is a showcase for old-school effects, and like Sukeban Boy, it reminded me of the video nasties from the late 70’s or early 80’s. Whether you think the gore effects are stupid or not probably depends on your fondness for those films, I suppose, but I thought they were a lot of fun. I wasn’t quite sure whether the whole film is actually a satire on these kinds of films, and whether it was in fact a lot more intelligent than it appears at first glance. It’s definitely possible. But the important thing is that it’s a fun, mad little film that rips along at a breakneck speed ideal for those times when you want to see something completely over the top.
Oh, and that drill bra…!
Twins Effect II (2004) October 25, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Action, Fantasy, 2000s films , add a commentDirector: Corey Yuen; Patrick Leung Main cast: Charlene Choi; Gillian Chung; Jaycee Chan; Wilson Chen Territory: Hong Kong
Men are “dumbbells”: slaves to women to be bought and sold and used by the superior sex as they see fit. However, a plaque exists that can release men from slavery and banish the evil Queen who forbids love.
The first Twins Effect movie was a decent enough romp with a few enjoyable touches. The sequel, though, is a sequel in name only, and has absolutely nothing at all to do with the first film. This is a shame, as I was up for revisiting more lightweight vampire-bashing fun. Instead, the action shifts to an ancient fantasy setting with a frankly preposterous premise.
One thing that strikes the viewer right away is the lavish production. Quite simply, the film looks fantastic, and it’s obvious quite a bit of money was spent on it. It does feel as though the budget all went on the visuals, as the script is somewhat limp at times. As you would expect, there is an emphasis on special effects, and for the most part, they don’t disappoint, but the fight scenes are CGI’ed to death in what is now becoming as common a practice in Hong Kong cinema as it is in the west.
The leads, apart from the Twins themselves, are mostly unremarkable: Wilson Chen is entirely forgettable and Jaycee Chan plays the kind of overly earnest hero that begins to grate after a while, and both seem far too gawky to be given such prominent roles. As for the Twins, Charlene is intermittently irritating and Gillian is obviously stronger on the more physical aspects, but neither is pushed into unfamiliar territory. It’s only Tony Leung Ka-Fai, as a truly oddball sex-shifting character, who really stays in the memory for longer than five minutes. Donnie Yen doesn’t do anything particularly memorable and Daniel Wu’s eunuch to the dark Queen will probably only be remembered for his massive (and I mean massive) hat.
And that’s really the problem with Twins Effect II – it’s not bad at any point; it’s just really, really forgettable. Again, Jackie Chan is wheeled out to give a brief action cameo and again he actually distracts the viewer away from the rest of the material in his duel with Donnie Yen. The fight is enjoyable enough for fans of fantasy CGI, but when the action shifts back to the stars of the film, you do get the impression that the scene was shoehorned in to get more of an audience.
It’s ironic that a genre that’s supposed to be so imaginative usually ends up with so many samey devices like “chosen ones” and generic prophesies to be fulfilled, and Twins Effect II falls into just about every cliched trap it can. Like so many blockbusters, it passes the time but is so lightweight it would fly up to the heavens with the slightest breeze.
It contains a few laughs, a couple of good effects, a bit of (slightly) post-teenage romance and angst and some lovely visuals. Apart from that, it’s sadly empty. Now, I never expected to ever write this, but I was really hoping for something like the Twins had done before.
Lam Suet-o-meter: He wrote the screenplay! He wrote the screenplay! Is there no limit to his capabilities? Oh, wait. It’s a different Lam Suet. Bah! When Mr Lam finally becomes supreme ruler of the universe, it will be an offence to carry the same name as the great one. Incidentally, I notice there’s a group dedicated to him on Facebook. See you there!
Magnificent Bodyguards (1977) October 19, 2008
Posted by Cal in : 1970s films, Kung Fu, Wacko , 6 commentsDirector: Lo Wei Main cast: Jackie Chan; James Tien; Bruce Leung Territory: Taiwan Production Company: Lo Wei Motion Picture Co.
A mysterious woman hires kung fu master Ting Chung (Jackie Chan) to escort her gravely ill brother through the notoriously dangerous, bandit-infested Stormy Mountains. The unseen brother is carried in a sedan chair by Ting Chung and fellow pugilists Tsang (a face-flaying, arm-severing James Tien) and Chang (a deaf super-kicking Bruce Leung). On the way, they encounter increasingly unusual foes and hazards, culminating in a meeting with the ruler of the Stormy Mountains himself, Chu. But is he really who he says he is?
Magnificent Bodyguards is another bonkers tale from Jackie’s early days with legendary director and horseracing fan Lo Wei. It was shot in 3-D, a fact that is impossible to ignore even if you try really hard, what with things coming out of the screen every few minutes. It’s a bit disappointing, then, that the film is still being released on home formats in the usual two dimensions.
The film itself has a nice premise, and is like a kung fu road movie of sorts. The characters are distinctly barmy except for Jackie’s character, oddly enough. He plays it straight, of course, and it has to be said that his character is probably the least memorable of pretty much everyone present. James Tien’s character threatens to skin everyone alive at the faintest provocation, and believe it or not, he’s one of the good guys. I kept expecting him to turn traitor, even though I know he doesn’t, but I’m sure that one of these days when I watch it he will. Sometime Bruce Lee impersonator (even though he looks nothing like him) Bruce Leung plays a deaf leather repairman (?) and is actually a fine kicker and a great addition to the cast. I can’t say I’m that familiar with his work, but he’s great in this.
Jackie Chan co-choreographed the fights and it’s immediately clear which moves are his. There’s a scene where the gang end up in a chamber being attacked by a bunch of fake monks (don’t ask me why, almost nothing makes sense in this film) and the fight that follows is pretty damn exciting, and bares all the hallmarks of Jackie’s style. While all of the other sequences in the film are rather hit-or-miss (and the penultimate battle where Lord Chu fights his impostor is downright dull) the film is worth seeing for this one scene alone.
The production values are typical of Lo Wei – which is to say everything looks pretty cheap and fragile and the considerable wirework is letdown by constantly visible wires. However, the film does have its own rousing theme tune, which struck me as a classy touch. But while we’re on the subject of music, I couldn’t help but give an involuntary giggle when part of the Star Wars score suddenly blasts out. Maybe Lo Wei didn’t think this new-fangled space opera would catch on, but the inclusion of one of the most well-known film scores in a cheap kung fu flick is pretty funny.
I recently criticised Dragon Fist for its Scooby Do-style ending, but if I had remembered the ending to this one, I would have saved the comment for this film. All that is missing is the “I would have gotten away with it as well if it wasn’t for those meddling kids!” line and this really would have felt like a job for Scooby and the gang. Although it does taper off a little, Magnificent Bodyguards is still an interesting little nugget of wackiness, with its Chinese Native Americans, bizarre restaurateurs, sci-fi-stealing theme tunes and face-flaying heroes. I’m quite surprised it wasn’t more of a hit, as I believe this was the first kung fu film in 3-D and the novelty value alone should have put bums on seats. It genuinely tries to be suspenseful, and I’ve seen a lot worse from the period.
The Return of the Sister Street Fighter (1975) October 16, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Action, 1970s films, Exploitation , add a commentDirector: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi Main cast: Etsuko Shihomi; Yasuaki Kurata; Masashi Ishibashi Territory: Japan Production Company: Toei
Koryu (Etsuko Shihomi) investigates a criminal organisation headed by Oh, a wheelchair-bound crime lord who has kidnapped a young girl’s mother. Koryu uncovers a den of the usual freaks in her search for justice.
Immediately upon putting this into the DVD player, I scrambled for the box – I had inadvertently put the previous film Sister Street Fighter: Hanging By a Thread on instead. However, after a close look, it turns out I had put the right disc in after all. The Return of the Sister Street Fighter is the worst case of movie deja vu I’ve ever experienced.
Starting in Hong Kong, just like the previous films, the action soon shifts to Japan – again, just like the previous two films. Again, the whole plot of the film is explained in a few lines of dialogue right at the beginning and we’re then thrust in at the deep end.
Again, we get an evil crime lord who seems closely related to both Dr No and Han from Enter the Dragon, and again his henchmen are an utterly bizarre bunch of freaks. The best includes a man who appears to be Bruce Lee’s evil twin and Masashi Ishibashi as a killer pimp. One wonders how crime could have got a foothold in Japan in the seventies – if the police simply rounded up everyone who looked abnormal, crime would have been obliterated overnight. Once again, Yasuaki Kurata shows up to audition for the bad guys and turns out to be quite a nice bloke in the end.
There’s a bit about gold smuggling just to give some semblance of story, but most of the time it’s just a series of fights and outlandish characters. The inclusion of a little girl for Koryu to look after while her mother’s being held by Oh is meant to lend some heart to the film, but it’s all too franticly paced you couldn’t connect on an emotional level even if you wanted to.
The evil Oh is quite funny, though, and so is his sideshow of freaks. As an evil genius, he’s never going to make it to the big league though: he sends six men to kidnap a small girl but only one man to kill Koryu. As you might expect, he doesn’t live long enough to work on his people-management techniques.
The fight scenes are pretty typical for the series, although again Yasuaki Kurata’s presence improves the film considerably. There’s also a nice wall-climbing stunt from Shihomi, who gives a fair account of herself again.
But on the whole, The Return of the Sister Street Fighter is just too familiar to be enjoyable, even though the brisk 77-minute running time means you’ll have plenty of time to fit another, more substantial movie into your evening should you wish to. Maybe that’s the best way to serve this film: as an appetiser.
Who Am I? (1998) October 11, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Comedy, Action, 1990s films , 7 commentsDirector: Benny Chan; Jackie Chan Main cast: Jackie Chan; Michelle Ferre; Ron Smerczak; Yamamoto Mirai Territory: Hong Kong Production Company: Golden Harvest
An operative of an elite military unit (Chan) wakes in an African village with no memory of his past. Travelling the world, he discovers his past is inexorably linked with Morgan (Smerczak) and the quest for a source of unlimited fuel that could also be used as a terrifying weapon.
Looking at other reviews of this film makes me think I’m probably its biggest fan. While I readily admit that you could fly an airship through the plotholes and the acting is quite appalling (by everyone who has at least one line of dialogue), I find it rather enjoyable. It’s not Academy Award™ material, but it never pretends to be and apart from the feeling you get that the scriptwriters bit off way more than they could chew, it mainly works out quite nicely.
The usual problem of a Hong Kong production filming in English producing some poor performances is compounded by the addition of Michelle Ferre as reporter/girl-with-a-secret Christine. In real life, she was a reporter of French and Japanese descent with no acting experience until Jackie took a shine to her. You can see why he did, and why he wanted her in the film – she’s quite simply stunning, with a gorgeous face and striking dark eyes. To say she can’t act is a little harsh under the circumstances, and in all fairness, hers is not the worst performance in the film. Jackie himself is not without his faults in the acting department – the scene where he raises his arms to the sky to cry “Who am I?” in torment makes me cringe aver single time. Rounding out the team is Yamamoto Mirai as Japanese racing driver Yuki, who is apparently a professional actress although you may not be able to guess from her hammy performance.
The ladies’ roles are similar to that of the hopeless comic relief characters of Project A Part II or Operation Condor, and at times Who Am I? does feel very similar in style to the latter title. This probably means that if you didn’t enjoy Operation Condor, you probably won’t enjoy this. Although some attempts to make this film reach an international audience are made – the English language dialogue and the inclusion of some rather big explosions – this is still very much a Hong Kong film with a very Chinese sensibility. That is why, I think, people have such a hard time connecting with it. If put against your typical Hollywood blockbuster of the period, Who Am I? just looks hokey and weird. As a Hong Kong action movie, it can hold its own against the best of them.
No discussion on Who Am I? can be complete without addressing the African segment of the film, where Chan wakes to find he’s lost his memory. This is an obvious reworking of Chan’s Eastern/Western idea that he had been talking about throughout the nineties and was used wholesale by Sammo Hung in the film Once Upon a Time in China and America. While I indeed admire Chan’s film, I do feel that Sammo made the most out of the idea, although his methods for acquiring the material might be quite ignoble. On this viewing, it was plain to me that the African tribe sequence is easily the weakest part of the film. It feels condensed and doesn’t ring true. The film was originally going to be shown in two parts and it does appear that there was a lot of material from this part that didn’t make the final cut. On the strength of what’s here, I would say that’s for the best – although we will probably never know for sure whether the inclusion of more material would have improved matters.
There’s a noticeable rise in the fun factor immediately following Jackie’s departure from the tribe, and the gags come thick and fast. While the action scenes are not as plentiful and intricate as his earlier films, what’s here is still pretty impressive. The brief skirmish in South Africa where Jackie is handcuffed and being beaten on by a group of thugs is reminiscent of the scene in Operation Condor where Jackie fights off the fanatics in De Garcia’s apartment. Other stand out moments occur on top of a Rotterdam skyscraper, where Jackie and Ron Smoorenburg start kicking the hell out of each other, and a chase through the Dutch streets which even manages to get a brief but funny clog fight thrown in.
As with Gorgeous, this film has been mauled for its “international” (i.e. US) release – approximately sixteen minutes’ worth of footage has ended up being removed. It is therefore necessary to track down the increasingly scarce Universe DVD if you want to see the film the way the makers intended on this format (I believe the VCD version is still available). Although the transfer’s quite unremarkable, and you have to manually switch on the English subs for the African section of the film, this really is one of the shortest two hour long films I’ve ever seen and deserves to be seen in its entirety.
Although one of the most boneheaded Jackie Chan films in terms of the script (he begins a sentence with “One thing my father taught me…”, which for a man with total amnesia is pretty strange), it’s a fun ride and in my opinion Jackie’s last truly great film. Or at least the last film where it is easily recognisable as a Jackie Chan film in terms of style and content. And for me, that’s the same thing.
The Twins Effect (2003) October 4, 2008
Posted by Cal in : Horror, Comedy, Action, Supernatural , add a commentDirector: Dante Lam; Donnie Yen Main cast: Gillian Chung; Charlene Choi; Ekin Cheng; Edison Chen; Anthony Wong Territory: Hong Kong
Duke Dekotes and his band of European vampires come to Hong Kong in search of the unholy grail: a tome called “Day for Night”, which will make him all but invincible to his human prey. Reeve (Ekin Cheng), a vampire hunter, and his new assistant Gypsy (Gillian Chung) set out to stop them. Meanwhile, Reeve’s sister Helen (Charlene Choi) befriends a small cult of “new age” vampires, including their leader Kazaf (Edison Cheng), a move not looked upon favourably by her sibling…
Vampires are the most overused horror monster, and it’s hard to come up with something using them that’s going to be genuinely scary these days (take the recent 30 Days of Night) and Twins Effect adds nothing new to the genre at all. Viewers of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will recognise many of the themes and devices of the film, and this often feels like a Hong Kong version of the popular US show but without the unique wit and infectious flippancy. But Buffy’s appeal lay more in the characters and the humour rather than the rather uninventive monsters she and her friends fought on a weekly basis for nine years, and Twins Effect diverts itself from the horror element so often you sometimes forget quite what everyone’s doing.
The film doesn’t quite pan out like you’d imagine it to – for one thing, the Twins don’t actually team up until very late in the movie – and this works in the film’s favour, I feel. The main plotline of the evil vampire Dekotes (Mickey Hardt – not to be confused with the Grateful Dead drummer!) killing princes and becoming all-powerful disappears for so long you really could have done with a refresher by the end of the film. In between the action packed opening where Reeve attacks a battalion of the undead (including Bey Logan – so that’s where he went) and the special effects heavy climax, we get a collection of comedy skits, action set pieces, tense drama and romantic scenes. Some scenes work better than others, but surprisingly none of them are awful.
I once tried to listen to a Twins song, but discovered 15 seconds into it that I hated their music. They sounded pouty even in an upbeat saccharin pop song. Their appearance in an updated TV version of Journey to the West (the title of which escapes me) made me want to throw things at the screen – mainly because they were being pouty. Charlene, the most talented, acting-wise, of the pair is quite pouty in places but otherwise this is an annoyance-free appearance for the Twins. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that they gave stellar performances that brought a tear to my eye, but the fact that I didn’t want them to become vampire fodder is quite a progression. I don’t think anyone will strongly object to me calling Edison Chen vile (gee, I hope he doesn’t get gangsta on my ass for saying so), but he reins in his immense foulness to give quite a passable performance of a “nice” vampire.
These “new age” vampires (headed by Chen and Anthony Wong) are somewhat similar to those in George RR Martin’s novel Fevre Dream in that they have stopped sucking blood from human victims in favour of drinking a bottled variety, but this is not expanded upon in any great detail, which is a pity.
Instead we get a couple of cameos. Jackie Chan appears in two scenes, and seems out of place in both. In the first he’s getting married to Karen Mok, in what the opening titles refer to as a “special friendly appearance” (?), who is a raging alcoholic. In the second, he has a small action scene and a bit of stuntwork (although he’s clearly wired when he climbs a pole, a la Project A). Although a fan of Chan, I feel his appearances kind of detract from the feel of the film as, let’s face it, his presence does tent to overshadow things.
Twins Effect is quite like a visit to the dentist where discover you don’t need any work doing and all of the assistants are pretty. I ended up quite enjoying it, actually.
To Kill With Intrigue (1977) October 1, 2008
Posted by Cal in : 1970s films, Kung Fu , 10 commentsDirector: Lo Wei Main cast: Jackie Chan; Hsu Feng; San Yat-Lung; Yu Ling-Lung Territory: Taiwan Production Company: Lo Wei Motion Picture Co.
Sau Lai (Jackie Chan), the son of a clan leader, turns into an arrogant swine overnight – slapping his newly pregnant girlfriend Chin Chin (Yu Ling-Lung) around and insulting the guests at a party held by his father. His motive, however, is noble – he’s trying to turn everyone against him so they all leave before an attack by the remnants of the lethal Killer Bee gang, who had been all but wiped out by Sau Lai’s father many years ago, come to slaughter everyone he holds dear. The plan doesn’t work, and the attack leaves Sau Lai’s parents dead and the Killer Bee gang’s thirst for revenge quenched. The leader, Ting Chan-Yen (Hsu Feng) then begins a very unconventional relationship with Sau Lai. Meanwhile, Chin Chin is in exile and being looked after by Sau Lai’s new best friend Chen Chun (San Yat-Lung). Naturally, no one’s quite who or what they appear to be, and death, pain and permanent and unnecessary disfigurement ensue…
To Kill With Intrigue is probably an attempt to cash in on the Shaw Brothers hit of the same year Clans of Intrigue and is based on a novel by Gu Long (it might even have been the same novel for all I know). It is not quite as wild and frantic as its counterpart, but it’s not far off. I’m somewhat well known as a fan of this film, but for several reasons (which I’ll come to later) I’ve not seen it in a long time. I did write a year or two ago that “I’d probably hate it now”, so I was a little apprehensive of returning to it.
There’s no denying that stylistically, To Kill With Intrigue is a mess. It tries to be several things and ends up being a weird hybrid of wuxia, ghost story, kung fu film, and romantic drama. It’s very much like Lo Wei was throwing everything at the screen in the hope that something will stick (some years before Wong Jing patented the technique). The inclusion of Hsu Feng (who, incidentally, gets top billing) was probably meant to engender a sense of respectability to the project, but Lo Wei is no King Hu by any stretch of the imagination.
The pacing of the film is quite excellent, and the plot itself is quite interesting even if it is a lot harder to fathom than I remember. I kept expecting to go into flashback mode all the time, but it turns out Lo Wei could only afford one flashback scene in the whole movie. Actually, although I’m joking, it does seem as if this movie had a particularly tight budget, as the props and make-up look surprisingly cheap even for a production from Lo Wei. There’s certainly a hell of a lot of library music in the background. One piece in particular, meant to be Chin Chin’s “in love” music, is used a lot and I last heard it in a Shaw Brothers film from about 1971. I’ll be buggered if I can remember what it was now, but it’s bound to have been an Iron Triangle film (unless it was One Armed Swordsman or one of its sequels) and, as always, I’d be grateful if anyone knows what the piece is called and who wrote it – I’ve always been curious for some reason.
On the action front, this is one of Lo Wei’s more restrained films and the fight scenes have plenty of room to breathe. In between the action, there’s a kind of love triangle set up between Chen Chun, Chin Chin, Ting Chan-Yen and Sau Lai. And that’s a triangle with four sides, unless I’m very much mistaken – all at no extra cost! I like the style of the action scenes in this one for some reason and I can never quite put my finger on why. The fighting just seems more dynamic than some other films from this period, but I fully accept that it could just be my imagination. There are some parts I find funny in a rather sick way: Jackie bitch slapping his dippy girlfriend is more likely to provoke a round of enthusiastic applause than the gasps of horror it was intended to, and the wince when Hsu Feng disfigures Jackie had me laughing out loud.
When the mighty Shaw Brothers opened their vaults earlier in the decade, I discovered a lot of classics hitherto unknown to me. When I first saw this, I had no idea films such as Have Sword, Will Travel, The Heroic Ones, The Flying Dagger, The Devil’s Mirror, etc, even existed, let alone King Hu’s classic Taiwanese wuxia films for Union. I couldn’t help making unfavourable comparisons with those films and thought that this one should perhaps be consigned to memory. Another reason I haven’t seen it in a long time is that I was holding out for a decent DVD version.
The Region 1 Columbia DVD is not the answer to my prayers. The transfer’s not too bad (but isn’t remastered and shows quite a lot of wear and tear), but the disc suffers from terminal dubtitle syndrome. Yes, sentences begin with “but still” and end in “though” all the way through the film. Give me honest-to-goodness Chinglish any day. Furthermore, and I know this isn’t Columbia’s fault per se, but whoever thought it was appropriate for one character to bid “sayonara” to another needs shooting. No trial – just swift, violent execution.
Worse than that, the Mandarin audio (billed as Cantonese on the box and on the menu) disappears altogether in three scenes and is replaced with the English track. I can’t explain the confusion this causes when the language shifts, for no apparent reason, into English. I was fumbling about with the remote, thinking I’d switched it over, but no – someone was obviously asleep at the wheel at Columbia when making this disc. I’ve had a thing against Columbia ever since they butchered Gorgeous, but this cements their reputation for me. I’ll stick to the Ocean Shores VCD in future.
To Kill With Intrigue was another flop, and Jackie Chan himself once said that he pitied anyone who sat through it, which I think is a little harsh. I think it’s interesting inasmuch as it’s almost unique in Jackie’s oeuvre in that he plays quite a stern character. It’s also probably the closest Jackie ever came to making a wuxia film, although he only handles a sword once and for a brief amount of time. Watching some classic films of the 60’s and 70’s has certainly taken the shine off this cheap and not-too-cheerful flick, but it will always have a place in my heart. And there’s always the old story (which may even be true) that the name of Jackie’s girlfriend had to be changed in Japan because it was a slang term for penis. Making Hsu Feng’s angry retort when Jackie wakes from his coma whispering her name ever funnier: “All you think of is your Chin Chin!”
They don’t write ‘em like that anymore.