Aces Go Places (Film)

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Aces Go Places, (Chinese: 最佳拍檔), also known in the United States as Diamondfinger or Mad Mission, is a 1982 Hong Kong action comedy film directed by Eric Tsang, and starring Samuel Hui and Karl Maka.

It is the first installment in the Aces Go Places film series.

Plot

A suave, smooth burglar named King Kong tries to make up for his thieving ways by teaming up with an Albert ‘Baldy’ Au, a bumbling Taishanese police detective from the United States. Both work together to try to find a set of stolen diamonds; the diamonds are also being tracked by a European criminal known as ‘White Gloves’. The two heroes are supervised by Superintendent Nancy Ho, who has a temper.

Cast

• Samuel Hui as King Kong
• Karl Maka as Albert Au
• Sylvia Chang as Supt. Nancy Ho
• Dean Shek as Gigolo Joe (special guest appearance)
• Tsui Hark as Ballerina Director (special guest appearance)
• Carroll Gordon as Ding Dong
• Chan Sing as Mad Max
• Anna Ng as Rose
• Lindzay Chan as Ballerina
• Veronica Lau as Mary
• Hon Kwok-choi as Squealie
• Sze Kai-keung as Laurel
• Cho Tat-wah as Uncle Wah
• Kam Piu as Szeto
• To Siu-ming as Tattoo artist
• Robert Houston as White Gloves
• Jimmy Shaw as Monterosso
• Andrew Miller as Antonio
• Glen Thompson as Governor at meeting
• Fung Ging Man as Snr. police officer at meeting
• Lee Pang-fei as Snr. police officer at meeting
• Ng Yan-chi as Snr. police officer at meeting
• Chik Ngai-hung as Rascal who gets fresh with Ho
• Shing Wan-on as Cheong
• Lai Kim-hung as Blubber mouth
• Tai San as Glove’s thug
• Wong Chi-wai as Glove’s thug attacking King Kong
• Cheung Kwok-wah as Mad Max’s thug
• Chow Kam-kong as Mad Max’s thug
• Pang Yun-cheung as Mad Max’s thug
• Fung Yun-chuen as Diamond verifier
• Cheng Siu-ping as Councillor Chan in taxi
• Raymond Wong as Priest in taxi (cameo)
• Yu Mo-lin as Nurse
• Ho Pak-kwong as Toilet Attendant
• George Lam as Ambulance driver (cameo)
• Man Ngai-tik as Snr. naval officer at meeting

Awards and nominations

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Aces Go Places 2 (Film)

Aces Go Places 2 (Chinese: 最佳拍檔大顯神通) is a 1983 Hong Kong action–comedy film directed by Eric Tsang and starring Sam Hui, Karl Maka, Sylvia Chang. The film has also been dubbed into English and re-edited and was released overseas as Mad Mission II. The film is the second installment in the Aces Go Places film series.

In the film, a burglar and a police detective join forces to locate stolen diamonds.

Plot

A James Bond-type burglar King Kong (Sam Hui) and his friend Albert “Baldy” Au (Karl Maka), a bald police detective join forces to try to track down a rare set of stolen precious diamonds before it ends up in the hands of a notorious American mobster named “Black Gloves” (Filthy Harry in the dubbed version and during the English-speaking parts of the original film). The two unlikely duo are supervised by Baldy’s wife, Supt. Nancy Ho (Sylvia Chang), a masculine, fiery-tempered policewoman as they are chased by many mafia members throughout the film in crazy chase sequences involving a number of car and motorbike stunts.

Cast

• Sam Hui as King Kong
• Karl Maka as Albert Au
• Sylvia Chang as Supt. Nancy Ho
• Tsui Hark as Mental patient (special appearance)
• Eric Tsang as Fattie (special appearance)
• Raymond Wong as Priest (special appearance)
• Yasuaki Kurata as Bull
• Sue Wang as Juju
• Joe Dimmick as Black Gloves
• Hector Britt
• Charlie Cho as Wong
• Cho Tat-wah as Police Chief Uncle Wah
• Billy Lau as Gunman
• Suzanna Valentino
• Jamie Hales as Stunt man in bicycle stunt sequence
• Sai Gwa-Pau
• Douglas Airth as Stunt man in car on two wheels sequence

Release

Aces Go Places was released in Hong Kong on 5 February 1983. The film was released in the Philippines by Valiant Films as Aces Strike to Win on 7 December 1988.

Reception

Variety described the film as a “well calculated commercial movie” and a “never a dull moment fun film for kids and adults with young minds attuned to things that are basic and elementary.” The review stated that Sam Hui “is beginning to be an adept comedian with good timing though he still mugs a lot.”

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Aces Go Places 3 (Film)

Aces Go Places 3 (Chinese: 最佳拍檔之女皇密令), also known under the titles Aces Go Places 3 – Our Man from Bond Street and Mad Mission III, is a 1984 Hong Kong action comedy film directed by Tsui Hark as the third installment in the Aces Go Places film series.

Aces Go Places 3 was the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong on its release in 1984 and was the highest-grossing film in the series. The film was released in an English-language dub titled Mad Mission 3 which had scenes cut and altered from the original film. Tsui had previously appeared in the first two films in cameos.

Plot

The film starts in Paris, where King Kong (Sam Hui) is recruited by Elizabeth II and a James Bond-like character to retrieve one of the Crown Jewels which has been stolen and is located in a Hong Kong Police Headquarters vault. Richard Kiel spoofs his role as “Jaws” from the James Bond film series.

Cast

• Sam Hui as King Kong
• Karl Maka as Albert Au
• Sylvia Chang as Nancy Ho
• Cyrus Wong as Baldy Junior
• Ricky Hui as Puffer Fish
• Peter Graves as agent Tom Collins
• John Shum as Police chief
• Jean Mersant as Mr. Bond
• Richard Kiel as Big G
• Tsuneharu Sugiyama as Oddjob
• Huguette Funfrock as Queen of England
• Jay Koch as Ronald Reagan

Production

Aces Go Places 3 riffs off the plots of the James Bond series and features cameos from actors in various English-language spy features. These include Peter Graves from the Mission: Impossible television series and Richard Kiel who played Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. The film also features a character resembling Oddjob. Several sources erroneously report that the character of “Mr Bond”, the James Bond-like British secret agent, was played by Neil Connery, Sean Connery‘s younger brother. The character was actually played by Jean Mersant, a French Sean Connery impersonator.

Release

Aces Go Places 3 was released on 26 January 1984. The film was a success with audiences, becoming the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong in the year end box office and was the highest-grossing film in the Aces Go Places series. An English-dubbed version of the film was released under the title Mad Mission 3. This version removes about 20 minutes of footage including scenes from the original film with Karl Maka‘s Albert, the baby and a maid and scenes with Sylvia Chang‘s character, Ho, in the hospital. This version includes additional comedy scenes with Peter Graves‘ character.

Reception

Allmovie gave the film three stars out of five, noting that the plot for Aces Go Places 3 was “stronger than usual for the series” and “that film’s juvenile sense of humor might put off viewers in search of more sophisticated fare, but many others are likely to find the movie too colorful and exciting to be denied.” John Charles, author Hong Kong Filmography 1977-1997 awarded the film a six out of ten rating finding the scenes involving Sylvia Chang and Karl Maka were “tiresome and consist almost exclusively of situations from old sitcoms”. In his book Horror and Science Fiction Film IV, Donald C Willis referred to the film as a “lively, routine action comedy.”

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Aces Go Places IV

Aces Go Places IV, also known in the United States as Mad Mission 4: You Never Die Twice, is a 1986 Hong Kong action–comedy film directed by Ringo Lam and starring Samuel Hui, Karl Maka, Sylvia Chang and Sally Yeh. It is the fourth film in the Aces Go Places film series.

Plot

“Mad Mission 4 – You Never Die Twice” is a 1986 film directed by Ringo Lam. The plot follows the characters Baldy and King Kong, as they traverse between New Zealand and Hong Kong in a high-stakes pursuit of a high-tech prism with the ability to grant superhuman powers. The film features the talents of Samuel Hui, Karl Maka, and Sylvia Chang.

Cast

• Samuel Hui as King Kong
• Karl Maka as Albert Au
• Sylvia Chang as Supt. Nancy Ho
• Sally Yeh as Sally Bright
• Cyrus Wong as Baldy Jr.
• Ronald Lacey as Leader of the villains
• Kwan Tak-hing as HK Police Ice hockey team coach
• Roy Chiao as The Professor
• Cho Tat-wah as Officer Wah
• Shih Kien as Interpol Ice hockey team coach
• Pomson Shi as Professor’s assistant
• Onno Boelee as Hornsby
• Peter McCauley as Digger
• Sandy Dexter as Leader of the villains’s henchmen
• Gayle-Anne Jones as Leader of the villains’s henchwoman
• Fung Ging Man as Albert’s 9th floor neighbor
• Chang Kwok-tse as Passenger in tour bus

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Aces Go Places 5: The Terracotta Hit

Aces Go Places 5: The Terracotta Hit is a 1989 Hong Kong action comedy film directed by Lau Kar-leung with action choreography by Lau Kar-wing. This is the fifth installment in the Aces Go Places film series. It was released in the United States as Mad Mission 5: The Terracotta Hit. It is the last one to feature the same cast members, and the last to be produced by Cinema City before their shut down in 1991.

Plot

King Kong and Baldy, the “Aces,” part ways in 1986 after a mission in Thailand to kidnap a woman on her way to marry her boyfriend (a rich man claiming to be her husband enlisted the Aces’ services) goes sour. Three years later, figures from the famous Terracotta Army and a Qing Dynasty bronze sword called the “Chinese Excalibur” are stolen during their transport to an exhibition in Hong Kong. Based on pictures that appear in the media, the two men are accused of the heist. By this time, King Kong is running an investment company that has long since been in the red, and Baldy – who sent his wife and son to Canada – is hiding in a Sai Kung houseboat from creditors who lent him money to invest in the stock market.

When a muscular MSS operative called the Chinese Rambo separately visits Baldy and King Kong (with indirect approval from the Hong Kong Police Force command, who have long since disowned them), both men decide to find those who framed them to clear their names.

They discover that a brother-sister tandem calling themselves the “New Aces” took the pictures during the heist and wore face masks of the two men’s likenesses while getting away with stealing the Chinese Excalibur. They interrogate them inside Baldy’s houseboat, and as the siblings try to escape, they plunge into the water and go back to the house during which a Chinese ship tows the houseboat. All four of them are sent to Beijing and imprisoned to answer for the crime. They are forced to undergo a staged execution until the Chinese Rambo offers them a chance to get out of prison in exchange for helping the Chinese government recover the figures. The four Aces agree to help recover the figures from the White Gloves syndicate. They begin training in martial arts because Beijing specifically orders that the figures must not be damaged by any means. However, the Chinese Rambo calls off the training, explaining that the Chinese government will try to get the figures back through diplomatic means.

Despite the turn of events, the four Aces band together and proceed with the mission. A furious battle inside the White Gloves’ hideout, which even involves the use of the Chinese Excalibur, results in the quartet recovering the figures. King Kong, Baldy, and the New Aces join the Hong Kong police in sending off the Chinese Rambo, who is safeguarding the shipment back to China.

Cast

• Samuel Hui as King Kong
• Karl Maka as Baldy
• Leslie Cheung as Brother thief
• Nina Li Chi as Sister thief
• Conan Lee as the Chinese Rambo
• Melvin Wong as Boss’s aide
• Ellen Chan as Ellen
• Danny Lee as Prisoner
• Fennie Yuen as Baldy’s niece
• Roy Cheung as Murderer King
• Maria Cordero as Woman in window
• Brad Kerner as White Gloves
• Cho Tat-wah as Uncle Wah
• Ha Chi-jan as Rambo’s assistant
• Wayne Archer as Boss’s thug
• Mark Houghton as Boss’s thug
• Billy Chong as Boss’s thug
• James Ha as Boss’s thug
• Lau Kar-wing as Thai horse rider
• Hung Yan-yan as Thai horse rider
• Montatip Keawprasert as May
• Deborah Grant as Deborah
• Lu Yan as Lui Yin
• Jim James as police officer
• Ernest Mauser as police officer

Box office

This film grossed HK$20,032,206 during its theatrical run from 28 January to 22 February 1989 in Hong Kong.

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97 Aces Go Places

97 Aces Go Places is a 1997 Hong Kong action comedy film directed by Chin Kar-lok and starring Alan Tam, Tony Leung, Christy Chung, Donna Chu and Francis Ng. The film is the sixth and final installment of the Aces Go Places film series and features a different cast and storyline. It is the first film in the series to not feature Samuel Hui or Karl Maka as the main characters.

Plot

Con artist Mandy Ling / Li Lai Shan cons a rich triad leader Lui Yu Yeung out of his money and gives it to a convalescent center where her mentally disturbed sister Mandy Li is staying. Earlier, she had also conned another triad leader out of a large sum of money in a poker game causing him to die from a heart attack. The triad leader states in his will that his son Ho Sik must avenge him by killing her with a gun. Ho Sik, who has no interest in guns and violence, hires Chui Cheong, the “Drunken Gun”, an ace gunman to tutor him. However, Ho later finds himself falling in love with Mandy and is reluctant to kill her.

Cast

• Alan Tam as Ho Sik / Ho Sik’s father
• Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Chu Cheong, the Drunken Gun
• Christy Chung as Mandy Ling / Li Lai Shan
• Donna Chu as Mandy Li
• Francis Ng as Lui Yu Yeung
• Simon Lui as Chung Yue
• Maria Cordero as God Mother
• Ben Lam as Lung
• Moses Chan as Yeung’s sidekick
• Billy Chow as Yeung’s killer
• Raymond Wong as Senior Police Officer
• Dayo Wong as Mr. Chan
• Bennett Pang as Pastor
• Emily Kwan as Yue’s driving instructor
• Lam Chiu Wing as musician
• Chin Siu-ho as driver admiring Sik’s car
• Karen Tong as woman in the street
• Joey Leung as retarded man
• Vincent Kok as Fatty Fook
• Collin Chou as police special force
• Timmy Hung as police special force
• Mok Ka Yiu as police special force
• Carlo Ng as police special force
• See Mei Yee as Yeung’s art appraiser
• Johnny Wong as musician
• Mang Hoi as lieutenant of Sik’s Group
• Ka Lee as lieutenant of Sik’s Group
• Lee Chi Kit as lieutenant of Sik’s Group
• Ma Koo as tea lady at poker game
• Kuk Hin Chiu
• Dion Lam as Fatty’s man in black
• Chin Kar-lok as Fatty’s man in black
• Peter Chan as lieutenant of Sik’s Group
• Yee Tin Hung as Fatty’s man in black
• Tang Chiu Yau as Fatty’s man in black
• Rocky Lai as Yeung’s killer
• Chan Siu Lung
• Nelson Cheung as man in the street
• Chu Cho Kuen as Yeung’s thug
• Jack Wong as Yeung’s thug
• Mak Wai Cheung as Yeung’s thug
• Cheung Bing Chuen as Fatty’s man in black

Box office

The film grossed HK$10,745,180 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run 21 June to 9 July 1997 in Hong Kong.

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