Laughing Times

Laughing Times
Laughing Times
	Film poster
Directed by	John Woo
Screenplay by	John Woo
Produced by	Karl Maka
Starring	Dean Shek; Wong Wai; Karl Maka; Wu Ma; Lee Chung-keung; Chic Lau
Cinematography	Manny Ho
Edited by	Tony Chow
Music by	Frankie Chan
Production; company	Cinema City
Distributed by	Cinema City
Release date	24 December 1980
Running time	100 minutes
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese
Box office	HK$5,186,448.50

Laughing Times is a 1980 Hong Kong comedy film written and directed by John Woo and starring Dean Shek as the Chinese Charlie Chaplin. This is the first film produced by Cinema City, a film company established by Shek, Karl Maka and Raymond Wong.

Plot

In the postwar community, where the economy is falling and many businesses are bleak. A starving wanderer named the Chinese Charlie Chaplin (Dean Shek) meets an orphan (Wong Wai) who was used to do illegal things by bad guy Master Ting (Karl Maka) and the two become fast friends. Later Charlie also meets a poor singer (Wong Sau Man), whom he develops a funny romance with, and a drunkard (Wu Ma). 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

Dean Shek as Chinese Charlie Chaplin
Wong Wai as the Kid
Karl Maka as Master Ting
Wu Ma 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
Lee Hoi-sang 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 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.

External links

Laughing Times at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
Laughing Times at Hong Kong Cinemagic
Laughing Times at IMDb

v t e Films by John Woo
Directed	The Young Dragons (1974, also wrote) The Dragon Tamers (1975, also wrote) Princess Chang Ping (1976, also wrote) Hand of Death (1976, also wrote) Money Crazy (1977, also wrote) Hello, Late Homecomers (1978, also wrote) Follow the Star (1978) Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979, also wrote and produced) From Riches to Rags (1980, also wrote) Laughing Times (1980, also wrote) To Hell with the Devil (1982, also wrote) Plain Jane to the Rescue (1982, also wrote) The Time You Need a Friend (1984, also wrote and produced) Run, Tiger, Run (1984, also produced) Heroes Shed No Tears (1984, also wrote) A Better Tomorrow (1986, also wrote and produced) A Better Tomorrow II (1987, also wrote) The Killer (1989, also wrote) Just Heroes (1989) Bullet in the Head (1990, also wrote and produced) Once a Thief (1991, also wrote) Hard Boiled (1992, also wrote) Hard Target (1993) Broken Arrow (1996) Once a Thief (1996) Face/Off (1997) Blackjack (1998) Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) Windtalkers (2002, also produced) Paycheck (2003, also produced) All the Invisible Children (2005, segment "Song Song and Little Cat") Red Cliff (2008, also wrote and produced) Reign of Assassins (2010, also produced) The Crossing (2014, also produced) Manhunt (2017) Silent Night (2023, also produced) The Killer (2024, also produced)
Written only	A Better Tomorrow (2010)
Produced only	A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon (1989) Peace Hotel (1995) Somebody Up There Likes Me (1996) The Big Hit (1998) Bulletproof Monk (2003) Blood Brothers (2007) Appleseed Saga: Ex Machina (2007) Seediq Bale (2011)