Flirting Scholar

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Flirting Scholar (original title: 唐伯虎點秋香 pinyin: Tang Bohu dian Qiuxiang ) is a 1993 comedy film. The title character is played by Stephen Chow as Tong Bak Fu (Tang Bo Hu in Mandarin). Chow's character is actually based on a famous historical personage of the same name. The events in this movie are based on the story penned by Tong Bak Fu with a bit of artistic license.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A lonely, educated, young poet/painter renowned for his art has 8 wives and secretly knows martial arts, Tong Bak Fu went out to seek happiness. He stumbled upon Wah Fu (House of the Wah Family), where a beautiful young maid, Chow Heung (Gong Li), worked. In his attempt to get to know her, Tong Bak Fu disguised himself as a poor man and got himself recruited as a lowly servant in Wah Fu. As it turns out, the Wah family Matriarch was an enemy of the Tong family due to the fact that she once loved Tong's father, but lost the battle for his attention.

Tong finds life as a servant very difficult until one night he is caught helping when a band of ruffians attempt to kidnap and rape Chow Heung. This results in Mrs. Wah discovering that Tong is educated and Tong claims that his life was ruined by Tong Bak Fu. Tong is then hired as a tutor for the Wah family's two young sons, both of whom are mentally deformed.

Subsequently, the Wah family is visited by the King and in a 'friendly' competition, insults him by ripping his priceless Tong Bak Fu painting of the Phoenix. In a bid to save the family from disgrace, Tong claims that there is a copy a priceless Tong Bak Fu painting in the possession of the family and he leaves with Chow Heung to fetch it. Tong then paints the picture and presents it to the king, but in the process reveals his identity to Chow Heung and Mrs. Wah. Mrs. Wah then proceeds to poison him.

The king sends his right hand man, the evil scholar (Gordon Liu), a skilled martial artist who wields a sword, to avenge his pride. The evil scholar also has a history with the Tong family. In the past, Tong's father was killed in a competition with the evil scholar to determine who wielded the deadliest weapon (Evil Scholar's sword or the Tong family spear). There is a big fight where Tong kills the Evil Scholar and earns Chow Heung's Hand in marriage has a reward. Mrs. Wah puts on a 'game' to test Tong's love for Chow Heung, but eventually he marries her