Mean Unlean Machine

By JAMES COLLINS

Now, let's see. How many short, overweight, non-English-speaking Chinese martial-arts experts have ever become stars of American television? While no definitive answer is possible, of course, an exhaustive study of the available data suggests that the number is zero. With the arrival of Sammo Hung, however, that figure is about to change. Hung stars in Martial Law, a new CBS drama that airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. E.T. Despite the lack of precedent, the series has won good ratings, and Hung has shown himself to be as appealing as any of TV's other leading men. To keep up with the competition, George Clooney may soon need to start kickboxing his way through ER.

Martial Law concerns Sammo Law, a detective from Shanghai, played by Hung, who has been assigned to the Los Angeles police department. In many ways it is an old-fashioned cop show, with crude plots and characterizations--but this actually makes it a pleasure to watch since it provides a B-movie charge and doesn't require the viewer to care about anyone's alcoholism or love life. What makes Martial Law distinct though is its intricate, speed-of-light action sequences and its humor, and these both derive from the talents of Hung, who has been a star of comedy-action films in Hong Kong since the 1970s. The result is a series that will win no Emmys but is highly entertaining, and whose sheer craft, at least in its choreography and acrobatics, puts most of the rest of TV to shame.

A year ago, Hung would never have imagined that he would be appearing in prime time. Last March Terry Botwick, a programming executive at CBS, learned that veteran Hong Kong action director Stanley Tong was interested in developing a martial-arts show for American TV. That's something Botwick had wanted to do for a long time, and he and Tong proposed such a series to Leslie Moonves, the head of CBS Television. CBS has a new strategy of trying to appeal to young men, and Moonves liked the idea. He ordered up a pilot, collapsing the development process, which usually takes months, into seven weeks.

The first choice for the lead was Jackie Chan, but he preferred to keep making films like his current hit Rush Hour. So Tong and his partners suggested Hung, who as another huge Hong Kong star was a logical substitute. Hung took the part because he liked the character, who is tough, street-smart and wise. "In movies and television shows, there has never been a really good Chinese lead," Hung says. "So often the Chinese look like they are very scared and shy. I said I would try a new kind of character."

Hung, 46, has starred in or directed more than 140 films, many with Chan, whom he met as a child when they attended the Beijing Opera School in Hong Kong. There they learned acting, tumbling and martial arts. Hung was older and would bully Chan, and even now, according to Chan, Hung treats him overbearingly. "He is like a Hitler," Chan says. That sentiment notwithstanding, the two are good friends. "We are very close," says Hung jokingly. "I used to beat him up every day."

Last year Hung and his wife Mina, a former Miss Hong Kong, moved to Los Angeles, where Hung hoped to direct. He didn't intend to do any acting until Tong, with whom he had often worked, proposed Martial Law. Now Hung spends 12-hour days on the set, with the occasional game of golf as his only distraction. The show has two crews working at once, one shooting the dramatic sequences and the other shooting the action. The latter crew consists of Tong and several other veterans of the Hong Kong film industry. Hung helps stage the fights, performs all his stunts and appears in the dramatic scenes. Still, he says, "the biggest challenge for me is English." Before the show went into production, he took an eight-hour-a-day Berlitz course for about three months.

Martial Law would never work if audiences didn't like and root for the main character. Of course, Hung's convex silhouette gives him personal appeal and makes his twirls and vaults all the more impressive. But he is also a fine actor, quietly funny and a little bit vulnerable. "We had to find somebody who is good in action and also has a heart," says Tong. They found him in Hung, America's least likely, most refreshing network star.

--Reported by Jeanne McDowell/Los Angeles

With reporting by Jeanne McDowell/Los Angeles