Two mis-matched cops (Chow Yun-Fat and Conan Lee) are teamed up together in a mission to smash a cocaine ring headed by westerners with the help of a Thai contact. His sister (future Mrs Jet Li, Nina Li Chi) unwittingly gets involved and it’s up to the two cops to trail her and find out what she knows.

Although the cop “buddy” films had already been done to death in the US, it’s worth pointing out that there weren’t too many of them in Hong Kong, and this is certainly a worthy entry in the genre. Although Cinema City were no match for the relative splendour of Golden Harvest, the studio does a decent job production-wise. This one’s helmed by Lau Kar-Leung, of Shaw Brothers fame, and his old-school roots show through the gritty urban setting. You even have cameos by two of the company’s biggest money-spinners in the glory days of the early 70’s. David Chiang plays the Police Commissioner in a sadly actionless capacity, but Ti Lung gets to show he can still cut it with the next generation. His cameo consists of him beating the crap out of the “star that never was” Conan Lee. Rumour has it that this fight was meant to be much longer, but Conan couldn’t hack it. Full marks then to Ti Lung!

Like it or not, eastern audiences preferred to see Chow Yun-Fat in romantic films or comedies. The “Heroic Bloodshed” films that were so popular in the west didn’t fare as well in their home territory, and subsequently this film was a massive hit in 1988. Here he plays a somewhat seedy and cowardly cop who wets himself when faced with danger, but still performs when the chips are down. I’d like to have seen Mel Gibson try to pull that one off!

Conan Lee is a different case entirely. He plays a young, headstrong idealistic cop. It’s a shame that he thwarted his career at seemingly every step, as he could have been a serious contender for Jackie Chan’s monopoly on 80’s action films. Apparently blacklisted for breaking his contract with Ng See-Yuen (presumably after NINJA IN THE DRAGON’S DEN), he made just a handful of films, and arguably none as solid as this.

So, Nina Li-Chi…

I must admit I was turned off this film entirely when I first saw it ten years ago because of the frankly shocking treatment she receives at the hands (and feet) of Chow Yun-Fat later in the film. Now, braced for the scene, it didn’t seem quite as bad, but it’s still brutal and out of place. Apparently, Li-Chi was something of a target of dislike amongst Hong Kong citizens for her outward beauty and lack of proper Cantonese skills, and people actually WANTED to see her get the crap kicked out of her. Odd! Chow Yun-Fat at least has the decency to say that he didn’t enjoy the scene…

The final showdown is a perfect case of “old school in new clothes” when Chow and Lee confront the drug lords. We get two new takes on the swordplay classics of the 60’s and early 70’s when Chow takes on the westerner and Lee takes on ANOTHER Shaw veteran Lau Kar-Fai. In Chow’s fight, he attaches a machete on to his shotgun to compete with his enemy’s bayoneted rifle. The result could easily have been from one of the ONE-ARMED SWORDSMEN films or HAVE SWORD, WILL TRAVEL. Conan Lee’s bout finds him using another variant on the swordplay theme by going one-on-one with Lau Kar-Fai – with chainsaws! Excellent stuff.

Sadly, director Lau-Kar-Leung couldn’t capitalise on this hit and he’s pretty much forgotten for his forays into modern-day Heroic Bloodshed filmmaking. So much so that I remember reading that Joel Silver (producer of the LETHAL WEAPON films) once praised the “rope-trigger” shotgun gag of this film as being an example of the creative genius of…John Woo. Ouch!

As a footnote, if you liked this film you should also see CURRY AND PEPPER, which is another superior “buddy cop” thriller, but with funnier jokes.