ID me: Women On The Run

[MrBooth]

Lots of IDs needed!

http://www.hkmdb.com/db/movies/images.mhtml?id=7673&display_set=eng

1. Sleazy pimp boyfriend


2. Sleazy cop boyfriend


3. Hot chick (and sleazy pimp)


4. Cold guys


5. Bad guys


6. Thumbs up guy


7. Old guy


8. Passport dealer


9. Pretending to be Wu Ma guy


10. The chief


11. Gun guys


12. Various random canadians for bonus points :p

[Michael Kistner]

4. Cold guys: Chun Kwai Bo (at the right)
5. Bad guys: Dion/Deon Lam (with moustache)

[Brian Thibodeau]

I believe the sleazy cop boyfriend is David Lai Dai-wai. If I recall correctly, he might even go by the name David in the movie (I seem to remember Farini screaming that into a phone repeatedly around the time she figures out he's abandoned her???)

And as a Canadian, I'm almost ashamed to think those assorted Canadians in this film are from my country.

[MrBooth]

I think you're right - he's definitely one of the sleazy boyfriends, but I thought he was probably sleazy pimp. If hkcinemagic can be trusted on the matter he's sleazy cop though:

http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/people.asp?id=72#gal

I have actually met him in person, but it was about a decade after this film was made, and I can't really remember how he looked :p He was noticably more interested in talking to my cute Korean friend than me anyway

[Brian Thibodeau]

This probably sounds shallow, but the dude who plays the sleazy pimp simply LOOKS more like an actor who one might expect to see in other films (in fact, he looks vaguely familiar to me, but I doubt I'll be able to place him in anything else), while David Lai, as I saw it, brought little to the role to suggest it wasn't just clever (or cheaper!) stunt-casting.

A note from the Really Should Watch It Twice Department: I've always loved WOMEN ON THE RUN, but it wasn't until my third viewing (and my first on DVD) that I realized just how cleverly Lai and Corey Yuen disguise much of Farini Cheung's nudity in that big battle where she rips off all her clothes and kicks the stuffing out of Tamara's rapists. Not sure what was more disappointing: that there was less bush on display than I'd previous thought, or that I freeze-framed the whole damned thing to figure that out!

[MrBooth]

LOL, my thinking was similar but in reverse - I thought I'd seen sleazy cop in other films, but not sleazy pimp :p

And you're right about the nudity not being quite as nude as it appears - there's a whole bunch of image captures that didn't get uploaded that prove it Rather pointless really, going to go to such lengths to convince the audience they've seen somebody's intimate details when they haven't... not sure whose modesty that protects!

btw - it's Tamara beating up Farini's rapists rather than vice versa, isn't it?

[Brian Thibodeau]

btw - it's Tamara beating up Farini's rapists rather than vice versa, isn't it?

All that, er, freeze-framing didn't affect my eyesight that badly.

I'm still fairly certain it's Farini, the stronger-willed of the two women, especially at that point in the film, who strips down and teases the rapists to come get some. I can't remember Tamara Guo's chronology in the film precisely, but I believe she's pretty messed up at this point, or well on her way to being pretty messed up, and the gang shows up (as they apparently do in Vancouver! ) while Farini's away looking for something (help?, food?, a phone?).

And even though we don't truly see as many goodies as we think we do, what we do see of these two genuinely talented actresses is mighty appealing! Man, I'm such a sexist!

The final battle at the warehouse is awesome as well, just for "balance."

[bkasten]

Seeing this reminds me that the DB needs a new data field: camp value.

[MrBooth]

while Farini's away looking for something (help?, food?, a phone?).

Nah, Farini's been injured and is close to death, so Tamara goes out and prostitutes herself (though I think she just mugs the customers) to get money to buy food/medicine & a passport. By this point in the film, she's become the stronger one When she finds Farini being raped, she strips off to draw the thugs away from Farini, then picks up a crowbar and kicks ass... but loses and gets gang raped anyway.

If we're adding extra fields to the DB, "political incorrectness" surely has to be one :p

[Brian Thibodeau]

Seeing this reminds me that the DB needs a new data field: camp value.

If we're adding extra fields to the DB, "political incorrectness" surely has to be one

Oh, man! Where do I BEGIN?!?

Probably with any film starring Ben Ng, I suppose, but that's another thread.

Tough to imagine many Hong Kong films that wouldn't be affected by either of those fields, since so many filmmakers seem unencumbered by the rules of politics, sexuality, sociology, story-construction, gravity...

And Simon, as to the WOMEN ON THE RUN rape-fight debate, I think you've won this round, but just to be safe I'll grudgingly force myself to watch that sequence all over again tonight - repeatedly and in slow motion if I must, damn it all - to see for myself.

The things I do to aid cross-cultural understanding!

[MrBooth]

Your sacrifice will surely be appreciated!

[Brian Thibodeau]

OK, fine, you win.

It was Tamara trying to save Farini from the rapists. The ironic thing is that I wrote a small review of this years ago and in it this is exactly what I said. Somewhere along the way, but before I bought the new DVD, I must have watched the VCD and got myself all mixed up again.

As a footnote, I should point out that there IS a fair amount of Tamara's assets on display during this fight, even if said parts are often kept in the shadows. The old VCD, due to it's inherently inferior quality, could easily make one think they were seeing things that weren't, in fact, visible, while the new DVD does have a somewhat brighter picture, thus revealing more, uhhh, details.

This latest viewing, done entirely for the sake of readers of this board I'll have you know, did, however, reveal one problem with fights involving women in their underwear or altogether naked in Hong Kong movies: STUNT DOUBLES. I know the HK film industry is not without a small battery of stuntwomen, but we all know it's the boys doing a lot of the more limb-threatening leaps and bounds. When for scientific understanding one is freeze-framing the action of such a combat sequence and one realizes that the panty-clad heroine is, in point of fact, a panty-clad DUDE, one can easily find the thin veil of illusion mercilessly torn asunder. In the case of WOMEN ON THE RUN, thanfully, it IS Tamara doing most of her own action, but there's a couple of fast shots where she looks a little less, shall we say, feminine... Of course, your mileage may vary, but I prefer to pretend I didn't see what I thought I saw. Sorta like the fight between Jackie Chan and those glamazons in ARMOUR OF GOD: they look kinda hot on first viewing, until you realize that the majority of the fight is Jackie fighting GUYS in blackface wearing leather bustiers and pumps. (*imitates Sideshow Bob shudder*)

All I can say is thank GOD they didn't hire a stunt double for Sophia Crawford in ESCAPE FROM BROTHEL!

[MrBooth]

until you realize that the majority of the fight is Jackie fighting GUYS in blackface wearing leather bustiers and pumps.

LOL, unfortunately I spotted that from the first time I saw it... makes it impossible to take that whole fight seriously!

OK, fine, you win.

Yay! What's my prize?

[STSH]

btw - it's Tamara beating up Farini's rapists rather than vice versa, isn't it?

Yep.

And in answer to a post above, Farini's character's boyfriend's name is indeed David.

Anyone got the end credits in screen caps ?