Lo foo chut gang (1988)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Chia-Liang Liu

Writer:

Kwok Chi Tsang (written by)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A seasoned cop (Chow Yun Fat) and his rookie partner (Conan Lee) are a pair of mismatched partners in...

Plot Keywords:

Chainsaw Fight | Chainsaw

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Yun-Fat Chow	...	Sgt. Francis Li (as Chow Yun Fat)
Nina Li Chi	...	Marydonna (as Li Chi)
Conan Lee	...	CID Officer Michael Tso
Norman Chu	...	Poison Snake Ping (as Tsui Shui Keung)
Chia Hui Liu	...	Fai, the Hitman (as Gordon Liu)
Shirley Ng	...	Mimi Li, Francis' sister
Phillip Ko	...	Heroin dealer (as Ko Fai)
Tommy Tam
David Chiang	...	Police Suprintendant (as John Keung)
James Wong	...	Police Inspector Jim Pak
Lydia Shum	...	Department store staff (as Sun Tin Ha)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chia Yung Liu	...	Sour Puss
Fui-On Shing	...	Dummy (as Sing Fui Ann)
Lung Ti	...	Loong

Also Known As:

Lao hu chu geng (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Tiger Goes on the Beat (literal English title)
Tiger on Beat (Hong Kong: English title)
Tiger on the Beat (UK) (promotional title)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:R (original rating) | South Korea:18 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Hong Kong:IIB | UK:18

Company:

Cinema City Film Productions

Trivia:

The chainsaws in the movie were not on for the fight, but actually had incense inside them to make them look like they were smoking.

Goofs:

Continuity: The amount of raw eggs in the glass in the cafe.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Francis Li: Hey, wake up! Wake up! Hey, wake up, and put on your clothes! My wife's home! Hey!
Dummy's Wife: You have a wife?
Francis Li: Whatever. Put on your clothes! I'll explain it to you another day.
Dummy's Wife: What do you mean "Put on my clothes?" This is my home!
Francis Li: Your home? Then, who's the person trying to get in?
Dummy's Wife: Oh! My husband's back!
Francis Li: Your husband? Why didn't you tell me earlier?
Dummy's Wife: I told you! You just pretended not to understand.
Francis Li: I'm deaf! When I hit on you, you should've said something!
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Running Scared (1986)

Soundtrack:

THEME SONG

Hong Kong Lethal Weapon?

'Tiger On The Beat' is considered by some to be the Hong Kong version of 'Lethal Weapon', in which Chow Yun-Fat plays Sergeant Francis Li, a police officer who has not had a promotion in 11 years due to his constantly chasing women with his irrepressible charm instead of knuckling down to his work. His supervisor gives him his big case that he needs to earn a promotion -- a drug heist that may or may not involve a group of local Thais -- and is put with antagonistic martial-arts cop Michael Tso (Conan Lee).

Unfortunately, Francis and Michael really do not see eye to eye, and clash frequently over many things. But when things hot up, can they put their differences aside for long enough, especially when their trail leads to that of a possible link to the crime, a woman named Marie-Donna (Nina Li Chi ['Twin Dragons'], who's now best known for being married to Jet Li), is thrown into the mix?

This is more of a comedy than an all-out actioner, and some possible unintentional comedy can be found in the 1980's fashions (bright yellow trousers, anyone?). The intentional humour will depend on whether you are watching an English dub (which, like many other English dubs, loses some of that comedy) or its original Cantonese with English subtitles (and those will depend on who released the version you watched). Some of the humour doesn't travel that well outside of the Cantonese-speaking market, but there's still some great one-liners in the version I saw (the DVD release by Hong Kong Legends, which also has an audio commentary from Bey Logan explaining some of the more obscure gags), and one particular one from Chow when up against a Western kung-fu fighter had me in stitches when I first saw it -- just the timing of it! Chow is actually a gifted comedy performer, and for those used to his work in 'The Killer', 'Hard-Boiled' or even 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' may be surprised at this difference. He does still get to do some action himself, though.

As with many Hong Kong 1980's movies, the main reason people lapped up these movies was because of the action sequences, and that's largely where Conan Lee comes in, although he really doesn't get that much fighting to do in the movie. He still gets to do a one-on-one encounter with Gordon Liu (recently seen in 'Kill Bill') in which they are both armed with some very unique weapons in one of the most memorable battles of this era (I won't give it away but it's crazy!). Still, there are some bits that make you really wish that things had worked out better for Conan (who's also known as Lloyd Hutchinson in other movies) in terms of his potential career as an action superstar.

One thing I should warn women in particular of, however, is a scene where Francis and Marie-Donna have a bit of a disagreement. It's something that played well to local audiences in Hong Kong, but many Westerners may object to it and it may leave an unpleasant taste in the mouth, and it wouldn't surprise me if even some Chinese-speakers found it over-the-top in today's climate.

All in all, though, while not completely great, it does have a certain retro charm, and the action in it is enjoyable.