Excellent eighties action-comedy stars Chow Yun-Fat as a lazy cop who gets teamed with a buff new partner (the under appreciated Conan Lee). From there, the pair basically screw around for ninety minutes, but it’s a damn fun ninety minutes. Their first assignment is discovering who was responsible for a drug scam gone wrong. They tail the buxom Nina Li to find some clues, which leads them to bad guy Norman Chu and his vicious right-hand man, the even badder Gordon Liu. Then all hell breaks loose. 

A very typical HK flick, Tiger on the Beat contains the usual breakneck pacing, magnified emotions, and poor political correctness that made eighties HK Cinema so damn amusing. Lastly, it contains action - tons of it. Chow gives us the gunplay with a few well-choreographed bits, but it’s Conan Lee who steals the show with some terrific stuntwork and some amazing fight sequences. This is one of those films where every punch or fall can make the viewer wince reflexively. Unfortunately, film possesses a misogyny that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Why Chow Yun-Fat slaps so many women around in his movies is beyond me. Still, this is a must-see for those that like their HK Cinema nonsensical and loaded to the teeth with jaw-dropping moments. (Kozo 1998)

image courtesy of Universe Laser & Video Co., Ltd.