Police Woman

A young woman trying to leave her life of crime is being hunted by the very gang she is trying to escape. While on the run she gets into the cab of un-expecting driver Chien Chin (Charlie Chin). To his horror while in the cab she suddenly dies. Now Chin has become the gang’s target, they believe that he has the woman’s purse (it’s an important purse). Chin gets the aid of the dead woman’s sister, who happens to be a policewoman. So together they try to figure out the secret behind this missing purse, and find it, before the gang finds them.

This is not such a bad film, but it’s far from great. The biggest problem isn’t the film itself, but it’s of course Jackie Chan being credited as the star, which speaks for most of his early films which he played a supporting role in. Also there is no decent version that I know of, only cheaply produced and horribly dubbed bargain bin DVDs and VHS'. Now, if we look past all that, this is not a really bad film. It has a story which is nothing we have not seen before, and I for one really like Charlie Chin, and thought he did a great job. In fact he is the biggest reason I enjoyed the film as much as I did.

The action is weak, and the music is kind of cheesy to say the least, but I enjoyed it for what it was. I believe there will never be a properly re-mastered version with original language tracks. So this is what we get.

As for Jackie Chan, this is very early on in his career. In fact I think this may be one of the first times you see his face this clearly on screen. At this point he was not an international superstar by any means. Everyone had to start somewhere, and to be honest you will not find many good Jackie Chan films that pre-dates his career launching "Snake in the Eagles Shadow". As for the infamous mole on his face, Bey Logan once said that in HK films they use stick on facial features like moustaches to help distinguish apart the on screen actors so people can easily tell them apart if they look similar. Could this be why??

It really bugs me when western companies take early films with famous people in small roles, and mis-lead people to make some bucks. However, on the other hand if Jackie was not in this film, it probably would never have seen the light of day outside its domestic market. So for that, I guess I can be thankful...

A Film by Hdeng Tsu

5.5/10