Undiscovered Gem - Tiger On The Beat

Undiscovered Gems

As a film enthusiast I am always trying to broaden my horizons, expand my collection and knowledge, to do this my viewing habits tend to go in different genres, at this present point I have been on a major Hong Kong Cinema kick of the rare and out of print films that often get a very shoddy botched release in the U.S.A. and are given an absolute adoring hero’s welcome in the U.K. and Europe.

A quick trip to WWW.HKFLIX.COM quickly solves this problem and viewing some of the most unwatched, explosive, ruthless and brilliant films can now begin. My undiscovered gem of the week comes from 1988 and stars Chow Yun- Fat and is not directed by John Woo, the film is Tiger On The Beat, directed by the veteran HK director Chia Liang-Liu (Drunken Master 2) along with Chow Yun Fat is Connan Lee and Nina Li Chi, the story is absolutely nothing special neither is the acting, it does have that lovable silly dialogue and pantomime banter that make the 80/90’s Hong Kong films so entertaining, but let’s be honest this is not why this film is great, what you will see in this film will show the true advantage of Hong Kong action Cinema over the Hollywood System and the advantage is there isn’t a system. No studio pressure to play it safe, no reliability on test audiences to maximize its profitability, no words such as ‘rating’ or ‘marketable,’no fat producer keeping the pressure on the cast and crew by resting his penis on their shoulder. what this film offers you is some of the most outlandish stunts and action that has ever existed on film, to put this simply I will list off a few of the things that I would put on the DVD cover to try and sell it to you:

“Chow Yun-Fat being silly and funny! Not so serious!”

“A swordfight… WITH CHAINSAWS!!!!”

“A SHOTGUN… TIED TO FUC&*ING PIECE OF STRING”

Anyway I’ll stop there this film will knock any action fan out and will likely entertain most people with eyeballs and a pulse. Unfortunately there is no official U.S. release but have no fear we think of everything and if you go to the good people over at HKFLIX.COM you can buy some nice import versions.

If your in the U.K. or some other place in Europe you are privileged enough to be accessible to the amazing versions put out by Hong Kong Legends who unfortunately have stoped production and all their titles are out of print scour everysite such as play, hmv, or ebay you might just find it!