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Francis (Chow Yun-Fat) is the laziest cop on the force with the
reputation of being a womanizer, and he only doesn't get fired because his
boss is also his uncle. Then though, uncle gives Francis a new partner,
Michael (Conan Lee), a young and energetic cop, and the two are to bust a
drug ring. Their only clue to the ring though is pretty Mary-Donna (Nina
Li-Chi), the sister of Poison Snake Ping (Phillip Ko), a drugrunner for
Big Brother, but she doesn't want to have to do anything with the two ...
until of course Poison Snake Ping is found dead and Big Brother's gang is
after her. You see, Poison Snake Ping stole a fortune worth in drugs from
Big Brother to sell it himself for a better future for him and his sister,
but he got found out, and Big Brother is anything but happy about it. Soon,
Mary-Donna is taken into police custody by Francis and Michael, and she
gradually falls in love with Michael, too - and when in a sting operation,
Francis, Michael and the police force manage to arrest Big Brother, that
should amount to a happy ending, right? Wrong, because Big Brother's men
are quick to strike back, and in an attack on Francis' place, they kill
Mary-Donna and take Francis' sister Mimi (Shirley Ng), whom Michael has in
the meantime fallen in love with, hostage, to exchange her against Big
Brother. So Michael and Francis have to free Big Bropther from police
custody as bait for his gang, then take on the gang all by themselves to
not only put an end to its operations but also to break Mimi free. Need
I say it ends happily? This film features quite a few 1970's Shaw
Brothers veterans, like Gordon Liu, who at the climax engages in a
chainsaw duel with Conan Lee, Ti Lung, with whom Conan Lee fights it out
in a bar, and David Chiang, who has a less exciting role as the police
super intendant.
Tiger on the Beat is definitely no masterpiece, and yet it's
Hong Kong filmmaking at its best: It's incredibly fast-paced with hardly a
dull moment, combines silly comedy with ultra-violence, and features many
brilliantly staged action scenes like car-chases with a car-hopping Conan
Lee or above-mentioned chainsaw duel. Plus Chow Yun-Fat gives a quite
accomplished comic performance. All that said, this is not the best film
you have ever seen, yet you will be thoroughly entertained nevertheless.
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