While undeserving of the Best Picture prize it collected, this Mak Brothers production is a moderately entertaining entry in the period gangster genre. However, it was clearly supposed to be more than that and, as such, fails to fully deliver on its promise. The subject is real-life gangster "Crippled" Ho (Ray Lui Leung-wai) and the film opens in 1963, with Ho's humble beginnings as a small-time criminal. He goes into a partnership with ganglord Ng Shing-kwan (Kent Cheng Chuk-see) and dirty cop "Loud" Hung (Tommy Wong Kwong-leung) to control the local heroin trade. As the years pass, Ho's powerbase and wealth grow, incurring the wrath of Ng in the process. Crippled in an assassination attempt, Ho convinces Ng's disgruntled girlfriend (Amy Yip Chi-mei) to help him frame Ng on possession charges. This act makes him an enemy of top cop Lui Ko-tin (the man behind the rampant corruption in the HK police force and a partner of Ng), who retaliates against Hung and Ho. The latter is eventually able to strike a deal with Lui (Kenneth Tsang Kong) and is given all of Ng's old territories as a result. When Ng is released from Stanley Prison several years later, Lui gives him some of Ho's territories in an attempt to avert more internal fighting, but it is clear that the two are not ready to settle their differences. The creation of the Independent Commission Against Corruption in the 70s forces Lui to take early retirement; Ho views this as his chance to eliminate Ng and rule the entire HK underworld. However, his followers have grown so complacent in the past few years, Ho’s plan seems doomed to failure.

Ray Lui gives a typically flamboyant turn as Ho (and even gained weight for the part, a la Robert DeNiro in RAGING BULL), though his scenery-chewing does not seem worthy of the Best Actor award he garnered. More impressive are Kent Cheng and Kenneth Tsang, as his uneasy partners/adversaries, and the dependable Cecilia Yip as Ho's ever-loyal wife. In spite of lavish production values and some show-stopping instances of gang warfare, this remains a somewhat empty affair, lacking the passion and memorable characters found in the best triad thrillers. Regardless, it was a major box office success, prompting the Mak Brothers to re-team Lui and director Poon Man-kit for the two-part triad epic, LORD OF EAST CHINA SEA (1993). The huge supporting cast includes Waise Lee Chi-hung, Lawrence Ng Kai-wah, Elvis Tsui Kam-kong, Lau Shun, Lo Lieh, Lau Kong, Ng Man-tat, Alvina Kong Yan-yin, Victor Hon Kwan, Chung Fat, and Frankie Chin Chi-leung (whose surname is actually Chan, but is sometimes credited in English as Frankie Chin, presumably to avoid confusion with Frankie Chan Fan-kei).

Thankfully presented on a dual-layer DVD (which is apparently now out-of-print, but not difficult to acquire), the transfer of this long feature looks dated, but adequate. The image is rather soft, though the haze and over-saturated hues may be at least partially intrinsic to Peter Pau Tak-hei’s cinematography. Unfortunately, the many untranslated intertitles and newspaper headlines from previous versions remain only in Chinese here, and the 5.1 re-mix is rather thin (the film was originally mixed in Dolby Stereo, at least). A few new gunshot foley FX have been added and there is a brief blank section during the layer change. The lengthy theatrical trailer is on hand, plus trailers for THE INSPECTOR WEARS SKIRTS, SHE SHOOTS STRAIGHT, and TIGER ON THE BEAT II, and bilingual Star’s Files for Ray Lui, Cecilia Yip, and Kent Cheng. This disc refused to spin up in my R1 Sony, but played fine in my R1 Panasonic and all-region Jaton decks.