''Gunmen'' is a 1988 Hong Kong action

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

produced by

Tsui Hark Tsui Hark (, vi, Từ Khắc, born 15 February 1950), born Tsui Man-kong, is a Hong Kong film director, producer and screenwriter. Tsui has directed several influential Hong Kong films such as ''Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain'' (1983), the ...

, directed by

Kirk Wong Kirk Wong (黃志強; born March 28, 1949) is a Hong Kong film director and actor. Wong is best known for action films '' Crime Story'' and ''The Big Hit''. Wong's other films like ''Health Warning'', ''Organized Crime & Triad Bureau'', and '' R ...

and starring Tony Leung,

Adam Cheng Adam Cheng Siu-chow (born 24 February 1947) is a Hong Kong TVB actor and Cantopop singer. Career Cheng started his career in the 1970s, where he gained a reputation for playing the lead roles in TVB ''Wuxia'' drama series based on the works of ...

and

Waise Lee Waise Lee Chi-hung (born 19 December 1959) is a Hong Kong film and television actor best known for playing the roles of villains and antagonists in various films. Biography Lee graduated from TVB's Artist Training Academy in 1982 and was from the ...

. The film was released in Hong Kong theatrically before

Hong Kong motion picture rating system The Hong Kong motion picture rating system () is a legal system of movie screening and rating. An official government agency issues ratings for any movie that will be shown in Hong Kong cinemas. History At the beginning of the film industry i ...

took effort; afterwards, the film was rated Category III for the home video release.

Plot

During the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, a group of war friends Ting Kwan-pik, Cheung, Lau Fuk-kwong and Cheung Cho-fan were captured and brutally tortured by officer Haye. After they escape, Ting headed to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

and became a cop. Ting is also one of the few righteous, incorruptible cops in Shanghai. Although the police force consists mostly of corrupt cops, the superintendent is an honest man. One time during a drug raid, Ting kills Haye's uncle, Leung. Haye, who has now became an opium smuggler, vows of revenge and later kills Ting's partner. Ting also swears revenge, and with nobody else helping, he tracks down his war friends and enlists their help to outlaw opium smuggling.

Cast

Tony Leung Ka-fai Tony Leung Ka-fai (; born 1 February 1958) is a Hong Kong actor who is a four-time winner of the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor. As he is often confused with actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Tony Leung Ka-fai is known as "Big Tony," while Tony Leu ...

as Ting Kwan-pik *

as Haye *

as Captain Cheung *

Mark Cheng Mark Cheng Ho-nam (born 6 October 1964) is a Hong Kong actor. He made his name with his first starring role in the movie ''Cupid One'' with Sally Yeh. He is also known for his role as "Lam Wing" in the 1996 film ''Tai Chi Boxer'' and FuXi in '' M ...

as Lau Fuk-kwong *

David Wu David Wu (born April 8, 1955) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1999 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. As a child of immigrants from Taiwan, Wu was the first Taiwanese American to serve in ...

as Cheung Cho-fan *

Elvis Tsui Elvis Tsui Kam-kong (born October 12, 1961) is a Hong Kong actor and artist. Tsui is primarily known for his roles in erotic films and martial arts films, where he's more often cast as villains. Some of the famous characters he has portrayed repe ...

as Superintendent *

Carrie Ng Carrie Ng (born 1963) is a Hong Kong actress well known for both Category-III cult and mainstream films. She won Best Actress at the 1993 Golden Horse Film Festival awards for her performance in ''Remains of a Woman'' and Best Supporting Actre ...

as Cho Chiu * Elizabeth Lee as Mona Fong Siu-man *Andrew Kam as Uncle Leung *Ho Leng-leng as Sze-sze *Yuen Bun as Captain Keung *Wong Kam-kong as Tsou *Chui Po-lun as Ting Kwan-pik's subordinate *Cho King-man *Wong Hung as Fatty *Stewart Tam as Station Inspector *Chu Tau as Brother San *Kam Piu as interpreter for France Ambassador *Jackson Ng as Haye's thug *Chiu Kwok-chi as corrupt cop *James Ha as opium maker *Lau Fong-sai as Cheung *Law Kam-fai *Nip Wang-fung *Ng Kwok-kin as cop *Shing Fu-on as Haye's soldier *Lui Tou-cheung *Choi Man-hung *Lung Ying as Hung's thug *Ho Wing-cheung as Haye's thug *Kong Long as opium maker *

Tin Kai-man Tin Kai-Man, also spelled Tin Kai-mun, is a Hong Kong actor and production manager, most notable for his role in '' Shaolin Soccer''. A well-known friend of Stephen Chow, he began acting in his films with the 1994 '' Hail the Judge''. Tin also work ...

as Haye's thug *Yeung Sing as Haye's thug *Lam Tit-ching as Haye's thug *Ho Chi-moon as Superintendent's assistant *Hui Sze-man as prostitute *James M. Crockett as French ambassador

Box office

The film grossed HK$4,825,777 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run from 22 October to 7 November 1988 in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

External links

*
''Gunmen''
at

Hong Kong Cinemagic Hong Kong Cinemagic, sometimes referred to as HKCinemagic, is a bilingual ( French and English) website providing a repository for information about Chinese language films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and the people who created them. The websi ...

*
''Gunmen'' film review
at LoveHKFilm.com {{Kirk Wong 1988 films 1988 action thriller films 1988 crime drama films Hong Kong action thriller films Hong Kong crime films Hong Kong drama films Triad films Police detective films 1980s Cantonese-language films Films set in the 1930s Films set in Shanghai Films about the illegal drug trade 1980s Hong Kong films