''Her Fatal Ways'' is a 1990 Hong Kong

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 ...

-comedy film. It is

directed Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

and

written Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...

Alfred Cheung Alfred Cheung '' (; born 28 December 1955) is a Chinese actor, director, writer and producer. Early life Cheung's mother, with one suitcase and two children, left their hometown in China in order to find better opportunities in Hong Kong. Cheung ...

Kin Ting and stars Carol "Dodo" Cheng,

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 ...

, Sunny Fang Kang, Michael Chow,

Sheila Chan Sheila Chin (陳淑蘭, Pinyin: Chen Shulan) is a Hong Kong actress. She was elected First Runner-Up and Miss Photogenic at the 1988 Miss Hong Kong Pageant. Filmography * ''All's Well, Ends Well 2009'' (2009) * ''Love is not All Around'' (20 ...

and the Director himself. The film won the 10th

Hong Kong Film Award The Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA; ), founded in 1982, is an annual film awards ceremony in Hong Kong. The ceremonies are typically in April. The awards recognise achievement in various aspects of filmmaking, such as directing, screenwriting, act ...

for the Best Actress. This film takes place in Hong Kong, where

Mainland Chinese Mainland Chinese or Mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC), ...

MPS officer Cheng Shih-nan (Cheng) extradites drug-dealer Wong Ti (Chow) to the

Royal Hong Kong Police The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Police Force (RHKPF) reverted to its former name after the t ...

. Unfortunately, Wong escapes and Cheng is forced by the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...

to stay abroad in Hong Kong and assist Chief Inspector Wu Wei-kuo (Leung) to track down Wong, as well as his boss, So Kuo Jung (Fang). The

cultural differences Cultural diversity is the quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to monoculture, the global monoculture, or a homogenization of cultures, akin to cultural evolution. The term "cultural diversity" can also refer to having different cu ...

between Hong Kong and Mainland China and her rivalry with Wu's father, a former military officer of

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

, become a big headache for Cheng, a loyal member of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

Plot

The prologue opens with MPS officer Cheng (

Carol Cheng Carol Cheng Yu Ling (Traditional Chinese: 鄭裕玲; born 9 September 1957), is a Hong Kong film/television actress and host. Arguably one of the most famous celebrities to have emerged during the British colonial period, Cheng made her break i ...

) and her nephew Hsiao-Sheng (

) riding on a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

to Hong Kong. They are depicted as deep-rooted

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...

and uncivilised people, singing ''

My Motherland "My Motherland" () is a song written for the Chinese movie '' Battle on Shangganling Mountain'' (1956). Lyrics were written by Qiao Yu (). Music was composed by Liu Chi (). Both of them are well known for a number of songs since the 1950s. It rema ...

'', smoking, spitting and using

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

. Simultaneously, Superintendent Cheng (Lam Chung) briefs Chief Inspector Wu (

) about a criminal case – Wong Ti, aka Niu ( Michael Chow), who admits to

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

drugs from the Golden Triangle to Hong Kong, is seeking to escape the

PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

's capital punishment by helping the Royal Hong Kong Police prosecute his boss, drug dealer Su Kuo-Jung (Sunny Fang Kang). That is why Cheng is on her way escorting Wong to Hong Kong. Cheng orders Wu to receive Wong and to show Cheng around. Reluctantly, Wu handles the case, and meets Cheng at a cross-border coach station and is shocked to realize that Wong is abused by Cheng and packed in a small bag for delivery. With an

oxygen mask An oxygen mask provides a method to transfer breathing oxygen gas from a storage tank to the lungs. Oxygen masks may cover only the nose and mouth (oral nasal mask) or the entire face (full-face mask). They may be made of plastic, silicone, or r ...

, the police manage to save Wong from a coma. The police detain Wong in an ad hoc command post (a local apartment) and Cheng's mission is over. Cheng visits the headquarters of the police. She fails to understand how the advanced information technology improves working efficiency, but after an experience of a

lie detector A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked and ...

malfunctioning, she claims that machines are unreliable while human resources always come first. Wu expects to accommodate Cheng in a hotel, but due to the travellers' peak season, Cheng and Sheng are unwittingly arranged to stay in a

hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared b ...

Kowloon Tong Kowloon Tong () is an area of Hong Kong located in Kowloon. The majority of the area is in the Kowloon City District. Its exaclocationis south of the Lion Rock, north of Boundary Street, east of the East Rail line and west of Grampian Road. It i ...

and accidentally encounter simply programmes on TV and a vibrating bed. Back at the regional branch, Wong distracts and knocks down the guards and escapes. Cheng criticizes the so-called efficiency of the police and refuses to help retrieve Wong. However,

General Secretary of the CCP The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader o ...

Zhao Ziyang Zhao Ziyang ( zh, 赵紫阳; pronounced , 17 October 1919 – 17 January 2005) was a Chinese politician. He was the third premier of the People's Republic of China from 1980 to 1987, vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 198 ...

phones Cheng and threatens her that she will be exiled to the desolate Daxinganling if she fails to catch Wong (as this may mean she is not a good public servant). Cheng then becomes active in tracing Wong and expresses her wish that the Hong Kong police will work under her command. But her proposals of arresting Su will surely be rejected by the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

as they are violating human rights and are unlawful in Hong Kong. This heightens the disputes between Cheng and CIP Wu. Dissatisfied by the Hong Kongers' hesitation, Cheng goes and confronts Su in his office alone. Su refuses to talk about Wong and expels Cheng. Having known that Cheng may bring him troubles, Su sends his

henchmen A henchman (''vernacular:'' "hencher"), is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organization: minions whose value lies prim ...

to assassinate her. Though Cheng and Hsiao-Sheng are safe, they must be moved to other places for protection. Superintendent Mok (Lam Chung) suggests letting them stay at Wu's house to protect and monitor Cheng. Mok claims that their joint-venture will bring Wu a good career perspective even after the

transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

. However Cheng's appearance leads to a micro civil war between her and Wu's pro-

father, Colonel Wu Tien-Tsu (Lam Kau). Overnight, propaganda warfare is conducted by them singing patriotic songs through the wall in between. The next morning at breakfast, they challenge each other in forms of military uniforms and choice of left(ist) or right(ist)

appendage An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body. In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...

. Soon they are temporarily mediated by Wu, who is

ambidextrous Ambidexterity is the ability to use both the right and left hand equally well. When referring to objects, the term indicates that the object is equally suitable for right-handed and left-handed people. When referring to humans, it indicates that ...

(Neutral) wearing a uniform of Hong Kong Police. Niu gets in contact with his brother and tries to escape from Hong Kong. He contacts Su for help but Su sends henchmen to kill him. Niu survives the shootout, but his brother is injured. A witness of the shootout finds a letter from his brother telling Niu that he is living at a beautiful village called Sau Mau Ping. The police thus send detectives to inquire the villagers about Niu's whereabouts. Cheng, using her

interpersonal skills A social skill is any competence facilitating interaction and communication with others where social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning these skills is called social ...

, socializes with the

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

-born villagers and gets the address of a karaoke bar where Niu frequents. At the karaoke bar, Cheng proves to be a bad singer but good at drinking. Shortly afterwards, it is confirmed that Niu regularly meets his lover, Hsuen-Pi (

), at the bar. The squad then spy on Hsuen-Pi. Returning home, Cheng finds Hsiao-Sheng wearing a

National Revolutionary Army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in China ...

uniform with Colonel Wu and his fellow veterans, intoxicated. Cheng considers this "counter-revolutionary behavior" and decides to challenge the veterans to a drinking contest; she wins, still fully conscious. Wu takes Cheng to see the night view of Hong Kong and as they return home on the elevator, Cheng sees the "dark side" of Hong Kong as a power outage occurs. When the lights are on again, they find themselves holding each other's hands. Cheng gets his first taste of love. In embarrassment, they go on working. This time, Cheng and Hsiao-Sheng decide to pretend to be Niu's lawful wife and get Niu's contact from Hsuen-Pi. But Niu is actually hiding in Hsuen-Pi's house and after a fight with Cheng, he successfully escapes again. Later, Wu receives information that Niu will rob a jewellery shop. Detectives are scattered around the shop to spot Niu but their cover is later revealed as Chan drops his revolver when he tries to save a girl in the middle of the road. The police and Niu's duet exchange fire in the crowded street and after a long chase they meet each other at a narrow corridor inside a building. Cheng, shoots Niu's partner down with excellent marksmanship but Niu gets away for the third time. Frustrated by the situation, Mok offers a three-day limit for Wu and Cheng to arrest Niu. Failure to do so will post Wu to

Tai A Chau Tai A Chau is an uninhabited island of Hong Kong, part of the Soko Islands group, located south of Lantau Island. It is referred to as South Soko Island in some media articles. Geography With an area of 1.2 km², Tai A Chau is the larges ...

Detention Centre and send Cheng back to China. New information shows that Su is meeting some potential drug dealers in nightclubs and the police need female

undercover To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an indi ...

s to listen in on their conversations. Cheng voluntarily becomes the undercover and as Su brings her home, he meets Niu. Niu requests three million dollars from Su to flee and claims that the drug stocks stored at San Yik Godown is worth 20 million dollars. As Su finally kills Niu after a long bargain, Cheng escapes Su and goes to the wrong San Yik Godown. Cheng interrogates the keepers of the wrong godown with torture, and gets arrested. She is imprisoned and ready to be sent back to China. Wu reads through receipts of the godowns and finds out the correct Sun Yik Godown for it has stored many seeds of

cannabis sativa ''Cannabis sativa'' is an annual Herbaceous plant, herbaceous flowering plant indigenous to East Asia, Eastern Asia, but now of cosmopolitan distribution due to widespread cultivation. It has been cultivated throughout recorded history, used as ...

for producing marijuana. The squad breaks into the godown and finds actual

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

. However, Hsiao-Sheng is caught by the godown workers and their plan is destroyed by Su, who is armed. Su and his workers ties up the squad and is about to burn them with petroleum. Suddenly, the light goes out and the Nationalist veterans appear to save the squad. Wu runs forward and fights with Su. Finally, the situation is under control. While Superintendent Mok arrives and daydreams about his promotion to Commissioner of Police, Cheng and Colonel Wu finally become friends and achieve a collaboration between the Communists and the Nationalists. At the border, Cheng gives Wu a letter, expressing her apologies for her bad temper and thankfulness during this working tour in Hong Kong. She admits that it is the first time she held a man's hand and that this memory is precious. Finally, she looks forward to opportunities for cooperation after 1997.

Casting

* Carol "Dodo" Cheng as Cheng Shih-nan (鄭碩男), aka Sister Cheng (鄭大姐), an MPS officer from

, born of a

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

mother and formerly

multilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

. Her name literally means "bulky man". *

as Chief Inspector Wu Wai-kwok (伍衛國), a chief of a

Hong Kong Police The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong. The Royal Hong Kong Police Force (RHKPF) reverted to its former name after the t ...

CID CID may refer to: Film * ''C.I.D.'' (1955 film), an Indian Malayalam film * ''C.I.D.'' (1956 film), an Indian Hindi film * ''C. I. D.'' (1965 film), an Indian Telugu film * ''C.I.D.'' (1990 film), an Indian Hindi film Television * ''CID'' ( ...

squad *

Kin-Ting as Hsiao-Sheng (小勝), nephew and assistant of Cheng, with unstable

extra-sensory perception Extrasensory perception or ESP, also called sixth sense, is a claimed paranormal ability pertaining to reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke Universit ...

recognised by the

* Lam Kau as Colonel Wu Tien-tzu (伍天賜), CIP Wu's father, retired commander of 391st Brigade, 131st Division of the

* Sunny Fang Kang as Su Kuo-Jung (蘇國榮), a Hong Kong-based

Chinese herbal medicine Chinese herbology () is the theory of traditional Chinese herbal therapy, which accounts for the majority of treatments in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). A ''Nature'' editorial described TCM as "fraught with pseudoscience", and said that t ...

importer, localised product merchant and leader of

Kaifong association Kaifong associations ( Chinese: 街坊會) or kaifong welfare associations ( Chinese: 街坊福利會) are traditional mutual aid organisations which emerged in Hong Kong after the Second World War. They were set up with the help of the Secre ...

, accused of participating in the illegal drug trade, as well as prostitution, operating illegal casinos and smuggling * Michael Chow as Wong Ti (王弟), aka Niu (阿牛), So's agent in Yunnan * Lam Chung as Superintendent Mok (莫警司), CIP Wu's superior * Pal Sinn Lap-Man as Chan Fuk-sang (陳復生), member of CIP Wu's squad * Emotion Cheung Kam-Ching as "Chairman Mao" (「巫主席」), member of CIP Wu's squad *

as Suet-pik (雪碧), a nightclub singer and lover of Wong *

Sunny Chan Sunny Chan Kam-hung (born 1 January 1967) is a Hong Kong television and film actor. Career His film role the 1998 Hong Kong film '' Hold You Tight'' was the role that made him well known to the Chinese and East Asian public, and for which he ...

as Witness, who witnesses and reports the shootout between Wong and So's henchmen *

Cho Tat-wah Walter Tso Tat-Wah (15 September 1915 – 10 January 2007) was a film actor of Hong Kong, most famous for the roles he played in a number of ''Wuxia'' films in the 1950s and 1960s. The names Cho Tat-wah and Shih Kien were synonymous to "good ...

as a

commander

Awards and nominations

The 1990 – 10th

for the Best Actress was awarded to

Sequels

The film later got three sequels, ''Her Fatal Ways II'' in 1991, ''Her Fatal Ways III'' in 1993, and ''Her Fatal Ways IV'' in 1994.

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=tt0101442 1990 films 1990s Cantonese-language films Golden Harvest films Hong Kong films