This magnificent crime-action is a rarity of the genre
during the The Golden Era of Hong Kong film. Let's
forget about a master like John Woo, Chow Yun Fat and elegant bullet
ballet because this is something
totally different. The Long Arm of the Law has got a more realistic
approach to it's subject. A Desperate
Crime Action without any well known star actors and with non-actors
but well acted and masterfully
directed by Johnny Mak, and it's very good, even GREAT.
Today LAOTL is considered a Classic and one of the best HK films ever
made, but that's in HK,
unfortunately Long Arm of the Law is very, VERY underrated if not completely
unknown in the West.
But, that's the case for many of the best HK films and maybe this is
The Best Unknown Hong Kong
Movie here in the West.

In this deliciously gritty crime movie we get to follow
a gang of mainland criminals on their "adventurous"
journey from China to the rich Hong Kong in quest for a suitable place
to rob. This was the old times when
China still was "Communistic/Socialistic" and isolated and
passages over the border were troublesome.
Well, their adventure ends unhappily in a cramped space in the old Kowloon
Walled City in a truly desperate
shoot-out with the police. The old Walled City that is no more, pulled
down. This shoot-out are masterfully
shot, it's claustrophobic, cramped and full of Angst and it's hypnotically
fascinating to follow these criminals
last moments in life.
The Feel Bad ending, one of the most powerful i've ever seen on film,
what a great film this is, HK Noir at it's
best . Director, co-producer Johnny Mak really made everything work,
but haven't directed any film later.
In the commentary we're told why. Because of the crazy burning car scene
where the Big Circle Gang ties up
Shum Wai's Tai inside a car and then pours gasoline all over it and
put it on fire. A surprise for the actor,
and what if the fire extinguisher hadn't worked fast enough and the
tank would've exploded ?
Above: The Unhappy New Year at the The End of Johnny
Mak's Masterpiece
Yes, i love Hong Kong crime-action and certainly so
the slick great-looking but unrealistic Gun Play
of a John Woo or a Ringo Lam in their Bullet Ballet type of films as
A Better Tomorrow, Bullet in the
Head or Full Contact. But Long Arm of the Law was made before John Woo
let Chow Yun Fat explode
on the screen in Bullet Ballet in 1986 and I much prefer the grittier
style of Johnny Mak.
It was great to see that a director like Dante Lam re-animated this
dirtier more realistic style of crime-action
in his beautiful neo-noirish crime movies The Beast Stalker in 2008
and Fire of Conscience in 2009, and
he obviously was inspired by this Johnny Mak's masterpiece.
When i write this I must sadly confess that the Gun Play movies of John
Woo or Ringo Lam from the
1980's and 1990's feels a bit dated and a film like LAOTL feel more
modern with it's gritty realistic style
Why is that? I guess because of the sensation these Gun Play movies
caused in the west among the
more adventurous film fans .... and in Hollywood too. And not just the
Shit Factory but every other film
industry in the world jumped on the train and made film after film after
.... using the Bullet Ballet style
and finally made this type of crime action movies feel generic.
Yes, sure, Long Arm of the Law is known for it's Heroic Bloodshed too
and even though there certainly
are some Gunplay in it the film isn't made in the hyper-stylized unrealistic
way that John Woo or Ringo
used in their films.
Gunplay movies that were popular in HK 1986-1996 and in the rest of
the world for another decade.
Above: The first early HK Mega star DVD edition
Above: The sequel in HK Mega Star DVD edition
The 1987 sequel directed by Michael Mak co-produced
by Johnny Mak was also a fine and gritty
crime action if not as masterful as the first, and with good acting
especially from Elvis Tsui.
The film features mainland cops and ex PLA soldiers trying to infiltrate
a Hong Kong crime syndicate
and it's a good if not great film. Michael Mak is best known for his
classic softcore movie Sex & Zen
(with category III legend Amy Yip in her only fully nude role) and his
somewhat confusing Wuxia
Butterfly and Sword with Michelle Yeoh. These Hong Kong Mega Star editions
were letterboxed
The Story of LAOTL- with - WARNING!!
SPOILERS below
.................................................................................................
.................................................................................................
In the intro of the film we get to see the Mainland
chinese Big Tung (David Lam Wai) sitting
on a
train leaving the Kowloon station and on his way home to his brothers
in the O-Gang AKA The
Big Circle Gang. Big Tung or Brother Tung is a notorious gangster and
the info flashing by on
the screen show us his background. He's an ex-PLA soldier and a Revolutionary
guard who has
slided into crime and in Hong Kong he's one of the most wanted criminals.
The Big Circle Gang consists of 6 members - Tung,
Chubby or Fat Gu (Wong Kin), Ah Chung
(Chang Lung or Kong Lun), Blockhead (Lee
Ying-git), Rooster (Chan Ging) and Bull's
Eye (Lam
Seung-sam) and they plan to rob a jewellery store in Hong Kong and then
to immediately return
to mainland China with enough of riches to pimp up their dirtpoor mainland
lives. This was 1984
and the Chinese economic wonder hadn't happened yet.
Armed and ready they leave on foot for the border, the heavily guarded
border by soldiers and
dogs and one of them, Bull's Eye, is killed by the guards but 5 of them
reach their destination
in Hong Kong, the paradise of luxury and wealth.
.
But things start to go wrong, the quick in and out of HK robbery fails
when the jewellery store
already have been robbed and they're unwillingly forced to stay in Hong
Kong over The New
Year. To do this they need money and they've to loan money from the
small-time gangster Tai
(well acted by Shum Wai, awarded with the best supporting actor award
at the 1985 Hong Kong
Film Awards). Big Tung decides that the gang will make another try some
days later, and he wants
to treat his buddies to some Hong Kong nightlife including prostitutes
on New Years Eve.

Above: DVD edition from Deltamac
To get the loan from Tai Tung's gang must do him a favour, "a little
murder" and a spectacular
murder scene is filmed at an indoor shopping centre skating rink. But,
the seemingly random
victim is an undercover policeman and the Hong Kong police is furious
and soon there's a
Dragnet on looking for the unlucky gang. Something that finally leads
to fantastic shoot-out
in the Walled City of Kowloon.
One of the most magnificent
shoot-outs ever made for sure - Goosebumps - Crime noir at
it's best and .... maybe the most depressing christmas movie ever made
The gang did get their money finally but were caught
in a massive police trap, and then
escaped to the nearby Kowloon, into the fascinating Walled City with
it's maze of cramped
alleys and dead ends. With No Way out the most claustrophobic and desperate
shoot-out
ever caught on film ensues, and Long Arm of the Law ends with maybe
the greatest Feel Bad
ending ever put on film. Insanely GREAT movie this is and a necessary
viewing for every
fan of crime-action. Officially ranked as the 6th best Hong Kong film
ever made.
Specs for the 2008 Hong
Kong Fortune Star re-mastered DVD:
Anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 with a cantonese audio DTS, 5.1 or the
original 2.0 with
english subtitles (or mandarin dub 5.1). Extras: original movie trailer,
a new edited trailer,
stills gallery and a slideshow.
Wow! This one i would like to have in my collection as a blu-ray but
will probably be
released without subs.
Note: Please scroll to the top of this page. US 88 Films has released
Long Arm of the Law
Part 1 and 2 in a special 2 disc 2K restored Blu-ray edition in 2023.
Finally a Blu-ray.