哈林行動

Tragedy behind the justice.

The conflict among the police, the gang organization, and the smugglers. More losses and pains than the gains. The director shows the pieces of reality in a drama with the thrilling actions and Gun Fu.

Unforgettable strong presence of Suen Kwok-ming

The conflict among three groups in Kawloon. The police, the gang organization, and the smugglers who are the illegal entrant living in 九龍城 (Kowloon City).

There is four protagonists. Tang Ho-kwong as a cop. Yue Ga-hei as a daughter of a boss of the gang organization. Suen Kwok-ming as a leader of the smugglers. Yik Gon-ha as an illegal entrant girl who got involved in the conflict.

Two stories run at the same time. A tragic love story between a cop and a girl of the opposite side. And the cruel life story of the smugglers. These schemes are quite typical of the early 黑幫電影 (Hong Kong Noir), but each story has an impressive drama. Above all, the strong presence of Suen Kwok-ming is unforgettable.

A good tempo, a hardcore car stunts, Gun Fu at the cleanup operation in 九龍城, and a surprising end of the gang organization. This is a well-made "Noir" in 80s. It was a much better film than I expected. There is nevertheless the good films produced by notorious Lo Wei Motion Picture.

The casts

Main casts are rather famous in TV series. Suen Kwok-ming is in Return Engagement (1990) as I know. Norman Chui appears as a boss of the gang organization. He never shows his superb Kung Fu techniques, but we see several Chinese martial art weapons in his room.

The title

The title means "Harlem operation", which is the name of a cleanup operation to the underworld of this story. I don’t know why they use a word "Harlem". It may be suggest "Crime in Harlem".

Yik Gon-ha versus Mai Kei

We know well a unique supporting actor, Mai Kei. He always appears as a pervert in a film. This time, he is a lawyer of the gang organization. At the beginning, he looks smart, bravely fights as a gangster with a machine-gun. However, in the middle of the story, he reveals his true nature, pervert and psychopathic.

He shows us a shocking scene together with a cute actress Yik Gon-ha. That’s a grotesque scene that I hate. The expression went too far. This film already has enough tension and violence, this kind of description isn’t still required.

So, the film includes the revenge of a girl against a ruffian. Yik Gon-ha versus Mai Kei, this is another highlight of the film. Take care of her revenge and the miserable end of Mai Kei! She succeeded in revenging on her enemy by herself. This is a very good direction. She should revenge by herself, not by the others.

Japanese edition DVD

Two distributors released the DVD. One was released in early 00s from a maker named "AVA". This distributor doesn’t exist anymore. They didn’t care what the film is, so the picture of Tang Ho-kwong on the cover has a mad aspect ratio.

Another was released by a maker named "Line Communications". These two discs are exactly the same edition which was simply recorded from VHS. So, the aspect ratio is 4:3. The condition of the master VHS is bad.