Miao jie huang hou (1977)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Directors:

Chih-Hung Kuei
Chung Sun

Writer:

On Szeto (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 June 1977 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

Part 1 : 'Maniac' - A gang is kidnapping and raping young women. Part 2: 'Queen of Temple Street' - A gambling addict sells his wife to a brothel to pay off his debts. |

Plot Keywords:

Shot In The Back | Husband Kills Wife | Brothel Madame | Gang Rape | Female Tied Up

Cast

Fei Ai	...	Ah Wei
Shen Chan	...	Tsai (segment "Queen of Temple Street")
Chun-chiao Chao	...	Huang Ping-chao
Chia Liang Cheng
Shang-chih Cheng
Chok Chow Cheung	...	Trauma Doctor
Ging Man Fung	...	Boss Wen
Teresa Hsia Ping	...	Liu Ku
Ni-hua Jen
Annie Kuo	...	Mona Lin
Chiao-hsi Liang
Tsu Liang
Hui Huang Lin	...	Bill Chin Biao
Yang Yang Lin
Chun Liu	...	Newscaster
Hui-Ling Liu	...	Ah-Fang
Hung Lu
Jamie Luk		(as Lu Chien Ming)
Chia-Li Ou	...	Prostitute
Helen Poon	...	Lin (as Pan Ping Chang)
Kwai Shan	...	Mountain Boar (as Shan Kuai)
Chung Tien Shih	...	Inspector
Yung-chao Teng
Ching Tien	...	Tu Kuei-yung
Li-na Ting
An-chi Tu
Cheng Cheng Wang
Hsieh Wang	...	Boss
Hung Wei	...	Inspector (as Frankie Wei Hung)
Stephan Yip	...	Ghost
Hsin-te Yu	...	Boss

Also Known As:

Assault: The Criminals, Part IV (International: English title)
Miu gai wong hau (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
The Criminals 4: Assault (Hong Kong: English title)

Runtime:

Hong Kong:93 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Shaw Brothers

Movie Connections:

Follows Lou ye che jung fo mau sat ngon (1977)

Some sin and some grim

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

"The Criminals - Assault" is the fourth in this exploitation series, and is yet another very worthy entry. Kuei Chin-hung ("Killer Snakes", "Boxer's Omen")returns for "Maniac", while the director of "Human Skin Lanterns", Sun Chung, delivers "The Queen of Temple Street", one of the grimmest, most depressing dramas to come from any country. In "Maniac", a bunch of perverts are kidnapping and raping local girls. Their abuse entails beating, suspension, pouring milk into orifices, and general deviance. The cops are on the trail of these guys, but since they are relatively ineffective, the director has plenty of screen time to depict their vicious reign. It all ends with lots of shooting and fighting. The title probably refers to one of the perverts, a salivating, huffing and puffing nutbag who couldn't find the word "subtle" in his thespian dictionary.In "The Queen of Temple Street", a ne'er-do-well gambler pays his debts off by selling his beautiful wife into prostitution for a year (initially). The woman is subjected to nothing but abuse, betrayal, and unbelievable requests from her scumbag husband for more money. Naturally, his requests are met with violent opposition. When the woman's brother attempts to extricate her from her one year contract, he is informed that her husband signed her life away for another year. A rescue attempt ends in disaster and a bloody altercation between the woman and her husband brings more doom and gloom. Well directed and beautifully scored, this entry bears few hallmarks of the series. The prostitution story is not intercut with a police investigation, and there is no attempt at humor. The film has a consistency of style with a strong emotional trajectory that raises it to another level. As mentioned earlier, it is terribly grim, abandoning all hope from frame one. It also has rare moments of beauty and pathos.