Given one of the episodes of his famedefining TV series, The 10 Infamous Cases (1975), was based on the kidnapping committed by the ‘3 Wolves’, it was a breeze for Johnny Mak to produce this film version in the late 1980s. In this film Li (Tony Leung Ka-fai), Ma (Kent Cheng) and Dang (Elvis Tsui) are sworn brothers (the ‘3 Wolves’). While Li is employed in Wong’s (Tian Feng) company, he is frequently bullied by Wong and his son Ying-kau (Stuart Ong). When he is made redundant over some minor matters, Li and his sworn brothers decide to get even by abducting Ying-kau and demand a huge ransom, dragging all involved into a tragic ending. The plot of the film is very similar to Cheng Kang’s Kidnap (1974), except that here, greater details is placed on the family relations and brotherhood affection among the ‘3 Wolves’, while allowing the kidnapping case to be seen from a more tragic perspective, which ultimately  inspired many so called "Criminal Hero" films made in the 1990s.
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25/5

(Sun)

5:00pm

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

Post-screening talk with William Yuen and Eric Tsang