Move over Police Academy. The Inspector Wears Skirts is the 80s Action Comedy that you really wanted. New to Blu-Ray from 88 Films.
The Film
I was a big fan of the Police Academy movies when I was a kid. A recent rewatch during the good old pandemic made me reassess my thoughts. Honestly, Wellson Chin’s delightfully charming and very un-PC The Inspector Wears Skirts would have delighted this reviewer’s pre-teen self and he would have continued to love it through the years.
To be honest, what is not to love about this film that feels more like a “battle of the sexes” type comedy akin to 9 to 5 by way of The Dirty Dozen than Police Academy or films of similar ilk. It helps that you have truly kickass performers like Sibelle Hu and Cynthia Rothrock leading the ensemble. In fact, Rothrock is the highlight here as Madam Law the friend and partner of sorts to Hu’s Madam Wu. The opening action scene with her taking out the criminals trying to assassinate a Middle Eastern Businessman and his wife as good as anything Rothrock has been a part of.
The setup is simple, because of the opening incident and the Arab Businessman’s wife being touched by men (just go with it) the HK Police Force decide to create an all-women strike force. Madam Wu is put in charge. She gathers her recruits. Hijinx ensue. They become a team and become a part of a mission that goes awry. Add extra Rothrock for spectacular effect.
Yes, of course, there is more to The Inspector Wears Skirts than the basic plot. The ensemble of female actors is great. Each has their own plot and unique development. It isn’t that they’re not capable or unique choices (the cliché of the Police Academy movies), but they’re just surrounded by crappy men who don’t see them as equals and only want to “date” them. The friction within the story is how these young women push against these men and also Madam Wu as their instructor.
It makes absolute sense when you see that Jackie Chan produced this first in a popular series. That lightness of touch and mixture of comedy, pathos, and elevated action within an ensemble setting is very much of Chan’s creative output during the era. Like most of Chan’s work in this era, everything culminates into a grand finale where characters and setups earlier in the film pay off in spectacular fashion.
If one finds themselves loving The Inspector Wears Skirts and a little morose the film has ended … fear not faithful viewer. There’s an entire series to dive into. The Inspector Wears Skirts series unlike the other we discussed does NOT wavier in quality if anything it gets better.
The Transfer
The all-new 2K Restoration in 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio from the original negatives is another stunner from 88 Films. The work done here is simply jaw-dropping. The film literally looks like it was filmed yesterday. The transfer is sharp, and clean without any hints of scratches or blemishes on the negative. The color reproduction and contrast levels are as good as Blu-ray can possibly be in standard dynamic range (e.g., as good as you can get without being 4K). I never tire of saying that 88 Films has got another winner on their hands with this excellent transfer.
The Extras
They include the following;
Brand New 2K Restoration in 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio from the original negatives
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray™ presentation
Original Cantonese Mono with English Subtitles
English Mono Dub
Audio Commentary with Frank Djeng
Shooting Her Shot – An Interview With Cynthia Rothrock
The Director Wears Pants – An Interview With Director Wellson Chin
”Top Squad” English Opening and Closing Titles
Hong Kong Trailer
English Trailer
Stills Gallery
The Audio Commentary with Hong Kong Film Expert Frank Djeng begins with his credentials and discussion about the title and it being a “Police Academy Clone”. Some of the details include the releases and the massive box office success of the film; the sequels and their connections to In the Line of Duty series; the work (and cameo) here of Wellson Chin – and a larger discussion of his career before or after; the set that is prominently plays a role in the opening and the other films it features in; the reason why this series was developed initially by producer Jackie Chan; the level of involvement by Jackie Chan; the work of Sibelle Hu; the fact that this film is set in the Lucky Stars universe – and also the fact that certain actors that appear in that series are not their Lucky Stars’ characters; the work of the two cinematographers Andrew Lau and Au Gaam-Hung – including both future and past work; a discussion of the musical number at the skating rink; the how and why Cynthia Rothrock became involved in a smaller role; how popular, even in 2023, this type of film/genre is with HK/Chinese audiences; a great discussion of how the action set pieces are performed, constructed, edited by the stunt team – esepcially if it was Jackie Chan or Sammo Hung Stunt Team; a larger discussion of star Sibelle Hu; the stunt doubles being male for all the female cast; a great anecdote about Djeng meeting Stanley Fong as a kid; discussions throughout about the various cultural touchstones, slang, and other pieces that maybe loss on non-HK or Chinese audiences; a larger discussion of the comedic moments, and social norms in the era and how they rub against current norms; larger discussions throughout of the various locations and areas used during the production; discussion throughout the commentary track about the various actors and their work here and throughout their career – keep your notes app open you’ll want to write some of the films down because Frank goes fast with the various titles the different actors had been in and were famous; and much more. Djeng delivers another well-researched and informative commentary track.
Shooting Her Shot – An Interview With Cynthia Rothrock (16:46) – in this all-new interview the star discusses her involvement with the film what she calls “a funny situation”. Rothrock is a wonderful interview with some great anecdotes about the production, her being able to relate to Sibelle Hu because she spoke English, her excitement working with Jackie Chan’s stunt team, her feelings about the film itself, the lack of a script and how she was genuinely surprised that it was a comedy, the fire stunt and a crazy anecdote about it; her disappointment in not meeting Jackie Chan on this film; and much more.
The Director Wears Pants – An Interview With Director Wellson Chin (16:03) – in this all-new interview with the director, he opens with how he got into the film industry thanks to “cousin” Sammo Hung. Chin is a lively interviewee with great recollection of the early days of his career and working on the film. Some of the other details include his moving from Hung’s stunt team to Jackie Chan’s stunt team – the differences and how that worked; the development of The Inspector Wears Pants and his part in it; if the film was inspired by the Police Academy series; the casting of the film; a discussion about the budget and the shooting schedule; and much more. In Cantonese with English Subtitles.
”Top Squad” English Opening and Closing Titles (2:47) – the alt title sequence with English Language Credits. Note: the credit sequences are fully restored, which is a great addition, and will play if one chooses the English dub of the film.
Hong Kong Trailer (3:32) – In Cantonese with English Subtitles.
English Trailer (2:02) – the Top Squad title is used for the trailer.
Stills Gallery (141) – the gallery which consists of 20 production and behind-the-scenes stills plays automatically with the film’s score by Noel Quinlan playing throughout.
The Final Thought
88 Films continues its wonderful curation of HK Genre films. The Inspector Wears Skirt is a great example of them stretching their wings in the “women with guns” and comedies. They’ve furnished the edition with only quality extra features and an excellent transfer. Highest Possible Recommendations!!!
Move over Police Academy. The Inspector Wears Skirts is the 80s Action Comedy that you really wanted. New to Blu-Ray from 88 Films.
The Film
I was a big fan of the Police Academy movies when I was a kid. A recent rewatch during the good old pandemic made me reassess my thoughts. Honestly, Wellson Chin’s delightfully charming and very un-PC The Inspector Wears Skirts would have delighted this reviewer’s pre-teen self and he would have continued to love it through the years.
To be honest, what is not to love about this film that feels more like a “battle of the sexes” type comedy akin to 9 to 5 by way of The Dirty Dozen than Police Academy or films of similar ilk. It helps that you have truly kickass performers like Sibelle Hu and Cynthia Rothrock leading the ensemble. In fact, Rothrock is the highlight here as Madam Law the friend and partner of sorts to Hu’s Madam Wu. The opening action scene with her taking out the criminals trying to assassinate a Middle Eastern Businessman and his wife as good as anything Rothrock has been a part of.
The setup is simple, because of the opening incident and the Arab Businessman’s wife being touched by men (just go with it) the HK Police Force decide to create an all-women strike force. Madam Wu is put in charge. She gathers her recruits. Hijinx ensue. They become a team and become a part of a mission that goes awry. Add extra Rothrock for spectacular effect.
Yes, of course, there is more to The Inspector Wears Skirts than the basic plot. The ensemble of female actors is great. Each has their own plot and unique development. It isn’t that they’re not capable or unique choices (the cliché of the Police Academy movies), but they’re just surrounded by crappy men who don’t see them as equals and only want to “date” them. The friction within the story is how these young women push against these men and also Madam Wu as their instructor.
It makes absolute sense when you see that Jackie Chan produced this first in a popular series. That lightness of touch and mixture of comedy, pathos, and elevated action within an ensemble setting is very much of Chan’s creative output during the era. Like most of Chan’s work in this era, everything culminates into a grand finale where characters and setups earlier in the film pay off in spectacular fashion.
If one finds themselves loving The Inspector Wears Skirts and a little morose the film has ended … fear not faithful viewer. There’s an entire series to dive into. The Inspector Wears Skirts series unlike the other we discussed does NOT wavier in quality if anything it gets better.
The Transfer
The all-new 2K Restoration in 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio from the original negatives is another stunner from 88 Films. The work done here is simply jaw-dropping. The film literally looks like it was filmed yesterday. The transfer is sharp, and clean without any hints of scratches or blemishes on the negative. The color reproduction and contrast levels are as good as Blu-ray can possibly be in standard dynamic range (e.g., as good as you can get without being 4K). I never tire of saying that 88 Films has got another winner on their hands with this excellent transfer.
The Extras
They include the following;
The Audio Commentary with Hong Kong Film Expert Frank Djeng begins with his credentials and discussion about the title and it being a “Police Academy Clone”. Some of the details include the releases and the massive box office success of the film; the sequels and their connections to In the Line of Duty series; the work (and cameo) here of Wellson Chin – and a larger discussion of his career before or after; the set that is prominently plays a role in the opening and the other films it features in; the reason why this series was developed initially by producer Jackie Chan; the level of involvement by Jackie Chan; the work of Sibelle Hu; the fact that this film is set in the Lucky Stars universe – and also the fact that certain actors that appear in that series are not their Lucky Stars’ characters; the work of the two cinematographers Andrew Lau and Au Gaam-Hung – including both future and past work; a discussion of the musical number at the skating rink; the how and why Cynthia Rothrock became involved in a smaller role; how popular, even in 2023, this type of film/genre is with HK/Chinese audiences; a great discussion of how the action set pieces are performed, constructed, edited by the stunt team – esepcially if it was Jackie Chan or Sammo Hung Stunt Team; a larger discussion of star Sibelle Hu; the stunt doubles being male for all the female cast; a great anecdote about Djeng meeting Stanley Fong as a kid; discussions throughout about the various cultural touchstones, slang, and other pieces that maybe loss on non-HK or Chinese audiences; a larger discussion of the comedic moments, and social norms in the era and how they rub against current norms; larger discussions throughout of the various locations and areas used during the production; discussion throughout the commentary track about the various actors and their work here and throughout their career – keep your notes app open you’ll want to write some of the films down because Frank goes fast with the various titles the different actors had been in and were famous; and much more. Djeng delivers another well-researched and informative commentary track.
Shooting Her Shot – An Interview With Cynthia Rothrock (16:46) – in this all-new interview the star discusses her involvement with the film what she calls “a funny situation”. Rothrock is a wonderful interview with some great anecdotes about the production, her being able to relate to Sibelle Hu because she spoke English, her excitement working with Jackie Chan’s stunt team, her feelings about the film itself, the lack of a script and how she was genuinely surprised that it was a comedy, the fire stunt and a crazy anecdote about it; her disappointment in not meeting Jackie Chan on this film; and much more.
The Director Wears Pants – An Interview With Director Wellson Chin (16:03) – in this all-new interview with the director, he opens with how he got into the film industry thanks to “cousin” Sammo Hung. Chin is a lively interviewee with great recollection of the early days of his career and working on the film. Some of the other details include his moving from Hung’s stunt team to Jackie Chan’s stunt team – the differences and how that worked; the development of The Inspector Wears Pants and his part in it; if the film was inspired by the Police Academy series; the casting of the film; a discussion about the budget and the shooting schedule; and much more. In Cantonese with English Subtitles.
”Top Squad” English Opening and Closing Titles (2:47) – the alt title sequence with English Language Credits. Note: the credit sequences are fully restored, which is a great addition, and will play if one chooses the English dub of the film.
Hong Kong Trailer (3:32) – In Cantonese with English Subtitles.
English Trailer (2:02) – the Top Squad title is used for the trailer.
Stills Gallery (141) – the gallery which consists of 20 production and behind-the-scenes stills plays automatically with the film’s score by Noel Quinlan playing throughout.
The Final Thought
88 Films continues its wonderful curation of HK Genre films. The Inspector Wears Skirt is a great example of them stretching their wings in the “women with guns” and comedies. They’ve furnished the edition with only quality extra features and an excellent transfer. Highest Possible Recommendations!!!
88 Films’ Blu-Ray edition of The Inspector Wears Skirt is out now
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