Yes, Madam!

This 1985 martial arts action comedy stars two women kicking butt, which makes for a welcome change in the world of this particular genre. The stars in question are Michelle Yeoh and Cynthia Rothrock as two female inspectors who have a mighty hard time getting hold of a microfilm which has been inadvertently stolen by two low key thieves.

Played out in Hong Kong, we’re off to a riotous start when a dopey looking serial flasher wearing a trench coat (you know the type) enters a video store and heads straight for the adult section where an attractive female customer appears to be interested in what’s on offer. Our flasher doesn’t waste much time exposing himself though this time ‘round he’s picked the wrong dame as his ‘victim’ turns out to be feisty Inspector Ng (Michelle Yeoh – here credited as Michelle Khan) who promptly arrests the flashing pest but this little triumph is short-lived as only a few minutes later, the Inspector finds herself embroiled in stopping a gang of ruthless criminals from robbing an armoured transport car (presumably with lots of money inside).
As is usual with these movies, there are numerous subplots running parallel and in the first one an Englishman named Richard Nornen (Michael Harry) arrives in town for an apparent deal with a Chinese man called Dik (Dick Wei) – a hitman working for Henry Tin (James Tien) – leader of the notorious Triad syndicate. When the deal, which takes place in the hotel suite in which Mr. Nornen stays, goes pear-shaped (as the Englishman demands more money) Dik shoves an apple in the foreigner’s mouth and then blasts the apple with his gun (where is all the blood?).

At the same time, two low-life career thieves pose as hotel staff complete with stolen uniforms – they are Aspirin (Mang Hoi) and Strepsil (John Shum). When Aspirin knocks on Mr. Nornen’s suite in the guise of providing room service, he lets himself in after there’s no answer. Spotting the foreign guest slumped over the table, Aspirin assumes the man is asleep and leaves a pot of tea and other refreshments on a coffee table before beginning to sieve through the man’s personal belongings… and ‘liberates’ a wad of English Sterling notes plus the Englishman’s passport. Just as Aspirin is about to exit the suite he almost bumps into Inspector Ng who has come to visit the Englishman. And now the plot begins to thicken because we learn that the foreigner was in fact working undercover for British intelligence and hidden behind his passport photo (remember this was filmed in 1985 when passport photos weren’t digital) was a secret microfilm which contains incriminating information against Mr. Tin and his crime syndicate. Of course, within seconds of realising that Mr. Nornen has been bumped off, Inspector Ng assumes the killer must have been the waiter with the tea trolley and alerts the hotel but Aspirin and Strepsil are already on their way out while the real killer also manages to escape.

Aspirin and Strepsil intend on selling the passport to their mate and partner-in-crime Panadol (Tsui Hark) who specialises in faking passports and selling them on to criminals who wish to leave the country – in this case, the passport goes to a dangerous criminal (Eddie Maher). It’s only when Aspirin and Strepsil read about the assassination of the Englishman in the paper and Panadol discovers the microfilm behind the passport photo that the real trouble begins because not only is it in Mr. Tin’s interest to get hold of the microfilm before Inspector Ng and her team get their hands on it but of course, he sends his henchman including the aforementioned Dik to deal with Panadol and his two mates. Soon though, things get more complicated still when Scotland Yard Senior Inspector Carrie Morris (Cynthia Rothrock, who appears to be fluent in Cantonese…) arrives at Hong Kong airport and unwittingly foils the escape of the criminal with the fake passport. Inspector Morris has been drafted in to assist Inspector Ng in the race against time to retrieve the stolen microfilm… which not only provides plenty of opportunity for the usual array of gravity-defining martial arts stunts but also comedy interludes, especially when Panadol, Strepsil and Aspirin have unwittingly made it onto the Inspectors radar…

Sammo Hung, who produced this film, makes a 5-min cameo appearance and Cynthia Rothrock (although this really is Michelle Yeoh’s film!) holds up just fine against her Hong Kong colleagues though it must be said the film’s ending is somewhat abrupt.

YES, MADAM – one of the first ‘girls with guns’ action films, has just been released on Blu-ray for the first time ever in the UK in a 2K restoration. The first print run (2000 copies) is presented in a Limited Edition O-card slipcase and Collector’s booklet. Bonus features include audio commentaries, new interview with Cynthia Rothrock and archival interviews with Michelle Yeoh and John Shum, plus trailers.