Director: Chu Yen Ping
Cast: Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia, Elsa Yang Hui-Shan, Sally Yeh Chian-Wen, Hilda Liu Hao-Yi, Blacky Ko Shou-Liang, Alan Liu Te-Kai, Hsu Pu-Liao, Sylvia Peng Hsueh-Fen, Teresa Tsui Jun-Jun, Wang Kuan-Hsiung, Yu Kam-Po
Running Time: 87 min.
By Paul Bramhall
I may well have swindled myself by watching Pink Force Commando. At the time of writing I’m in the latter stages of a 12-month detox from madcap Taiwanese director Chu Yen-Ping, having had what we’ll call a ‘bad experience’ with King Swindler last year. So when the opportunity to check out a couple of Taiwan’s all-star female ensemble pieces from 1982 – Golden Queen’s Commandos and Pink Force Commando – upon seeing Yen-Ping’s name at the helm of the former, Pink Force Commando it was. According to the Hong Kong Movie Database, Pink Force Commando was the directorial debut by one of Golden Queen’s Commandos writers – Fu Li – however upon digging a little deeper, other sources such as hkcinemagic (and IMDB, but when it comes to Asian cinema, they hardly have a reputation for being reliable) list Yen-Ping as the director. Did I just unintentionally finish my detox early? It’s possible I’ll never know.
Either way, Pink Force Commando brought the 7 leading ladies of their earlier jaunt back together, some of them playing the same role as they did in Golden Queen’s Commandos, others playing different characters. What they do have in common is that the ladies are once more playing a group of bandidas – we get the legendary Brigitte Lin (Handsome Siblings, Deadful Melody), here still very much known as a dramatic actress in Taiwan, and a full 10 years away from her late career roles in various Hong Kong new wave wuxias. She plays the leader of the group, and is joined by Cantopop star Sally Yeh (I Love Maria, The Killer) clocking in only her 3rd screen appearance, returning as the Continue reading
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