The Double Crossers

This underrated Hong Kong action flick from 1976 has enough going for it to keep viewers hooked; though it’s neither original nor slick enough to elevate it to cult classic status. South Korean martial arts artist and actor Shin Il-ryong plays a police detective out to avenge the brutal murder of his father, however, when it transpires as to why he was killed, things become not only more complicated but a lot more dangerous…

The film begins with a brief flashback scene depicting the aforementioned murder, cut to another scene in which a young man can be seen absorbing a piece of information which is truly unsettling. The young man in question is Police Detective Lung (Shin Il-ryong) and the information (spoken in voiceover by the detective’s dead parents) reveals that they were involved in a smuggling ring. Their leader, Wang (Chao Hsiung), was behind the killing once he realised that Lung’s father provided his son with information about the gang while at the same time pretending his loyalty. Now Lung quits his job at the local police force as he has only one thing on his mind: tracking down Wang! By coincidence (or was it?), his path crosses that of Chang (Chen Sing), a former smuggler and close friend of Lung’s parents. Chang pledges to help Lung and the two men head to Hong Kong to search for Wang.

Soon, Lung and Chang find out just what kind of beast Wang is – having ‘stolen’ the wife (Shirley Huang) of a former gang member, now he is planning to kill the poor sod outright. Despite the woman’s attempts to warn her ex, the gang catch and torture him although he and his former wife manage to escape, though not for long…

Meanwhile, Wang and his accomplices have got wind of the arrival of Lung and so the crime boss and his men set off to Bali in Indonesia – with Lung and Chang hot on their heels. The two men rent rooms in a quaint and very traditional looking little guest house, where our detective makes the acquaintance of ‘girl for everything’ Renee (Tutie Kirana) and we know that romance is in the air before they know it…
There’s also a fight of sorts when some drunken Western yobs (Australian? American?) begin to harass Renee, which is of course the cue for Lung to step in and save the day (and the damsel in distress). That said, this particular scene is somewhat pointless as it has nothing to do with the plot as such and thus doesn’t contribute anything to it.

From then on, Lung and Chang find themselves in uncharted territory as Wang’s men will stop at nothing to bump Lung and his new buddy off while at the same time, a local cop is also breathing down Lung’s neck for attempting to take the law into his own hands. What follows is a cleverly constructed cat-and-mouse game with action, more action and a brilliant (and funny) plan to beat the greedy Wang at his own game, with another unexpected twist to follow. The action scenes are tense and well executed, for example, when Lung chases one of the baddies on a motorbike through a huge park – it’s a scene reminiscent of Clint Eastwood chasing after Don Stroud in the 1968 crime thriller ‘Coogan’s Bluff’. There’s also a small role for the larger than life Sammo Hung (looking like a Chinese version of Che Guevara) playing one of Wang’s henchmen, though sadly he only has one line. However, towards the end he gets the chance to demonstrate his considerable martial arts skills when he takes on Chang in a duel.

THE DOUBLE CROSSERS has just been released in a new 2K restoration on Blu-ray, with the first print run (2000 copies) presented in Limited Edition O-card slipcase and collector’s booklet. We also have audio commentaries and trailers.