During the early ’90s, Cynthia Rothrock became a video store sensation with her China O’Brien movies. There had been attempts to present actresses as action stars. But most of them were either constantly doubled by stunt people or only knew the martial arts moves that were part of the choreography. Rothrock had legitimately been inducted in the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame in the mid-80s. It wasn’t a title made up by the studio’s PR department. Making her career even more legit was that she worked in Hong Kong for Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan. This made a lot of people I knew eager to track down the VHS tapes of her Hong Kong films that weren’t quite available in America. I’m not sure if Dave’s Videodrome in Carrboro, N.C. had a copy of The Inspector Wears Skirts. The title was constantly mentioned in articles about Cynthia Rothrock’s career and rightfully so.
During a visit by a Middle Eastern Shiek to a movie set, Inspector Wu (My Lucky Stars‘ Sibelle Hu) comes across terrorists dressed as the ninjas that are replacing the stuntmen. When she takes action, the ninjas attack. Among the Sheik’s entourage is Inspector Law (Rothrock). The two women take on the terrorists and save the day. The head of the Hong Kong police (Rumble In The Bronx‘s Bill Tung) decides that seeing how the male police commandos were relatively useless during the attack, he wants to put together a female squad. He assigns Wu to train the recruits. He calls the program SKIRTS which was probably better than some other terms he could have used in the ’80s for a female force. After going through hundreds of applicants, Wu chooses around 20 women to partake in the intense training at the police academy. While a few of the ladies are cut ups, Wu is strict with them. She doesn’t want this operation to devolve into a joke. How intense does it get? The ladies have to run faster than the flames coming up from a gas covered track. The biggest hurdle for the ladies to overcome is the attentions of the male commando trainees. The guys are constantly hitting on them. They aren’t supportive of their potential girlfriends. The guys think the women should do something safer. The movie isn’t that serious. There’s a musical number when the guys invite the ladies to the local roller-skating rink. There’s a bit of slapstick between in the battle of the sexes. The movie doesn’t get reduced to a farce since Wu wants her recruits to become full fledge commandos. She even gets Inspector Law to return to make the training even more intense towards the end. Can the SKIRTS really be ready enough for their first major assignment?
The Inspector Wears Skirts gets often compared to the Police Academy films, but it really feels like there’s more going on here than the Hollywood franchise. There’s depth to the characters as they develop into efficient and deadly police commandos. They aren’t just complete caricatures. It’s easy to believe that a few young girls might have been inspired to enter the Hong Kong police force from watching the film back in 1988.
Cynthia Rothrock isn’t the star of The Inspector Wears Skirts. Her performances bookend the movie. When Rothrock arrives on screen, it’s time for intense action such as the terrorist attack, the last part of training and the SKIRTS first major assignment. Sibelle Hu is the real star as she keeps things together with her numerous trainees. You believe that she’s refusing to let her trainees fail. The women have harsh obstacles to overcome at the police academy. She won’t take it easy on them because of her desire for the SKIRTS to succeed and be respected. Rothrock and Hu are a great doubles team during the fight scenes. Rothrock doesn’t overshadow Hu. They are part of the team like the rest of the SKIRTS. The Inspector Wears Skirts delivers on action with a touch of romantic comedy between the punches.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfer looks great for the action scenes. The Audio is LPCM 2.0 Mono in both Cantonese and English tracks. You’ll hear the bullets and bones busting clearly. The movie is subtitled in English. Even when watching the English version, you might want to turn on the subtitles since a difference in what the characters were really saying in some scenes.
Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng adds so much to watching the movie. He gives so much background information about cast, crew, context and locations. He points out how the mix of comedy and action was effective in the Lucky Stars series. He points out which actors dubbed their own voices. He also points out that most of the male commando trainees are stuntmen who worked for Jackie Chan or Sammo Hung.
Shooting Her Shot (16:46) interviews Cynthia Rothrock. She was doing another movie in Hong Kong when Golden Harvest called to say they wanted her for the movie as they were in the middle of production. She hadn’t worked with the stunt team before. She has high praise for Sibelle Hu. She didn’t know they were shooting on the same backlot town that Jackie Chan used in Project A. She gets into the cane fight in the opening. She gives her perspective of the fire race stunt. she ultimately worked for 7 days on the film while still doing the other movie. We learn the mystery of Jeff Falcon and his monkey style kung fu.
The Director Wears Pants (16:03) talks with Director Wellson Chin. He got into movies because his cousin is Sammo Hung. He became an assistant director. In the mid-80s, he began to work for Jackie Chan. He got Sammo’s permission first to direct Naughty Boys for Jackie. He gets into the creative discussions that led to the creation of The Inspector Wears Skirts. He talks about Jackie Chan’s involvement during production.
“Top Squad” English Opening and Closing Titles (2:47) is such a flat title. Reminds me of the comedy Police Squad. We do get another chance to see the blown takes one more time.
Hong Kong Trailer (3:32) has the women working out to make it in the police force. It’s sold as a romantic comedy.
English Trailer (2:02) is for “Top Squad.” They also mention Jackie Chan as the producer. Cynthia Rothrock gets more clips than in the Hong Kong trailer. It’s not being sold as a romantic comedy, but women wanting to be cops.
Stills Gallery (1:41) has press photos.
Limited Edition 32 Page Booklet with photos from the movie and an essay by Paul Bramhall.
Double-sided foldout poster featuring New and Classic Poster Art that’s suitable for framing.
88 Films present The Inspector Wears Skirts. Directed by Wellson Chin. Screenplay by Chang Kam-Fu. Starring Sibelle Hu, Cynthia Rothrock, Kara Hui, Regina Kent, Ellen Chan & Alex To. Running Time: 96 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: December 26, 2023.
