''City Hero'' is a 1985

Hong Kong action Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. Action films from Hong Kong have roots in Chinese culture, Chinese and Culture of Hong Kong, Hong Kong cultures, including Chinese opera, storytelling a ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Dennis Yu Dennis Yu Yun-kong (余允抗) is a Hong Kong film director active in the 1980s, and a crucial member of Hong Kong New Wave. He is most famous for directing horror movies Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fe ...

and starring

Dean Shek Dean Shek (17 June 1949 – 20 September 2021), also known as Dean Shek Tin, was a Hong Kong film actor and producer with over 72 film credits to his name. Shek was perhaps best known as Professor Kai-hsien in the 1978 film ''Drunken Master'', ...

Mark Cheng Mark Cheng Ho-nam (born 6 October 1964) is a Hong Kong actor. He made his name with his first starring role in the film '' Cupid One'' with Sally Yeh. He is also known for his role as Lam Wing in the 1996 film '' Tai Chi Boxer'' and FuXi in '' M ...

, Bennett Pang, Anthony Tang,

Billy Lau Billy Lau Nam Kwong (born 3 April 1954) is a Hong Kong film actor. He is best known for playing the Police Captain in ''Mr. Vampire'' (1985), and went on to be cast in similar roles. He has appeared in many comedy and horror films. Personal l ...

and Michael Wong. In the film, five

idealistic Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, spirit, or consciousness; that reality is entir ...

police officers volunteer for training to join the

Special Duties Unit The Special Duties Unit (SDU; zh, c=特別任務連), nicknamed the "Flying Tigers" ( zh, c=飛虎隊), is the elite tactical unit of the Hong Kong Police Force tasked with countering terrorist attacks, hostage rescue, underwater search and r ...

. They have to practice their new skills when called to respond to a

hostage taking A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized—such as a relative, employer, law enforcement, or government—to act, o ...

situation on

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

Plot

Five young and idealistic policemen, nicknamed Bravo (

), Rambo (Anthony Tang), Superstition (Bennett Pang), Wealthy ( Michael Wong) and Old Bachelor (

) are tired of their jobs and are determined to join the

. Instructor Lee (

) demands discipline, efficiency and obedience. Despite the hostility and hardships, the young officers begin to realize that Instructor Lee is passionate at heart. Eventually, they all respect him for his devotion and inspiration. During Christmas night, they are summoned to an emergency assignment. A dozen of innocent citizen are held as hostages. The death of Bravo in their first successful mission sadden their high spirit and celebrating mood.

Cast

as SDU Trainer Lee *

as Luk Ying-kei / Bravo *Bennett Pang as Ng Sam-kwai / Superstition *Anthony Tang as Rambo *

as Old Bachelor * Michael Wong as Lee Ka-ho / Wealthy * Pat Ha as Siu-wai *Charine Chan as Chu-chu *

Lee Heung-kam Lee Heung-kam (13 January 1932 – 4 January 2021) was a Hong Kong Cantonese opera singer and TVB actress. Career She joined the entertainment industry when she was 14 years old. Since 1960, she became known for being an antagonist in many Canto ...

as Siu-wai's mom *

Ku Feng Chan Sze-man (3 July 1930 – 27 March 2025), better known by his stage name Ku Feng, was a Hong Kong actor. Background Feng studied in Beijing, and appeared in hundreds of films, many of which were produced by the Shaw Brothers Studio S ...

as Siu-wai's dad *Tin Ching as SDU Assistant Trainer *

Billy Chow Billy Chow Bei-lei ( zh, t=周比利; born August 24, 1958) is a Hong Kong-Canadian former professional kickboxer and actor. He competed in the Welterweight and Super Welterweight divisions from 1977 to 1992. He was the WKA Super Welterweigh ...

as thug *Siu Yuk-lung as thug *So Hon-sang as thug *Ko Miu-si as Trainer Lee's wife *Wong Man as Assistant Trainer's wife *Law Keung as man at street fight *Stephen Chan as Ming *Bobby Wu *Yuen Ling-to *

Yu Mo-lin Yu Miu-Lin (, born 4 July 1937) is a Chinese actress from Hong Kong. Yu is credited with 145 films. Early life On 4 July 1937, Yu was born as Yu Chi-nga () in Canton. Her late mother Tang Mei-mei (鄧美美) was an actress who was not widely ...

as hostage *

Sai Gwa-Pau Lim Gan (林根), better known in Hong Kong by his stagename Sai Gwa-Pau (西瓜刨) (7 October 1918 – 12 March 2001), was a Hong Kong film actor who played roles in over 600 movies from the 1950s onwards. His stagename "Watermelon Slice" refe ...

as hostage *Leung Hak-shun *Fung King-chi *Patrick Tsui *Ho Leng-leng *Cheung Hing-choi *Ka Sang *Chiu Sze-wai *Ngan Yee-kei *Wong Chi-ying *Lam Foo-wai *Yat-poon Chai as Police Officer in parade *Luk Ying-hong as Inspector Law

Box office

The film grossed HK$7,375,915 at the Hong Kong box office during its theatrical run from 9 to 30 October 1985 in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

External links

* *
City Hero
' at

Hong Kong Cinemagic Hong Kong Cinemagic, sometimes referred to as HKCinemagic, was a bilingual ( French and English) website providing a repository for information about Chinese language films from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and the people who created them. The we ...

* 1985 films 1985 action thriller films 1985 action comedy films 1980s police comedy films 1980s Christmas comedy films Hong Kong action thriller films Hong Kong action comedy films Police detective films 1980s Cantonese-language films Films set in Hong Kong Films shot in Hong Kong 1980s Hong Kong films Films about hostage taking {{action-thriller-film-stub