Triads: The Inside Story

Lee Man-ho (Chow Yun-fat) is the son of Uncle Kwan (Tien Feng), the leader of the Hung Hing Gang. Ho was sent to the United States during his childhood to live a stable life where he established a family. In China, Uncle Kwan is ambushed and killed during a gang fight. Ho returns to Hong Kong for his father's funeral. Upon his arrival he is elected to be his father's successor as the leader of the Hung Hing Gang. Ho knew little to the culture of the underworld and Yeung Kong (Roy Cheung), often criticizes Ho due to this fact. Also, Kong did not get along with Tse Shing (Michael Chan), and they get into a fight during a banquet. Because of Ho, they chose to maintain the harmony of the gang. And then, all members of Hung Hing Gang became loyal to Ho because Ho was always kind to them.

Later in the film, during a fight, the members of the Hung Hing gang capture Coffin Rope (Lung Ming-yan), the head of rival triad. Ho originally wanted to kill him but due to his lenient personality, he only shaved off his eyebrows. This gave the chance for Coffin to counterattack. First, he colludes with Boss Chow (Pau Hon-lam) and then using Kong and Shing's rivalry, he first kills Shing's family and then frames Kong, worsening the relationship within the Hung Hing gang. Finally, he put cocaine in Kong's car and informs the police. Ho decided to save Kong and finally solved the rival triad. However, the police came, and arrested Kong. Kong commented to Ho, "You are a kind leader, but not a good triad member."

By the end of the film, the Hung Hing Gang was accidentally destroyed by Ho.

• Chow Yun-fat as Lee Man-ho
• Roy Cheung as Yeung Kong
• Michael Chan as Tse Shing
• Connie Mak as Kuen
• Tien Feng as Uncle Kwan
• Kenneth Tsang as Superintendent Chan Tin-lok
• Sit Chi-lun as Jenny
• Shing Fui-On as Crazy Keung / Mad Keung
• Lam Kau as Uncle Ping
• Lung Ming-yan as Coffin Rope
• Jeffrey Lam as Uncle Bill
• Kelvin Wong as Shrimp
• Karel Wong as Shrimp's lieutenant
• Joey Leung as Tak
• Pau Hon-lam as Chow Sai Lun
• Lam Hung
• Sunny Yam
• Robert Zajac as Senior Police Officer
• Robin Shou as Coffin's lieutenant
• Steve Mak as Bad Breath Chuen
• Chow Kong as Tsuen
• Leung Siu-chung as Uncle Kwan's lieutenant
• Cheung Chi-hung
• Wong Wai
• Fan Cheun-hing
• Cheung Chi-ying
• Tou Tam-sam
• Koo Jing-kwong
• Chung Chi-kwong
• Chung Ching-ming
• Mau Chai
• Chow Siu-tam
• Wong Kwok-wai
• Fei Chau
• Robby
• Cheung Kwok-leung
• Chan Ming as Maddy
• Alex Ng as Ho's driver at pier
• Wan Seung-lam as Coffin's gangsters at pier
• Chang Sing-kwong as Coffin's gangsters at pier
• Johnny Cheung as Shrimp's gangster
• James Ha as Kong's man
• Tam Wai-man
• Lam Chi-tai

• Shifting Sand Revolving in the Air (飛砂風中轉)
  • Composer: Lo Tayu
  • Lyricist: Richard Lam
  • Singer: Chow Yun-fat

Mike Fury of Hong Kong Cinemagic gave the film a positive review praising the story being "far more dramatic and character driven rather than being reliant on overuse of action" and containing "a large number of references and cultural and historical traditions of the society, which was in fact quite rare for a film at this time" which stands out among other films in the same genre. Fury also praised the performances of Chow Yun-fat, Shing Fui-On, Michael Chan and Roy Cheung and praises director Taylor Wong for using "a very simplistic and disconnected method of direction, which, at times, gives the film an almost documentary feel in which the camera simply rolls while men are talking in a room and the audience is virtually eavesdropping."[1]

• Chow Yun-fat filmography
• List of Hong Kong Category III films

• Triads: The Inside Story at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
• Triads: The Inside Story at Hong Kong Cinemagic
• Triads: The Inside Story at IMDb
• Triads: The Inside Story at Rotten Tomatoes