General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Yes, Madam (皇家师姐)

Yes, Madam (皇家師姐) is a 1985 Hong Kong action comedy film directed by Corey Yuen, produced by Sammo Hung, and starring Michelle Yeoh as Inspector Ng and Cynthia Rothrock as Scotland Yard Inspector Carrie Morris, two policewomen pursuing a microfilm of criminal evidence through Hong Kong.¹ It was the opening film of the D&B cinema circuit in 1985, made Yeoh a star, and is widely credited with setting the template for the "girls with guns" cycle of Hong Kong action films.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Original title	皇家師姐 (Huang jia shi jie)³
Release	30 November 1985, Hong Kong⁴
Director / writer	Corey Yuen; screenplay by Barry Wong (with James Clouse)¹^•⁵
Producer / studio	Sammo Hung; D&B Films Co., Ltd.¹^•⁶
Leads	Michelle Yeoh (Inspector Ng), Cynthia Rothrock (Inspector Carrie Morris)¹
Runtime	94 minutes, color, Cantonese¹
Box office	HK$10,019,862 in Hong Kong, 21st for the year⁷
Award	1986 Hong Kong Film Award, Best Supporting Actor: Mang Hoi⁸

Spoilers

Plot

An agent of London's Commercial Crime Bureau is murdered because of the evidence he has collected against a Hong Kong crime syndicate.⁵ The incriminating microfilm is hidden in his passport, which two small-time pickpockets, Strepsil (John Sham) and Aspirin (Mang Hoi), steal from the hotel room and pass to a forger friend, Panadol (Tsui Hark).⁴^•⁹

Senior Police Inspector Ng is assigned to work with Inspector Carrie Morris from Scotland Yard, and the two clash over their different cultures and working methods as they hunt the film.⁵ The syndicate's boss, triad leader Tin (James Tien), sends assassins after the thieves to recover the evidence at any cost.¹ When legal means fail, the two inspectors give up their badges and go after Tin alone.⁹

Production and cast

D&B Films was launched in 1984 by watch retailer Dickson Poon with partners Sammo Hung and John Sham, and Yes, Madam! was the first film shown on the studio's own cinema circuit.¹⁰^•¹ The Hong Kong Film Archive describes the film as the most important milestone for both D&B and Michelle Yeoh, who was a newcomer at the time.¹¹

Casting Rothrock. According to production trivia, D&B had been looking for a male lead to play a Bruce Lee-style character, but the producers offered Cynthia Rothrock the role on the spot after watching her martial arts demonstration, and the part was changed from male to female for her.⁴ Rothrock, an American martial arts champion, was making her film debut; she later recalled that the shoot took seven and a half months and that the fight scenes still hold up.¹²

Corey Yuen and Mang Hoi served as martial arts instructors and designed the choreography along deliberately contrasting lines: broadly comical action for the three fleeing thieves, and custom-tailored combat, gunfights, car chases, and explosions for Yeoh and Rothrock.¹¹ The stunt team built the action around Yeoh's background in dance, and in the final showdown she performs full splits, hangs upside down, and crashes through glass panes.¹¹ Filming of the airport sequence took place at Kai Tak Airport across three nights, from midnight until 5 a.m., so that air traffic would not be disrupted, while 30 days were needed to complete the finale.⁴ The score was composed by Romeo Diaz.¹³

Reception and legacy

The film grossed over ten million Hong Kong dollars at the local box office, a result the D&B retrospective credits with establishing Yeoh's image as a female action star.⁷^•¹⁴ Mang Hoi won Best Supporting Actor at the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards in 1986.⁸^•⁷ On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 100% Tomatometer from six critics, with reviewers crediting Corey Yuen and Mang Hoi with staging some of the best fight sequences in Hong Kong action cinema.¹⁵

A genre template. The New York Asian Film Festival calls it the movie that set the template for the girls-with-guns films that ruled Hong Kong screens in the 1980s and 1990s.² The Hong Kong Film Archive notes that it defied 1980s generic conventions by celebrating female action, with Rothrock's strength and Yeoh's dexterity complementing each other, and that it heavily influenced The Inspector Wears Skirts series.¹^•¹¹ D&B went on to produce a cycle of Yes, Madam! films comparable to Jackie Chan's Police Story series, followed by Royal Warriors (1986) and the In the Line of Duty sequels.¹^•¹⁶ The film's popularity, together with Royal Warriors, prompted other Hong Kong studios to make their own films featuring fighting women.⁴

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Martial arts films › Released 1943 to 1985

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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