本片由日本松竹电影公司于1979年拍摄，原著取自埃勒里·奎因的小说《灾难之城/凶镇》，侦探的名字也从埃勒里·奎因更名为罗伯特。不过情节依然忠实于原著，并获得了当年日本学院奖和电影旬报奖（都是女配角奖，获奖者为小川真由美），该片首映时，丹奈（奎因两兄弟之一）还专程赶到日本出席仪式

江户时代，乙松、勘八（安冈力也 饰）、弥助（川谷拓三 饰）三人因不同罪行被判死刑，临刑前为江户町长官内海孙兵卫（渡濑恒彦 饰）救下，令三人成为用暗杀等手段斩奸除恶的影十手。为求保命，三人应允，并被夺去声音。川谷一次行动中邂逅的美丽女子阿咲，两人坠入情网，成家并育有一女阿蝶（石原真理子 饰）。然人在江湖，身不由己，弥助最终被迫抛弃妻女回到影十手。20年后，弥助在追查传藏（地井武男 饰）及其情妇（夏木玛丽 饰）的行动中，偶遇已长大成人的女儿阿蝶。这次相会自此改变了父女各自的人生……

Andy Warhol′s Screen Tests were filmed from early 1964 to November 1966. Factory visitors who had potential "star" quality would be seated in front of a tripod mounted camera, asked to be as still as possible, and told not to blink while the camera was running. Warhol manipulated light and shadow in increasingly inventive ways to capture the appearance, style, personality, and mood of both famous and lesser-known visitors to his studio, the Factory. His subjects included Dennis Hopper, Gerard Malanga, Edie Sedgwick, Susan Sontag, and Salvador Dalí. Although each film was shot at standard sound speed, or twenty-four frames per second, Warhol specified that prints be projected at a slower speed of sixteen frames per second, a rate used in the projection of silent films. The result is an unusual fluidity of pace, a rhythm gently at odds with the starkness of the lighting and the boldness of the close-ups of face and hair.In total more than 500 Screen Tests were made. Helmut was the seventh.

四川女公安郑大姐（郑裕玲饰）负责赴港捉拿逃跑的疑犯，不得不与香港警方合作。警长伍卫国（梁家辉饰）负责接待与合作调查，被初次到港、天真纯朴的郑大姐与助手阿胜（张坚庭饰）弄得晕头转相。由于地区文化差异，郑大姐与伍卫国不断产生摩擦、矛盾，多次让疑犯有机可乘、逃之夭夭。由于在旅馆被疑犯袭击，督察安排郑大姐去伍卫国家住。而伍卫国之父正是当年国民党军72师的排长。由于信仰不同，郑大姐一到家就与伍父闹了个水火不容。一连串爆笑的争锋相对就这样展开了，而奇妙的事，郑大姐与伍卫国之间的感情也在慢慢产生变化......