In The Corruptor, directed by James Foley, a war among rival gangs in New York’s Chinatown is in progress. The leader of one of the gangs, Henry Lee (played by Ric Young), who is The Corrupter in the story, has decided that the best way to eliminate his rivals is to provide what police officers want most—opportunities for them to make arrests, to have money in their pockets, and to enjoy good sex. He provides information about his rivals to the Chinese NYPD officers assigned to root out crime in Chinatown as well as fat bankrolls and numerous sex partners, especially the head of the Chinatown unit Nick Chen (played by Chow Yun Fat). Then NYPD assigns to the Chinatown unit Danny Wallace (played by Mark Wahlberg), a White police officer who for unexplained reasons can speak the prevailing Chinese dialect. Presumably, NYPD believes that its White plant will root out corruption in the Chinatown unit itself, but they miscalculate. Danny has to make the same Faustian pact with The Corruptor to survive on the job. During the film we find inevitable stereotypes about Chinese—that they are superstitious, that they are fiercely loyal, that all Chinese men are sexually out of control and all Chinese women are eager to serve their men, and that they are obsessed with money. NYPD is therefore checkmated. As the film’s tagline reads, “You can’t play by the rules when there aren’t any.” The most intriguing part of the film is the way in which the White officer starts with idealistic goals and is sucked into becoming a part of the corruption. But then a movie exclusively with Chinese actors and without stereotypic Chinese would not be a box office success in the United States. Nevertheless, to genuflect to the Orient, the film opened in Bangkok and Hongkong a week before Hollywood. MH