A Better Tomorrow (1986) Ying hung boon sik (original title)

Director:

John Woo

Writers:

Hing-Ka Chan (written by) &
Suk-Wah Leung (written by) ...
(more)

Release Date:

2 August 1986 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The movie that began it all.........

Plot:

A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Gangster | Friend | Prison | Criminal

Awards:

4 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Lung Ti	...	Sung Tse-Ho (as Ti Lung)
Leslie Cheung	...	Sung Tse-Kit
Yun-Fat Chow	...	Mark (as Chow Yun Fat)
Emily Chu	...	Jackie
Waise Lee	...	Shing (as Lee Chi Hung)
Fui-On Shing	...	Shing's right hand man
Kenneth Tsang	...	Ken
Hark Tsui	...	Music Judge (as Tsui Hark)
John Woo	...	Inspector Wu
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chi Fai Chan	...	'Little' Wang
Kwok Leung Cheung
Hsin Nan Hung	...	Triad Member
Hing-Yin Kam	...	Mr. Mok
Shung Fung Lau
Ming Leung
Patrick Leung
Yangzi Shi	...	Mr. Yiu
Feng Tien	...	Father Sung
Wei Ho Tu
Hsieh Wang	...	Mr. Wang (as Hap Wong)
Hsi-chun Yang	...	Triad Member in Parking Lot
Stephen Chow	...	Taiwanese Triad (uncredited)
Gregory Snegoff	...	Sung Tse-Ho (voice: English version) (uncredited)

Directed by
John Woo

Writing credits
Hing-Ka Chan		(written by) (as Chan Hing Kai) &
Suk-Wah Leung		(written by) (as Leung Suk Wah) &
John Woo		(written by)

Produced by
Hark Tsui	....	producer (as Tsui Hark)
John Woo	....	producer

Original Music by
Joseph Koo
Ka-Fai Koo

Cinematography by
Wing-hang Wong

Film Editing by
Ma Kam
David Wu

Production Design by
Chi Leung Lui

Art Direction by
Bennie Lui

Costume Design by
Gam-Jan Yeung

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Cylon Or	....	action director

Camera and Electrical Department
Kim-Kit Wai	....	lighting director

Editorial Department
Simon Broderick	....	colorist

Other crew
Wing-Tuen Chow	....	script supervisor
Hark Tsui	....	presenter (as Tsui Hark)
Wei Tung	....	action director

Production Companies

• Cinema City (as Cinema City Company Limited)
• Film Workshop

Distributors

• Rim (1993) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Astro Distribution (1998) (Germany) (VHS)
• Optimum Releasing (2006) (UK) (DVD)
• Manga Films (????) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Metropolitan Filmexport (1993) (France) (theatrical)
• Nippon Herald Films (1987) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Bandai Visual Company (1998) (Japan) (VHS)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS) (retail)
• Ekaterinburg Art Home Video (EAHV) (????) (Russia) (VHS)
• Fox Crime (2007) (Japan) (TV)
• Nippon Herald Films (1990) (Japan) (VHS)
• Pony Canyon (1999) (Japan) (DVD)
• World Wide Cinema (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS) (rental)

Other Companies

• Cinema City Recording Studio  sound re-recording
• International Subtitle Co.  subtitles
• Mandarin Laboratory (International) Ltd.  film processing

Also Known As:

"Ying hung boon sik" - Hong Kong (original title)
"Rapid Fire" - Philippines (English title)
"The Essence of Heroes" - Hong Kong (English title) (literal title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Austria:18 (not rated) | Canada:18A | France:-12 | Hong Kong:IIB | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | West Germany:18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | USA:R | Iceland:16 | Australia:MA (TV rating) | Malaysia:18PL | South Korea:15 (2008) | Philippines:R-18

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Cinema City

Trivia:

No. 2 in the Hong Kong Film Awards' List of The Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: The cello playing at the "audition" (c.11 minutes) is inaccurately mimed.

Quotes:

Tse-Kit Sung:[interrogating Ho] Where you do work?
Ho Tse Sung:United Taxi Co.
Tse-Kit Sung:A regular job? Robbing with a taxi? Where do you live, thief?
Ho Tse Sung:United Taxi Co.
Tse-Kit Sung:Someone's willing to take in a thief like you?

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Contract Killer (1998)

Soundtrack:

Love of the Past Years

Mr Chow has achieved what no one else could: He looked cool in the 80's

When this film was made in the 1980's Hong Kong cinema was dominated by wushu films and bizarre swordplay movies involving people flying around and other acid flashback inducing scenarios. John Woo was a young director who had done a string of martial arts films, comedies, and musicals. In 1981 he split from Golden harvest and joined Cinema city, after a couple of comedies, He directed the modern day action film "Sunset Warrior" and it was held on the shelf and not released. After the failure of "Sunset Warrior" he was sent to Taiwan and directed another two comedies. Returning to Hong Kong, Woo had always wanted to make a modern day gangster film. Teaming up with friend and producer Tsui Hark, they made a film that would inspire countless films for years to come. Casting Chow Yun Fat who was mainly a television actor as one lead, an old school Kung Fu actor in another and a singer in the third lead role, it was a risky venture which paid off. The script is great featuring lines such as "Do you believe in God?" "sure i'm one, you are, a god is someone who controls their own destiny". There is strong characterisation of the characters, aided on by perfect performances from the actors, The action choreography was excellent and inspired virtually every film made involving guns ever since. It makes you realise that the only thing "the matrix" didn't take from this film and it's sequels is the plot. This is one of my favourite films of all time, and if everyone in the world saw this, I guarantee that the sales of matchsticks and toothpicks would soar.