Lat sau san taam (1992)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

John Woo

Writers:

John Woo (story)
Barry Wong (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

16 April 1992 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

As a cop, he has brains, brawn, and an instinct to kill.

Plot:

A tough-as-nails cop teams up with an undercover agent to shut down a sinister mobster and his crew.

Plot Keywords:

Gun | Undercover | Partner | Detective | Hong Kong

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Yun-Fat Chow	...	Insp. 'Tequila' Yuen
Tony Leung Chiu Wai	...	Tony (as Tony Leung)
Teresa Mo	...	Teresa Chang
Philip Chan	...	Supt. Pang
Philip Kwok	...	Mad Dog (as Cheng Jue-Luh)
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang	...	Johnny Wong (as Anthony Wong)
Hoi-Shan Kwan	...	Mr. Hoi (as Kwan Hoi Sang)
Wei Tung	...	Foxy (as Tung Wai)
Bowie Lam	...	Ah Lung
Meng Lo	...	Lonny (as Johnson Law)
Bobbie Au-Yeung	...	Lionheart (as Bobby Au Yeung)
Shui Ting Ng	...	Ah Chung (as Ng Shui-Tung)
Kong Lau	...	Hospital Director
Wai-Sun Lam	...	Hitman 1
Benny Lam	...	Hitman 2
Kenny Lam	...	Hitman 3
Michael Dingo	...	Jimmy
Hoi-Shan Lai	...	Librarian
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jun Kunimura	...	Machine Gunman in Teahouse
John Woo	...	Mr. Woo (uncredited)

Directed by
John Woo

Writing credits
John Woo		(story)
Barry Wong		(screenplay)
Gordon Chan		(screenplay) uncredited

Produced by
Terence Chang	....	producer
Amy Chin	....	associate producer
Linda Kuk	....	producer

Original Music by
Michael Gibbs

Cinematography by
Wing-Hung Wong

Film Editing by
Jack Ah
Kit-Wai Kai
John Woo
David Wu

Production Design by
James Leung

Costume Design by
Janet Chan

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Patrick Leung	....	second unit director
Sylvia Liu	....	second assistant director

Sound Department
Brian Schwegmann	....	sound effects

Visual Effects by
Yuen-Tai Ting	....	optical effects

Stunts
Philip Kwok	....	action coordinator (as Cheng Jue-Luh)
Jacky Yeung	....	stunt coordinator

Editorial Department
Patrick Pang	....	assistant editor

Music Department
James Wong	....	composer: additional music

Other crew
Ng Hon-Leung	....	director: thrid unit
Rosanna Kwok	....	location manager
Ting Yu	....	dialog director: Cantonese

Production Companies

• Golden Princess Film Production Limited
• Milestone Pictures

Distributors

• Rim (1993) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Criterion Collection, The (1995) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Encore Entertainment (1995) (UK) (video) (laserdisc)
• Criterion Collection, The (1996) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Fox Lorber (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Splendid Film (1998) (Germany) (DVD)
• Fox Lorber (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Manga Films (????) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Metropolitan Filmexport (1993) (France) (theatrical)
• Delta Vidéo Diffusion (????) (France) (VHS)
• Dragon Dynasty (2007) (USA) (DVD) (special collector's edition)
• Genius Products (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Mei Ah Entertainment (2003) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• Weinstein Company, The (2007) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Cinefex Sound Studio  sound mixing: Mandarin
• Fine Art Film Production Company  subtitles
• Karen Wang's Studio  dialogue direction: mandarin
• Mandarin Laboratory (International) Ltd.  film processing
• Mute Records  soundtrack
• Salon Films  equipment provided by
• Showreel Film Facilities  sound mixing: Cantonese
• Studio LipsInc.  subtitle translations

Also Known As:

Hard Boiled (UK) (USA)
Hard-Boiled (Hong Kong: English title) (International: English title)
God of Guns
Hot-Handed God of Cops (Hong Kong: English title) (literal title)
La shou shen tan (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Ruthless Super-Cop

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive violence and some language.

Runtime:

126 min | Germany:92 min (cut version) | Taiwan:131 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1994) | Finland:K-18 (2001) | Iceland:16 | Germany:18 (re-rating) (JK/SPIO) (uncut) | Germany:18 (video rating) (heavily cut) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Sweden:15 (uncut) | Malaysia:(Banned) | USA:R | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | Canada:XXX (Nova Scotia) | France:-16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:M | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 | Germany:16 (heavily cut)

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Golden Princess Film Production Limited

Trivia:

Using the shotgun in the rose box was an original idea in both this film and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). It is a coincidence that they both came up with it at the same time. Its appearance in this film is not a reference to or a copy of "Terminator 2". It was used in two influential earlier films: Dog Day Afternoon (1975) when Al Pacino's character brings a rifle into the bank, and before that in Stanley Kubrick's film noir classic The Killing (1956), when the gang smuggles their heist gun into the track locker room hidden in a box of roses.

Goofs:

Continuity: Location and the position of Benny's (Tequila's partner) body in the Teahouse. When he was shot, he was inside the kitchen with the door entering the kitchen to his left. Yet after Tequila comes to his side after the shoot out, Benny is outside the kitchen on the floor in the dining area. That would mean that as he was being shot, his body would have to have had to make a left turn to get back out side the kitchen even though he was seen being shot and falling within the kitchen.

Quotes:

Tequila: If all cops were as selfish as you, Hong Kong would be dead

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hard Target (1993)

Soundtrack:

Hello

"Give the guy a gun and he's superman, give him two and he's God."

Chow Yun Fat, toothpick in mouth, a gun in each hand. That's all of the plot you need to know. Hard Boiled was my first John Woo movie and, in my opinion, his best. No other action movie comes close to this. In fact, this is THE best pure action epic ever filmed. Upon viewing it, I immediately fell in love with Woo's style and his star. It's full of the most stylized gunfights ever seen and Chow Yun Fat is the definition of cool. The full blown finale defies description. Someone once called it an action fan's wet dream. There's not much more I can say because actions speak louder than words. So go see the movie.