Hard Boiled (1992)

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

Director:

John Woo

Writers:

John Woo (story), Barry Wong (screenplay)

Stars:

Yun-Fat Chow, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Teresa Mo

3 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yun-Fat Chow	...	Insp. 'Tequila' Yuen
Tony Chiu-Wai Leung	...	Alan (as Tony Leung)
Teresa Mo	...	Teresa Chang
Philip Chan	...	Supt. Pang
Phillip Chung-Fung Kwok	...	Mad Dog (as Kwok Chun-Feng)
Anthony Chau-Sang Wong	...	Johnny Wong (as Anthony Wong)
Hoi-San Kwan	...	Mr. Hoi (Guest star) (as Kwan Hoi Sang)
Wei Tung	...	Foxy (Guest star) (as Tung Wai)
Bowie Lam	...	Ah Lung / Benny
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

Storyline

Mobsters are smuggling guns into Hong Kong. The police orchestrate a raid at a teahouse where an ace detective loses his partner. Meanwhile, the two main gun smugglers are having a war over territory, and a young new gun is enlisted to wipe out informants and overcome barriers to growth. The detective, acting from inside sources, gets closer to the ring leaders and eventually must work with the inside man directly.

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Plot Keywords:

gun fu | informant | gunfight | long take | partnership | 

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Taglines:

The Most Action-Packed Film of Alltime.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive violence and some language

Details

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese English

Release Date:

16 April 1992 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Hard Boiled

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Box Office

Budget:

$4,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Golden Princess Film Production Limited, Milestone Pictures, Pioneer LDC

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min 92 min (cut) 149 min (uncut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was John Woo's last Hong Kong film before going to Hollywood. According to the Dragon Dynasty commentary, it was never meant to be Woo's last film there. It was somewhat successful in Hong Kong but not as successful as Woo's earlier films and it was at this point that the Heroic Bloodshed genre which Woo and a couple of directors were famous for was coming to an end as the Hong Kong audience were more interested in comedies, etc. However, when John had heard that this movie had extreme positive reactions from the American audience (which was rare at the time), that was when he made the decision to go to Hollywood. From there, he made his first American film Hard Target (1993) and continued with Broken Arrow (1996), Face/Off (1997), Mission: Impossible II (2000), Windtalkers (2002), and Paycheck (2003). In 2007, he went back to China to direct his two-part epic period film Red Cliff (2008) and Red Cliff II (2009) and produce and co-direct Reign of Assassins (2010).

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Goofs

After shooting the mysterious "machine gunner" at point blank range to end the Teahouse shoot out, the shot Tequila fired leaves a gory glob of blood on his face. However, when Tequila rushes to the side of his fallen partner, Benny in the Teahouse, the blood on Tequila's face appears to be only a small dried smudge on his face even though it's supposed to be just moments after Tequila shot the thug. While Tequila could've wiped his face, there's less kitchen flour on his face and clothes than a moment ago as well.

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Quotes

[to a baby, after shooting someone]
Tequila: Hey, x-rated action!

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Alternate Versions

The Chinese censors requested cuts to the scene where Tequila is graphically shooting thugs in the hospital when he is holding the baby.

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Connections

Referenced in Sleeping Dogs (2012)

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Soundtracks

Hello
Written by Lionel Richie
Sung by Yun-Fat Chow and Teresa Mo

User Reviews

Relentless and explosive

An action film at heart. The story of gun smuggling is just a backing just big enough to support the relentless action scenes.

Motorcycles exploding in mid-air, cars blowing up, shotguns, pistols, submachine guns, bombs...it's all here.

They all make for some of the best action sequences ever filmed. A good mix of the gritty and realistic with the improbable and totally fake. Though I think that the ending is bit too much. But what can you expect from Woo aside from a molotov cocktail of intense explosive action and violence?

Action and cult movie fans are advised to watch this film, however others might be turned off by it. 7/10

Rated R: intense strong violence