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:

More exciting than a dozen Die hards

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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

More than 200 guns were used in the film, all of which were real. Due to Hong Kong's strict gun laws, the weapons had to be imported specially from England and inspected by the HK police before they could be used on set. The production also had to import a substantial quantity of blank ammunition; in total, over 100,000 rounds of blank ammunition would be fired during the filming of the movie.

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Goofs

When Tequila decocks Alan's Beretta twice while confronting him on his boat.

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Quotes

Alan: When I'm a Triad, the cops want to kill me and when I'm a cop, everyone wants to kill me! I'm a scared man.

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Alternate Versions

This film was released in 2 different Laserdisc editions in Hong Kong. One was the film on 2 discs running over 121 min, the other one was a single disc version running approx. 117 minutes. Both versions are cut for violence.

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Connections

Referenced in Spaced: Battles (1999)

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Soundtracks

Mona Lisa
Written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston
Sung by Teresa Mo and Philip Chan

User Reviews

AWESOME

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. No movie has ever had this level of stylishly directed action, NOT EVEN CLOSE. This movie has the 3 best action sequences in the history of cinema, PERIOD.

The story is about a cop named Tequila who, at the beginning of the film, loses his good friend and fellow cop, in a teahouse shoot-out. He goes against all orders in trying to bring down the Triad that caused his friends death. In doing so, he inadvertantly finds out that there is an undercover cop, Tony, in the Triad he is trying to bring down, and eventually teams up with him.

This isn't your standard buddy cop fair like Lethal Weapon with tons of cheesey lines, dorky action and sappy side stories. The dialogue is insightful the action is the best ever and the side stories are well thought out, if a bit abbreviated (due to lack of time to shoot John Woo admits).

Tequila is trying to deal with a failed relationship and the death of his partner, Tony is torn against blowing his cover and defending his honor and the Lieutenant insists on playing it by the book even though it isn't fair.

John Woo said he made this film in honor of the men and women of the Hong Kong police force and the good work they do. He wanted to make a movie about the good guys winning. What he has done is made one of the most pivitol action films ever made, influencing every action movie since.