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

According to the Dragon Dynasty DVD Commentary, Michelle Yeoh was originally slated to play opposite Yun-Fat Chow as one of the heroes, with Tony Chiu-Wai Leung as the villain (when the plot hinged on a madman poisoning babies). However, scheduling conflicts prevented Yeoh from taking the part and the scene was re-written as Tequila's girlfriend with Teresa Mo in the part.

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Goofs

When Tequila empties the shell casings from his revolver after the warehouse shootout, the shell casings are blank shell casings, not real bullet shell casings.

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Quotes

Johnny Wong: There is no room for failure now. The innocent must die!

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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

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Continuous Uninterrupted Shots in Movies (2014)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Classic Hong Kong action film

Ever since John Woo came to America he seems to have lost the ability to crack the stylish violence up to 10. Only Face/Off has really come close to the type of style that he displayed in Hong Kong - Hard Boiled being a perfect example.

Hard Boiled sees cop "Tequila" Yuen (Chow Yun Fat) lose his partner in a violent shoot out in a tea-house and aims to bring revenge on the gangs causing chaos on the streets. During the film he come across a deadly assassin Tony (Tony Leung) who may or may not be an undercover police officer.

The film's plot is pretty good considering with several double crosses, good twists and the bonding relationship of Leung and Fat. However this is all about the action scenes and these are spectacular. Full of highly stylish violence, double handed gunplay and exciting near misses. Fat and Leung are both excellent in their roles but the stars here are the action scenes.

The only problem with this is that it is very violent and may be a turn off for some. That said if you're watching a John Woo Hong Kong film then you're probably not that bothered about a bit of stylish killing.