Dip huet seung hung (1989)

Director:

John Woo

Writer:

John Woo (written by)

Release Date:

September 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Music | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

This film will blow you away.

Plot:

A disillusioned assassin accepts one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded, only to be double-crossed by his boss.

Plot Keywords:

Hitman | Lounge Singer | One Last Job | Gangster | Gun Fu

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Yun-Fat Chow	...	Ah Jong (as Chow Yun Fat)
Danny Lee	...	Insp. Li Ying / Little Eagle
Sally Yeh	...	Jennie
Kong Chu	...	Fung Sei (as Chu Kong)
Kenneth Tsang	...	Sgt. Tsang Yeh (as Tsang Kong)
Fui-On Shing	...	Wong Hoi (as Shing Fui On)
Wing-Cho Yip	...	Wong Dung-Yu
Fan Wei Yee	...	Paul Yau
Barry Wong	...	Chief Insp. Dou / Tu
Parkman Wong	...	Insp. Chan Bok
Siu-Hung Ng	...	A killer
Sing Yeung	...	Bodyguard A
Siu Hung Ngan	...	Bodyguard B
Kwong Leung Wong	...	Wong Tong
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chung Lin	...	Jueng Wan / Ah Jong's first victim (uncredited)
Hsiang Lin Yin	...	Syndicate man (uncredited)

Directed by
John Woo

Writing credits
John Woo		(written by)

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

Original Music by
Lowell Lo		(as Lowell Lowe)

Cinematography by
Peter Pau		(as Peter Pao)
Wing-Hung Wong		(as Wong Wing Hang)

Film Editing by
Kung Ming Fan		(as Fan Kung Ming)

Art Direction by
Man-Wah Luk		(as Luk Man Wah)

Set Decoration by
Chun-Ching Tai

Costume Design by
Shirley Chan

Makeup Department
Benny Chow	....	hair stylist
Judy Mann	....	makeup artist
Yvonne Yen	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Claudie Chung Chun	....	executive in charge of production (as Claudie Chung)
Virginia Lau	....	production manager
Roy Leung	....	assistant production manager
Kwong-King Ngan	....	unit manager
Lai-Ping Tsang	....	post-production supervisor
Deanne Yew	....	production manager (as Deannie Yew)
Patrick Yip	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Chi Ming Leung	....	second assistant director (as Leung Chi Ming)
Patrick Leung	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Hsu Wei-Kuo	....	assistant art director
Sai-Ching Yeung	....	property master

Sound Department
Siu-Lung Ching	....	sound effects
Hsue-yui Fung	....	dubbing editor: mandarin
Yu Ting	....	dubbing editor: cantonese

Stunts
Siu-Tung Ching	....	action coordinator (as Ching Siu Tung)
Siu-Tung Ching	....	stunts
Chi-Ho Lau	....	action coordinator (as Lau Chi Ho)
Chi-Ho Lau	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Kim-Kit Chik	....	chief electrician
Kam Fook-Shing	....	electrician
Wai-Ming Ip	....	still photographer
Tak-Shing Lee	....	chief electrician
Stephen Shin	....	still photographer
Lee Wai-Tak	....	assistant camera
Chun-Wah Yuen	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Tong Ping	....	wardrobe mistress

Editorial Department
Chin-Kuen Pang	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Susan Tang	....	lyricist: theme song
James Wong	....	lyricist: theme song
David Wu	....	music editor
Sally Yeh	....	singer: theme song

Other crew
Billie Chan	....	unit publicist
Kathy Cheung	....	production accountant
Janet Chin	....	continuity
Sylvia Fung	....	tea lady
Gloria Ho	....	production security
Wysum Pao	....	continuity
Chi-Wah Tse	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Film Workshop
• Golden Princess Film Production Limited
• Long Shong Pictures
• Magnum Entertainment
• Media Asia Group

Distributors

• Golden Princess Amusement Company (1989) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Circle Films (1990) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Fortune Star Entertainment (1995) (worldwide) (all media)
• Cinephile (1990) (Canada) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Palace Pictures (1990) (UK) (theatrical)
• Media Asia Distributors Ltd. (1989) (UK) (theatrical)
• Astro Distribution (1996) (Germany) (video) (laserdisc)
• Betta Entertainment (Brazil) (VHS)
• Buena Vista Home Video
• C/FP Video (Canada) (VHS) (as "The Killer") (subtitled or dubbed)
• Cinema Mondo (Finland)
• Criterion Collection, The (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (USA) (laserdisc)
• Fox Lorber Home Video
• Fox Lorber (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Fox Lorber (USA) (VHS)
• Hong Kong Legends (2002) (UK) (DVD)
• Joy Sales Film and Video Distributors (2005) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• Made in Hong Kong
• Metropolitan Filmexport (France)
• Rapid Eye Movies
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (Argentina) (video)

Special Effects

• Cinefex Workshop Co. Ltd.

Other Companies

• Cinefex Workshop Co. Ltd.  optical effects
• Cinema City Recording Studio  recording studio
• International Subtitle Co.  subtitles
• Magnum Stunts  car stunts
• Mandarin Laboratory (International) Ltd.  film processing
• Salon Films  camera and lighting equipment supplied by: Panavision cameras
• Showreel Film Facilities  mixing studio
• Studio LipsInc.  english dubbing

Also Known As:

The Killer (Hong Kong: English title) (UK) (USA)
Bloodshed of Two Heroes (International: English title) (literal title)
Die xue shuang xiong (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong violence and some language.

Runtime:

111 min | Australia:96 min | Taiwan:141 min | USA:104 min (R-rated version) | 124 min (extended version)

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:18 (uncut) | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Chile:18 | France:-16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 | USA:R (edited version) | USA:Unrated | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Film Workshop

Trivia:

Because it was so hard to get permits, some of the footage for Tony Weng's assassination scene was shot under the pretense that Woo was doing a documentary about Hong Kong's annual Dragon Boat race. Woo shot the bulk of the footage five months earlier, and brought in a small crew later to fill in the gaps. Woo ended up editing the scene himself, which took 3 weeks. Woo is a huge fan of musicals, and tried to think of the sequence as a musical number or dance sequence. He even edited it in time to the soundtrack.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Jeff goes to the back room in the first gun battle at the bar, a man takes aim at him from behind the bar counter with a shotgun. Jeff turns his attention to another man with a gun, and then looks back to the man behind the bar, who is seen putting the shotgun into firing position once more.

Quotes:

Joe (Cantonese)/Jeffrey (English): You're an unusual cop.
Lee: Well, you're an unusual killer.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hitman (2007/I)

Soundtrack:

Once In A Lifetime

John Woo is the master

Before seeing a genuine Hong-Kong produced John Woo movie, I thought I knew what action was, and what the action-movie genre was capable of. I was wrong. The Killer was the single most impressive, awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping action movie I had seen in years, and is now one of my favourite movies of any genre. It is #2 on my all-time list.

Why? First of all, the well-known poetic violence of the super-charged action scenes make for a tremendously exciting film. These combine choreographed bloodshed (there is an almost constant stream of bullets) with raw emotion that puts even the best Hollywood actioners to shame. Look at Hollywood action movies today; almost all Hollywood action is inspired (not to mention plagiarised) from the "heroic bloodshed films," the best of which is The Killer.

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are only the most obvious examples of American directors to put Woo's trademark stylized violence to use, and neither handle it as well as Woo.

But beyond this, the characters and the story are what drive this movie and what truly set it apart. The story of the relentless cop and the vicious killer is only the latest in a long line of detective stories, starting with Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe in the 19th century, and continuing in every cop show on TV today. The hero and the villain are practically the same; they are only divided by an almost arbitrary line called the law. In The Killer, both "Mickey Mouse" and "Dumbo" are unrelenting, capable, though misunderstood, professionals. Their motivations differ, but they both have the killer instinct. The classic storyline of the interaction of the two characters who eventually realize their similarities and end up working together has been seen before, but never has it been used to such effect as in The Killer.

Woo's familiar themes of brotherhood, betrayal and loyalty also reach their cinematic peak in this movie. The viewer not only wants to see the next pyrotechnic action scene, but is actually concerned with the lives of the characters, an element that is almost always lacking in typical Hollywood fare.

Finally, the gun-battle scenes, when they come, are simply the most spectacular, mind-blowingly violent, yet strangely beautiful, action scenes ever imagined or filmed. And last but not least, is the unbelievably powerful screen presence of Chow Yun-Fat, as always cool incarnate. His effortless lead and the tension created by his playing off of co-star Danny Lee make The Killer as close as I have yet seen to the perfect action movie. I recommend it to any hard-core action fan and also suggest Hard-Boiled, though Woo's American efforts thus far have not been up to his Hong Kong works.

Rating: 10