Ying hung boon sik (1986)

Director:

John Woo

Writers:

Hing-Ka Chan (written by) &
Suk-Wah Leung (written by) ...
(more)

Release Date:

2 August 1986 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The movie that began it all.........

Plot:

A reforming ex-gangster tries to reconcile with his estranged policeman brother, but the ties to his former gang are difficult to break.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Gangster | Criminal | Prison | Friend

Awards:

4 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Lung Ti	...	Sung Tse-Ho (as Ti Lung)
Leslie Cheung	...	Sung Tse-Kit
Yun-Fat Chow	...	Mark Gor / Mark Lee (as Chow Yun Fat)
Emily Chu	...	Jackie
Waise Lee	...	Shing (as Lee Chi Hung)
Fui-On Shing	...	Shing's right hand man
Kenneth Tsang	...	Ken
Hark Tsui	...	Music Judge (as Tsui Hark)
John Woo	...	Inspector Wu
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chi Fai Chan	...	'Little' Wang
Kwok Leung Cheung
San Nam Hung	...	Triad Member
Hing Ying Kam	...	Mr. Mok
Shung Fung Lau
Ming Leung
Patrick Leung
Yangzi Shi	...	Mr. Yiu
Feng Tien	...	Father Sung
Wei Ho Tu
Hsieh Wang	...	Mr. Wang (as Hap Wong)
Sai Gwan Yeung	...	Triad Member in Parking Lot
Stephen Chow	...	Taiwanese Triad (uncredited)
Gregory Snegoff	...	Sung Tse-Ho (voice: English version) (uncredited)

Directed by
John Woo

Writing credits
Hing-Ka Chan		(written by) (as Chan Hing Kai) &
Suk-Wah Leung		(written by) (as Leung Suk Wah) &
John Woo		(written by)

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

Original Music by
Joseph Koo
Ka-Fai Koo

Cinematography by
Wing-Hung Wong

Film Editing by
Ma Kam
David Wu

Production Design by
Chi Leung Lui

Art Direction by
Bennie Lui

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Cylon Or	....	action director

Editorial Department
Simon Broderick	....	colorist

Other crew
Hark Tsui	....	presenter (as Tsui Hark)
Wei Tung	....	action director

Production Companies

• Cinema City Film Productions
• Film Workshop

Distributors

• Rim (1993) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Astro Distribution (1998) (Germany) (VHS)
• Optimum Releasing (2006) (UK) (DVD)
• Manga Films (????) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Nippon Herald Films (1987) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Bandai Visual Company (1998) (Japan) (VHS)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS) (retail)
• Ekaterinburg Art Home Video (EAHV) (????) (Russia) (VHS)
• Fox Crime (2007) (Japan) (TV)
• Nippon Herald Films (1990) (Japan) (VHS)
• Pony Canyon (1999) (Japan) (DVD)
• World Wide Cinema (2002) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS) (rental)

Other Companies

• Cinema City Recording Studio  sound re-recording
• International Subtitle Co.  subtitles
• Mandarin Laboratory (International) Ltd.  film processing

Also Known As:

A Better Tomorrow (Hong Kong: English title)
Gangland Boss
Rapid Fire (Philippines: English title)
The Essence of Heroes (Hong Kong: English title) (literal title)
Ying xiong ben se (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:MA (TV rating) | Malaysia:18PL | South Korea:15 (2008) | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Austria:18 (not rated) | Canada:18A | France:-12 | Hong Kong:IIB | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | West Germany:18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Cinema City Film Productions

Trivia:

The movie is actually a remake of a 1967 Cantonese film called Ying xiong ben se (1967) (Story of a Discharged Prisoner). Hark Tsui had been toying with the idea since his days in the TV business, but because of an overwhelming workload, had to pass the directorial reigns to John Woo.

Quotes:

Jackie: It's all your fault! You embarrassed me before I went on stage! You can't help in any way!
Tse-Kit Sung: You don't even have confidence in yourself. How can I help? They didn't say you failed. You don't know if it's hopeless.
[takes Jackie's violin case]
Jackie: Give that back to me!
[Jackie grabs the case and smashes it into a music judge's car window]
Jackie: Now, it's really hopeless!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Die xue jie tou (1990)

Soundtrack:

Love of the Past Years

One fine film from John Woo

This film just works!! Besides Woo's top notch action sequences, I was amazed by the great story. Chow Yun Fat is great as Mark and Leslie Cheung is very good as Kit. However, I think the main spotlight is on Ti Lung who is amazing as Ho. The story of loyalty & friendship is the main emphasis here and is essential. Plus, the chemistry between the actors is so apparent, you can see that they must've had so much fun making this movie.

I can see myself watching this again and again...