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 | Gangster | One Last Job | Lounge Singer | Car Chase

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
• Siren Entertainment (1998) (Australia) (VHS)
• 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 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (Original rating) | 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:

Jennie's ballads are in her own voice. Sally Yeh was a popular pop star, and her concert schedule conflicted with the filming schedule. This led to a radical change in the storyline, with her blind at the beginning of the movie and telling the story through flashbacks, and a different ending, with Jennie flying to America for a cornea transplant.

Goofs:

Continuity: The same boat appears twice behind Jeffrey at the docks while he's calling Jenny.

Quotes:

Lee: You sang beautifully just now.
Jennie: I sing for him, and he isn't here.
Lee: Jeffrey? You sing with such emotion about him. I feel like I know him. Thanks for sharing something so important.
Jennie: I just wish he were here now.
Lee: Wherever he may roam, you'll be in his thoughts, Jenny. The better part of him will always be here.

Movie Connections:

References Il mistero di Oberwald (1981)

Among Revenge and Forgiveness, Among Bullets and Faithfulness

Chow Yun Fat and John Woo teams up together with strong commitment to this highly melodramatic action film. The Killer was so ahead of its time especially with its signature shootout scenes and fast paced action sequences in its time of production in Hong-Kong. Without any special, visual or sound effects; it's a high achievement on both sound and vision. It's high on thematic values, but low on production values.

Woo benefited a lot from a team of action-coordinators as part of the production crew he assigned with. 20 years from its screen release, today still there are not many action films in which the sequences are coordinated as good as in The Killer. The rest of the production was standing by its plot, which becomes unbearable due to extremely melodramatic events. Woo tries to hurt our feelings as much as he can by killing and injuring innocents so ruthlessly: Passengers on a train, children on a beach, singers at a night club etc.

Lowell Lo's heart-wrenching theme and background music was one of the finest of the thematic values. Story development is also very effective that everything seems going fine at the beginning of Jong(the hit-man)'s last mission, then for he wasn't paid for his successful assassination he decides to show up back from underground with his alias: "Jeffrey". When he did, a stage singer ends up losing her sight and becomes blind from shot blasting. Jong helps her get well; she falls in love with him. He introduces himself as Jeffrey to her. No matter what romance they share together, no matter how close they are to each other; there is absolutely no accordance no chemistry between Sally Yeh and Chow Yun-Fat. Sally Yeh acts so poorly, especially while she keeps screaming needlessly every other scene.

For whoever likes this film, I strongly advise Léon to them. The same idea also works in Luc Besson's film, too: In a hit-man's life; there is no certain way to go, there is nobody to trust, there is no repentance. In Luc Besson's film of 1994, Jean Reno and Natalie Portman builds up a better harmony using emotions but not melodrama.

Additionally in John Woo's film, even though Chow Yun-Fat is not fast enough he just stands by the bullets by running, or guards himself with armchairs and seats of the cathedral which are vulnerable to bullets with the gaps between backrests. So many bullets are used... Were they shot by children or blind hitmans? How could you explain not getting shot while 4 hitmans are aiming at you running inside the cathedral and running on the beach? On the other hand, every single bullet that's used in Léon, hurts one person or another; or leaves marks, tracks and holes on walls, and in the texture of the floor. It's not an acquirement to waste 10 thousand bullets in a movie; but it's really an achievement when you configure a sub-production plan just to preview and review the bullets in both pre-production and production.