Die xue jie tou (1990)

Director:

John Woo

Writers:

Janet Chun (writer)
Patrick Leung (writer)

Release Date:

17 August 1990 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | History | Thriller | War

Plot:

In 1967, on the way to the wedding of a friend a young man is accosted by a local gang member. Later...

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Escape | Hong Kong | Friendship | Criminal

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Tony Leung Chiu Wai	...	Ben / Ah Bee
Jacky Cheung	...	Frank / Fai
Waise Lee	...	Paul / Little Wing
Simon Yam	...	Luke
Fennie Yuen	...	Jane
Yolinda Yam	...	Sally Yen
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yue Ding
Shek Yin Lau	...	Fatso
Chung Lin	...	Y.S. Leong
Hee Ching Paw	...	Ben's mother
Hang Shuen So	...	Jane's mother
Kan-Wing Tsang	...	Jane's father
Chang Tseng	...	Paul's father
Kwong Lam Tsui	...	Frank's father
John Woo	...	Police inspector

Also Known As:

Bullet in the Head (Hong Kong: English title) (USA)
Bloodshed in the Streets (Hong Kong: English title) (literal title)
Dip huet gaai tau (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

Runtime:

136 min | Australia:126 min | New Zealand:125 min | Germany:97 min (video version) (heavily cut)

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | English | Vietnamese | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Germany:18 (video rating) (heavily cut) | Germany:18 (re-rating) (uncut) | Netherlands:16 | Brazil:18 (DVD rating) | Hong Kong:III (video rating) | Malaysia:18SG | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Singapore:PG (cut) | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | USA:R | Australia:R | Czech Republic:15 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 | Japan:R-15 | Italy:VM14 | Ireland:18 | Hong Kong:IIB

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Golden Princess Film Production Limited

Trivia:

The original cut ran 126 minutes, but Golden Princess thought the film ran too long and wanted it cut. For some European countries, the film was cut down even further to around 96 minutes. For descriptions of the scenes that were cut, check out A Website Never Dies. Most notably, the infamous "piss drinking" shot (which Mark described in Ying hung boon sik (1986) was cut.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: When the action moves to Vietnam the movie posters ('Dien Bien Phu', etc.) shown are films that came out well after the Vietnam war was over.

Quotes:

Ben: In Vietnam Fai was like a wild animal, you know why? A bullet in the head... why couldn't you shoot straight? Why make him suffer so much?

Movie Connections:

References I Call First (1967)

Soundtrack:

I'm a Believer

Another exuberant thrill ride from John Woo!

In 1989, John Woo made a film that would simultaneously redefine and reinvent the action genre forever. The film I speak of is, of course, The Killer. Blending a touching storyline with exuberant gunfights, The Killer worked through excess and it was an absolute delight to be behold. It's hard to follow up on something like that, and for his next A-class feature; Bullet in the Head, John Woo wasn't quite able to recreate that what he did so incredibly well a year earlier. However, what he has created is still an excellent thrill ride and one that fans of The Killer wont want to miss! Woo is keen to keep that gang element from The Killer, except this time he fuses it was action from the Vietnam war, and as the story spans across many different locations, it can aptly be considered an epic. We follow the stories of three young men who leave Hong Kong after two of them kill another gang member. They decide to become smugglers and take advantage of the Vietnam War, but little did they know that they would end up in the thick of it.

The film takes obvious influence from the classic Vietnam war dramas such as 'The Deer Hunter' and 'Platoon', but through Woo's stylising, it takes on a life of it's own and stands apart from those films that influenced it. Woo is known for going over the top, and seeing three men in suits in the middle of the Vietnam war is over the top alright! However, also going over the top is the sentiment and I don't know if it's just the way that Chinese translates into English or what, but this film is definitely cheesy! The sentiment boded well in The Killer, but here it definitely doesn't and the film would be a lot better if the amount of sentiment was more realistic. The sentiment messes up the characters as well as the film too, as seeing one or more of them break into great long speeches undermines the fact that they're supposed to be criminals. However, all this doesn't matter once you get into the gun battles; which are incredible to say the least. If it wasn't for the sentiment, it would have been a complete whole; but it's still a damn good movie regardless.