Lat sau san taam (1992)

Director:

John Woo

Writers:

John Woo (story)
Barry Wong (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 April 1992 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

As a cop, he has brains, brawn, and an instinct to kill.

Plot:

A tough-as-nails cop teams up with an undercover agent to shut down a sinister mobster and his crew.

Plot Keywords:

Shot In The Leg | Gang War | Eye Patch | English | Good Versus Evil

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Yun-Fat Chow	...	Insp. Yuen (as Chow Yun Fat)
Tony Leung Chiu Wai	...	Alan (as Tony Leung)
Teresa Mo	...	Teresa Chang
Philip Chan	...	Supt. Pang
Anthony Wong Chau-Sang	...	Johnny Wong (as Anthony Wong)
Hoi-Shan Kwan	...	Mr. Hoi
Bowie Lam	...	Benny / Ah Lung
John Woo	...	Mr. Woo
Philip Kwok	...	Mad Dog (as Cheng Jue-Luh)
Wei Tung	...	Foxy
Bobbie Au-Yeung	...	Lionheart
Shui Ting Ng	...	Tequila's assistant
Meng Lo	...	Lonny (as Johnson Law)
Kong Lau	...	Hospital director
Wai-Sun Lam	...	Johnny's man #1

Also Known As:

Hard-Boiled (Hong Kong: English title) (International: English title)
God of Guns
Hot-Handed God of Cops (Hong Kong: English title) (literal title)
La shou shen tan (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Ruthless Super-Cop

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive violence and some language.

Runtime:

126 min | Germany:92 min (cut version) | Taiwan:131 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:18 (video rating) (heavily cut) | Sweden:15 (uncut) | Germany:18 (re-rating) (JK/SPIO) (uncut) | Finland:K-18 (2001) | Philippines:R-18 | Finland:(Banned) (1994) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Iceland:16 | USA:R | Malaysia:(Banned) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | Canada:XXX (Nova Scotia) | France:-16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:M | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 | Germany:16 (heavily cut)

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Golden Princess Film Production Limited

Trivia:

Originally, Philip Kwok (Mad Dog) was not supposed to have an acting role in the film, instead just working as the action director. But Woo was a fan of Kwok's acting work from the 70's and he felt Johnny Wong had a "weak" image, so he wrote in the character of Mad Dog and offered Kwok the part.

Goofs:

Continuity: Location and the position of Benny's (Tequila's partner) body in the Teahouse. When he was shot, he was inside the kitchen with the door entering the kitchen to his left. Yet after Tequila comes to his side after the shoot out, Benny is outside the kitchen on the floor in the dining area. That would mean that as he was being shot, his body would have to have had to make a left turn to get back out side the kitchen even though he was seen being shot and falling within the kitchen.

Quotes:

Alan: Birthdays aren't important when you don't have a real identity.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in God Saves the Babies (1994)

Soundtrack:

Hello

Brilliant

"Hey!" Chow Yun Fat says, covering a baby's eyes. "X-Rated action!" He's not wrong: Hard Boiled is a film clearly not afraid to embrace its genre's excesses. While most modern action films (Smokin' Aces for one) aspire to some sort of grand intelligence while providing shoot-outs and explosions, this film is a reminder of times when action films suffered no such pretensions.

Crowds of people are gunned down without explanation and the smallest things explode for little or no reason. The bad guys are massively exaggerated cutthroat caricatures and the good guys never miss. Scenes of Fat and Leung running down corridors are inexplicably shot in slow motion. And, for all of these reasons, it is amazing. It's fast, it's exciting, and it never lets up.

Hard Boiled is loud, exciting, and, thanks to quite terrible dubbing and a ludicrous early 90's soundtrack, often unintentionally hilarious. It is a film that places entertainment firmly ahead of plausibility and logic, and is quite frankly awesome for it.