Hard Boiled (1992)
Hard Boiled (Chinese: 辣手神探) is a 1992 Hong Kong action thriller film directed by John Woo from a screenplay by Gordon Chan and Barry Wong. The film stars Chow Yun-fat as Inspector “Tequila” Yuen, Tony Leung Chiu-wai as Alan, an undercover cop, and Anthony Wong as Johnny Wong, a leader of the criminal triads. The film was John Woo’s last Hong Kong film before his transition to Hollywood. After making films that glamorized gangsters and receiving criticism for doing so, Woo wanted to make a Dirty Harry styled film to glamorize the police. With the death of screenwriter Barry Wong, the film’s screenplay underwent constant changes during filming. New characters such as Mad Dog and Mr. Woo were introduced, while the original plotline of a baby-poisoning psychopath was cut. Hard Boiled was released in Hong Kong in 1992 to generally positive audience reception, but was not as commercially successful as Woo’s previous films such as A Better Tomorrow and The Killer.RELATED:
Swordsman (1992) Biography, Plot, Production, Box office.
Plot.
In a teahouse in Hong Kong, Royal Hong Kong Police inspectors “Tequila” Yuen and Benny Mak attempt to arrest a group of gun smugglers while they are making a deal. After an ambush from a rival gang, a fierce gun battle breaks out; the gangsters are defeated but several police officers are badly wounded and Benny is killed. As revenge, Tequila executes the gangster who killed Benny rather than arrest him, much to the chagrin of his superintendent Pang. Tequila is then ordered off the case for his misdeed. Meanwhile, Alan, an assassin under the employ of Triad boss “Uncle” Hoi, murders one of his subordinates who had double-crossed their clan for a rival syndicate led by upstart Johnny Wong.
Wong, who is looking to usurp the old Triad bosses through his control of the illicit arms trade, is impressed by Alan’s skill and attempts to recruit him. Alan reluctantly accepts the offer, and Wong brings Alan to a raid on Hoi’s warehouse, where many of Hoi’s men are killed.
Hoi is eventually cornered, and allows Alan to kill him in exchange for the safety of his men. After Alan shoots him, he kills the rest of his men regardless. Tequila then comes out from hiding and attacks all of Wong’s men, but Alan spares Tequila’s life in the chaos. Pang confirms to Tequila that Alan is an undercover cop. Tequila tracks Alan down to his sailboat to try to make sense of the situation, but the two are ambushed by the remnants of Hoi’s gang.
Development.
The film was originally developed in 1990. After creating films which focused on the lives of gangsters, director John Woo wanted to make a film that glorified the police instead. Woo admired Clint Eastwood’s and Steve McQueen’s characters from their films Dirty Harry and Bullitt respectively, and wanted to make his own Hong Kong-style Dirty Harry police detective film. While creating this character, Woo was inspired by a police officer who was a strong-willed and tough member of the police force, as well as being an avid drummer. This led to Woo having Tequila’s character be a musician as well as a cop. Before production started, Woo told his actors that he was not going to make the film as stylish as his previous films, but to have it be more of an “edgy thriller”. The role of Teresa Chang was originally made for actress Michelle Yeoh, who had a long relationship with producer Terence Chang. After casting Teresa Mo, the character of Teresa Chang was greatly re-written.RELATED:
Passenger 57 (1992) Biography, Plot, Filming, Box office, Trailr
Filming.
Hard Boiled took 123 days to shoot. Although Woo told his cast that the film would be more gritty and not as stylish as his previous films, Hard Boiled became more stylish as the filming began. The tea house sequence in the film was shot before the script was written. The crew found that the tea house was going to be torn down and decided to film a scene there. Woo saw the staircase in the tea house, and thought about a scene where a character would come shooting down gun smugglers while sliding down the banister. The tea house sequence was shot in around a week’s time and was choreographed by Woo and Philip Kwok. It was shot with interruptions from many local triads in the area asking for protection money, and residents complaining about the noise.
Home media.
A laserdisc edition of Hard Boiled was released by The Criterion Collection in December 1995. A region free DVD of Hard Boiled was released by The Criterion Collection on 10 July 1998. A second Region 1 DVD of the film was released by Fox Lorber. Fox Lorber released the film as a stand-alone release and as a double feature with The Killer on 3 October 2000. Originally, when Miramax bought the rights to Hard Boiled, The Killer, and Bullet to the Head, they intended to release it in a cut version on video, it was until Woo prevented them from releasing it except Woo prefers his cut of his films to be released. The most recent Region 1 release of Hard Boiled was from Dragon Dynasty, who released a two disc DVD of the film on 24 July 2007.