A Better Tomorrow

Ho, who has worked in counterfeiting, gets out of prison and tries to build a decent life. His brother Kit has become a policeman and will not forgive him. His partner Mark was crippled in a raid and wants revenge. John Woo directed, with Tsui Hark producing. Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung and Chow Yun-fat star. The starting point was Patrick Lung's 1967 film The Story of a Discharged Prisoner; for Woo it was also an escape from directing comedies. Expectations were low. Tsui recalled the studio asking him to burn the film midway through production. The budget was under 11 million Hong Kong dollars; the shoot ran 80 to 100 days, mostly in Hong Kong with exteriors in Taiwan. Chow Yun-fat was originally cast for only 10 to 15 days. Seeing what he could do, Woo expanded the part. Mark Lee's look, trench coat, sunglasses and toothpick, combines influences from Alain Delon, Ken Takakura and Steve McQueen; Bruce Yu designed the costume. It opened on 2 August 1986 and overturned every prediction: 34.7 million Hong Kong dollars domestically, an unprecedented 61-day run and the top spot at the year's box office. It won Best Film and Best Actor for Chow at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Its style created a genre: heroic bloodshed. The gun fu technique, joining the wuxia tradition to modern ballistic choreography, came from here. Who it is for: viewers interested in Hong Kong action and in the history of the genre. Who it is not for: anyone who avoids melodrama. There is as much weeping here as shooting, and the register strikes some viewers now as excessive.