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Statistics :
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Hard Boiled    (1992)

 
 
 
Director :
John Woo

Action Director :
Philip Kwok Chung Fung

 
Other titles : 辣手神探 (HK Title)
Laat Sau Sen Taan (HK Title)
Lashou shentan (HK Title)
A toute épreuve (French Title)
Country : Hong Kong
Film Company : Golden Princess Film Production Limited
Genre : Action / Crime / Triad
HK Category : I I B
Runtime : 128 min.
Alt. Runtime :
- 92
Video : Colour
Audio : Speaking (Cantonese)
HK Gross : 19.711 M. HK$
 
Trailer
   
 
 
 Cast :  
Chow Yun Fat
Tony Leung Chiu Wai
Anthony Wong Chau Sang
Philip Chan Yan Kin
Teresa Mo Sun Kwan
Kwan Hoi San
Philip Kwok Chung Fung
Stephen Tung Wei
Bowie Lam Bo Yi
John Woo
     
  
 (full cast & crew)

Plot

Hong Kong drowns under crime and corruption. Tequila, a hardcore cop, uses every means possible to clean the streets and teams up with Tony who is deep undercover in a dangerous arm smuggling gang.
 
  Notes  
1.  The total body count is approximately 230.  
2.  Firearms used in Hard Boiled are real and not props. Because of the strict laws regulating the ownership of weapons in HK, the producers had to import a large quantity of firearms directly from Great Britain. The police had to to keep a watch on these guns during the whole production duration.  
3.  The script was heavily rewritten a week before first photography began. Initially, the bad guy's plan was to poison baby formula tin cans to blackmail the government. And Tony Leung Chiu Wai was cast as the bad guy.
Chow Yun-fat felt the part was too excessive and detrimental to the career of Tony. As for John Woo, he was bothered with the baddie's violence toward newborns. (This first draft of the story was inspired by true events). Woo asked his good friend Barry Wong Ping Yiu to rewrite the story. Unfortunately Wong passed away a few days later and Woo had to change the script himself even as the production had just started.
 
4.  1993 Hong Kong Film Awards :
- Best Film Editing : John Woo, David Wu, Kai Kit Wai et Jack Ah
- Nomination for Best Supporting Actor : Tony Leung Chiu Wai
 
5.  One of the cult scenes in the hospital where Tony Leung and Chow Yun-fat shoot a lot of gangsters, akin to a shoot’em up video game, was made in a sequence shot with a hand-held camera and not a steady-cam. The scene was divided into two parts, because right in the middle the lift door didn't open properly which ruined each new take. Prepping this very long scene took at least three days. Following the shooting of this scene, Leung's eye was injured by a shard of glass and the actor had to rest a few days.
Source: John Woo: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series), Robert K. Elder, University Press of Mississippi, October 2005.
 
6.  One of the scenes toward the end of the film during which Chow Yun-fat save a baby from the burning hospital nearly costs the life of the whole crew. Woo asked pyrotechnicians to load the building with a lot of dynamite. Worried for the safety of all, the technicians didn't however dare go against the decision of Woo (usually very strict and serious on sets). Woo's friend and producer Terence Chang was called to smooth the situation. Eventually, only a fourth of the explosive was used. The explosion in the movie is already very impressive. If all the dynamite was used, the technicians believed that the whole building doubling as a soundstage and as the hospital in the movie would have been entirely destroyed.
Source: John Woo: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series), Robert K. Elder, University Press of Mississippi, October 2005.
 
7.  The filming of the finale at the hospital took 35 days, working 18 to 24 hours a day. The whole shooting period last for 120 days (the finale took a third of this time).
Source: John Woo: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series), Robert K. Elder, University Press of Mississippi, October 2005.
 
8.  The character of Tony Leung was supposed to die in the end. After such an intense production and because of the friendly atmosphere between the cast and the crew, Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung and the crew insisted to get a happy ending and for Tony to survive (he sails away in his yacht). Woo agreed on this ending so as to send a message of hope despite his initial wish to make a pessimistic film.
Source: John Woo: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series), Robert K. Elder, University Press of Mississippi, October 2005.
 
9.  Hard Boiled was shot without a finished scenario and was based on the principle of showing an action set piece every 10 minutes. Each new action scene was to be more impressive than the former. The initial script was totally cancelled by Woo after he shot the opening gunfight in the tea house.
Source: John Woo: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series), Robert K. Elder, University Press of Mississippi, October 2005.
 
10.  The production of Hard Boiled went well over budget and over the time allocated for the shooting. But producers let Woo finish the film.
Source: John Woo: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series), Robert K. Elder, University Press of Mississippi, October 2005.
 
11.  The hospital finale required three units to film continuously.
Source: John Woo: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series), Robert K. Elder, University Press of Mississippi, October 2005.
 
12.  Woo appearance in the film was at the request of Chow Yun-fat to show their friendship. The scenes were shot on the last day of principal photography. Dialogues were written later on. During the filming of the scenes Woo and Chow talked about something unrelated just to move their lips. The real dialogues were dubbed in post-production.
Source: John Woo: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series), Robert K. Elder, University Press of Mississippi, October 2005.
 
13.  Initially, Philip Kwok was supposed to be only the action choreographer. Woo gave him the important role of Mad Dog, to counterbalance Anthony Wong's lack of charisma and also as to pay tribute to Kwok's formidable career as an action actor (especially in Shaw Brothers films).  
14.  During the film, the character claims he's called "Jeff Woo", which is a triple tribute: To the hero of Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï , "Jef Costello" (played by Alain Delon), to the hero of Woo's film The Killer and to the director himself, John Woo.  
15.  Anthony Wong Chau Sang is dubbed in the film, which tremendously lessen his impact when one knows the voice of the actor and how he uses it.  
16.  Hard Boiled was John Woo's last HK film before he relocated to the USA.  
17.  The director and the crew were aware of the film's violence and the reputation of Woo regarding violence. Following the scene when Tony kills the mole in the library, the cops arrive at the murder scene and we were supposed to hear: "There is a lot of blood, it must be a John Woo movie." This line was cut out.
Source: According to Terence Chang, in John Woo: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers Series), Robert K. Elder, University Press of Mississippi, October 2005.
 
18.  Movies that influenced Woo for Hard Boiled:
-Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot by Roger Spottiswoode released in 1992 in the USA. The police sergeant played by Stallone is in love with his superior. She has her desk flooded with roses, but there is tension between the lovers... He never sent any flowers.
-The scene when Tony Leung conceals his weapon in a bunch of flower is a direct reference to the same scene in James Cameron's Terminator 2, released in August 1991 in HK.
-The scene when Tequila slides on the handrail in the tea house opening scene is inspired by John McTiernan's Die Hard, released in October 1988 in HK.
 
 
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Crew and cast galleries
 
 Crew : (when available)  (Hide)  (full cast & crew)

Director :
John Woo

Action Director :
Philip Kwok Chung Fung
 
 Cast : (when available)  (Hide) (full cast & crew)

Chow Yun Fat

Tony Leung Chiu Wai

Anthony Wong Chau Sang

Philip Chan Yan Kin

Teresa Mo Sun Kwan

Kwan Hoi San

Philip Kwok Chung Fung

Stephen Tung Wei

Bowie Lam Bo Yi

John Woo
 
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Movie Trailer
 

[Trailer Int.] Hard Boiled (1992)

[Trailer] Hard Boiled (1992)

[Trailer] Hard Boiled (1992)
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