A Better Tomorrow
A Better Tomorrow (Chinese: 英雄本色; Jyutping: Jing1 Hung4 Bun2 Sik1; lit. 'true colours of a hero') is a 1986 Hong Kong action film directed and produced by John Woo, with a screenplay by Woo, Chan Hing-ka, and Leung Suk-wah. The film stars Ti Lung, Leslie Cheung, Chow Yun-fat, Emily Chu, and Waise Lee. Ti plays Ho, a triad gangster and money counterfeiter who is sent to prison after being betrayed by his subordinate, Shing (Lee). After his release, Ho tries to reform himself and reconcile with his estranged brother Kit (Cheung), a police officer who resents him for his criminal past. Ho becomes torn between trying and failing to make amends with Kit, and following the advice of his friend Mark (Chow) to seek revenge for Shing's treachery.
The plot was heavily influenced by The Story of a Discharged Prisoner (1967), a film admired by both Woo and producer Tsui Hark. After forming Film Workshop in 1984, Tsui asked Woo to write and direct a dramatic crime film. Woo saw this as his chance to break away from directing comedies for Cinema City and developed the story based on Discharged Prisoner, adding his own ideas about honour and loyalty inspired by wuxia and the work of Jean-Pierre Melville. After convincing Cinema City to co-produce, Woo and Tsui began filming in early 1986, working with a budget of under HK$11 million. The majority of filming took place in Hong Kong, with some exterior shots filmed in Taiwan, and concluded after 80 to 100 days.
Released during a time when comedy films were popular in Hong Kong, Cinema City was expecting A Better Tomorrow to be a box-office bomb due to its dramatic tone and lack of a popular cast. However, it defied expectations and achieved immediate commercial success upon its release on 2 August 1986, earning over HK$34 million during its extended theatrical run. Critics praised the action sequences, Woo's direction, and the performances of its cast. The film was nominated for numerous accolades, winning two Hong Kong Film Awards and three Golden Horse Awards.
A Better Tomorrow has been influential on action films since its release. Its stylised, balletic gunplay is considered the original source of gun fu fight sequences. The movie's popularity led Hong Kong film producers to introduce more melodramatic elements into their crime films, leading to the emergence of the heroic bloodshed film genre. A Better Tomorrow is considered by critics to be one of the greatest action movies, with a Hong Kong Film Awards panel ranking it second in its list of The Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures in 2005. Its box office success spawned a direct sequel, A Better Tomorrow II (1987), a prequel entitled A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon (1989), and two official remakes: one in South Korea released in 2010 and one in mainland China in 2018.
Carmin Drama
- 2023-08-07T00:00:00.000000Z
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