Dip huet seung hung (1989)

Director:

John Woo

Writer:

John Woo (written by)

Release Date:

September 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Music | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

This film will blow you away.

Plot:

A disillusioned assassin accepts one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded, only to be double-crossed by his boss.

Plot Keywords:

Hitman | Gangster | One Last Job | Lounge Singer | Car Chase

Awards:

2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Yun-Fat Chow	...	Ah Jong (as Chow Yun Fat)
Danny Lee	...	Insp. Li Ying / Little Eagle
Sally Yeh	...	Jennie
Kong Chu	...	Fung Sei (as Chu Kong)
Kenneth Tsang	...	Sgt. Tsang Yeh (as Tsang Kong)
Fui-On Shing	...	Wong Hoi (as Shing Fui On)
Wing-Cho Yip	...	Wong Dung-Yu
Fan Wei Yee	...	Paul Yau
Barry Wong	...	Chief Insp. Dou / Tu
Parkman Wong	...	Insp. Chan Bok
Siu-Hung Ng	...	A killer
Sing Yeung	...	Bodyguard A
Siu Hung Ngan	...	Bodyguard B
Kwong Leung Wong	...	Wong Tong
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chung Lin	...	Jueng Wan / Ah Jong's first victim (uncredited)
Hsiang Lin Yin	...	Syndicate man (uncredited)

Directed by
John Woo

Writing credits
John Woo		(written by)

Produced by
Hark Tsui	....	producer (as Tsui Hark)

Original Music by
Lowell Lo		(as Lowell Lowe)

Cinematography by
Peter Pau		(as Peter Pao)
Wing-Hung Wong		(as Wong Wing Hang)

Film Editing by
Kung Ming Fan		(as Fan Kung Ming)

Art Direction by
Man-Wah Luk		(as Luk Man Wah)

Set Decoration by
Chun-Ching Tai

Costume Design by
Shirley Chan

Makeup Department
Benny Chow	....	hair stylist
Judy Mann	....	makeup artist
Yvonne Yen	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Claudie Chung Chun	....	executive in charge of production (as Claudie Chung)
Virginia Lau	....	production manager
Roy Leung	....	assistant production manager
Kwong-King Ngan	....	unit manager
Lai-Ping Tsang	....	post-production supervisor
Deanne Yew	....	production manager (as Deannie Yew)
Patrick Yip	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Chi Ming Leung	....	second assistant director (as Leung Chi Ming)
Patrick Leung	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Hsu Wei-Kuo	....	assistant art director
Sai-Ching Yeung	....	property master

Sound Department
Siu-Lung Ching	....	sound effects
Hsue-yui Fung	....	dubbing editor: mandarin
Yu Ting	....	dubbing editor: cantonese

Stunts
Siu-Tung Ching	....	action coordinator (as Ching Siu Tung)
Siu-Tung Ching	....	stunts
Chi-Ho Lau	....	action coordinator (as Lau Chi Ho)
Chi-Ho Lau	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Kim-Kit Chik	....	chief electrician
Kam Fook-Shing	....	electrician
Wai-Ming Ip	....	still photographer
Tak-Shing Lee	....	chief electrician
Stephen Shin	....	still photographer
Lee Wai-Tak	....	assistant camera
Chun-Wah Yuen	....	assistant camera

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Tong Ping	....	wardrobe mistress

Editorial Department
Chin-Kuen Pang	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Susan Tang	....	lyricist: theme song
James Wong	....	lyricist: theme song
David Wu	....	music editor
Sally Yeh	....	singer: theme song

Other crew
Billie Chan	....	unit publicist
Kathy Cheung	....	production accountant
Janet Chin	....	continuity
Sylvia Fung	....	tea lady
Gloria Ho	....	production security
Wysum Pao	....	continuity
Chi-Wah Tse	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Film Workshop
• Golden Princess Film Production Limited
• Long Shong Pictures
• Magnum Entertainment
• Media Asia Group

Distributors

• Golden Princess Amusement Company (1989) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Circle Films (1990) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Fortune Star Entertainment (1995) (worldwide) (all media)
• Cinephile (1990) (Canada) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Palace Pictures (1990) (UK) (theatrical)
• Media Asia Distributors Ltd. (1989) (UK) (theatrical)
• Astro Distribution (1996) (Germany) (video) (laserdisc)
• Betta Entertainment (Brazil) (VHS)
• Buena Vista Home Video
• C/FP Video (Canada) (VHS) (as "The Killer") (subtitled or dubbed)
• Cinema Mondo (Finland)
• Criterion Collection, The (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (USA) (laserdisc)
• Fox Lorber Home Video
• Fox Lorber (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Fox Lorber (USA) (VHS)
• Hong Kong Legends (2002) (UK) (DVD)
• Joy Sales Film and Video Distributors (2005) (Hong Kong) (DVD)
• Made in Hong Kong
• Metropolitan Filmexport (France)
• Rapid Eye Movies
• Transeuropa Video Entertainment (TVE) (Argentina) (video)

Special Effects

• Cinefex Workshop Co. Ltd.

Other Companies

• Cinefex Workshop Co. Ltd.  optical effects
• Cinema City Recording Studio  recording studio
• International Subtitle Co.  subtitles
• Magnum Stunts  car stunts
• Mandarin Laboratory (International) Ltd.  film processing
• Salon Films  camera and lighting equipment supplied by: Panavision cameras
• Showreel Film Facilities  mixing studio
• Studio LipsInc.  english dubbing

Also Known As:

The Killer (Hong Kong: English title) (UK) (USA)
Bloodshed of Two Heroes (International: English title) (literal title)
Die xue shuang xiong (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Blast Killer (West Germany) [de]
El asesino (Spain) (TV title) [es]
Epangelmatias dolofonos (Greece) (TV title) [el]
The Killer (Greece) [el]
The Killer (France) [fr]
The Killer (Italy) [it]
The Killer - O Matador (Brazil) [pt]

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong violence and some language.

Runtime:

111 min | Australia:96 min | Taiwan:141 min | USA:104 min (R-rated version) | 124 min (extended version)

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:18 (uncut) | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (Original rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Ontario) | Chile:18 | France:-16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:(Banned) | UK:18 | USA:R (edited version) | USA:Unrated | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Film Workshop

Trivia:

Most of the incidental music is from the film _Red Heat (1988).

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: During the church shootout, Inspector Li tells Jeffrey that he doesn't know his name; while he uses the nicknames "Jeffrey" and "Mickey Mouse," he doesn't know his full Chinese name.

Quotes:

Sgt. Randy Chang: You can't win all the time. But you can't lose forever, either.

Movie Connections:

References Narazu-mono (1964)

Just about the coolest movie in the planet!

Warning for an action-film lovers: after John Woo's totally brilliant ultra-violent masterpiece "Die xue shuang xiong /The Killer", American action movie is not worth one penny. It's so great and extraordinary words can't simply describe it! I watched it twice on a movie theater. Regretfully I didn't get a chance to see it a third time on cinema but subsequently I've watched it over and over again on VHS and it still kicks ass - harder and harder every time I see it!

This is the reason why I'm slightly against Woo's current career in Hollywood. He could never stretch himself to do anything like this in America! All the actors are too fantastic to be true: Danny Lee (as Lee), Sally Yeh (as Jennie), Chu Kong (as Sydney) and especially charismatic Chow Yun-Fat in the leading role as the killer Jeffrey ("I always save the last bullet - either for myself, or my enemy"). When he draws his guns and starts to use 'em we know who's the unconditional king of action!

Intelligent and profound story is hard and unsparing but somehow truly beautiful. Score is delightful: lovely and engaging and a bit sad. Charming song as performed by Jennie captivates in an unimaginable way. Bottomless, thrilling and balletic action just gets wilder and wilder and the stupendous end sequence in the church is definitely the craziest shoot-out in the history of movies and it's so cool I almost cry when I see it in an emotional moment. That's the magic of Woo. "The Killer" is a spectacular masterpiece! It's just perfect as hell and above any American film ever. John Woo's "Bullet in the head" (1990) is the only motion picture I know that gets higher than this in my book.