User:FrostFairBlade/sandbox/A Better Tomorrow

This page is about the original Hong Kong film. For the South Korean remake, see A Better Tomorrow (2010 film). For the Wu-Tang Clan album, see A Better Tomorrow (album). For the 2018 remake, see A Better Tomorrow 2018.

A Better Tomorrow can also refer to branding used by British American Tobacco for their sponsorship with McLaren Formula One team.

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 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 movie was heavily influenced by The Story of a Discharged Prisoner (1967), a movie that both Woo and producer Tsui Hark admired. After forming Film Workshop in 1984, Tsui asked Woo to come 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 Jean-Pierre Melville films. After convincing Cinema City to co-produce the film, Woo and Tsui began filming A Better Tomorrow in early 1986, working with a budget of under $11 million HKD. The majority of the 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 the film to be a box-office bomb due to its dramatic tone and lack of a popular cast. However, the film defied expectations and achieved commercial success upon its release on 2 August 1986. It earned over $34 million HKD during its extended theatrical run, breaking the previous record for highest-grossing film set by Enter the Dragon (1973). Reviewers praised the action sequences, Woo's direction, and the performances of its cast. However, English-language critics had mixed opinions about its melodramatic plot. The film was nominated for numerous awards, winning two Hong Kong Film Awards and three Golden Horse Awards.

A Better Tomorrow has been extremely influential on action films since its release. Its stylized, balletic gunplay is widely touted as the source of gun fu fight sequences. Its popularity led to the rise of the heroic bloodshed film genre. It is considered by critics to be one of the greatest action films; a Hong Kong Film Awards panel ranked it second in its list of The Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures in 2005. Its box office success spawned two more films: A Better Tomorrow II (1987), and a prequel entitled A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon (1989). In addition, the film has been officially remade twice; a Korean version of the movie was released in 2010, and a mainland Chinese adaptation in 2018.

Plot

Triad member Sung Tse-ho and his best friend, Mark Lee, run a money counterfeiting business for their boss, Mr. Yiu. This activity is kept a secret from Ho's younger brother Kit, a police officer in training. Out of respect for their ailing father, Ho promises to stop being a gangster after completing his next business deal. At Mr. Yiu's request, Ho lets a subordinate named Shing go with him to Taiwan to conduct business with a local gang. However, the gang ambushes them, causing a shootout that alerts the Taiwanese police. Ho tells Shing to escape while he surrenders; he is then sentenced to three years in prison. To ensure Ho doesn't implicate anyone, a kidnapper tries to abduct his father, fatally stabbing him in the process. Before he dies, the father begs Kit to forgive his brother, but a furious Kit blames Ho for their father's death. Mark travels to Taiwan to exact revenge on the gangsters, shooting them dead in a restaurant. However, he is shot twice in his right leg, leaving him crippled and needing a leg brace to walk.

Three years pass, and Ho is released from prison. Determined to leave his past behind, he gets a job driving for a taxi company run by ex-convict Ken. Ho finds out that Shing has climbed the ranks of the Triad during his time in jail, and is devastated to see a crippled Mark being treated cruelly by Shing. Not wanting to be dragged back into crime, Ho refuses to confront his former protégé, opting to try and reconcile with Kit. However, Kit resents the fact that his familial tie to Ho is negatively impacting his career. In an effort to prove to his superiors that he can be trusted, Kit becomes obsessed with bringing down Shing, despite Ho's warnings.

Hoping to eventually turn Kit into a corrupt policeman, Shing tries to convince Ho to rejoin the Triad. When Ho refuses, Shing has his men raid the taxi company, beat Mark nearly to death, and lure Kit into a trap that leaves him hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Fed up with Ho's unwillingness to stop Shing, Mark steals a computer tape containing printing plate data from the counterfeiting business. Having a change of heart, Ho shows up on a motorbike, taking the tape with him. After using it to ransom Shing for money and an escape boat, Ho transfers the tape to Kit to use as proof of Shing's crimes.

Through a conversation with Mr. Yiu, Shing reveals that he was the one who set up the ambush in Taiwan. After lying to his boss about a negotiation with Ho, Shing then shoots the Triad leader dead, coercing the witnesses to frame Ho as the murderer. At the ransom exchange site, Ho and Mark take Shing hostage and drive to a pier, where the escape boat is guarded by Shing's men. Ho implores Mark to escape by himself in the boat. Kit arrives to arrest Shing, but is taken hostage by the gangster's men. The two parties try to exchange Shing for Kit, but it quickly falls apart into a shootout. Hearing the sound of gunfire, Mark comes back to help his friends. The three of them kill most of Shing's henchmen, but get hurt in the process. After seeing Kit rebuff his brother again, Mark berates him, telling him that Ho's present actions have atoned for his criminal past. Mid-speech, Mark is shot from behind and killed by Shing.

As the police approach, Ho runs out of ammunition. Shing mocks the two brothers, stating that his money and power will ensure his swift release from police custody. Finally forgiving his brother, Kit hands Ho his revolver, and Ho shoots Shing dead. As redemption for his crimes, Ho handcuffs himself to Kit, and the two walk towards the gathered crowd of police together.

Cast

• Ti Lung as Sung Tse-ho: A Triad member and Tse-kit's older brother
• Leslie Cheung as Sung Tse-kit: A police officer and Tse-ho's younger brother
• Chow Yun-fat as Mark Lee: Tse-ho's best friend and business partner
• Emily Chu as Jackie: the girlfriend of Kit
• Waise Lee as Shing: An ambitious, low-ranking Triad member

In addition to the main cast, A Better Tomorrow features Tien Feng as Ho and Kit's father, and Kenneth Tsang as Ken, the manager of the taxi company Ho joins. Shing Fui-on plays Shing's lieutenant, and Sek Yin-tsi (石燕子) plays Mr. Yiu. The film also includes cameo appearances from Woo, who plays a Taiwanese policeman named Inspector Wu, and Tsui as a music judge.

Production

Conception

A Better Tomorrow drew inspiration from Patrick Lung's The Story of a Discharged Prisoner (1967), a film greatly admired by both John Woo and Tsui Hark. According to film critic Law Kar, Woo witnessed Lung direct the movie at Wader Film Studio; Tsui meanwhile, had seen it as a teenager and was impressed by the film's handling of social issues. Lung's movies eventually influenced Tsui to venture into filmmaking by creating short films. Throughout his career, Tsui kept Discharged Prisoner on his mind, and considered making a dramatic work inspired by it. He first suggested an adaptation of Lung's film in the mid-1970s while working at TVB, but his idea was ignored. Years later, Tsui would propose a similar project to the studio he was contracted with, Cinema City. Due to Cinema City's commercial success with formulaic comedies, they refused, stating that local audiences would not want to watch such a serious movie.

Undeterred by the rejection, Tsui founded the production company Film Workshop in April 1984 with his wife, Nansun Shi. Tsui then approached his friend Woo, who had helped kickstart his directing career by getting him initial contract work with Cinema City, to come write and direct a gangster film. Woo himself had been feeling burnt out while working in Taiwan for Cinema City. He was frustrated by a lack of creative control over commercially-disappointing movies, and wanted to direct a gangster film instead of a studio-mandated comedy. Intrigued by Tsui's offer, Woo came back to Hong Kong in 1985, but was surprised by a perceived cultural shift when he arrived. He noted that there had been "gangster infiltration into all kinds of businesses—even the film industry—and a widespread feeling that there were no morals left, that many people would do anything to get ahead." Taken aback by this, Woo decided that he wanted to direct a film that would bring back and showcase "true values, like honour and chivalry".

Writing and development

Inspired by Jean-Pierre Melville, Woo began writing A Better Tomorrow with the goal of making it his own version of Le Samouraï (1967). Encouraged by Tsui to draw upon his own personal experiences to write the film's dialogue, Woo considered A Better Tomorrow to be his first auteur movie. He meant for the film to be a way for him to express his feelings about Hong Kong and human dignity, rather than a political statement. Woo also wanted it to showcase his friendship with Tsui, as both men had helped each other gain a foothold in their respective directing careers.

Woo was influenced by the gallant tales of wuxia, remarking that films like A Better Tomorrow "are violent, but they also have an element of romance—not love, but chivalry—and there's always the dream of a better world." He noted the impact that a previous directorial effort, Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979), had on him, calling it a prequel to A Better Tomorrow. While The Story of a Discharged Prisoner was used as a base, including copying the Chinese title directly, he made changes to the story's structure. Woo turned the younger brother into a police officer in order to heighten the drama between the siblings, and reworked the social worker character to be Mark. Being a fan of Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause (1955), he wrote the character of Kit to be an homage to James Dean's character. More notably, most of the characters in the original were rewritten to be male roles, despite Tsui's request to include female protagonists. Tsui admitted that there was friction between him and Woo, acknowledging that as a producer, he had gotten "too involved in the project" and that "there was not enough room for the director to breathe". In addition to Woo, writers Chan Hing-ka (陳慶嘉) and Leung Suk-wah (梁淑華) also received writing credits for the screenplay. For the film's English title, Woo asked Nansun Shi for a phrase that better reflected the film's themes of redemption and courage, and ended up shortening her suggestion of "For a Better Tomorrow".

With the two men agreeing to let Woo direct and Tsui handle production duties, Tsui was able to persuade Cinema City to take a chance on the film despite Woo's poor box office performance. Film executive Karl Maka approved the project after being convinced of the film's concept and marketability.Joining Woo on the production was editor Ma Kam (金馬) and cinematographer Wong Wing-hang (黃永恆). Blackie Ko and Stephen Tung were hired as the film's action designers. For the art direction, Woo employed Bennie Lui (雷志良), who was assisted by Tim Yip. Yip was a 21-year-old photographer who Tsui recommended after the producer saw his photography work in an exhibition. Bruce Yu (余家安) served as the film's costume designer.

Casting

[Chow Yun-fat] had been acting in different things. I had seen him in one movie where he played a kind of retired killer and I liked him. And then I found out some things about him, that he always helped a lot of people. That he cared about people in his private life, that he helped his friends. And the more I heard the more I thought he was very much the same as my hero in the story.

John Woo, 1999 interview with Lee Server

While Tsui had wanted to include women in the movie's leading roles—he expressed interest in getting Michelle Yeoh to play a female version of Mark—the film was greenlit based on the selection of three male leads: Chow Yun-fat, Ti Lung, and Leslie Cheung. According to the Hong Kong Economic Times, the role of Mark had initially been offered to Mark Cheng, who was unavailable as he was filming Tsui's Peking Opera Blues (1986). Instead, Woo considered casting Chow, believing that his talent, charisma, and off-screen generosity would be perfect for the role of "a modern knight". However, Cinema City initially balked at the proposal. While Chow was a popular television actor for TVB, his film roles had been so commercially unsuccessful that he had developed an industry reputation in Hong Kong as "box office poison". Additionally, Chow was not available at first due to scheduling conflicts, but Woo and Tsui both insisted on waiting for the actor to finish his previous commitments.

For the role of Ho, Woo wanted Ti, a skilled martial artist best-known as a 1970s wuxia film star for Chang Cheh at Shaw Brothers Studio. However, Ti's career had been slumping as audience interest in martial arts films declined by the early 1980s, and when Shaw Brothers halted film production in 1986 to focus on television, he was left struggling for work. Like with Chow, Tsui and Woo also had to navigate around the actor's filming schedule. Ti had grown a ponytail for his role in The Legend of Wisely (1987), and could not cut his hair short for A Better Tomorrow's jail sequences. Tsui recalled that Wisely director Teddy Robin became furious with him after he asked the director to let Ti wear a fake ponytail so that he could do both films. However, Ti was interested in the part because he found the script's focus on brotherhood intriguing, and found a compromise with Robin by getting a mid-length haircut.

Cheung, a famous Cantopop star trying to establish himself as a film actor, was cast as Kit to convince Cinema City executives that the project was financially viable. The singer had earned commercial acclaim for his music career, having one of his songs, "Wild Wind" (不羈的風), earn a Gold Song award at the Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation in 1985. Cheung had also showcased strong acting performances in television dramas on TVB, as well as various films that used his boyish charm. By playing Kit, he would inject the film with a youthful presence, serving as a contrast to Chow and Ti's characters. Terence Chang, a general manager at Film Workshop at the time, said that he and Woo both noticed Cheung's potential when casting him.

Rounding out the main cast was Emily Chu, who played Kit's girlfriend Jackie, and Waise Lee as Shing. Chu had previously starred alongside Chow in Witch From Nepal (1986), playing the titular character, Sheila. Lee, who had never worked in film prior to A Better Tomorrow, received the part because Tsui noticed him in a television commercial.

Filming and post-production

Film production began in early 1986 with a budget of under $11 million HKD. The film was shot in multiple locations across Hong Kong, with some exterior shots filmed in Taiwan. Due to the film's limited budget, cinematographer Wong Wing-hang had to shoot the nighttime scenes with minimal lighting, as the production could not afford to rent lights.

The film shoot was at times emotional for Woo; Cheung recalled that the director would sometimes cry on set. Tsui remembered the production being subject to significant alterations, stating that "everything was on an unstable basis, sort of like walking on a boat—everything is moving, shaking, unbalanced." When the actor they had cast as Inspector Wu struggled with delivering a suitable performance, Woo decided to step into the role himself, allowing both Chow and Cheung to direct him. While the director bemoaned his own acting abilities, he believed that the character needed to be in the film "to show that morally things are not always black and white."

One of the most notable changes during filming was Chow's involvement in the film. The actor was initially slated to be on set for only 10 to 15 days as Mark. However, as Woo and Chow bonded over their similar values and industry struggles, Woo gradually expanded the actor's supporting role after realizing how capable Chow was. Chow, who had emotionally connected with the film's dialogue, was also impressed with the part. He allowed Woo additional days to shoot with him for free when things went over budget. Woo gave Chow considerable improvisational freedom, accepting the actor's suggestion to give Mark a toothpick to put in his mouth in order to make him seem cooler. Woo also used Chow's real-life experience with Ringo Lam as the basis for the scene where Mark recalls how he and Ho were forced to drink urine at gunpoint. According to the director, Chow recounted that he and Lam were coerced into drinking an entire bottle of alcohol after Lam unintentionally insulted the shady owner of the restaurant they were dining at. Chow was not the only actor to draw upon his life experiences to use in his performance. Ti stated in interviews that he used his close friendship with fellow Shaw Brothers actor Alexander Fu Sheng as the basis for Ho and Kit's relationship.

[Penn] used strong film language to explore the stunning romanticism and beauty of life and death. [...] Warren [Beatty] and Faye [Dunaway] look at each other with that knowing smile. They feel the end but they also feel eternity. The duality of knowing they are going to die but also knowing that their love will live on afterward. That is the romance that makes me hold my breath.

John Woo, 2002 interview with Karen Fang

A cinephile by nature, Woo included references to other films. According to the director, Mark's slow-motion entrance into the restaurant was a nod to Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973), where a character enters a bar set to "Jumpin' Jack Flash" by The Rolling Stones. An admirer of Arthur Penn, Woo was heavily influenced by Penn's depiction of the deaths of the titular characters in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). He felt inspired by the serene, romanticized image of Bonnie and Clyde's final moments, and wanted to recreate that feeling for Mark's death scene. Authors Kristof Van den Troost and Karen Fang note that the film's iconic shot of Mark lighting a cigarette with a flaming bank note is similar to a sequence in Ng See-yuen's Anti-Corruption (1975).

Many locations throughout Hong Kong were used during shooting. The scene where Mark is first seen buying rice noodle rolls from a street vendor was shot on Jackson Road in Central. On the DVD commentary, Bey Logan identifies the exterior used to represent the hospital that Ho's father is staying at as the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The scene where Ho sees Shing mistreat Mark was shot outside Sunning Plaza. The underground car park shootout was filmed at the Merit Industrial Centre (美華工業中心) in To Kwa Wan. Other filming locations include the former Central Police Station, the Wo Hop Shek Public Cemetery, and the shipyards in Aberdeen. Logan states that due to the necessity of using a local stunt team, the action scene where Ho and Shing get double-crossed in Taipei was actually shot in the New Territories; the outside shots of the Taiwanese police cars were filmed separately in Taiwan. The tunnels shown in the sequence are Hong Kong's anti-aircraft tunnels primarily used during World War II. Logan notes that scenes inside Kit and Jackie's apartment were filmed on a set similar to ones used on a Hong Kong television series.

Shooting was eventually completed on schedule, between a time frame of 80 to 100 days. According to the Oriental Daily News, Woo made a few cuts in post-production to reduce the film's length. This included a scene introducing Mark's wife—played by Fanny SIt Chi-lun (薛芷倫)—as well as a sex scene between Kit and Jackie.

• Production began in early 1986, with a budget of under $11 million HKD
• Shooting was completed on schedule, between a time frame of 80-100 days
• According to Tsui, Chow was scheduled to be on set for 10 to 15 days, but the film had gone over its shooting schedule; happy with the film, Chow gave Woo five additional days to shoot with the actor for free
• Due to the film's limited budget, cinematographer Wong Wing-hang had to shoot the nighttime scenes with minimal lighting, as the production could not afford to rent lights
• While Chow's role was meant to be a bit part, it expanded during filming as Woo realized the actor's acting potential
• According to Woo, Mark's signature toothpick was not written into the script; Chow had improvised it on-set after remarking to the director that it would look cooler if the character had a toothpick in his mouth
• Cheung recalled that Woo would sometimes be crying on set
• Shooting locations include:
  • Jackson Road, Central, where Mark is first seen buying rice noodle rolls from a street vendor
  • The Chinese University of Hong Kong, for the scene where Ho is talking with his father in the hospital
  • Sunning Plaza, where Ho sees Shing mistreat a crippled Mark
  • The Merit Industrial Centre (美華工業中心) in To Kwa Wan, for the underground car park shootout
  • The former Central Police Station, where Kit is stationed
  • The Wo Hop Shek Public Cemetery, where Kit and Jackie pay their respects at the grave of Ho and Kit's father
  • The shipyards in Aberdeen, where Kit gets shot
• Bey Logan states that due to the necessity of using a local stunt team, the action scene where Ho and Shing get double-crossed in Taipei was actually shot in the New Territories in Hong Kong; the shots of the Taiwanese police cars were filmed separately in Taiwan
  • Logan: The tunnels shown in the sequence are Hong Kong's anti-aircraft tunnels primarily used during World War II
• Bey Logan notes that scenes inside Kit and Jackie's apartment were filmed on a set similar to ones used on a Hong Kong television series
• Logan says that the prison sequence was shot in Hong Kong; per Logan, filmmakers in the 1980s were able to pay the Hong Kong government to gain access to the prison and police training grounds to shoot films there
• Woo has noted that Mark's slow-motion entrance into the restaurant was a nod to Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973)
• Bey Logan recalled that Chow Yun-fat told him that the sequence where Mark was severely beaten was difficult to shoot; a time-delay blood capsule was stored up Chow's nose in order to choreograph a delayed stream of fake blood shooting out from Chow's nostrils
• Woo recalled that his cameo appearance as Inspector Wu was unintentional; they had cast someone else for the role, but found their performance unsuitable, so Woo filled in while Chow and Cheung directed him
  • Woo recalled that his intention with the inspector role was to show that "morally things are not always black and white", which he notes is a common theme throughout his filmography
• According to Bey Logan, the story that Mark tells about how he and Ho were forced to drink urine under gunpoint was a real-life experience that happened to Chow and Ringo Lam in Thailand
  • Woo recalled that Chow told him the story after he asked the actor to retell a real-life story for that scene
    • In the story, Chow revealed that after his friend unintentionally insulted a shady boss who was treating them to some food at one of his restaurants, the boss made his friend drink an entire bottle of alcohol by himself
    • Chow had to help drink the rest when the friend couldn't finish it
    • Afterwards, the two got sick in the restroom, where they cried, held each other, and asked why they had to perform such a demeaning task despite gaining money and fame
  • It was after this retelling that Woo made the decision to rework the scene, changing the kind of camera shots he originally wanted in order to highlight Chow's abilities
• According to Bey Logan, Ti used his relationship with late Shaw Brothers actor Alexander Fu Sheng as the basis for Ho's relationship with Kit
• For the scene where Mark dies, Woo drew on Arthur Penn's depiction of the deaths of the titular characters in his 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde
  • Woo: "[Penn] used strong film language to explore the stunning romanticism and beauty of life and death. [...] Warren [Beatty] and Faye [Dunaway] look at each other with that knowing smile. They feel the end but they also feel eternity. The duality of knowing they are going to die but also knowing that their love will live on afterward. That is the romance that makes me hold my breath."

Post-production

• According to the Oriental Daily News, Woo made a few cuts to reduce the film's length; this included a scene introducing Mark's wife (played by Fanny Sit Chi-lun), as well as a sex scene between Kit and Jackie

Music

Joseph Koo served as A Better Tomorrow's composer. He primarily used synthesizers for the background score, saving a more dramatic instrumental for the action sequences. Koo also composed the film's theme song, "In the Sentimental Past" (當年情), with lyrics by frequent collaborator James Wong Jim, and sung by Cheung. Written in the relative keys of E major and C minor, it is a melancholic musical piece featuring harmonica, strings, keyboard, drums, and guitar.

In addition to Koo's contributions, A Better Tomorrow also uses a few pop songs. For the sequence where Mark plants his weapons in several flowerpots, the Hokkien pop song "Don't Lose Your Will" (免失志) by Taiwanese singer Chen Xiaoyun (陳小雲) is used. The film also includes a version of "Tomorrow Will Be Better" sung by the Wong Tai Sin Children's Choir, and Roman Tam's "Toiling Life in the Wind and Rain" (幾許風雨), which was a cover of "Heenari" (희나리) by Koo Chang-mo. It also utilizes music composed by Peter Gabriel from the 1984 film Birdy, as well as the track "Sparrowfall (1)" from Brian Eno's 1978 album Music for Films.

Design

The overarching design goals during production were to make the film feel modern and glamourous. Art director Bennie Lui recalled, "John Woo wants it to be as gritty as Taxi Driver, but Tsui Hark wants it to be urban and urbane." To fulfill Woo's requirement that the actors "look good in slow motion", costume designer Bruce Yu dressed the cast in Armani clothing. Yu was responsible for conceiving Mark's coat-and-sunglasses look, an outfit that combined the styles of several of Woo's cinema idols. Mark would wear a trench coat like the one worn by Alain Delon's character from Le Samourai, sport Ray-Ban sunglasses similar to ones worn by Ken Takakura, and shoot guns like Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood. Some of the costume design choices were symbolic. Woo remembered that Shing was dressed in white to symbolize his former purity as an innocent person who "got trapped by the dark side of life". Bey Logan notes that the black leather jacket Ho wears midway through the film is a callback to a similar jacket worn by Patrick Lung's character in The Story of a Discharged Prisoner.

Woo wanted to highlight the violence in the film to "make the audiences sense the invisible and widespread power of the underworld". Assistant art director Tim Yip used The Godfather's suave portrayal of the mafia as inspiration. The film's gunfights were partially inspired by the continual confrontations between good and evil in Westerns, as well as the martial arts choreography from wuxia films. Woo has stated that A Better Tomorrow was the first time he tried incorporating dual wielding pistols in a film. In the DVD commentary for Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), he elaborated that the idea stemmed from him and his prop master figuring out the logistics of Chow Yun-fat killing 15 people in the restaurant shootout with just one gun. According to Woo, he asked the prop master to demonstrate how someone can wield two guns in a firefight and make the resulting gunfire feel as continuous as a machine gun.

• Costume designer Bruce Yu designed the coat-and-sunglasses look of Mark Lee
• Woo recalled that Tsui wanted A Better Tomorrow to feel modern, where "everything and everyone would be glamorous and charismatic"
• The design of Mark Lee was a combination of several of Woo's idols: the character would wear a long coat like Alain Delon, wear Ray-Ban sunglasses similar to ones worn by Ken Takakura, and shoot guns like Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood
  • The long coat and sunglasses were also an homage to Delon's character, Jeff, from Le Samouraï
• According to Woo, Shing is dressed in white to symbolize his former purity; he was an innocent person who "got trapped by the dark side of life"
• The costumes in the film are supplied by Armani; the costume designer recommended the fashion house because he thought their clothes would meet Woo's requirements that it "look good in slow motion"
• Bey Logan notes that the black leather jacket that Ho wears midway through the film is a reference to a similar jacket worn by Patrick Lung's character in The Story of a Discharged Prisoner
• Woo stated that the film's gunfights were partially inspired by the continual confrontations between good and evil in Westerns, as well as the martial arts choreography from wuxia films
• Woo noted that he wanted to highlight the violence in the film to "make the audiences sense the invisible and widespread power of the underworld."
• Executive art director Yip used The Godfather's suave portrayal of the mafia as inspiration
• YIp recalled that Chow's choreographed movements with dual wielded handguns were based off of martial arts moves
• Woo has stated that the concept of duel wielding pistols stemmed from his appreciation of Westerns, and that A Better Tomorrow was the first time he used the idea
  • During production, Woo wracked his brain for a possible solution to how one man can kill 15 guys in the restaurant shootout scene, and realised one gun wasn't enough
  • He then asked his prop master to demonstrate how someone can use two guns in a firefight and make it feel like continuous like a machine gun
• Both Kristof Van den Troost and Karen Fang note that the film's iconic shot of Chow burning a bank note to light his cigarette is similar to a sequence in Ng See-yuen's Anti-Corruption (1975)

Release

Context

Martial arts films became popular throughout Hong Kong in the 1960s and 1970s, with the kung fu film eclipsing the popularity of the wuxia film throughout the 1970s. However, by the early 1980s, local audiences began to grow tired of the traditional period pieces that were typical of the genre. Instead, comedic movies saw mainstream success throughout the decade, often ranking in the top 10 of the highest-grossing films for that year. By 1986, several popular comedy films, such as Mr. Vampire (1985) and Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Stars (1985) had been produced. While some movies like Yes, Madam (1985) and Royal Warriors (1986) involved police work, their focus on girls with guns meant that they did not examine brotherly relationships like A Better Tomorrow did.

Because of those audience trends, Cinema City was not expecting the movie to perform well financially. Tsui recalled that unhappy studio executives asked him to "burn the film" midway through production. As a result, A Better Tomorrow was minimally advertised in Hong Kong. The studio was also concerned with Chow's poor box office reputation: unlike the other actors, his portrait was not included in the film's publicity stills, and he received third billing in the credits behind Ti and Cheung. Despite Cinema City's misgivings however, both action movies and crime dramas had risen in popularity with local audiences. The realistically gritty Long Arm of the Law (1984) had won multiple Hong Kong Film Awards, and Cinema City's own action-oriented Aces Go Places films had performed well at the box office. In addition, the kung fu film genre had already started to modernize to cater to audience tastes. As evidenced by the success of movies like Jackie Chan's Police Story (1985), directors were transitioning to making action films set in contemporary Hong Kong, with fight scenes containing gunplay and hand-to-hand combat instead of swordfighting.

Box office

Seeing A Better Tomorrow on opening night remains one of the greatest experiences of my movie-watching life. In ninety-five minutes, I watched the audience change. Having seen hundreds, if not thousands, of kung fu films with international audiences, I had never seen a crowd react the way the normally reserved, even jaded, Hong Kong filmgoers did to this somehow familiar yet totally different experience.

Ric Meyers, in an interview for a book about John Wick, a movie series inspired by Woo films like A Better Tomorrow

A Better Tomorrow was released in Hong Kong on 2 August 1986. First shown at a midnight sneak preview, its initial screening received an extremely positive audience reception. Woo recalled that "the people went crazy" while watching the film, and Chow noted that "there was shouting and clapping of hands, which is not something that happens in Hong Kong movies." The film went on to become the number one film of 1986, making $34,651,324 (equivalent to $96,316,795 in 2023) during its theatrical run. It broke the record for highest-grossing film in Hong Kong, a title previously held by Enter the Dragon (1973) starring Bruce Lee. While a Hong Kong film's shelf life is normally brief, lasting one to three weeks depending on its popularity, A Better Tomorrow ran for a then-unheard of sixty-one days in theatres.

The film's release was rolled out across Asia over the course of the year. In Taiwan, it was released on 8 August 1986, earning 16,880,798 NT$ across 128 theatres. The film premiered in Japan on 25 April 1987. First shown in South Korea on 23 May 1987 with Mandarin dubbing, A Better Tomorrow was not initially a big success there, selling less than 100,000 tickets during its initial run. However, it grew a sizable cult following after it began screening in smaller theatres, selling 126,156,260 tickets cumulatively and paving the way for the sequel's mainstream success in the country. This particular run was notable, given that the popularity of Hong Kong films in Korea had diminished during the 1980s.

A Better Tomorrow has been re-released several times, such as in 2011 for the film's 25th anniversary of its Japanese release, and in 2016 for its 30th anniversary in Korea. In 2014, it was announced that the Shanghai International Film Festival, in collaboration with sponsor Jaeger-LeCoultre and film preservation laboratory L'Immagine Ritrovata, would begin restoring A Better Tomorrow the following year. This project was started in January 2015 and completed in May; the restored film would be screened at the 2015 Shanghai International Film Festival, as well as the Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2016.

Despite the movie's popularity across Asia, it never received a theatrical release in mainland China. This did not stop Chinese audiences from watching pirated bootleg copies of the film that were smuggled into the mainland. However, on 17 November 2017, Cantonese and Mandarin dubs of the remastered version were officially released in the country, grossing over $3 million on its opening weekend. The film went on to gross over $4.8 million during its mainland theatrical run.

• Despite pessimism from studio executives, the extremely positive audience reaction from the film's midnight sneak preview in August 1986 was the first good indicator of its success
  • Woo: "The people went crazy."
• Chow recalled the crowd was enthralled with the film: "I enjoyed the acting part, but no one was optimistic, right up to the finish of the film, even the boss at Golden Princess. But then at the premiere of the movie you can feel it in the atmosphere that the audience was very excited by the movie. There was shouting and clapping of hands, which is not something that happens in Hong Kong movies. I loved it."
• A Better Tomorrow became the number one film of 1986 in Hong Kong, making $34,651,324
• The record was previously held by Enter the Dragon
• While a Hong Kong film's shelf life is normally brief, lasting one to three weeks depending on its popularity, A Better Tomorrow ran for a then-unheard of sixty-one days

• The film (男たちの挽歌) was released in Japan in 1987
• In Korea, the film (영웅본색) was also released on 23 May, 1987, but was not initially a big success
  • According to Cine21, it originally released in Korea with a Mandarin dubbing track
  • It sold less than 100,000 tickets during its initial run
  • However the film grew a sizable cult following after it began showing in smaller theatres, paving the way for the sequel's mainstream success
  • This run was remarkable, given the fact that the popularity of Hong Kong films in Korea phased out in the 1980s
  • Cumulatively, the film sold 126,156,260 tickets nationally

• The film has been re-released in theatres multiple times, such as in 2011 for its 25th anniversary
• In 2014, it was announced that the Shanghai International Film Festival, in collaboration with sponsor Jaeger-LeCoultre and film preservation laboratory L'Immagine Ritrovata, would begin restoring A Better Tomorrow the following year
  • The project was started in January 2015 and completed in May; the restored film would be screened at the 2015 Shanghai International Film Festival, as well as the Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2016
• Despite its enormous popularity in Hong Kong, it was never shown in mainland Chinese theatres until a remastered version was released in November 2017
  • Released on 17 November 2017, its opening weekend grossed over $3 million
  • Both Mandarin and Cantonese dubs were released
  • It grossed over $4.8 million during its mainland theatrical run
  • This remastered version was screened at the Pingyao International Film Festival that year
  • Prior to this theatrical release, mainland audiences watched the film on bootleg DVDs
• It was re-released in theatres in Korea for its 30th anniversary
• A 4K remastered version was released theatrically in Japan beginning 22 April, 2022, to celebrate the film's 35th anniversary of its Japanese release date

Reception

Critical response

A Better Tomorrow was released in Hong Kong to general acclaim by critics. Karen Fang states that contemporary reviews praised the film for being "explosive but sentimental" and "full of masculinity". According to Jenny Kwok of Cinema Journal, local critics appreciated the movie's transformation of traditional wuxia action into modern gunfighting, and liked its depiction of a romantic wuxia hero in Chow Yun-fat.

Over the years, English-language critics were generally positive about the film. Glenn Kenny of Entertainment Weekly stated that American audiences would find A Better Tomorrow a welcome respite from most of the generic action movies made by Hollywood. A reviewer for Variety remarked that the movie was a "fine vehicle" for Woo, noting its significant departure from the comedies that he had previously directed. With many of the reviews being retrospectively written after the international success of Woo's later films, many critics chose to compare and contrast A Better Tomorrow with The Killer (1989) and Hard Boiled (1992). Alan Morrison of Empire remarked that many of Woo's stylistic hallmarks were present in the film, albeit in a rudimentary form. Both Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club and Chris Gramlich of Exclaim! preferred watching The Killer and Hard Boiled, with Gramlich explaining that Woo was still trying to refine his style with A Better Tomorrow. The Austin Chronicle's Marc Savlov noted that while the movie was not as polished as The Killer, nor as complex as Bullet in the Head (1990), it was still a good representation of Woo's filmmaking style. He also believed that A Better Tomorrow needed to be watched by anyone interested in Hong Kong cinema.

Johnathan Crow of AllMovie praised Woo's "baroque" visual style. He stated that the tracking shots, fast cutting, and slow motion explosions helped deliver an emotional, melodramatic experience that elevated the film beyond traditional action cinema. A TV Guide reviewer echoed this sentiment, stating that Woo's purposeful direction made each new plot point seem unescapable. Both Morrison and Kenny liked the final shootout; Kenny said that it was "one of the most ridiculously exhilarating—or exhilaratingly ridiculous—sequences of its kind." Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Kevin Thomas said that he enjoyed the action and likable characters, believing the film was a hallmark of Hong Kong cinema. Thomas also liked Koo's music, noting that the sentimental score was a great match for the film's visual energy. In contrast, Variety criticised the melodrama, finding the movie "contrived" and full of "overdone violence". Gramlich opined that too much emphasis was placed on an overly-complex story containing shoddy dialogue.

Many critics praised Chow's performance as Mark. David Chute of Film Comment believed that Chow gave a "mesmerizing lead performance" that evoked Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura and Steve McQueen. Rolling Stone's Peter Kenis commended the film for making Chow "the ultimate cool-as-fuck Asian badass". Morrison opined that the actor stole the show, a sentiment also shared by Phipps. Conversely, Variety dismissed Chow and Cheung's performances as overacting. However, they praised Ti's "silent masculine presence" throughout the film, and appreciated the actor's understated vulnerability in his role as Ho. TV Guide also believed Ti expressed the internal struggle of his character convincingly, and found Waise Lee's portrayal of Shing a standout. Thomas acknowledged Woo's ability to get strong acting performances from his cast.

Accolades

A Better Tomorrrow won two awards at the 6th Hong Kong Film Awards: Best Film and Best Actor (Chow). It also earned nine further nominations for Best Director (Woo), Best Actor (Ti), Best Supporting Actor (Lee), Best Screenplay (Woo), Best Art Direction (Benny Lui Chi-leung), Best Cinematography (Wong Wing-hang), Best Film Editing (Ma Kam), Best New Performer (Lee), and Best Original Film Score (Koo).

At the 23rd Golden Horse Awards, the film won the awards for Best Director (Woo), Best Leading Actor (Ti), Best Cinematography (Wong), and Best Sound Recording. In addition to Chow receiving a nomination for Best Leading Actor, the film was also nominated for Best Feature Film, Best Supporting Actor (Lee), Best Film Editing (Ma), and Best Original Music (Koo).

Post-release

Home media

• In an essay examining the development of China's independent films, director Jia Zhangke named A Better Tomorrow as one of the popular Hong Kong films that were smuggled into the mainland by video pirates
• Thanks to screenings at film festivals, as well as bootleg recordings, A Better Tomorrow established a cult following amongst Hong Kong cinema fans in North America
• The film was released in America on VHS in 1994
• It was later packaged with its sequels in a trilogy box set released by Tai Seng Video on 26 May 1998
• Anchor Bay Entertainment released a VHS version of the film in widescreen in 2001
• An Anchor Bay DVD was released on 16 January 2001
  • Features English-language and Cantonese audio; runs 94 minutes long
  • Includes the original theatrical trailer and biographies for Woo and Chow
• Anchor Bay later released A Better Tomorrow and A Better Tomorrow II as a box set on 2 March 2004
• A DVD titled A Better Tomorrow Collector's Edition was released on 30 December 2002
• Another Region 2 DVD release by Optimum Asia was released on 26 June, 2006
  • The two-disc package contained a 90-minute cut of the film presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, with additional features like audio commentary, a trailer, and a documentary on Woo called Crossings

Other media

Merchandise based on A Better Tomorrow has been released over the years. In 2016, toy manufacturer Enterbay issued a 1:6 scale action figure of Mark Lee. The figure came with multiple accessories, such as a pair of pistols, cigarettes, and bundles of money. Beginning in 2018, an officially-licensed comic book adaptation by Shui-pan Wong was released over the span of three issues.

In September 2019, it was announced in South Korea that musical director Wang Yong-beom would be adapting the film and its sequel into a Korean-language stage musical. With music composed by Lee Seong-joon, the musical would use A Better Tomorrow as the basis for its first act, with its second act utilizing scenes from A Better Tomorrow II and multiple flashback sequences to tell Kit's perspective. The production cost ₩7,000,000, with Wang admitting that the production cost more than the actual stage, which featured the installation of over a thousand LED panels used to display various interactive backdrops depending on the scene.

Featuring an ensemble cast of actors and songs from both the first two films and Leslie Cheung's discography, the musical would premiere at the KEPCO Art Centre in Seoul on 17 December 2019. Receiving generally positive reviews for its special effects and performances, the musical was scheduled to run until 22 March 2020. However, on 10 February 2020, the production company suspended all future performances of the musical, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and offering refunds to people who purchased tickets. Shortly after, multiple reports surfaced alleging that the production company failed to pay some of the actors and crew for their work on the musical. A Newsis report noted that despite the musical attracting middle-aged audiences, it was not very popular amongst the primary target demographic of people in their 20s and 30s.

• Toy manufacturer Enterbay released a 1:6 scale action figure of Mark Lee in 2016; the figure comes with accessories like a pair of pistols, cigarettes, and bundles of money
• Beginning in 2018, an officially-licensed comic book adaptation by Shui-pan Wong was released over the span of three issues
• In September 2019, it was announced that a Korean musical based on the film and its sequel would premiere at the KEPCO Art Center in Seoul on 17 December 2019
  • It was directed by Wang Yong-beom, with music composed by Lee Seong-joon
  • Yoo Jun-sang was first announced as the actor for Song Ja-ho, the Korean version of Ho; Lim Tae-kyung and Min Woo-hyuk would also play the character
  • Lee Jang-woo, Han Ji-sang, and Park Young-soo portrayed Song Ja-gul, or Kit
  • Choi Dae-chul and Park Min-seong were cast as Mark
  • Kim Dae-jong and Park In-bae were cast as Dam-seong (Shing); J-Min, Song Ju-hee, and Jeong Yu-gi played Peggy, a character from the second film
  • The musical is divided into two acts: Act 1 unfolds similar to the first film, but Act 2 uses multiple flashback sequences to tell Kit's perspective
  • There were some changes from the films: Jackie does not make an appearance in the musical; instead, Peggy played a more significant role, becoming Kit's love interest while he worked as an undercover police officer
  • However, there are many scenes taken from the original films, such as Mark lighting a cigarette with a counterfeit bill, or when Ho restrains himself using Kit's handcuffs
  • There are a total of 23 songs in the musical: 14 original compositions, and 9 adapted from both the films and Cheung's music
  • The musical features songs from the first two films, including "In the Sentimental Past" and "Run to the Future Days" from A Better Tomorrow II (1987)
  • To create a cinematic feel akin to the films, over a thousand LED panels were installed across the stage, which would display various interactive backdrops depending on the scene
  • Overall, the production cost ₩7,000,000, with director Wang admitting that the production cost more than the actual stage
  • Wang spent two years trying to obtain the rights to the film, and another year to secure the rights to use Cheung's music
  • To determine which of Cheung's music would be selected for the musical, the artist's entire catalogue of music was translated, and only songs that matched the story's development were selected
  • The musical debuted to generally positive reviews; most newspaper outlets praised the special effects and the performances
    • No Cut News noted that the masculine themes of the source material might not appeal to female audiences, citing the lack of romantic scenes and humourous lines
    • However, The Dong-a Ilbo disagreed with that notion, stating that the musical "can be smoothly digested by female audiences."
  • The musical was scheduled to run until 22 March 2020, and in January 2020, it was announced that additional performances would be held at the Keimyung Art Center in Daegu from 10–12 April
  • However, on 10 February 2020, the production company suspended all future performances of the musical, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and offering refunds to people who purchased tickets
  • However, multiple reports surfaced alleging that the production company failed to pay some of the actors and crew for their work on the musical
  • A Newsis report noted that despite the musical attracting audiences in their 40s and 50s, it was not very popular amongst the primary musical demographic of people in their 20s and 30s

Thematic analysis

Chivalry, loyalty and male bonding

A Better Tomorrow is a stylized adaptation of wuxia films, combining other genres like film noir, Westerns, and police procedurals with the masculine aesthetics of Woo's mentor Chang Cheh.

A Better Tomorrow is heavily inspired by the traditions of wuxia films. Woo, a former assistant director for Chang Cheh, had long admired the director's masculine portrayal of the genre. The film fuses elements of wuxia with film noir, westerns, and police procedurals, creating a modernized adaptation of the wuxia genre.

Societal change

A Better Tomorrow has been interpreted as commentary on the societal problems caused by rejecting tradition. Karen Fang asserts that Shing's ability to use money and power to escape consequence highlights the "degradation of justice in modern society."

The film has also been described as a meditation on the anxieties surrounding the future of Hong Kong after its handover to mainland China.

Theme notes

Chivalry and the modernization of wuxia

Karen Fang, John Woo's A Better Tomorrow

• The film borrows Patrick Lung's 1967 film's plot of honour amongst thieves and "the tragedy of a reformed criminal who must perform one last heist before he can escape his criminal past"

Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park, "The heroic flux in John Woo's trans-Pacific passage: From Confucian brotherhood to American selfhood", Hong Kong Film, Hollywood and New Global Cinema: No Film is an Island

• Woo's heroic bloodshed films are "cinematic meditations on the concept of the yingxiong (hero)" derived from Chang Cheh's wuxiapian
• Since xia (chivalry) and yi (righteousness) are concepts that "continue to define the yingxiong (hero) with many of the yanggang [masculine] features still intact" in Hong Kong cinema, Woo was able to attract an audience by modernizing Chang's style
• Woo "redemptive trope" adopts the wuxia viewpoint of seeing violence "as a necessary last means for the restoration of justice"
• A Better Tomorrow is a Confucian morality tale "since it foregrounds all of the five human relations outside of the topmost tier, ruler to minister, in a redemptive reaffirmation of Confucianism as a guarantor for social harmony"

Yun-hua Chen, "Hong Kong and Athens: Contested Spaces of the Global and the Local in the Neo-Noir of John Woo and Alexis Alexiou", Greek Film Noir

• The film "[focuses] on an upright, middle-aged, male character who, despite the corruption, deception and crime in his personal and professional environment, insists on a certain, though sometimes ambiguous, self-defined moral standard, and remains kind-hearted and morally upright."
• Unlike the "compassionless neoliberals and bloodthirsty usurpers around them", the men in the film respect "family values" and value morality, brotherhood and honour
• Ho and Mark act like loyal brothers without any blood relation

Michael Bliss, Between the Bullets: The Spiritual Cinema of John Woo

• The film transformed Hong Kong cinema in two ways:
  • It took wuxia swordplay and martial arts and updating it to modern firearms
  • It combined moral codes, chivalry, Chinese opera, and the Chinese knight-errant

Loyalty and male bonding

Karen Fang, John Woo's A Better Tomorrow

• The film has a "reflexive and autobiographically allegorical storyline" in Mark and Ho that mirrors Tsui's real life support of Woo during his career slump
  • Woo's decision to use Taiwan as the place where Ho and Mark start their downfall might be an allusion to how Cinema City treated the director during his own stint there
• Loyalty and betrayal are "delineated and reinforced through a variety of cinematographic and compositional elements" such as repeated scenes, rhymed frames, and symmetrical compositions, i.e. a "two shot" or "three shot" sequence
  • Mark is used as the center for cuts, highlighting his importance as the emotional center for the other characters
  • The sequence where Shing steps out of a building and tosses money on the ground for Mark highlights his disloyalty, and it mirrors Mark's first appearance at the start of the film
• The younger brothers in the film, both fraternal (Kit) and symbolic (Shing), show disloyalty by not respecting their older brothers despite them wanting what's best for them
  • Kit further rejects the Confucian tradition of respecting his family by insisting that Ho address him as "sir"
• Oedipal conflict is portrayed through the murder of Ho and Kit's father, as well as Shing's killing of his crime boss father figure, Mr. Yiu
• Mark demonstrates his willingness to become a martyr out of loyalty to Ho by opening a seemingly booby-trapped briefcase
• Not wanting to go against his code of honour, he returns to help Ho when the hostage situation turns into a shootout, and demonstrates his heroism when he urges Kit to remember his fraternal loyalty (he makes a final heroic display by pushing Kit out of harm's way as he is gunned down)
• Fang notes that the film's "pastiche of conventions it both honors and transcends" puts its seemingly homoerotic undertones in context: it is the result of its "generic hybridity"

Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park, "The heroic flux in John Woo's trans-Pacific passage: From Confucian brotherhood to American selfhood", Hong Kong Film, Hollywood and New Global Cinema: No Film is an Island

• Magnan-Park cites Liu Shu-Hsien's model of three forms of Confucianism (spiritual, politicised, and popular) to label A Better Tomorrow as concerned with the popular level of Confucianism in order to "critique the political and restore the spiritual
  • Spiritual Confucianism concerns intellectual discussion on Confucian scripture, politicised Confucianism involves the incorporation of Confucian ideologies by rulers to legitimize their rule, and popular Confucianism is the societal adoption of certain ideals like filial piety
• Characters like Mark personify the concepts of both yingxiong and the Confucian junzi through their benevolent actions
• Before he sacrifices himself, Mark reminds Kit of his familial obligation; his martyrdom out of friendship restores order amongst the two brothers, and guarantees the continuation of Kit's bloodline by ensuring Kit's future with Jackie

Anita Lam, "Gangsters and genre", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology

• The film's portrayal of brotherhood stems from "traditional Chinese chivalric and heroic traditions", which wuxia literature also uses
• Both the wuxia swordsmen and the Hong Kong yinghungpian gangsters adhere to a chivalrous code called yi qi; this code has influenced the philosophies of the Chinese secret societies in the 17th century
• Using yi qi, the film explores brotherhood through its examination of biological brothers Ho and Kit, and "symbolic brothers" Ho and Mark
• The film explores how both Triad societies and blood families maintain their sense of brotherhood; Mark is addressed with the honorific "gor" to highlight this relationship
• Triads are usually organized such that its members call each other "brothers"; "dai lo", or "big brother" refers to "big bosses" in the organization
• Ho, acting as the dai lo for both Kit and Shing, is dishonoured by both of his little brothers when they fail to uphold the Confucian tradition of respecting their elders
• The film posits that "good" Triads follow traditional Chinese values, whereas "bad" Triads "are seduced by capitalism's promise of better profits."
• The film draws parallels between the Triads and the police through "rhymed frames"
  • Woo demonstrates how Triad films are linked to jianfei pian (cops and robbers films), which reflects how the formation of the Royal Hong Kong Police has been interconnected to Triads throughout history and in popular culture

Jillian Sandell, "A Better Tomorrow? American Masochism and Hong Kong Action Films", Bright Lights #13

• Woo's films tend to focus on "the kinds of social relationships available to individuals in difficult times", as well as how normally disparate people can achieve common goals by partnering with each other
• A Better Tomorrow blended violence with "intense moments of male bonding and an almost campy humour"
• The homoeroticism occurs between moments of gratuitous violence, using cinematic techniques and dramatic, balletic shootouts that frame the violence as romantic

Michael Bliss, Between the Bullets: The Spiritual Cinema of John Woo

• The film's story is basically about a man and his brother, on opposite sides of the law, who reconcile thanks to the efforts of "a triad figure of epic porportions" in Mark

Mikel J. Koven, "My Brother, My Lover, My Self: Traditional Masculinity in the Hong Kong Action Cinema of John Woo", Ethnologies, Vol. 19, #1, 1997

• Koven believes that interpreting Woo's gangster films as homoerotic "misreads" how the Hong Kong audience sees the male relationships

Societal change

Karen Fang, John Woo's A Better Tomorrow

• Shing's ability to use his money and power to escape consequences highlights the "degradation of justice in modern society"
• Ambiguous morality is shown when Kit willingly becomes complicit in the killing of a man who has surrendered, eschewing all police procedures and standards, to help Ho avenge himself and Mark
• Some elements are borrowed from film noir: Mark's death and Ho's inability to escape his criminal past reflect Woo's desire to depict how bad modern society had gotten
  • However, unlike noir, A Better Tomorrow depicts "faith in humanity and the human capacity for redemption", which is similar to the 1967 film by Lung Kong

Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park, "The heroic flux in John Woo's trans-Pacific passage: From Confucian brotherhood to American selfhood", Hong Kong Film, Hollywood and New Global Cinema: No Film is an Island

• Magnan-Park: Even though colonial Hong Kong had adopted laissez-faire capitalism, eschewing traditional Confucian values, "John Woo's heroic bloodshed films sought to restore this Confucian moral order within a compromised social environment by enacting a bottom-top representation of the very Confucian values that were threatened by Hong Kong's depoliticised reality."

Yun-hua Chen, "Hong Kong and Athens: Contested Spaces of the Global and the Local in the Neo-Noir of John Woo and Alexis Alexiou", Greek Film Noir

• A Better Tomorrow was created during a period of transition for Hong Kong (the time in between the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984 and the 1997 handover), and Hong Kong was looking at imminent change from free-market capitalism under British rule to "potentially increased constraints under 'socialism with Chinese characteristics'"
• Because of feelings of anxisety and uncertain about the handover, many wealthy Hong Kongers emigrated to North America
• Chen: "One important way in which Hong Kong filmmakers chose to celebrate and advocate localist characteristics, those at risk of being effaced during the change, was through film noir, in the way 'Noir East' would reflect the anxieties of postern Asia after 1997."
• Chen states that the film examines how "urban spaces are intruded upon, and governed by, an 'elsewhere'", in the sense that Hong Kong keeps "being redefined in relation to others"; in the film, the 'elsewhere' is Taiwan
• Notes the Taiwan subplot references autobiographical details in Woo's life (he joined Cinema City and was sent to Taiwan to direct films, but ended up working an administrative job)
• Chen highlights the concept of "non-places" in film noir, which are "anonymous and transient spaces" like nighclubs, dark alleys, and hotel rooms, and relates A Better Tomorrow's usage of them back to the wider noir genre
• Chen relates the characters in A Better Tomorrow to the characters in American noir, in that the characters in Woo's film face changing value systems, a cultural identity in danger, "uncertain economic prospects", an existential identity crisis, etc.
• Ho's undoing is from within "his 'place'" due to Shing's betrayal, and is later rejected by his blood brother due to the intrusion of a hitman; when he returns from jail, he is beaten by his brother and has no 'place' to go to; Chen states these "'places' become linked to an unreliable and cynical existence"
• Mark similarly experiences a downfall, and when Ho first meets him, he is shown eating takeout while sitting on an abandoned sofa in a parking lot, "thus using a non-place as a place"
• When talking about globalized space, the film highlights class division: Mark's "life as a working-class person" when being a window cleaner, is contrasted with Shing's grandiosity
• Chen: "In their globalised spaces, A Better Tomorrow [...] [addresses] specific local themes, and [uses] noir elements to reflect upon societies in turmoil and upheaval."

Anita Lam, "Gangsters and genre", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology

• Lam states that by showing the counterfeiting operation that Ho and Mark run as tied to Americans, Woo shows how the "presence of white foreigners in Hong Kong gangster films [are] associated with modern albeit destructive forces"

Jillian Sandell, "A Better Tomorrow? American Masochism and Hong Kong Action Films", Bright Lights #13

• A Better Tomorrow, The Killer (1989), and Hard Boiled (1992) "act as a kind of allegory of male anxiety over Hong Kong's future"; Sandell posits that when taken together, these three films make the statement that the "free-agent individual" cannot exist in Hong Kong
• Sandell makes the claim that the films "seem to represent the fantasy of a relationship between equals [...] rather than between unequals [...]; and it is a fear of China and all it represents" that drives the homoeroticism "such a compelling fantasy"
• In the context of the film: Ho, Kit, and Mark are all "loner heroes" that are marginalized from their respective institutions; Ho and Mark are betrayed by their criminal organizations, reversing their fortunes that further marginalizes them, and Kit cannot get promoted at work due to his familial connection to crime
• However, Mark suffers the most, from being the glamourous free-agent individual shown at the beginning of the film, to being crippled and losing his self-respect
• The reunion between Mark and Ho is treated by Woo as a "reunion of lovers", highlighting the significance of male friendship within the code of honour they believe
• Though neither man can survive by themselves or in a group, they can join forces and gain an equal partnership that is "emotionally and materially fulfilling"
• Sandell notes that other commentators have remarked on the film's message that young people should unite and fight the Hong Kong 1997 handover
• Sandell remarks that in the film, honour is synonymous with individualism and that individual heroics "are only rewarded when put to the service of a larger organization"; the author interprets this to be an approval of capitalism, in that it "embraces the idea of free agents while at the same time accommodating them within the larger mode of economic relations."

Michael Bliss, Between the Bullets: The Spiritual Cinema of John Woo

• The audience knows that the fortunes of the playful "suave" and "debonair" Mark, along with Ho, won't last
• All three main characters are affected: a shootout causes Mark to be crippled, Kit is skipped for promotion, and Ho is betrayed and imprisoned

Other

Edwin W. Chen, "A Better Tomorrow returns to the big screen (1): The innocence, romance and passion of the characters in the film" - United Daily News

• Film historian Edwin W. Chen notes that the contrast between the three stars' personalities is cleverly used to portray the friendship between brothers and friends to the fullest
• Notes that while Tien Feng and Kenneth Tsang's acting was competent, Emily Chu was let down by the script and direction
• Chen notes that all three main characters have a basic level of "innocence" to them; while Mark is involved in violence due to being associated with the Triad, he comes off as pure-hearted
• In contrast, Kit's demeanour changes from being pure and ambitious in the beginning, to angry and agitated when he becomes a police officer
• Even though Mark is hurt physically (and Kit psychologically), the former still yearns for "a better tomorrow"; Kit, however, has had his youthfulness sapped by his father's death and his frustration with Ho's involvement in the Triad
• This contrast is balanced by Ho's character
• Chen recalls Ti Lung's past filmography acting as a even-keeled foil for David Chiang at Shaw Brothers; in A Better Tomorrow, Chen posits that Ti and Chiang's former chemistry was recreated with Ti and Chow
• When paired with Leslie Cheung, Chen states that in comparison to Cheung's "youthful impatience", Ti's mature weariness reinforce the film's themes of "time and tide wait for no man" (時不我與; 'time is running out')

Edwin W. Chen, "A Better Tomorrow returns to the big screen (2): Taiwan-Hong Kong film collaboration and John Woo's rise to fame" - United Daily News

Edwin W. Chen, "A Better Tomorrow returns to the big screen (3): Looking back at the 1986 Golden Horse Awards" - United Daily News

Thematic analysis

In ancient China, the people are a lot more spiritual and they have a code about honour, loyalty, and chivalry. Something about chivalry, if you got help from the others, you got to pay back double to the others and help out, and always [be] grateful and appreciate what you've got. And people like helping each other, that's our spirit. People can sacrifice themselves for the others.

John Woo, in a 1997 interview with Michael Singer

Chivalry and the modernization of wuxia

A Better Tomorrow is heavily inspired by the chivalric traditions of wuxia films. A former assistant director of Chang Cheh, Woo had admired the director's masculine portrayal of the genre, and had first paid homage to his mentor by directing the period piece Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979). Given a chance to direct his own crime drama, Woo would incorporate aspects of Chang's films with film noir, westerns, and police procedurals. By transplanting its martial arts protagonists into a contemporary setting and letting them duel with guns instead of swords, he ended up putting a modern twist on the wuxia genre.

At the heart of A Better Tomorrow, like its wuxia inspirations, is its sympathetic portrayal of the benevolent gangster. Michael Vesia noted filmmakers used the Triads to study present-day figures that were a part of a historical organization with ancient Chinese rituals. Martha Nochimson noted that Hong Kong culture's Taoist influences help shape the protagonists in its gangster films. By inheriting the properties of the Taoist kung fu film hero, characters in Hong Kong gangster movies embody a sense of honour not found in the modern society they live in. She elaborates that with A Better Tomorrow, Woo allowed his protagonists to fully embrace the gangster lifestyle, while also abiding by the moral codes of the Triad. Adherence to yi, or righteousness, was a concept that reflected actual Triad norms. According to Stephen Teo, Chow Yun-fat's character "represents an aestheticized model of the wuxia hero-cum-contemporary killer."

Loyalty and male bonding

A Better Tomorrow was the first of Woo's films to explore chivalry and male bonding in the Triad underworld. Described by Chow as a "very traditional Chinese" man, Woo believed in the importance of loyalty and filial piety in Confucian teachings, and was motivated to create a movie that would showcase these values through the examination of the connections between its protagonists.

Historically, filial piety involved showing respect to not just one's father, but also between family members. It was expected that younger brothers would share the same respect for their older siblings that a son would for their father. This is why Ho's father urges his son to put his brother's fraternal bond above their professional strife, despite them being on opposite sides of the law. His death sparks the film's central conflict: Kit refuses to honour his older brother, believing that Ho is responsible for their father's death. This plot line is similarly mirrored within the Triad, as Shing disrespects tradition by betraying his duty to his elder, Mr. Yiu, as well as his senior blood brothers in Ho and Mark. Kenneth E. Hall asserts that the film's main message is the importance of maintaining filial relationships in order to preserve balance in society.

• A Better Tomorrow, like many of Woo's Hong Kong films following it, deals with chivalry and male bonding in the Triad underworld.
  • Described by Chow as a "very traditional Chinese" man, Woo believed in the importance of adhering to the Confucian concept of qing
  • Stephen Teo: "A major part of Woo's success [with A Better Tomorrow] lay in his re-examination of [the Chinese concept of yi], usually expounded in martial arts novels, comics and films."
  • Teo: "Hong Kong action film is driven by jianghu precepts such as the notion of yi, loyalty, and bonding [...]"
  • Kenneth E. Hall notes the movie's emphasis on the importance of maintaining filial relationships.
  • Despite being on opposite sides of the law, Ho's father urges his son to put his brother's fraternal bond above their professional conflict.
  • His death sparks Kit's refusal to respect his older brother, believing that Ho caused their father's murder.
  • This plot line is similarly mirrored within the Triad organization, as Shing disrespects tradition by betraying his Confucian duty to his elder, Mr. Yiu, as well as his seniors in Ho and Mark.
  • Jie Lu: The film "portrays a new brand of masculine hero to which the spectacle of the body, male bonding, and the traditional value system of honour, justice, righteousness, and personal loyalty are crucial."
    • Woo presents bodies differently: instead of relating muscular aesthetics to the ideal masculinity, he "emphasizes stylized clothes and accessories such as food, gum, cigarettes, sunglasses, and matches."
    • The body's physicality is represented through damage from violence, e.g. things like bloody clothes and Mark's crippled leg
  • Robert Hanke: Protagonists like Mark are different from the typical Hollywood action hero because they are capable of both emotional intensity and physical violence
  • Michael Vesia: Brotherhood and male bonding are concepts stemming from Ancient Chinese tradition; films like A Better Tomorrow are "mainly connected to the ancient Chinese code of yi and its principles of honour, duty, loyalty and decency"
• The exploration of these concepts largely stem from the wuxia film genre
  • Lori Sue Tilken explains that the themes of brotherhood and loyalty are derived from youxia, the Chinese knight-errant.
  • According to James J. Y. Liu, youxia are wandering individuals who fight on behalf of the poor, fighting injustice altruistically
• While Western scholars have interpreted these relationships as homosexual,

Chivalry and brotherhood

• Woo notes the influence of his former mentor, Chang Cheh, in his films: "Not so much in [Chang's] way of portraying violence, but in his unrestrained way of writing emotions and chivalry. Chinese cinema has always been too low-keyed. We should be more expressive, put more of ourselves into our films."
• In particular, film scholar Pou Fung pointed out the considerable influence that Chang's The Duel (1971), starring Ti Lung, had on the film
• Karen Fang notes that the film's emphasis on the erosion of honour in modern society
  • Shing is an ambitious, young character who disrespects tradition by backstabbing Mark and Ho
  • By contrast, Mark is "a fierce and loyal agent of traditional values" who is repeatedly injured (and eventually dies) trying to be loyal to his friend
  • Ho's father criticizes his sons for not putting their fraternal bond above their professional conflict
  • The film's "lament for past values" highlights its ties to wuxia films, which depict feudal tradition and chivalry
  • A Better Tomorrow presents itself as a modernized version:
    • Ho (whose actor starred in popular Shaw Brothers wuxia films) represents the film's lineage, and
    • Mark embodies a "glamourously modern sensuality" that updates the "traditional [notions] of romantic heroism"
• Li Cheuk-to notes why there are these connections to wuxia:
  • Woo used to be the assistant director to Chang Cheh, a prominent wuxia film director at Shaw Brothers, and would therefore be very familiar with the themes in his work
  • The casting of Ti Lung, a former Shaw Brothers star who worked with Chang, as one of the primary characters
  • Li also identifies wuxia director Chor Yuen and writer Gu Long as additional possible influences

• A Better Tomorrow helped establish a common theme of Woo's in male bonding
• Phillipa Gates asserts that Woo's Hong Kong films, including A Better Tomorrow, primarily explore the relationship the protagonists have with each other
• Essayist Barbara Scharres notes Woo's decision to kill off Mark highlights his belief that self-sacrifice for a friend was the ultimate ideal, interpreting it as similar to bushido in a contemporary setting
• Woo, a Christian, has stated in interviews that he believes in the benevolence of humankind
  • Woo: "The teachings of Jesus are important to me, and it's important to me that my films stress the importance of love for other people and doing the right thing, even when it isn't the easy thing to do."
  • Hall notes that Woo often employs both Confucian and Christian themes and symbols in his works
    • He has cited his Christian beliefs
    • Woo has stated that he believes the Confucian concept that humans are fundamentally good.

• In most of his films, protagonists must sacrifice in order to preserve friendship and loyalty
  • e.g. Mark sacrifices his body when revenge killing the people that betrayed Ho, crippling himself to avenge his friend
  • e.g. Ho makes the decision to risk his life to prevent Shing from hurting his little brother
• Tony WIlliams notes how some of Woo films before A Better Tomorrow deal with the clash between past and present, such as Last Hurrah for Chivalry (1979)
• Based around the concept of the youxia, or the Chinese knight-errant; Tony Williams refers to James J. Y. Liu, who notes that the Chinese version of a knight-errant is a primarily classless individual who acts altruistically, often fighting for the poor
  • This particular brand of altruism was closely associated with the following principles:
    • Being more altruistic than what would be required by regular moral standards,
    • The altruism comes from a sense of justice, which is more important than family loyalty,
    • Youxia possessed the individual freedom to circumvent the law in order to see justice done, and lived a bohemian lifestyle devoid of social conventions in order to pursue this ideal,
    • Personal loyalty was more important than loyalty to one's parents or sovereign,
    • Youxia must be extremely brave, and not be afraid of danger,
    • Youxia must be truthful and fulfill their promises,
    • By cherishing their honour, their fame will increase,
    • However, they were generous and fostered a contempt for wealth
• Williams notes that Woo's "family values are not those of patriarchal capitalism but those of a 'better tomorrow', where loyalty, kindness, understanding, forgiveness and tenderness reign."
  • Patriarchal capitalism is described by him as a "traditional Chinese family corrupted by western capitalist values", where one's "big brother" fails to behave like one due to being corrupted by money
  • E.g. "Big Brother" Ho initially wears white prior to his arrest in Taiwan; afterward, he finds Shing wearing those colours, yet demeaning Mark
  • He cites Kit's behaviour toward Ho's involvement in gang activity: "Despite his dying father's wish that Kit understand his brother's lack of responsibility, Kit takes a rigidly, vengeful, patriarchal attitude towards his brother for most of the film."
  • He notes that Ho and Kit's playful horseplay earlier in the film ends up mirroring Kit's beating of his brother in the rain later on
  • This parallels elements found in Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns
• The film expands on the Confucian concept of yi—a system of honour and brotherhood—as something relevant not just in the ancient China of wuxia films, but also in modern society
• Martha Nochimson states that while Mark is "staunchly committed to honour, loyalty, and qing", he is "destined by his immigrant marginalization to pay the price of a killer"
  • In Hong Kong gangster films, the protagonists are portrayed as "survivors of oppressive and divisive modern social forces against which they struggle to maintain human connections and honour"; unlike similar films from other countries, Hong Kong films transform the Taoist martial arts film hero into Triad members that uphold honour and dignity, while also living in between the Taoist notions of "this" or "that"

Societal change

• Ackbar Abbas states that many Hong Kong gangster films, such as A Better Tomorrow, can be interpreted as an allegory of the 1997 handover
  • Contains a storyline that highlights a need for loyalty between male friends in a "crumbling world"

• Li Cheuk-to asserts that the film's popularity in Hong Kong might have stemmed from it being a convenient way to release frustration over the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant, which Hong Kong opposition groups were not able to prevent its construction in August 1986
  • Li acknowledges that while the film might not have set out to do this, Mark's sentiments on needing to fight in order to get back what has been lost clearly appealed to its audience at the time
  • Li notes that Hong Kongers gravitated to Mark's heroism "tinged with a pessimistic melancholy", because they related to anxieties over the 1997 handover
• Jenny Kwok of Cinema Journal noted the film's English title, "A Better Tomorrow", highlighted the issue of the 1997 handover to a Western audience
• Film critic Chan Ka-ming also echoed the thought that the film was borne from anxiety over the handover
• Tony WIlliams references Li Cheuk-to when he states that A Better Tomorrow and The Story of Discharged Prisoner involve "the clash of past and present values in a changing society."
  • Williams: "John Woo's various Hong Kong narrative and thematic worlds deal in various ways with 'things' the director feels are in danger of 'being lost'. They deal with the uneasy tensions between past, present, and future by a director born in mainland China whose family emigrated to Hong Kong in 1948 as a result of contemporary political turmoils."
  • In a different article for Cineaction, Williams quotes Mark's words about changes in his and Ho's life: "I never realised Hong Kong looked so good at night. Like most things, it won't last. That's for sure."
• Michael Vesia of Offscreen notes the film's opening scene the modernization of Hong Kong and the Triads
  • Mark and Ho are introduced as wealthy gangsters running a successful, high-tech counterfeiting scheme
  • Woo emphasizes the glamour of materialism to represent a capitalist desire for wealth and social status
  • He intentionally strips away this glamourous image from its protagonists through crisis, which "arises from a conflict between the individual and social institutions"
  • Vesia concludes that this conflict can be interpreted as the manifestation of the fear of going back to a culture, rooted in tradition, that supports family over individuality

Legacy

The film's box office success positively impacted the careers of many of its participants. It turned both Woo and Chow into superstars in Asia, and helped form a film partnership in which Chow would star in many of the director's future films. Woo was granted more creative freedom for his projects, and some of his shelved films, like Heroes Shed No Tears (1986), were released to capitalize on his newfound popularity. Tsui would continue to work as a producer, director and scriptwriter for Film Workshop. He would heavily contribute to the Hong Kong New Wave by creating several cornerstone movie series associated with the movement, including A Chinese Ghost Story (first film released in 1987), Once Upon a Time in China (started in 1991), and The Swordsman (begun in 1990).

Chow's performance in the film turned him into a local icon. He became locally known as "Brother Mark" for years, and young men in Hong Kong began wearing long coats and sunglasses in an effort to emulate his character. The long coat itself started to become known colloquially as a "Mark coat" (Mark哥褸). As a result of the movie's success, Chow began to receive a barrage of acting opportunities, enabling him to be cast in almost three dozen films from 1986 to 1989. Many of these movies became Hong Kong box-office successes, such as Prison on Fire, Tragic Hero, and An Autumn's Tale (all 1987; were the third, fourth, and fifth highest-grossing films that year respectively), The Eighth Happiness (highest-grossing film of 1988), and God of Gamblers (highest-grossing movie of 1989).

Ti and Cheung also benefited from the film's success. His career rejuvenated, Ti would star alongside Chow in other Cinema City films throughout the late 1980s, such as Tiger on the Beat and City War (both 1988). He would go on to portray Wong Kei-ying in Drunken Master II (1994) starring Jackie Chan. Cheung's part, meanwhile, was considered to be a breakthrough role in his acting career, strengthening his reputation as a multi-talented entertainer. The theme song that he sang, "In the Sentimental Past", won three awards at the 1986 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation: a Gold Song award for being in the top ten best songs, and two additional awards for Best Composition and Best Music Arrangement. The song also won an award at the 1986 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards. In 1987, Cheung would sign with Cinema City and its record label subsidiary, Cinepoly Records. At Cinepoly, he would release the best-selling album of 1987, Summer Romance, which would sell over 350,000 copies and be certified seven times platinum. He would later give a career-defining performance as Cheng Dieyi in the Golden Globe-winning Farewell My Concubine (1993).

Cultural influence

A Better Tomorrow has had a sizable impact on action cinema. Generally credited as the genesis of "gun fu", the movie's widespread popularity helped it become the template for the heroic bloodshed film genre. For a few years, it spawned a wave of imitation films in Asia, such as Wong Jing's completely-unrelated 1994 film Return to a Better Tomorrow (Chinese: 新英雄本色; Jyutping: San1 jing1 hung4 bun2 sik1; lit. 'New True Colours of a Hero'). Some of these heroic bloodshed films, such as Ringo Lam's City on Fire (1987) and Full Contact (1992)—both of which star Chow Yun-fat—became very commercially successful in their own right. City on Fire earned both Chow and Lam a Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor and Best Director, respectively.

• Heavily influenced action films throughout Asia by becoming the template for the heroic bloodshed film genre
  • Joshua Beaty, The Daily Texan: A Better Tomorrow "establishes many of the themes, motifs, and stylistic flourishes that today have become clichés."
• News outlets credit the film as the genesis of "gun fu"
• Hong Kong critic Sek Kei noted that after just a month in theaters, A Better Tomorrow had "effectively modernized the male role in martial arts action films in the past."
• David Bordwell asserts, "Western fans idolize Woo's The Killer, while for most Hong Kong critics A Better Tomorrow remains his best work."
• For a few years, it spawned a wave of imitation films, such as Wong Jing's similarly-titled Return to a Better Tomorrow (1994)
• A completely unrelated film directed by Wong Jing, Return to a Better Tomorrow (Chinese: 新英雄本色; Jyutping: San1 jing1 hung4 bun2 sik1; lit. 'New True Colours of a Hero'), was released in 1994
• Films like Ringo Lam's City on Fire and Full Contact, both of which star Chow Yun-fat, became very commercially successful in their own right; City on Fire also earned both Chow and Lam a Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor and Best Director, respectively
• Some critics cite A Better Tomorrow as the genesis of the "hero movie", or yingxiong pian
  • Stephen Teo notes the term is derived from the film's Chinese title, yingxiong bense
  • Fang describes "heroic bloodshed" is the English-language term Western writers use to refer to yingxiong pian
• Hong Kong directors like Benny Chan have cited A Better Tomorrow as an influence on their films
• Chinese director Jia Zhangke was also influenced by A Better Tomorrow and other movies by Woo
• Chow's performance in the film turned him into an icon
• Author Karen Fang notes that his performance as Mark stood out from other actors in Hong Kong crime films, as the latter were geared toward lighthearted physical comedies like the ones starring Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan
• He was colloquially known as "Brother Mark" for years
• Young Hong Kong men began wearing long coats and sunglasses in an effort to emulate Mark; the long coat itself started to become known colloquially as a "Brother Mark coat" (Mark哥褸)
• The sunglasses were so popular that Woo recalled they sold out throughout Hong Kong after one week
• In addition, they started to use the honorific "gor" (哥) in casual slang, in reference to how everyone addressed Mark as "older brother"
• Meanwhile, Woo cemented his reputation as an acclaimed director; some of his films that were filmed before A Better Tomorrow and shelved, like Heroes Shed No Tears, were released to capitalize on the director's newfound popularity
• The film helped Woo be able to develop future projects; it also helped strengthen a partnership with Terence Chang, who would go on to help produce several films directed by Woo
• Turned Woo and Chow into superstars in Asia, and helped form a film partnership in which Chow would star in many of the director's future films
• His career rejuvenated, Ti would continue acting
  • He starred alongside Chow in other Cinema City films in the late 1980s, such as Tiger on the Beat and City War (both 1988)
  • Ti would later go on to portray Wong Kei-ying in Drunken Master II (1994) opposite Jackie Chan
• Cheung also benefited from the film's success
  • His part in A Better Tomorrow was considered to be a breakthrough role for his film career
  • The film's theme song, "In the Sentimental Past", won three awards at the 1986 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation: a Gold Song award for being in the top ten best songs, and two additional awards for Best Composition and Best Music Arrangement
  • It also won an award at the 1986 RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards
  • He would go on to release the best-selling album of 1987, Summer Romance, which would sell over 350,000 copies and be certified seven times platinum
• The film's influence extended into the West, as American action directors drew inspiration from its sense of style
• Fang states that A Better Tomorrow ended up being "paradoxically treated as both an inimitable and utterly representative product" of the film industry in Hong Kong
  • She cites a 1988 review in Film Comment, in which A Better Tomorrow was touted to showcase "one of Hong Kong cinema's most delightful qualities: its opulence"
• Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, and the Wachowskis cite it as an influence
• Tarantino recalled during promotional interviews for Reservoir Dogs that like the Hong Kong youth, he also tried to wear sunglasses and a long coat like Mark for weeks after watching the film
  • On the scene where Mark hides guns in flowerpots, Tarantino remarked, "That was brilliant! You could see a dozen American movies before you ever saw anything as clever as that!"
• The Wu-Tang Clan has a song named after the film on their 1997 album Wu-Tang Forever
• The Wu-Tang Clan 20th anniversary album also shares the name A Better Tomorrow
• Influence in Hong Kong and mainland China
  • Woo referenced A Better Tomorrow in a future film, Just Heroes (1989), where a character plants firearms in potted plants similar to Mark
  • The Hong Kong film The Romancing Star (1987), also starring Chow Yun-fat, parodies a variety of Cinema City films, including a few scenes from A Better Tomorrow
    • In the beginning of the film, a man named Ho appears at the garage the main characters work at to ask for a job, but is rejected
    • Eric Tsang's character then parodies Mark's urine-drinking story, telling the other protagonists about how his mother forced him to finish his rice at dinner by threatening to poke his head after he said something wrong
    • Later, Tsang's character observes a suspicious man planting guns in flowerpots while strolling with a girl around his arm; when he gets pulled in to eat with Ho, he desperately tries to warn him of the impending danger, saying, "Haven't you seen A Better Tomorrow?"
    • The film's ending also parodies Shing and Mark's reversal of fortune: Tsang's character is seen walking out of Sunning Plaza in a similar white coat and sunglasses as Shing, and ends up throwing money at the film's antagonist (played by Stuart Ong), who is reduced to being a crippled window-washer like Mark was
  • The 2022 ViuTV television series In Geek We Trust directly lampoons the scene where Ho reunites with a crippled Mark in the underground car park
  • A direct allusion to A Better Tomorrow can be seen in Wong Kar-wai's Fallen Angels (1995), where a hitman (Leon Lai) opens fire in a restaurant and discards his guns in potted plants lining the restaurant corridor
  • Author Stephen Teo states that the character nicknamed Mai Ge (also played by Lai) in Gao Qunshu's Wind Blast (2010) is named after Mark
• Influence in Japan
  • The character Mr. Chang from Black Lagoon is closely patterned after Chow's character Mark in both visual design and characterization
  • The anime Mobile Fighter G Gundam also used Chow's name and appearance in the film when designing the character Wong Yun-fat
• The film series became very popular in Korea, and helped shape South Korean action cinema
  • The film, along with A Chinese Ghost Story (1987), helped popularize Hong Kong films in the country
  • According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun, a 1990 Korean Motion Picture Promotion Corporation survey amongst 1,500 Korean elementary, middle, and high school students reported that A Better Tomorrow was the most-liked foreign film that year.
  • Jenny Kwok highlights Shiri (1999) as an example of a Korean film that was influenced by A Better Tomorrow's costume design, sentimental music, and sense of style
  • An episode of Reply 1988 features A Better Tomorrow II; as the narrator describes a film that was loved by the children of the 1980s, a group of teenagers are shown watching the scene where a dying Kit makes his last phone call to his wife
  • The 2019 film Extreme Job references both the film and its sequel: it uses the theme song "In the Sentimental Past" in an homage to A Better Tomorrow II, where the protagonists sit on chairs in front of their enemies' corpses, waiting for the police to arrive
  • Referenced multiple times on the television series Running Man

Critical reassessment

• On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 14 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.3/10.
• Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
• After consulting with a panel of industry filmmakers and critics, the Hong Kong Film Awards ranked it #2 in its list of Best 100 Chinese Motion Pictures in 2005
• The film also placed #17 in the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival's 100 Greatest Chinese-Language Films in 2011
• In 2010, the members of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society voted the film as one of the Top 10 Hong Kong films
• The film was named by the Hong Kong Film Archive in 2011 in its 100 Must-See Hong Kong Movies exhibition; it was selected by the programme's curators to be part of a collection that would represent the region's "rich cinematic heritage"

• Time Out listed it #3 in its list of the 100 best Hong Kong films; in an updated list dated 7 November 2023, the film had moved up to the number one spot
• The Guardian listed it #18 on its list of the 30 best mobster movies
• Chicago Tribune ranked it #33 in its list of best martial arts movies
• Collider listed it as one of the 50 essential action movies everyone should see
• Rotten Tomatoes listed the film on its list of 140 essential action movies

Sequels and spin-offs

The success of A Better Tomorrow spawned two more movies. A Better Tomorrow II (1987) was a narrative sequel that followed Ho and Kit as they investigate Ho's former boss, Lung. To take advantage of Chow's newfound superstardom—despite his character's death in the first film—the actor was recast as Mark's twin brother, Ken. Woo and Tsui's creative disagreements throughout its production led to them ending their partnership, with Woo going on to direct The Killer (1989). The film performed well at the box office, earning $23 million HKD and becoming the sixth highest-grossing film that year.

After Woo's departure, Tsui directed the 1989 prequel film, A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon, which depicted Mark's trip to Saigon during the Vietnam War to bring his cousin and uncle back to Hong Kong. The movie explored Mark's origin story, giving him a female mentor and love interest portrayed by Anita Mui. A Better Tomorrow III made $18 million HKD, reaching eighth place at the box office and earning two nominations at the 9th Hong Kong Film Awards.

The plot of A Better Tomorrow has been used multiple times. Sanjay Gupta unofficially reworked several elements of the film into his 1994 Hindi movie, Aatish: Feel the Fire. Officially, it has also been remade twice. After Korean production company Fingerprint Pictures acquired the rights to remake the film in 2006, they produced A Better Tomorrow (2010) directed by Song Hae-sung, with Woo acting as executive producer. Starring Joo Jin-mo, Song Seung-heon, and Kim Kang-woo as the three protagonists, it earned $10.2 million USD at the box office. A mainland Chinese version, A Better Tomorrow 2018, was directed by Ding Sheng and featured Wang Kai, Ma Tianyu, and Darren Wang. This film was a box-office bomb, earning only 63 million yuan despite a production budget of 100 million yuan.

External links

• A Better Tomorrow at IMDb
• A Better Tomorrow at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase
• A Better Tomorrow at AllMovie
• A Better Tomorrow at Letterboxd
• A Better Tomorrow at the TCM Movie Database