The Killer
US theatrical poster
Directed by	John Woo
Produced by	Tsui Hark
Written by	John Woo
Starring	Chow Yun-Fat Danny Lee Sally Yeh Chu Kong
Music by	Lowell Lo
Distributed by	Golden Princess Film Production Limited
Release date(s)	July 6, 1989 January, 1990
Running time	111 min.
Language	Cantonese
Budget	HK$ 18,255,083
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese:	喋血双雄
Traditional Chinese:	喋血雙雄
Pinyin:	Diéxuè shuāngxióng

The Killer (Traditional Chinese: 喋血雙雄, Simplified Chinese: 喋血双雄; Cantonese IPA: [tɪp₂₂ hyt₃₃ sœŋ₅₅ həʊŋ₁₁], Jyutping: dip6 hyt3 seong1 hung4; Mandarin Pinyin: Diéxuè shuāngxióng; literally: Bloodshed of Two Heroes) is a 1989 Hong Kong thriller starring Chow Yun-Fat as the hitman Ah Jong, Danny Lee as the cop Li Ying and Sally Yeh as the singer Jennie. John Woo directed the film, which brought him wide-spread recognition in the West. The film was produced by Tsui Hark. Image File history File links KILLERPO.JPG‎ Summary This is the most known version of The Killer movie poster here in the U.S.. It should be the one that is used at most art house movie theaters that show indy and forgien movies. ... For other uses, see John Woo (disambiguation). ... Tsui Hark (Chinese: 徐克; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Hsü Ko) (born Tsui Man-kong (徐文光) on February 15, 1950) is a New Wave film director in Hong Kong who is also a highly influential producer, often likened to Steven Spielberg for a similar galvanizing effect on his countrys cinematic scene. ... Chow Yun-Fat (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) (born May 18, 1955) is a Hong Kong actor. ... Danny Lee (born August 6, 1952 in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese actor. ... Sally Yeh (葉蒨文, pinyin: Yè Qiànwén) sometimes written as Sally Yip or Sin-Man Yip (born September 30, 1961) is a major star in both Hong Kong pop music and movie scenes. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Hong_Kong_1959. ... is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays 1989 Gregorian calendar). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Year 1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 1990 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about all of the Cantonese (Yue) dialects. ... The Hong Kong Dollar (ISO 4217: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) within the Peoples Republic of China. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Traditional Chinese (Traditional Chinese: 正體字/繁體字, Simplified Chinese: 正体字/繁体字) refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Traditional Chinese characters refers to one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Standard Cantonese is a variant, and is generally considered the prestige dialect of Cantonese Chinese. ... Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Jyutping (sometimes spelled Jyutpin) is a romanization system for Standard Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK) in 1993. ... Standard Mandarin, also known as Standard Chinese, Modern Standard Chinese or Standard spoken Chinese, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Singapore. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Chow Yun-Fat (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) (born May 18, 1955) is a Hong Kong actor. ... Danny Lee (born August 6, 1952 in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese actor. ... Sally Yeh (葉蒨文, pinyin: Yè Qiànwén) sometimes written as Sally Yip or Sin-Man Yip (born September 30, 1961) is a major star in both Hong Kong pop music and movie scenes. ... For other uses, see John Woo (disambiguation). ... Tsui Hark (Chinese: 徐克; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Hsü Ko) (born Tsui Man-kong (徐文光) on February 15, 1950) is a New Wave film director in Hong Kong who is also a highly influential producer, often likened to Steven Spielberg for a similar galvanizing effect on his countrys cinematic scene. ...

The Killer is considered a classic of the Asian heroic bloodshed genre of action cinema.^[1] It is a very popular and well regarded film, not only for its stylised violence, but for its themes of honor, love and friendship, which, coupled with the religious motif of salvation (not uncommon in the heroic bloodshed genre) is used to evoke powerful emotions. The film also asserts a higher morality that is above the law of man, which makes the cop question his motivations. The film is notable for its tense Mexican standoffs, a trademark of Woo. Heroic Bloodshed, or Hong Kong Blood Opera (HKBO), refers to a genre of action film originating from Hong Kong revolving around stylised action sequences and common themes such as brotherhood, honour, and violence. ... Action movies usually involve a fairly straightforward story of good guys versus bad guys, where most disputes are resolved by using physical force. ... A Mexican standoff is a stalemate or impasse, a confrontation that neither side can seemingly win. ...

A Hollywood remake has for many years been in development, but various factors have kept it in development hell. ... Development hell is media-industry jargon for a film, television screenplay or computer game[1] (or sometimes just a concept or idea) getting stuck in development and never going into production. ...

Synopsis

Warning: spoilers follow.

The Killer revolves around the character of Ah Jong (Chow Yun-Fat), a professional killer. During a hit in the opening act, Ah Jong accidentally blinds a young nightclub singer, Jennie (Sally Yeh) with the muzzle flash from his pistol. Driven to help the now near-blinded woman by securing money for a sight-saving corneal transplant, he agrees to carry out another hit. During his escape he is pursued by Li Ying (Danny Lee), a cop who is investigating his crimes. Ah Jong then finds himself being hunted by his employers who want to get rid of him for being seen "on the job". The cornea is the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber, providing most of an eyes optical power [1]. Together with the lens, the cornea refracts light and, as a result, helps the eye to focus. ...

After witnessing Ah Jong save a dying girl and learning about Jennie's operation, the cop realizes arresting this hitman would not set things right. Together they fight the Triads through amazing action sequences which ultimately climax in an explosive shootout at an abandoned church. There, Ah Jong has Li Ying swear to donate the hitman's eyes to Jennie if something were to happen to him. Triad (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; literally Triad Society) or (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; literally Black Society, a general term for criminal organizations) is a term that describes many branches of Chinese underground society and/or organizations based in Hong Kong and Macau and also operating in Taiwan, mainland...

The ending is tragic, in that Ah Jong dies, his eyes shot out by the Triad boss, Wong Hoi. Jennie is left crawling for him in the dark, her operation unrealized. The boss flees to police custody, but Li Ying chases after him: Li Ying realizes that the law could never give someone like Ah Jong justice, so he acts under his own sense of right and wrong and shoots the boss in cold blood. Tragedy is one of the oldest forms of drama. ...

Alternate versions

In one scene, Ah Jong and Li Ying are in Jennie's flat, holding each other at gun point; in order not to worry the blind girl, they pretend to be childhood friends and give each other silly nicknames: Ah Jong becomes 'Shrimphead' and Li Ying 'Runt'. Western releases of the film change the nicknames to "Dumbo" and "Mickey Mouse", or alternately, "Numbnuts" and "Butthead" on the Criterion version. The UK DVD release is currently the only English subtitled version to render the nicknames correctly. There is also an extended DVD version, dubbed in Mandarin which contains several minutes of extra scenes, most notably during the final shootout. A nickname is a short, clever, cute, derogatory, or otherwise substitute name for a person or things real name (for example, Nick is short for Nicholas). ... Dumbo is a 1941 animated feature film produced by Walt Disney and first released on October 23, 1941 by RKO Radio Pictures. ... Mickey Mouse is an Academy Award-winning comic animal cartoon character who has become an icon for The Walt Disney Company. ... Standard Mandarin, also known as Standard Chinese, Modern Standard Chinese or Standard spoken Chinese, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Singapore. ...

Influence

The plot is similar to the 1954 Hollywood movie Magnificent Obsession starring Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman. In that movie, Rock plays a playboy who accidentally blinds a young woman, and through newly found Christian ideals and pity that eventually turns to love for the blinded woman, he befriends her and tries to raise money for an eye operation, all the time not revealing his identity. Magnificent Obsession is a 1929 novel by Lloyd C. Douglas. ... The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... Jane Wyman (January 5, 1917[1]– September 10, 2007) was an Oscar, Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-nominated American actress. ...

The Killer was heavily influenced by French director Jean-Pierre Melville's 1967 cult film Le Samouraï. Some of the plot is borrowed (the female pianist in Melville's film is replaced by a nightclub singer), and Chow Yun-Fat's character was obviously inspired by Alain Delon's Jeff Costello.^[2]In what may be an acknowledgement of this, Ah Jong is called 'Jeffrey Chow' in the English subtitled versions of the film. Jean-Pierre Melville (born Jean-Pierre Grumbach) (October 20, 1917 – August 2, 1973) was a noted French director. ... Le Samouraï (English title The Samurai) is a French crime/drama/thriller directed by French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville in 1967. ... Chow Yun-Fat (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: ) (born May 18, 1955) is a Hong Kong actor. ... Alain Delon (born 8 November 1935) is a French-born actor, one of the best known outside his native country. ...

DVD Versions

Box Office

The Killer grossed $18,355,083 HKD in Hong Kong.

Music Cues

Several music cues are taken from other films, most notably Red Heat, and Hero and the Terror. The songs: Red Heat is a 1988 movie in which Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Russian policeman Ivan Danko. ...

"Russian Streets" Composer: James Horner From: Red Heat (1988) James Roy Horner (born August 14, 1953) is an American composer of orchestral and film music. ...

"Victor Escapes" Composer: James Horner From: Red Heat (1988)

"Bus Station" Composer: James Horner From: Red Heat (1988)

"Breakout" Composer: David Michael Frank (credited as David Frank) From: Hero and the Terror (1988)

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. (September 2007) The article could be improved by integrating relevant items into other sections and removing inappropriate items.

Excerpts of the dialoge from the English dubbed version of The Killer is used in the album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx by Wu Tang Clan rapper Raekwon. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Only Built 4 Cuban Linx is an influential East Coast rap album by rapper Raekwon, released in 1995. ... The Wu-Tang Clan is a pioneering hardcore rap group, originally from Staten Island, New York, USA (Staten Island is referred to as Shaolin in their lyrics). ... Raekwon (born Corey Woods, January 12, 1970, Brooklyn, New York, United States) is an American East Coast rapper and a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. ...

Possible Remake

A Hollywood remake has for many years been in development, but various factors have kept it in development hell. Director and screenwriter Walter Hill wrote a script ^[3] at one point, which would have had Richard Gere as Ah Jong (renamed "Jeff") and Denzel Washington as Li Ying (renamed "Lee"), with the possibility of changing the police officer to a female, played by Michelle Yeoh. ^[4] Development hell is media-industry jargon for a film, television screenplay or computer game[1] (or sometimes just a concept or idea) getting stuck in development and never going into production. ... Walter Hill (born January 10, 1942 in California) is a prominent American film director, who is known in particular for his revival of the Western. ... Richard Tiffany Gere[1] (born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. ... Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. ... Dato Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Cantonese (Yale romanization): yèuhng jí kìhng; born August 6, 1962) is a Hong Kong-based actress and dancer, sometimes billed as Michelle Khan. Yeoh is a Chinese Malaysian born in Ipoh, Malaysia. ...

References

External links

• The Killer at the Internet Movie Database
• The Killer at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Killer at the Hong Kong Movie Data Base
• The Killer tops the Top 11 Classy Assassins at UGO

v • d • e Cinema of Hong Kong

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