John Woo

John Woo ({{zh-cp|c=吳宇森|p=Wú Yǔsēn}}) (born May 1, 1946 in Guangzhou, China) is a Chinese film director known especially for the ballet-like violence in his movies.

Hong Kong career history

In 1969, when he was 23, Woo got a job as a script supervisor at Cathay Studios. In 1971, he became an assistant director at Shaw Studios, where the famous Chang Cheh took him under his wing. In 1974 he directed his first feature film The Young Dragons (Tie han rou qing). Choreographed by Jackie Chan, it was a Kung fu action film that featured dynamic camera-work and elaborate action scenes. The film was picked up by Golden Harvest Studio where he went on to direct more martial arts films. He later had success as a comedy director with Money Crazy (Fa qian han) (1977), starring Hong Kong comedian Ricky Hui.

Related Topics:
1969 - Cathay Studios - 1971 - Shaw Studios - Chang Cheh - 1974 - The Young Dragons - Jackie Chan - Kung fu - Action - Golden Harvest Studio - 1977 - Ricky Hui

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By the mid-1980s, Woo suffered a burnout. His films were failures at the box office and he retreated to Taiwan in exile. John Woo— once called the new comedy king of Hong Kong— seemed to be on the way out. It was then that director/producer Tsui Hark provided the funding for Woo to film a longtime pet project called A Better Tomorrow (1986). The story of two brothers— one a cop, the other a criminal— the film became a sensational blockbuster. A Better Tomorrow singularly redefined Hong Kong action cinema with its emotional drama, slow-motion gun-battles and gritty atmosphere. The film's trenchcoat/sunglasses fashion sense, and combat style of using a gun in each hand in close quarters— often referred to as 'Gun fu'— would later inspire Hollywood filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and the Wachowski brothers.

Related Topics:
1980s - Burnout - Taiwan - Tsui Hark - A Better Tomorrow - 1986 - Blockbuster - Action cinema - Gun fu - Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino - Wachowski brothers

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Together with leading man Chow Yun-Fat, John Woo would make several more Heroic Bloodshed films in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His violent gangster thrillers typically focused on men who were steadfast in their honor and friendship, even though such values forced them to become outcasts in a rapidly-changing world that was more concerned with money and progress. In this respect, Woo's characters were modern-day knights who used guns instead of swords.

Related Topics:
Chow Yun-Fat - Heroic Bloodshed - 1980s - 1990s - Gangster - Thriller

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The most famous of these movies would be The Killer (Die xue shuang xiong) (1989), which brought Woo international recognition. Often called the best Hong Kong movie ever made, it was widely praised by critics and fans for its action sequences, acting and cinematography, and often referred to as "the perfect action film." With The Killer becoming the most successful Hong Kong film in the U.S. since Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon (1973), John Woo became a cult favorite. One year later he made another masterpiece, Bullet in the Head, that he still considers as his most personal work. The movie was a major commercial failure in his career though.

Related Topics:
The Killer - 1989 - Cinematography - Bruce Lee - Enter the Dragon - Cult - Bullet in the Head

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It was only a matter of time before Hollywood took notice. By this time, John Woo had many American admirers, including the likes of Martin Scorsese, and Sam Raimi - who compared Woo's mastery of action to Hitchcock's mastery of suspense. Enormously impressed with his work, American executives green-lighted a contract for Woo to work in America. With the 1997 handover of Hong Kong fast approaching, Woo decided that it was indeed time to leave.

Related Topics:
Hollywood - Martin Scorsese - Sam Raimi - Hitchcock - 1997 handover of Hong Kong

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John Woo's last Hong Kong film was Hard Boiled (1992). It featured a Hollywood-scale spectacle in its second half with policemen and criminals waging war inside a hospital - while helpless patients are caught in the crossfire. The film climaxes with supercop Chow Yun-Fat singing a lullaby to a baby while gunning down incoming gangsters, and then jumping out of a window to safety below, baby in arm.

Related Topics:
Hard Boiled - 1992 - Chow Yun-Fat

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