Happy Birthday, Chow Yun-Fat!
John Woo’s HARD BOILED (1992) ends with a hospital siege and shootout that goes on for about 30 minutes. The action is very intense, and Woo creates a sequence within this set piece that goes almost 3 minutes without a single cut. It’s a masterpiece of directorial control by the legend, and it’s performed perfectly by Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Phillip Kwok and a large team of stuntmen. And it just looks really cool! Enjoy my friends!
In 1951’s No Highway In The Sky, James Stewart stars as Dr. Theodore Honey.
In many ways, Theodore Honey is similar to the other roles that Stewart played after he returned from serving in World War II. Dr. Honey is intelligent, plain-spoken, and good-hearted. He’s eccentric and he sometimes has a difficult time relating to other people. He’s also deeply troubled. Dr. Honey is an engineer, one who specializes in determining how many hours an airplane can fly before it starts to fall apart. Dr. Honey is in England, working for an airline and testing his hypothesis that their newest model’s tail will fall off after the plane accumulates a specific number of hours. As is usually the case with these things, Dr. Honey’s employers are skeptical about his claims. There’s a lot of money to be made in air travel and the last thing they need is some eccentric American scaring everyone.
When Honey sets out to investigate a recent crash site, he finds himself on the same type of airplane that he’s been testing. After the plane takes off, Dr. Honey talks to the pilots and discovers, to his horror, that the plane is closing in on the time limit. While flight attendant Marjorie Corder (Glynis Johns) tries to keep him calm, Dr. Honey explains his theory to a film star named Monica Teasdale (Marlene Dietrich), who just happens to be a passenger on the flight. Both Marjorie and Monica find themselves falling in love with Dr. Honey and who can blame them? He may be an eccentric and it may be hard to follow what he’s talking about but he’s still Jimmy Stewart!
I’ve often thought that Stewart was “Jimmy” before World War II but he was definitely James afterwards. Stewart, unlike a lot of Hollywood stars who enlisted and were then used solely for PR purposes, actually flew several combat missions and saw firsthand the devastation of the war. He returned to America deeply disturbed by what he had seen and there’s a definite sense of melancholy to be found in all of Stewart’s post-war performances. That’s certainly the case here. Dr. Honey is a widower, his wife having been killed by a rocket attack during the war. He’s raising his 12 year-old daughter on his own and he deals with his sadness by throwing himself into his work. He’s someone who has seen and experienced great tragedy firsthand and it’s left him more than a little obsessed. There’s a very authentic sadness at the heart of Stewart’s performance and it elevates this film, making what could have been a by-the-book corporate thriller into a character study of a man standing at the dawning of a new age, the post-war era of commercial air travel, and saying, “Well, hold on one minute.”
Unfortunately, Honey’s obsessive nature makes it easy for some to dismiss him. When Dr. Honey purposefully sabotages the plane to keep it from flying again, he finds himself forced to defend his actions. Can he prove that his theory is true? And who will he end up falling in love with? You can probably guess the answers but it doesn’t matter if the latter half of the film is a bit predictable. James Stewart’s performance carries the film and keeps you watching.
Happy Birthday, Chow Yun-Fat!
John Woo’s action classic HARD BOILED (1992) has a pretty simple story line. Two men are trying to stop a dangerous gun smuggling operation headed by murderous psychopath Johnny (Anthony Wong). One of those men is Tequila Yuen (Chow Yun-Fat), a hard-boiled cop who takes his job especially serious after his partner and best friend is killed in a shootout with Johnny’s men in a teahouse. The other is undercover cop Alan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), a man who is in so deep that he can pull off a hit as easy as eating breakfast and who doesn’t even remember his own birthday until he’s reminded by his police department handler, Superintendent Pang (Phillip Chan). After almost killing each each other a couple of times, they end up agreeing to work together to try to stop Johnny once and for all.
First and foremost, HARD BOILED is one of the great action films. Relationships are given some lip service, but John Woo is mostly interested in creating incredible action sequences. HARD BOILED contains three action sequence masterpieces that still, thirty three years after it was released, have to be seen to be believed. I mentioned the teahouse earlier. The most iconic scene from the film can be found in this sequence as Tequila slides down a railing, two guns blazing, in order to take out some dangerous killers. This action sequence lets us know right off the bat that no human being is safe from the carnage, whether you be a cop, a criminal, a waiter, or just a local patron enjoying your song birds and a warm beverage. It’s an incredible opening that would dwarf the entirety of most action films. The next masterpiece takes place in a warehouse where Johnny is stealing the arms inventory of a local competitor, and undercover cop Alan switches his allegiance from his old boss to Johnny. We’re introduced to Johnny’s enforcer Mad Dog (Shaw Brothers legend Phillip Kwok), a true badass with a hint of honor, and of course Tequila shows up thanks to his informant letting him know what’s about to go down. One incredible stunt sequence after another ultimately leads to Tequila and Alan being face to face, with guns pointed at each other’s heads. When Tequila finds his chamber empty and Alan doesn’t kill him, he knows he’s dealing with an undercover. The final masterpiece sequence and conclusion to the film takes place in a hospital where Johnny has stashed his entire arsenal in its basement. This goes on for at least 30 minutes as our heroes may take on henchman on one floor, before taking a quick break as they ride to the next floor and start all over again. Once again, innocent lives are constantly put in danger, including doctors, nurses, handicapped patients and newborn babies in the maternity ward. The most memorable scenes in this section include the “no-cut” action sequence of almost 3 minutes where Tequila and Alan blow away countless bad guys (mostly), as well as Alan’s face off with Mad Dog with a bunch of handicapped patients in between them, and Tequila’s heroic jump from the 3rd floor while clutching a newborn baby. These three action masterpiece sequences are the reason to watch HARD BOILED. I’ve read before that this is John Woo’s “calling card to Hollywood.” About 16 months after HARD BOILED was released in Hong Kong, Woo’s first Hollywood film, HARD TARGET (1993), was released in America.
Another great reason to watch HARD BOILED is the incredible teaming of Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, two of Hong Kong’s greatest and most decorated actors. While Chow is most closely associated with directors John Woo and Ringo Lam, Leung has done amazing work for Woo, Director Wong Kar-Wai, and many others. Each actor has had their share of international success as well. Leung does the heavy lifting in HARD BOILED as the morally conflicted undercover cop, while Chow mostly relies on his incredible charisma as the badass Supercop. It’s a real treat watching them play off of each other under the most action packed of circumstances.
It’s probably obvious, but I give HARD BOILED my highest of recommendations. I hadn’t watched it for a few years before today, and I had the best time revisiting these incredible scenes. Action movies just don’t get better than this.
I reviewed the entire SHANE TV series here on The Shattered Lens because I wanted to watch Jill Ireland in a role that did not involve her famous husband Charles Bronson. I really enjoyed it. Here’s a personal story about Jill Ireland in my own life!
From December 4th – December 15th, 1989, a 16 year old Bradley was a resident of the Baptist Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. I had a terrible car accident on December 4th and broke my left femur as well as my pelvis in 3 places. As I was healing over those days, I’d watch the morning shows with my mom. Jill Ireland was a guest on one of the shows during that time, and I was excited to watch her. She had a big smile on her face, and she exuded beauty, strength and courage. I have to admit just seeing her made me feel better during a time when I was really struggling. A little over 6 months later, I found out that she had passed away, and it made me very sad.
In 2024, I was able to meet Jill’s niece Lindsay. Finding out what wonderful, caring people they are has been so wonderful. Jill’s children have watched our episode of the THIS WEEK IN CHARLES BRONSON podcast with Lindsay. It’s so humbling to share my love for this family and actually find out that they also appreciate it. It’s truly wonderful.
See the link to our episode with Linday Ireland below:
Happy PGA Championship Day!
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Happy 70th Birthday, Chow Yun-Fat!
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000)
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER (2006)
LET THE BULLETS FLY (2010)
FROM VEGAS TO MACAU (2014)
by Robert Crowl
This atomic cover is from 1950.
Joe Jonas, still hard at work.
I always enjoy music videos that take place at night.
Enjoy!
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing the Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and Peacock!
This week, Howard is getting sued!
Episode 3.17 “Fatal Harrassment”
(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on January 10th, 1988)
The newest cashier at Cobb’s, Kim Dillard (Lolita Davidovich, in a very early role), is suing Howard for sexual harassment!
Actually …. yeah, I could see that. Everything about Howard screams lawsuit, if not for sexual harassment than for something else. The same can be said of the behavior of just about everyone who works at Cobb’s. One thing I’ve noticed over the years that I’ve spent watching old sitcoms for the site is that, in the 80s and 90s, everyone just harassed everyone else and regularly made comments that would end friendships and lose jobs today.
Anyway, Howard swears that Kim was actually coming onto him and that he’s being set up. Yeah, whatever, Howard. No one buys that! Except, it’s true! It turns out that Kim has a history of taking jobs and then suing her boss for sexual harassment. Since most of her bosses settle to avoid the bad publicity that would come with a trial, Kim makes a lot of money without having to prove anything. Howard, however, threatens to go to court, which cause Kim to drop her suit. Howard keeps his job, disappointing Christian who was hoping to take over the store.
This episode wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible. It was very middle-of-the-road, featuring a lot of obvious jokes that were saved by the cast’s third season chemistry. That said, it also painted Kim as too obvious a villain and it again left me wondering why Edna is still wasting her time with Howard. For three seasons now, Edna has been complaining about dating Howard. Strangely, Edna always says that she’s been dating Howard for “Seven years,” even though three years have passed since she first said that. Poor Edna!
Joe Don Baker stars at “Walkaway” Madden, a race car driver who got that name because he has always managed to walk away from every crash. When Madden agrees to compete in an off-road race through the Philippines, he is not happy to discover that his sponsor has arranged for a female journalist named C.C. Wainwright (Susan Sarandon) to accompany him and record his adventures. Walkaway’s a good ol’ boy and C.C.’s an independent woman but wouldn’t you know it, they’re in love by the end of the race.
This has one of the most simple plots that I’ve ever seen. Madden and C.C. race through the jungle and there’s never really any doubt about how the race is going to end because all of the other drivers are terrible, except for Madden’s former partner, Doc Pyle (Alan Vint). A manic Larry Hagman plays Bo Cochran, the promoter who put the race together, and gets the majority of the film’s laughs. When I watched this movie, I thought it had been made to capitalize on the success of Smokey and the Bandit but then I saw that Checkered Flag actually came out a few months before Burt Reynolds and Jackie Gleason hit the drive-in circuit. The young Susan Sarandon is a lively presence and she has a surprising amount of chemistry with Joe Don Baker, ideally cast here as a good ol’ boy who likes to drive fast. The movie doesn’t hold many surprises but the game cast keeps it watchable.
Director Alan Gibson was a Canadian filmmaker who had previously worked for Hammer films, directing the last of their Dracula films before he eventually found himself in the Philippines, working with Larry Hagman, Susan Sarandon, and Joe Don Baker.
Through the Shattered Lens 