THE BIG BULLET is known for a handful of awesome action sequences, but one of the reasons I enjoy the film is the way the Hong Kong “Emergency Unit” works together to solve some fairly simple cases as well. Enjoy this scene where Sergeant Bill Chu (Lau Ching-Wan) sees right through the lies of a bitter employee.
Author Archives: Bradley Crain
The Hong Kong Film Corner: THE BIG BULLET (1996), starring Lau Ching-Wan!
The first time I ever remember seeing Hong Kong actor “Sean” Lau Ching-Wan on the screen was in the Jet Li film, BLACK MASK. I was watching the film because of Jet Li, who had recently hit it big in America as a bad guy in LETHAL WEAPON 4, but I remember thinking that Lau’s cop character was pretty darn cool too. I didn’t think of him again for awhile, but then I bought a book about Hong Kong movies called “Hollywood East: Hong Kong Movies and the People who Make Them,” from author Stefan Hammond. This book was Hammond’s follow up to “Sex and Zen and a Bullet in the Head,” one of the books that truly educated me on the cinema of Hong Kong. “Hollywood East” spent a whole bunch of pages discussing Lau Ching-Wan and his movies. I connected the dots between this very interesting actor I was reading about and that cool cop in BLACK MASK. So I did what I do. I bought one of his movies, and then another, and then another. Soon I was obsessed with watching all of his movies. One of those first movies I remember reading about in “Hollywood East” was THE BIG BULLET.
In THE BIG BULLET, Lau Ching-Wan is the badass cop-with-an-attitude, Sergeant Bill Chu, who doesn’t take crap off of anyone, including his superiors on the force. After belting one of his so-called superiors following a botched raid, Chu finds himself transferred to the Hong Kong police force’s “Emergency Unit,” a clear demotion for a man of his experience and arrest record. Here, the loner must work as part of a team to answer the various calls that come their way on a daily basis. This isn’t always easy, as one of the fellow cops on the unit is the extremely by-the-book Inspector Jeff Chiu (Jordan Chan). They clash immediately. Other members include the spunky Apple (Theresa Lee), the nerdy gun nut (Cheung Tat-Ming), and the old guy (Spencer Lam). This somewhat ragtag group finds themselves in the uneviable position of trying to stop an extremely dangerous group of thieves, led by The Professor (Yu Ronguang) and Bird (Anthony Wong). We’ve seen their willingness to kill at the drop of the hat, and the Emergency Unit doesn’t seem to be a proper match for these criminals. Or are they??
If you’re looking for a strong action film, and you’ve never seen it before, I present THE BIG BULLET. Director Benny Chan was emerging as a top notch Hong Kong film director, and THE BIG BULLET seemed to announce that he was throwing his hat into the ring as an action specialist when some of Hong Kong’s best action directors were taking their talents out west. There’s a sequence about 25 minutes into the film where our heroes find themselves in a shootout with the main villains that will leave your heart racing in the same manner as some of John Woo’s or Ringo Lam’s best work. And the actors are the very best that Hong Kong has to offer. Lau Ching-Wan, while not a dashing star in the mold of Chow Yun-Fat, easily carries the film on his shoulders with his natural charisma and tremendous screen presence. Even now, almost 30 years later, Lau Ching-Wan continues to dominate the Hong Kong film industry from an acting standpoint. He is nominated in 2025 for the Hong Film Award for Best Actor for his role in the film PAPA (2024). The excellent Francis Ng has a small, but pivotal role as Chu’s friend and colleague on the police force who helps him save his job at the beginning of the film. I also like Jordan Chan as the by-the-books member of the team who comes to realize that there are times when you may have to bend the rules to stop dangerous criminals. In a role that starts out extremely unlikable, he wins us over as the film progresses. As far as the criminals go, it would be hard to get much better actors for the parts than Yu Rongguang (IRON MONKEY) and Anthony Wong (BEAST COPS, THE MISSION). These excellent actors are cool and evil and we definitely want to see them get their comeuppance before the credits roll.
Overall, THE BIG BULLET may lose a little bit of steam in its second half, but it’s still a great example of how strong Hong Kong action films were in the late 90’s. It’s also an example of the excellent talent in Hong Kong films even as Jackie Chan, Chow Yun-Fat, Jet Li, and John Woo had already moved on to Hollywood. THE BIG BULLET has a special place in my heart since it was one of those formative Lau Ching-Wan films in my life. But nostalgia aside, it’s still a damn good action film, and I recommend it without any reservations!
Brad’s Theme Song of the day – “Ko Chun’s Theme” from the GOD OF GAMBLERS!
In my review of GOD OF GAMBLERS, I mention Ko Chun (Chow Yun-Fat) strolling into the casino to the rousing theme music of the film. I later saw someone comment on a YouTube video that they would like a “sensor at my door that plays this song every time I walk through it.” I couldn’t agree more! It’s an excellent song for slow motion coolness and it’s used to nice effect multiple times throughout the film. Enjoy my friends!
Chow Yun-Fat is the GOD OF GAMBLERS (1989)!
There aren’t that many times in your life when you watch a movie that completely catches you by surprise. My initial viewing of the GOD OF GAMBLERS circa 1997 is one of those times in my life. Up to that point I had only seen Chow Yun-Fat in the John Woo classics THE KILLER and HARD-BOILED, and I was beginning the process of trying to find and watch as many of his films as possible. When my Tai Seng VHS tape of GOD OF GAMBLERS arrived in the mail, I was very excited to pop it in the VCR and watch another badass Chow Yun-Fat classic! I wasn’t quite prepared for what I was about to see…
The film’s opening credits feature Ko Chun (Chow Yun-Fat), the world famous, mysterious “God of Gamblers” in Tokyo for a match with Ueyama, (Yasuhiro Shikamura), Japan’s top gambler. Ko Chun looks unbelievably cool in his dark suit and slicked back hair (Killer style), as he strolls into the casino, accompanied by the film’s rousing main theme, flanked by his beautiful girlfriend Janet (Sharla Cheung) and his personal assistant and friend, Ko Yee (Fong Lung). After being soundly defeated by Ko Chun, Ueyama asks the God of Gamblers to take on the dangerous Singaporean gambler Chan Kam-sing (Hon-Lam Pau), the Demon of Gamblers, in a high stakes poker match on his behalf. It seems the “demon” had beaten Ueyama’s father in a gambling match a few years earlier by cheating, ultimately driving the man to suicide. Ko Chun agrees to help Ueyama get his revenge. Knowing it could get dangerous, Ueyama assigns Dragon (Charles Heung), a former Vietnamese special forces soldier, to be Ko Chun’s bodyguard. The stage seems to be set for badass action and tricky gambling and then….
Walking home a night later after besting another group of duplicitous gamblers, Ko Chun falls into a booby trap that was set by Knife (Andy Lau) to screw around with his Indian neighbor who’s been getting on his nerves. Ko’s resulting fall and bump on the head causes him to have amnesia and revert to the mental level of a small child. Knife and his girlfriend Jane (Joey Wong), take him in and try to figure out who he is. The couple soon learns that the only thing that can calm him down and keep him from screaming is giving him his favorite chocolate treats. Knife, who’s obsessed with gambling, but is not very good at it, soon enlists “Chocolate,” his nickname for the stranger, to help him with some of his get-rich-quick, gambling schemes. Along the way, Knife discovers that Chocolate has amazing gambling skills even though he acts like a child. At first he tries to exploit him for his own purposes, but over time Knife begins to care about Chocolate and decides he will try to get him some help.
Will Chocolate get hit by a car, smash his head through the driver’s side window and turn back into Ko Chun? Will his friend Ko Yee, who’s always been jealous of Ko Chun’s success, align himself with Chan Kam-sing and murder Janet? Will Dragon turn out to be one badass bodyguard? Will Ko Chun / Chocolate grab two pistols and kill a group of assassins in slow motion? Will the God of Gamblers face off against the Demon of Gamblers in international waters and win? Will he remember Knife who has turned out to be a good friend to him?
For the first 30 minutes of GOD OF GAMBLERS, I was getting the exact Chow Yun-Fat I was expecting with his unmatched charisma completely dominating the proceedings. And then he hits his head. When I first watched this film I had never seen Chow in a comedy so I wasn’t expecting how over the top he would go. Watching the “coolest actor in the world” scream uncontrollably and beg for chocolates was something I wasn’t emotionally prepared for at the time and I specifically remember that “WTF” feeling that came over me. I had also never seen a “Wong Jing film” so I didn’t understand the extreme changes in tone that the film would undergo, one of the trademarks of his films. One minute I’m watching a suave Chow Yun-Fat, the next minute I’m watching crude, goofy comedy with Andy Lau and Shing Fui-On, and a little later there’s a man raping a corpse. What I soon realized was that in the world of 1980’s Hong Kong cinema, the rules are much different than American films and you never know what you might see next. That unique nature of Hong Kong cinema hooked me completely and it became my obsession for the next several years with Chow Yun-Fat as my favorite leading man. GOD OF GAMBLERS gave me an entertaining film while opening up a whole new world of entertainment.
GOD OF GAMBLERS was a huge box office hit and started a new craze in the Hong Kong film industry for gambling films. Stephen Chow, another huge star in Hong Kong, released the movie ALL FOR THE WINNER just a year later in 1990 where he would play the “Saint of Gamblers.” It would be an even bigger hit than GOD OF GAMBLERS. The Saint of Gamblers and the God of Gamblers’ protege Knife (Andy Lau) would join forces in Wong Jing’s proper sequel GOD OF GAMBLERS II (1990). Gong Li would even join the fun with Stephen Chow in GOD OF GAMBLERS III: BACK FROM SHANGHAI (1991). Chow Yun-Fat finally returned to the role of Ko Chun in 1994 in THE RETURN OF THE GOD OF GAMBLERS. While not as strong as the original, it was another crazy entry in the series and another huge box office smash.
The last things I want to mention about GOD OF GAMBLERS are its two main stars, Chow Yun-Fat and Andy Lau. Chow Yun-Fat is incredible in the role of Ko Chun / Chocolate. He’s so cool and he’s also genuinely funny. He’s so charming in the role and it’s no shock that Hong Kong audiences and critics were completely enamored by him. When this film was made in 1989, Chow had won the previous two years Hong Kong Film Awards (the Hong Kong Oscar) for best Actor for John Woo’s A BETTER TOMORROW (1986) and Ringo Lam’s CITY ON FIRE (1987), a film that would heavily influence Quentin Tarantino’s RESERVOIR DOGS (1992). Chow would get nominated twice for his 1989 movies GOD OF GAMBLERS and ALL ABOUT AH-LONG, winning the award for the latter. Dominating both the box office and awards shows, Chow Yun-Fat was the unquestioned greatest leading man in Hong Kong cinema at the time. Andy Lau is another huge star in the world of Hong Kong entertainment. A dual threat, Lau was not just a leading movie star in the industry, he was also one of its biggest pop stars, where he is known as one of the “Four Heavenly Kings of Cantopop.” To this day, Andy Lau is still a huge star in Hong Kong cinema. With that said, I’ve never thought that his character of Knife was one of his best. He’s a pretty selfish asshole for much of the film before having a change of heart near the end. He was so good in the following year’s A MOMENT OF ROMANCE (1990), as well as later films like RUNNING OUT OF TIME (1999) and INFERNAL AFFAIRS (2002). He’s incredibly talented, but his shallow character ultimately suffers in comparison to Chow Yun-Fat’s incredible performance in this film.
If it’s not obvious, I highly recommend GOD OF GAMBLERS to any adventurous viewer who’s willing to simply follow the story wherever it goes. If nothing else, just sit back and enjoy Chow Yun-Fat in one of my favorite performances in Hong Kong cinema, or any other cinema for that matter.
INDICTMENT: THE MCMARTIN TRIAL (1995)
Actor James Woods is great at portraying attorneys. Whether it be as the real life Assistant D.A. Bob Tanenbaum in the excellent T.V. Movie BADGE OF THE ASSASSIN (1985), the crusading hippie Eddie Dodd in TRUE BELIEVER (1989) or the namesake of the excellent TV series SHARK (2006-2008), Woods knows how to play that unique combination of intelligence, shrewdness, and sneakiness to perfection. In 1995, he further applied those skills when he portrayed real life attorney Danny Davis in the HBO movie INDICTMENT: THE MCMARTIN TRIAL. This movie is based on the McMartin day care sexual abuse case that began with horrific allegations in 1983 and ended in 1990 with zero convictions and all charges dropped. During that time, the McMartin Trial became the longest and most expensive series of criminal trials in American history.
I’ll just go ahead and challenge any person to watch INDICTMENT: THE MCMARTIN TRIAL and not get filled with righteous anger about the complete failure of our judicial system. Add to that failure the complete breakdown of our media to cover events in a fair and impartial fashion with even the smallest shred of objectivity. Does any of this sound familiar? As good as James Woods is in the central role, the star of this film is the true story itself. We watch as various people in positions of authority and power act completely out of self interest, including Davis himself at first, with the pursuit of the truth or justice not even the slightest consideration no matter what the evidence suggests. In actuality, the truth was hidden by the prosecution in pursuit of convictions that never came. The shit that this family was put through with coerced evidence that had no chance of standing up to the slightest bit of scrutiny is disgraceful. It’s one of the most infuriating films I’ve ever seen and it’s just as relevant in 2025 as it was in 1995. The performances are spot on, beginning with Woods’ central performance as Danny Davis and moving on to Shirley Knight in a Golden Globe winning portrayal of Peggy McMartin Buckey, Mercedes Ruehl as prosecutor Lael Rubin, Lolita Davidovich as child therapist Kee MacFarlane, Sada Thompson as matriarch Virginia McMartin, and Henry Thomas as the odd but innocent Ray Buckey. Produced by Oliver Stone and directed by Mick Jackson (THE BODYGUARD, VOLCANO), this button pushing, thought provoking film would win both the Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe awards for best Made for Television Movie in 1995. It’s truly an excellent film and should be seen by any person interested in a fair judicial system or unbiased media.
RUDY! RUDY! RUDY!!
It’s Good Friday and I’ve taken the day off from work to relax and spend some time in reflection and prayer on this important day on the Christian calendar. I woke up this morning and wasn’t quite ready to get out of bed, so I started flipping through Netflix’s selection and came across RUDY (1993). I try not to overwatch RUDY because I love the way it makes me feel, and I don’t want it to become so familiar that I lose that feeling. But it’s been a couple of years, so I decided to give it another spin.
As I’m sure most of you know, RUDY is based on the life of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger (Sean Astin), the 3rd of 14 children from a family in Joliet, IL, who dreamed of playing football at Notre Dame. There were a number of obstacles to that dream, namely that his family didn’t have much money, he didn’t have good grades, he was 5’6” tall and he didn’t have much football talent. What he did have was heart, and we watch Rudy persevere as he goes to school at neighboring Holy Cross while trying to get accepted in Notre Dame. Nothing ever comes easy for Rudy, but through determination, hard work, and sheer will he eventually makes his way to Notre Dame, joins the football team’s practice squad, and gets to suit up for one game in his senior year.
RUDY is a movie that affects me deeply. It really shouldn’t come as a surprise as it was written by Angelo Pizzo and directed by David Anspaugh, the team behind HOOSIERS (1986), one of my very favorite movies of all time. While there will never be a movie about my life, I know all too well what it’s like to love something so much, but not really be designed for it. In RUDY, the character Fortune, played by Charles S. Dutton in an incredible performance, tells a discouraged Rudy, “You’re 5 foot nothin’, 100 and nothin’, and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football players in the land for 2 years.” Those were basically my specs when I was a senior playing high school basketball in a small town in Central Arkansas (5’7,” 125 and I couldn’t jump). I loved the game so much and put everything I had into it during my pee wee, junior high and senior high years. In 1991, I was named to the Arkansas’ All-State high school basketball team. Due to my lack of athleticism, I would not be able to play at the collegiate level, but I’ve always felt pride that I was able to maximize what talent God did bless me with in the game of basketball. That hard work ethic has served me well throughout my life. It’s so inspiring to watch a movie where a person perseveres against difficult odds, faces disappointments, keeps moving forward, works harder than everyone else, faces more obstacles, and then finally gets to see that work pay off. In a day and time where so many want all the rewards that life has to offer, without putting in any of the work, the story of RUDY stands the test of time and needs to be seen and heard.
4 Shots From 4 Films: The James Woods Edition!
Today is the 78th birthday of James Woods, one of the great actors of his generation. Capable of completely disappearing into his roles, Woods is known for his unmatched intensity and diversity. He can play anything from a badass action hero to the most evil scum of society, from a mentally handicapped adult to the most intelligent man in the room. He’s been one of my favorite actors since I first discovered him in the late 80’s in the movie BEST SELLER (1987). While he’s won multiple Emmy awards and Golden Globes, the fact he’s never won an Oscar for his acting skills is beyond my comprehension. As he was an Executive Producer of OPPENHEIMER (2023), I particularly enjoyed that film’s Oscar success! Happy Birthday Mr. Woods! Thanks for the countless hours of entertainment you’ve brought into my life!
ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (1984)
SALVADOR (1986)
THE HARD WAY (1991)
GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI (1996)
FREEDOM!!!
I’m passionate about movies, but my day job consists of providing high quality tax planning and preparation services for a wide variety of clients in the Central Arkansas area. After a couple of months of 70-90 hour work weeks, April 16th is the day that I can begin to focus a little less on work and a little more on the things I truly love. I can’t wait to continue to share my passion for movies, music, Charles Bronson, Chow Yun-Fat, and so many other things with all of you. I need a few days to get some rest and get my mind straight, but I’ll soon be back to sharing my opinions and my life! Thanks to all of you who read my work! ❤️
Happy Birthday in heaven to Howard Keel!
SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) is one of the great musicals of all time! And Howard Keel was also Ms. Ellie’s man after Jock died in DALLAS. That’s a hell of a career!
Dennis Quaid in Toad Suck, Arkansas!
Happy 71st Birthday to Dennis Quaid. He’s been in a lot of good movies over the years, but I’m quite partial to a movie he made in 1977 called SEPTEMBER 30, 1955. He stars alongside Richard Thomas, Tom Hulce, Susan Tyrrell, Deborah Benson and Lisa Blount. The movie is about a group of friends at the Arkansas State Teachers College, which is my Alma mater the University of Central Arkansas, who deal with the death of James Dean. It’s a good movie that was filmed all around central Arkansas, including my home community of Toad Suck, Arkansas. In the picture above he’s sitting on a “beach” along the Arkansas River in Toad Suck. I’ve been there many times. The movie was written and directed by the talented Arkansan James Bridges, of THE PAPER CHASE and URBAN COWBOY fame. It’s a film well worth searching out. I’ve included the trailer below.
Through the Shattered Lens 