{"id":180715,"date":"2021-02-17T20:16:38","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T17:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/28-things-we-learned-from-john-woos-hard-boiled-commentary\/"},"modified":"2021-02-17T20:16:38","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T17:16:38","slug":"28-things-we-learned-from-john-woos-hard-boiled-commentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/28-things-we-learned-from-john-woos-hard-boiled-commentary\/","title":{"rendered":"#28 Things We Learned from John Woo&#8217;s &#8216;Hard-Boiled&#8217; Commentary"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a261de041ae0\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a261de041ae0\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/28-things-we-learned-from-john-woos-hard-boiled-commentary\/#Hard-Boiled_1992\" >Hard-Boiled (1992)<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/28-things-we-learned-from-john-woos-hard-boiled-commentary\/#Best_in_Context-Free_Commentary\" >Best in Context-Free Commentary<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/28-things-we-learned-from-john-woos-hard-boiled-commentary\/#Final_Thoughts\" >Final Thoughts<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#28 Things We Learned from John Woo&#8217;s &#8216;Hard-Boiled&#8217; Commentary<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\">\n                <\/aside>\n<p><!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 3.7.9--><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Welcome to\u00a0<\/i><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\"><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Commentary Commentary,<\/i><\/b><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\"> where we sit and listen to filmmakers talk about their work, then share the most interesting parts. In this edition, Rob Hunter rewatches the John Woo masterpiece Hard-Boiled with commentary from the man himself<\/i>.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>When you think about the best action <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">movies<\/a> of all time, the odds are that one or two of the titles swirling around in your brain as contenders were directed by <strong>John Woo<\/strong>. From <em>The Killer<\/em> (1989) to <em>Face\/Off<\/em> (1997) \u2014 with other gems landing before, in between, and after \u2014 Woo is well-established as a top-tier action filmmaker. One of his best remains 1992\u2019s <strong><em>Hard-Boiled<\/em><\/strong>, and it\u2019s such an endlessly rewatchable modern classic that I decided to give it yet another spin. This time, though, I did so with the commentary track from Criterion\u2019s long out-of-print DVD release.<\/p>\n<p>Keep reading to see what I heard on the commentary track for <em>Hard-Boiled<\/em>!<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"graf graf--h3\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Hard-Boiled_1992\"><\/span>Hard-Boiled (1992)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\"><strong>Commentators: John Woo (director), Terence Chang (producer), David Kehr (critic), Roger Avary (filmmaker)<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\"><strong>1.<\/strong> Woo recalls drinking tequila in Hong Kong by adding soda, covering it with a napkin, and then slamming the glass down to stir up some bubbles. \u201cIt would make you feel cool and feel like a man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>2.<\/strong> Sam Peckinpah\u2019s <em>The Wild Bunch<\/em> is an inspiration in various ways including the beat where William Holden\u2019s character drinks an entire bottle of tequila \u2014 hence the lead character here named Tequila (<strong>Chow Yun-fat<\/strong>).<\/p>\n<p><strong>3.<\/strong> Woo interviewed real cops while researching the film including one detective who was known for being extremely tough towards the bad guys. \u201cBut in the meantime, he\u2019s a drummer,\u201d so Woo shifted that into a cop who plays music in a jazz club.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4.<\/strong> The <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">script<\/a> initially focused on a villain who was poisoning formula bottles and killing babies. The cast was signed featuring <strong>Tony Leung<\/strong> as the baby-killing psycho, and they filmed the first scene at the tea house \u2014 it was scheduled for demolition so they only had five days to make use of it. It was only after filming that shootout that Woo and Chang decided to change that entire plotline. Woo\u2019s big concern was it being a \u201cbad influence\u201d and inspiring copycat baby killers. They kept the teahouse scene, obviously, but changed up the motivation and plot details that followed including shifting Leung\u2019s character into an undercover cop named Alan.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5.<\/strong> Avary introduces himself as a twenty-eight-year-old who directed <em>Killing Zoe<\/em> (1993), co-wrote <em>Pulp Fiction<\/em> (1994), and is in the middle of writing a script for Woo titled <em>Hatchet Man<\/em>. What?! A quick Google search brings up little aside from <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/c3f.com\/holywood\/hatchetm.html\">this description<\/a> filled with bullshit details including an attached cast with names like Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, and Meg Ryan. The page lists production problems as follows: \u201cNo blatant problems or delays per se, but half the grips and gaffers chose to be listed in the final credits as Alan Smithee.\u201d This doesn\u2019t make any sense as the film was never made, so yes, this Hollywood\u2019s Coming site is an intentional joke\u2026 which means we don\u2019t actually have details on <em>Hatchet Man<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6.<\/strong> The bartender Mr. Woo wasn\u2019t in the shooting script, but Woo added it on short notice and played the character himself. His acting inspiration? Robert Duvall.<\/p>\n<p><strong>7.<\/strong> \u201cLogic is very boring,\u201d says Woo in regard to how he crafts his characters and scenes. \u201cWhen I\u2019m shooting I do what I feel. I\u2019m free and open.\u201d He adds that he also has no love for film theory or proper film language and instead simply uses what he wants.<\/p>\n<p><strong>8.<\/strong> Woo says <strong>Anthony Wong<\/strong> is a big fan of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro and would often try to imitate them in his acting. \u201cHe also had his own style.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>9.<\/strong> Woo prefers filming his movies in sequence, not just for momentum but also so he knows to make what comes next better. <em>Hard-Boiled<\/em> has three major action sequences, so filming in sequence lets Woo know that the warehouse scene has to improve upon the opening teahouse scene \u2014 and that the end hospital shootout needs to top both.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10.<\/strong> Woo learned while filming the warehouse scene that <strong>Barry Wong<\/strong>, the film\u2019s writer, had died. \u201cHe was a true talent which I really admired.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>11.<\/strong> Avary says that one of the appeals of Woo\u2019s action sequences is how \u201cthey don\u2019t feel like they\u2019ve been storyboarded and planned out and structured so long in advance.\u201d Woo adds \u201cWe just create as we go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>12.<\/strong> Regarding Hong Kong stuntmen, Avary says he\u2019s heard they\u2019re paid all year long as opposed to by stunt or per movie, \u201cbut come that day when John Woo points at you and says \u2018okay you\u2019re up, fall off of this building and land on your head right here\u2019 they gotta do it.\u201d Chang adds that Woo believes stuntmen should be appreciated for what they do.<\/p>\n<p><strong>13.<\/strong> Mad Dog is played by <strong>Philip Kwok<\/strong> who also served as the film\u2019s action coordinator. He was an action star in his own right back in the 70s. Woo added the character as Johnny Wong\u2019s (Anthony Wong) sidekick as Wong is \u201ca good actor, but his image is so weak.\u201d Kwok\u2019s Mad Dog offers a balance to that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>14.<\/strong> Chang says Woo has no actual interest in the Triads or other gangsters and that he only uses them because they\u2019re \u201ccolorful characters\u201d that allow him ways to expand on his preferred themes of friendship and loyalty. Despite this, Woo was criticized for his earlier films as supposedly glamorizing the criminal element, and that\u2019s part of why he focused this feature on the police.<\/p>\n<p><strong>15.<\/strong> The face-off between Alan and his elder in the warehouse led to some debate as Woo insisted that Alan show some tears after having to kill the old man. It\u2019s emotion in an action beat that could arguably give a character\u2019s truth away, but again, he says doesn\u2019t care about logic in a sequence. They shot two versions, one with tears and one without, and Woo kept the latter.<\/p>\n<p><strong>16.<\/strong> The warehouse shootout was originally supposed to be two set-pieces as the back half was going to take place on a cliff outside the warehouse. Tequila and Alan were meant to have their face-off there, but Woo was unable to find a suitable location. The scene would have seen Tequila almost fall only to be saved by Alan, but they instead shifted it to Alan declining to shoot Tequila in the head.<\/p>\n<p><strong>17.<\/strong> Avary called Woo up \u201cthe other night,\u201d as you do, and he got the filmmaker\u2019s answering machine. It featured music from <em>Lawrence of Arabia<\/em>. He shares this anecdote as a way of describing Woo\u2019s absolute and pure love of movies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>18.<\/strong> Woo believes that rather than be mere tools in a film \u201cactors are the soul of a movie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>19.<\/strong> Kehr\u2019s first exposure to Woo was a screening of <em>A Better Tomorrow<\/em> (1986) at a film festival, but he recalls how many American critics were introduced via a midnight screening of <em>The Killer<\/em> (1989) at the Sundance Film Festival in 1992. Audiences there expected to laugh as they were primed for some mild novelty, but while they chuckled through the first half-hour the theater became more focused and attentive as the film went on.<\/p>\n<p><strong>20.<\/strong> Chang says roughly seventy percent of the film was shot in an abandoned Coca-Cola factory. They turned it into the warehouse, the hospital, and more.<\/p>\n<p><strong>21.<\/strong> Woo\u2019s freestyle approach is part of why he says he overbudgets his movies. Chang adds that while Woo may brag about it, he actually brings his movies in on or under budget.<\/p>\n<p><strong>22.<\/strong> Woo says he uses the hospital as a microcosm for society as the patients are merely pawns trapped at the whim of those around them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>23.<\/strong> Woo doesn\u2019t watch films with a critical lens and instead tries \u201cto get something from everything,\u201d from movies to Van Gogh paintings to Bugs Bunny cartoons.<\/p>\n<p><strong>24.<\/strong> \u201cAll the guns come from London,\u201d says Chang regarding the film\u2019s large arsenal. Most of them are real and required special licensing, inspection by the Hong Kong police, and daily inventories. Avary adds that he\u2019ll never make another movie where a gun is fired as it eats up three hours of your day. \u201cThat\u2019s three hours you could have spent working with an actor, and that\u2019s the fun part of directing a movie is working with the actors. Forget this king of action shit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>25.<\/strong> Chang doesn\u2019t have much connection with Hong Kong gangs, but he does point out how come it is having to pay gangsters and hoodlums for \u201cprotection\u201d while shooting in public locations. You pay one gang to keep the others away from your production, but it\u2019s gotten worse over the years. This film saw gang members come to them \u2014 to the real teahouse and the hospital set \u2014 and ask for money, \u201cand you just got to pay them off, all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>26.<\/strong> Regarding action choreography, Woo is \u201cvery sensitive to all the movement around me, from the actors, from the set, from the crew, from anything \u2014 a bird or a fly. They admittedly stimulate me to create some action movement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>27.<\/strong> The shot with Tequila running towards the camera with the baby in his arms and explosions at his back was shot twice as Woo wasn\u2019t happy with the first take \u2014 the explosions were too far behind Chow. For the second take, he took control of the explosives button, per Chang, and set it off far closer than Chow was expecting. \u201cHe was really running for his life.\u201d Chow apparently was professional enough to ask how it looked after the shot was finished, \u201cbut then he turns around and says \u2018that motherfucker.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>28.<\/strong> The script called for Alan to die in the end, preferably in a self-sacrificial way, but the film\u2019s producers along with Chow convinced Woo that the character should live to \u201ccreate more hope and be more positive.\u201d Woo was a hard sell, but he decided to shoot the epilogue revealing the character\u2019s fate.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Best_in_Context-Free_Commentary\"><\/span>Best in Context-Free Commentary<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p graf--startsWithDoubleQuote\">\u201cWho is that guy who just stood up?!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t care about logic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI disagree with John when he says the police are useless.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHand me a stuntman and I can do almost anything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWoo may be the master of a certain degree of ultra-violence, but that does not mean that he endorses widespread, violent, irresponsible behavior the way a lot of directors who imitated his work have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere\u2019s a little sadism for ya.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s something always gnawing at Chow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hate totalitarianism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow this is a scene that\u2019s going to strike a lot of people as insanely excessive\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou never wonder if they\u2019re gonna run out of bullets because Woo has established that this isn\u2019t a world where that\u2019s even a possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"graf graf--h3\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_Thoughts\"><\/span>Final Thoughts<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">I\u2019ve said this before, but hoo boy is <em>Hard-Boiled<\/em> an absolute action masterpiece. The fact that it captivates and mesmerizes even while watching with a commentary track in place of the film\u2019s dialogue and score is unusual, but it speaks to Woo\u2019s mastery of the form here. The action and emotion are out there for all to see, and the commentary sees its speakers highlighting both with praise and observation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"graf graf--p\">Read more Commentary Commentary from the archives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/john-woo-hard-boiled-commentary\/#utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=john-woo-hard-boiled-commentary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#28 Things We Learned from John Woo&#8217;s &#8216;Hard-Boiled&#8217; Commentary&#8221; Welcome to\u00a0Commentary Commentary, where we sit and listen to filmmakers talk about their work, then share the most interesting parts. In this edition, Rob Hunter rewatches the John Woo masterpiece Hard-Boiled with commentary from the man himself. When you think about the best action movies of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":180716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/hard-boiled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[22447,93794,55302],"class_list":["post-180715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-commentary-commentary","tag-hard-boiled","tag-john-woo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}