Rich & Famous/Tragic Hero (1987)

[DiP]

It's a first timer for me watching the duology. I remember seeing clips from the documentary Cinema of Vengeance and I got intrigued by the action scenes. Since then I've been waiting for these movies to be remastered, so it was a great relief hearing the news of Eureka releasing them on bluray nearly thirty years later. After watching them, I'm asking myself: "Why are these movies so overlooked and less discussed?" Simple... John Woo and Ringo Lam ruled the late 1980s with the sub-genre so everyone that made attempts to surpass their movies were considered "cheap carbon copies". However, there's many gems out there that still have yet to be as appreciated, and these movies belong in this subject. And the people behind the production shouldn't be disregarded. Taylor Wong (very underrated director), Johnny Mak (producer), Stephen Shiu (writer), Manfred Wong (writer), Bruce Leung (action director), Blacky Ko (car stunt coordinator).

Rich & Famous really takes time building up the main characters and their stories through three decades: the late 1950s (as kids), the early 1960s, and early 1970s. The overall vibe is reminiscent to Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America, and of course the movie that started it all: John Woo's A Better Tomorrow. All of these elements to any viewer means a great combination of classic American gangster-style storytelling (HK-style) and with stylized gun action scenes. To my surprise, the movie emphasizes more on the stories and the characters. Taylor Wong's direction is simple and direct in telling the story of these characters, and does it in a believable fashion opposed to what other movies of the same kind does; Their background, their social status, the way they get involved with the underworld, all the culminations that follows. It's nothing new but rather attempts to be as real and as faithful as possible depicting sadness, tragedy, social hardships. A tale of humans failing life and trying their best to stay alive by any means necessary. I probably would've fast-forwarded to the action scenes, which are great but aren't in great numbers, if it weren't for Wong's sincerity in telling the story the way it is. I think that's good reason why this and the sequel aren't as popular as other similar movies. But they are as great as, if not better, they can be. Chow Yun-Fat, fresh off his success from A Better Tomorrow, gets the top billing playing a gangboss but the true lead actors of the movie are Andy Lau and Alex Man as brothers who join Chow Yun-Fat's gang after going through hardships in life. Beside all three lead actors shining brilliantly (especially Chow Yun-Fat but also Alex Man), other good performances include the late Taiwanese actor Ko Chun-Hsieng as a rival gangboss, Alan Tam as a good but a cowardized friend of the brothers, Peter Yang as the brothers' father, Lam Chung and Shing Fui-On (one of few roles where he plays a good guy) as the gangboss' two main sidekicks, and Fan Siu-Ming as a close associate to the gangboss. Bruce Leung provides his action direction and the action scenes are solid and very entertaining, I would say his work is up to par with any of the famous heroic crime movies before and after.

Tragic Hero is set in the 1980s, and this is where things really pick up in terms of tension, violence, loyalty, betrayal, and love. Again, there's nothing new here but Taylor Wong's direction still manages to draw your interest as we see the three lead actors get fleshed out and their stories conclude with a big bang. Unlike its' forerunner (rather labeled a prequel since it was released after), Chow Yun-Fat is the lead actor of this entry and gets to shine better flexing his acting skills and showing off his gun action moment to satisfying result. Andy Lau, Alex Man, Lam Chung, Shing Fui-On, Alex Ng (another gangboss sidekick who sticks out here), and Ng Hoi-Tin (returning as a detective from the prequel) all give good support with their roles, and Bruce Leung once again impresses with this action direction (watch the grand action finale!).

Overall, these movies are true gems and deserves more praise than what they are given in comparison to other movies of their kind.

Edited August 6, 2023 by DiP

[BigDruDogg]

Vintage Chow & Lau can turn chicken shit into chicken salad.. Not saying that they were bad movies... but you get my drift

 

I'm still holding hope that someone can magically get a few more Chow movies to remaster from his heyday (city on fire)

[DiP]

19 hours ago, BigDruDogg said:

Vintage Chow & Lau can turn chicken shit into chicken salad.. Not saying that they were bad movies... but you get my drift

I'm still holding hope that someone can magically get a few more Chow movies to remaster from his heyday (city on fire)

Yeah, I got you. 🔫💣👊

In terms of Chow Yun-Fat movies, I hope to see proper releases of The Story of Woo Viet, Hong Kong 1941, the A Better Tomorrow trilogy, the On Fire quadrilogy, An Autumn's Tale, Flaming Brothers, Tiger on the Beat, All About Ah Long, The Killer, Triads: The Inside Story, Once a Thief, Hard-Boiled, Full Contact, and God of Gamblers Return.

[Karlos]

A lot of those have HD copies floating about but, due to crazy high rights costs, we're unlikely to see them get Western releases anytime soon.