My favorite Chow Yun Fat films of all time[/B]
I start off this list thread by stating plainly and clearly for all to hear: This is not a "BEST Chow Yun Fat Films" thread. As an example, The Killer is clearly better than ABT2, but no one should be faulted in this thread for saying ABT2 is a favorite before The Killer.
Before I give my list, I'll just give some brief background on my obsessive interest in CYF. When I was 16, I was working in an art house movie theater part time. It was a one screener, and when I'd come in to work on Saturdays, sometimes other employees, or in this case, the Managers daughter, would be holding private screenings for friends of films on DVD (there was a digital projector along with a film projector). I did not like this girl, so I for the most part ignored her.... all untill one fateful Saturday afternoon...
I came in to work, and walked over to the theater from concessions to see what she was showing and to figure out how long it would take till she was out of there and I could get the place ready to open.
What I saw on the screen that day profoundly changed my life forever.
I saw a man I believed was Chow Yun Fat (an actor I only barely had heard of, and had till that point only seen in CTHD). I wasn't sure, because he was sneaking around a hospital, chewing on a toothpick, holding a gun. This did not fit the image of CYF that I had in my mind. I had thought that him doing an 'action' picture like Crouching Tiger was a stretch, and that his career had mainly been as an actor in serious Chi-Drams (Chinese dramas). Fascinated, and still not sure I was seeing what I was seeing (remember, CTHD had only come out a year or two before this, so he was fresh on my mind), I watched in slack jawed fascination as CYF proceeded to ambush men in a hospital room, plant a white rose in a ladies pocket, and generally act totally fucking cool.
As it turns out, I had stumbled in to the last 45 minutes of Hard Boiled. I ended up neglecting my job to sit in on her showing with her stupid friends (I went to elementary school with this girl, but she'd left for a private school in seventh grade). The insane, bullet riddled action was unlike anything I'd seen in American Cinema. This was crazier than the Matrix which was up till then my favorite gun play movie. Hundreds of people were shot by CYF and Tony Leung. Shot in slow motion, regular motion, and one glorious long shot that seemed to never end.
When I stumbled out of the theater, I knew I needed to find out what I'd just seen. And it went from there. I got a few of my friends hooked, and soon we went down to China Town in NYC and I bought fully half of CYF's filmography on DVD (This is far more impressive than it sounds. If you are not aware, CYF stared in upwards of 10 films a year at the height of his 80s heyday).
I began to realize what made him so cool. He COULD shoot up 200 people, but he could just as equally and as readily act like a complete goofy loon for an entire movie. He could go from screwball unhinged comedy and over the top emotions to greatest action star on earth in the course of one take. The unpredictable nature of just what CYF had in store for me each time I popped in a new DVD I purchased was utterly enthralling. He could be sad, and serious, and full of regret (ABT), or insane, childlike, and full of glee (As the mentally challenged 'Chocolate' personality he reverts to in God of Gamblers). Even his more serious (on the surface) efforts in collaboration with John Woo could yeild moments of delightful insanity. Take for example the scene where CYF frantically and maniacally feeds Uncle Ko in ABT2.
I'd never seen an American Star behave this way. When you went into a Tom Cruise film, you knew how his character was going to behave. You knew going in to MI1 (Mission Impossible) for example, that there would not be a scene where Tom would wet his pants in terror. You know going into a Bruce Willis film that Bruce Willis would most likely not beat up a woman or drink an entire glass of raw eggs and then break down in tears. In The Sixth Sense, no matter how many ghosts showed up, I knew that Mr Willis would not go on a delightful magic flying ride with one. These things COULD happen in a Chow Yun Fat film, and that floored me. Fat was unpredictable and unafraid to get his star tarnished, or look like a jerk to his audience. In my mind, that's what made him a real star.
He was unlike anyone I'd ever seen on the screen, and he helped open my horizons to a whole world of film I'd never experienced.
Without further delay, my list:
Hard Boiled
A Better Tomorrow 2
A Better Tomorrow 1
The Killer
God of Gamblers
Tiger on Beat
Anna and the King
Once a Thief
Replacement Killers
The one with Mark Whalberg where he says Marky Mark has "yellow fever"
The Fun, The Luck, and The Tycoon
City War (on my dvd, right before he shoots the bad guy in the throat, he tells him to 'masturbate in hell*')
Prison on Fire
God of Gamblers 2
Thats all for now, but do not get me wrong, I like every film on that list, even if its just for a few aspects of his part in it.
*The screwy translations were the source of neverending amusement. I also liked to compare subtitles across multiple released off the same film on DVD. Often there were huge differences
PS I have and never will see Bullet Proof Monk. I couldn't stand to watch him sink to those depths.
Anyway, thats all for now. I'll open it up to those still reading.
I start off this list thread by stating plainly and clearly for all to hear: This is not a "BEST Chow Yun Fat Films" thread. As an example, The Killer is clearly better than ABT2, but no one should be faulted in this thread for saying ABT2 is a favorite before The Killer.
Before I give my list, I'll just give some brief background on my obsessive interest in CYF. When I was 16, I was working in an art house movie theater part time. It was a one screener, and when I'd come in to work on Saturdays, sometimes other employees, or in this case, the Managers daughter, would be holding private screenings for friends of films on DVD (there was a digital projector along with a film projector). I did not like this girl, so I for the most part ignored her.... all untill one fateful Saturday afternoon...
I came in to work, and walked over to the theater from concessions to see what she was showing and to figure out how long it would take till she was out of there and I could get the place ready to open.
What I saw on the screen that day profoundly changed my life forever.
I saw a man I believed was Chow Yun Fat (an actor I only barely had heard of, and had till that point only seen in CTHD). I wasn't sure, because he was sneaking around a hospital, chewing on a toothpick, holding a gun. This did not fit the image of CYF that I had in my mind. I had thought that him doing an 'action' picture like Crouching Tiger was a stretch, and that his career had mainly been as an actor in serious Chi-Drams (Chinese dramas). Fascinated, and still not sure I was seeing what I was seeing (remember, CTHD had only come out a year or two before this, so he was fresh on my mind), I watched in slack jawed fascination as CYF proceeded to ambush men in a hospital room, plant a white rose in a ladies pocket, and generally act totally fucking cool.
As it turns out, I had stumbled in to the last 45 minutes of Hard Boiled. I ended up neglecting my job to sit in on her showing with her stupid friends (I went to elementary school with this girl, but she'd left for a private school in seventh grade). The insane, bullet riddled action was unlike anything I'd seen in American Cinema. This was crazier than the Matrix which was up till then my favorite gun play movie. Hundreds of people were shot by CYF and Tony Leung. Shot in slow motion, regular motion, and one glorious long shot that seemed to never end.
When I stumbled out of the theater, I knew I needed to find out what I'd just seen. And it went from there. I got a few of my friends hooked, and soon we went down to China Town in NYC and I bought fully half of CYF's filmography on DVD (This is far more impressive than it sounds. If you are not aware, CYF stared in upwards of 10 films a year at the height of his 80s heyday).
I began to realize what made him so cool. He COULD shoot up 200 people, but he could just as equally and as readily act like a complete goofy loon for an entire movie. He could go from screwball unhinged comedy and over the top emotions to greatest action star on earth in the course of one take. The unpredictable nature of just what CYF had in store for me each time I popped in a new DVD I purchased was utterly enthralling. He could be sad, and serious, and full of regret (ABT), or insane, childlike, and full of glee (As the mentally challenged 'Chocolate' personality he reverts to in God of Gamblers). Even his more serious (on the surface) efforts in collaboration with John Woo could yeild moments of delightful insanity. Take for example the scene where CYF frantically and maniacally feeds Uncle Ko in ABT2.
I'd never seen an American Star behave this way. When you went into a Tom Cruise film, you knew how his character was going to behave. You knew going in to MI1 (Mission Impossible) for example, that there would not be a scene where Tom would wet his pants in terror. You know going into a Bruce Willis film that Bruce Willis would most likely not beat up a woman or drink an entire glass of raw eggs and then break down in tears. In The Sixth Sense, no matter how many ghosts showed up, I knew that Mr Willis would not go on a delightful magic flying ride with one. These things COULD happen in a Chow Yun Fat film, and that floored me. Fat was unpredictable and unafraid to get his star tarnished, or look like a jerk to his audience. In my mind, that's what made him a real star.
He was unlike anyone I'd ever seen on the screen, and he helped open my horizons to a whole world of film I'd never experienced.
Without further delay, my list:
Hard Boiled
A Better Tomorrow 2
A Better Tomorrow 1
The Killer
God of Gamblers
Tiger on Beat
Anna and the King
Once a Thief
Replacement Killers
The one with Mark Whalberg where he says Marky Mark has "yellow fever"
The Fun, The Luck, and The Tycoon
City War (on my dvd, right before he shoots the bad guy in the throat, he tells him to 'masturbate in hell*')
Prison on Fire
God of Gamblers 2
Thats all for now, but do not get me wrong, I like every film on that list, even if its just for a few aspects of his part in it.
*The screwy translations were the source of neverending amusement. I also liked to compare subtitles across multiple released off the same film on DVD. Often there were huge differences
PS I have and never will see Bullet Proof Monk. I couldn't stand to watch him sink to those depths.
Anyway, thats all for now. I'll open it up to those still reading.
