Directed by John Woo • 1990 • Hong Kong
Starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Jacky Cheung, Simon Yam
One of director John Woo’s most ambitious and emotionally charged films, this intense action epic follows the fates of three friends—gangsters Ben (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), Frank (Jacky Cheung), and Paul (Waise Lee)—as they leave behind 1960s Hong Kong to pull off a smuggling job in war-torn Vietnam, only to find their loyalties to one another tested when they are taken prisoner by the Vietcong. The most expensive Hong Kong film ever made at the time of its production—an arduous undertaking that drove Woo to the brink to realize his vision—BULLET IN THE HEAD blends the filmmaker’s celebrated action spectacle with a harrowing depiction of the POW experience that has earned it comparisons to THE DEER HUNTER.
Up Next in Hong Kong Action Classics
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Once a Thief
Directed by John Woo • 1991 • Hong Kong
Starring Chow Yun-fat, Leslie Cheung, Cherie ChungHaving established himself as Hong Kong cinema’s master of the heroic bloodshed genre, director John Woo took a detour into lighter territory with this rollicking, typically stylish comic caper, which cast...
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Dreadnaught
Directed by Yuen Woo-ping • 1981 • Hong Kong
Starring Yuen Biao, Bryan Leung Kar-yan, Kwan Tak-hingEverything that made 1980s Hong Kong action cinema such a blast—the furious fights, bursts of wild comedy, and larger-than-life performances—is cranked up to eleven in this audacious cult classic...
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As Tears Go By
Directed by Wong Kar Wai • 1988 • Hong Kong
Starring Andy Lau Tak Wah, Maggie Cheung Man Yuk, Jacky Cheung Hok YauWong Kar Wai’s scintillating debut feature is a kinetic, hypercool crime thriller graced with flashes of the impressionistic, daydream visual style for which he would become renowne...
