May 14, 2024 • 48 mins
This special episode has been hand-picked by one of you! Patreon member James Buckley was given the opportunity to choose the episode he'd like to hear, which is why Jeff and Andy are talking about one of John Woo's most acclaimed films. Load your Barettas and take aim with us at "Hard Boiled!"
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
This special episode is brought to youby James Buckley. Not only is James
a friend of the show, he'salso one of our Patreon subscribers that gets
the opportunity to select an episode ofhis choosing. When we asked James,
he said, I want to hearyou guys talk about a film by John
wu his nineteen ninety two action packedclassic Hard Boiled. Hello everybody, I'm
(00:49):
Jeff Johnson. This is a filmby podcast, So we're doing Hard Boil
today because of our Patreon. Foranyone listening wondering what Patreon is or how
it works, I want to breakthis down for you. Our show stream's
free on all platforms, but wedo release exclusive episodes and content on Patreon,
which is a paid subscription with severalprice points beginning at three dollars.
(01:14):
Each level gets you a film bymerchandise like stickers, t shirts, and
our color changing stadium cup. Butat the top tier, the Producers tier,
you get to direct us on whichdirector or film we'll cover here on
the a film by podcast. Soif you want to call the shots like
James Buckley, or you just wantto check it out for a free seven
(01:34):
day trial, head over to patreondot com backslash a film by podcast and
sign up. Now you'll find alink in the show notes. And guess
what, even when you sign upfor the free trial and cancel after seven
days, we're still sending you somea film by swag Andy Tom is here
today. If anyone has the properpedigree to discuss a John Wu film,
(02:00):
it's got to be you. Welcomeback, man, my Gangster. Well
yeah, but you know you wouldyou you would fit right at home in
a John Wu film. I feellike, you know, on on either
side of the controversy, you know, uh yeah, yeah. This is
(02:22):
one of John Wu's biggest films priorto his coming to America. Andy,
for the listeners that haven't seen it, could you could you tell us a
little bit about what Hard Boiled isall about. The synopsis is a tough
as nails cop teams up with anundercover agent to shut down a sinister mobster
(02:42):
and his crew. So, yeah, there you go. I did.
I did. Yeah, short andsweet. I as far as the storyline,
I did get lost a little bitand I just saw it just recently.
Now. I have to say thatI saw this back in the early
nineties, when Hong Kong films werestarting to make their way over here and
(03:07):
you could find them at these smallerrental change So I did catch this probably
twenty five years ago, and Iremember it being amazing, and then I
watched it again here and I wasgetting a little lost. I'm like,
wait, now, who's this?Now? Who's this? So the storyline,
although it is playing kind of spelledout real really nice in that synopsis.
(03:31):
I did get a little lost,but it's not it's look, man,
are you going there to watch aJohn film for a brilliant story or
you know, eye Candy? SoI'm watching it for the John Wuye candy.
And I think there's a reason whypeople do get a little caught up
in this film as far as what'sreally going on. And we'll get to
(03:53):
that. But you talked about theEye Candy. I want to talk about
something that I feel we got tocover. We talked about this briefly.
The first time we did a Johnwu film was back in twenty twenty one.
We covered Hard Target, the VanDamn film, which is kind of
like a most Dangerous game plan onMost Nagerous Game. I kind of briefly
(04:16):
mentioned this so I do have tobring this up back up, though,
I want to talk about the Taoof Wu, as I like to call
it, so, listeners, Taoismis a Chinese philosophy based on the writings
of Lao Su. The Tao meaningthe Way is all about three aspects,
the way of reality, the wayof nature, and the way of human
(04:40):
life. So inspired by those teachings, I'd like to offer what I call
the Way of Wu, which hasfive aspects. So andy follow along with
me, because I think you're gonnarecognize these five aspects are always in a
John Wu film. The Way ofdoves. This represents peace, you know,
or rather someone or or some conflictis about to be resolved and or
(05:01):
put to an end. You don'tget a John Wu movie without doves often.
Okay, we got s. Wegotta see them right. Next one
the Way of Guns of Kimbo.So I'll remind listeners anyone that doesn't know
that phrase guns of Kimbo. Thisis kind of like the art form of
using two guns at once, aswell as turning them into me lee weapons,
(05:24):
which is a staple in every JohnWu film. Think about was there
ever a time you didn't see ChowYoung fat, grab two Brettas and shoot
simultaneously. It's it's you gotta seeit, you know, you gotta see
it. Next up the way ofgun fu, so film and shootouts like
(05:46):
a ballet or a dance. Charactersare always in his movies. Characters are
always jumping, they're diving, they'reflailing their arms as a shoot with an
artistic rhythm, and it's it's,yeah, sure it's a shootout, so
it's chaotic, but it looks beautiful. It looks it looks like it was
rehearsed time and time again. It'sit's an art form. It's a dance
gun fu, which I think thatthat term actually got made popular after the
(06:10):
first Matrix film in ninety nine becausethey obviously took a lot of license from
Wu. Number four. The wayof the Standoff, also known as the
Mexican standoff. Characters will engage inmeaningful conversation whilst aiming guns at one another
up close, sometimes separated by awall, allowing them to talk back to
(06:31):
back. I can't think of aJohn Wu movie that that didn't have this
situation. You know, got tohave it, or like three or four
in those Yeah, and then Lastly, the way of the chase elaborate in
nature, you could expect overwhelming obstaclesinvolving multiple people and or vehicles, whether
it's like a boat versus helicopter,or horse versus helicopter, if you're talking
(06:54):
like a face off, or youknow, something like this where it's just
you know, chasing one guy througha maze of the hospital, just trying
to trying to get out, tryingto break free. It's it's always over
the top. So these five aspectsare commonly depicted in a John Wu film,
and when you see them, youcan be certain that you're watching a
John Wu film, or that you'rewatching a film that was influenced by John
(07:15):
Woo. That's that's what I liketo call the way of Wu. Yeah,
yeah, no, those aren't bad. Well, I I think another
one would be like his. Whenthe guns create maximum effect. I wouldn't
say damage, but whenever a gunsor whenever there's gun play involved, there's
(07:38):
always a stack of papers, somesparks flying, there's always it's never just
you know, it's just one shotand an adult thood it's just the most
maximum carnage. Especially in this movie, when they were had to shootout in
that factory and just sparks everywhere whenyou're shoot at in the cars. I
mean, it was just outrageous,the the the the amount of damage I
(08:01):
was doing. Also, when youmentioned the chase, I guess you're you're
you're saying in this movie with thehospital chase, but there was no car
chase in this film, right inthe film, this one didn't have a
car chase. Yeah, yeah,most of the time they did. It
wasn't match of a foot chase either. I mean, you know, there
was a cat and mouse kind ofthing inside the hospital. But we'll get
(08:24):
to that then. But yeah,absolutely. Let's talk a little bit about
the cast. So Chaw Young Fatas Inspector Tequila. So he's previously worked
with Wu on A Better Tomorrow,The Killer and wants a thief. You
gotta before we before we talk moreabout him, you got a favorite Chile
Young Fat performance when when we're talkingJohn Wu, what's what's your go to?
(08:48):
Well, we're talking John Wu TheKiller, maybe probably The Killer,
right right? Yeah, yeah,I as far as I like a lot
of other you know, uh,Giant Fat movies besides this, besides his
work with John Wu. It's funnybecause I when I introduced my well,
I watched it with my son lastnight. He's he's in his twenties,
(09:11):
and I I said, John wuis like Scorcese and and Giant Fat is
like Leonardo DiCaprio kind of thing,like they're they're just symbiotic, they're they're
they're So watch it with that inmind. Uh So, yeah, I
don't think I as far as forme, Giant Fat's best work wasn't with
(09:31):
uh John Woo. Unfortunately, Ireally like I'm a huge fan of Full
Contact. If you ever saw that, that Ringo lom movie, I haven't
seen that, or Gambler's kind ofGamblers is No, that's actually that's that's
my favorite of Giant Fats. ActuallyI have to have to backtrack. Yeah,
I really love that one. Ifyou saw that one, it's been
a long time. Yeah, it'sI gotta rewatch on that one. Yeah.
(09:56):
Not a lot of gun play,I don't remember. I just remember
gambling. Like I said, Now, I went through tons of these movies
in the early to mid nineties,so my memory is a little foggy,
but good memories. Yeah. Thecharacter Tequila, so his tough on criminal's
attitude and anger was taken from anactual police detective that John Wu interviewed.
(10:20):
And the funny thing here is thatoff duty, the guy found happiness as
a drummer in a local band,and we love that so much he decided
to make Tequila a jazz musician whenhe's off duty. So yeah, the
idea, okay, yeah, theidea of a guy working for the law
and then you know, blowing offsteam as a as a drummer in a
(10:43):
band. I dig that. Ireally dig that. It wasn't there a
line in the movie where he saidAlan was making the origami for every person
he killed, and then didn't saysomething like every note I blow, or
so he made equivalent something like everysax solo I make. Yeah, it's
(11:05):
yeah something like that. Did youwatch it before? Yeah? Real quick?
Did you watch this uh with subtitlesor did you do English dub subtitles?
Yeah, you can do subtitles.I watched titles today, but I
did. I I'm almost positive thefirst time I watched it in nineties it
was it was dubbed, But thisone I just subtitles. Yeah, my
first time watching this one definitely wasdubbed. And I think it took me
(11:28):
out of it a little bit.But because you're not you're not getting the
full I don't think you're getting thefull performance when you can't hear the actor's
voice. So so much better withsubtitles. You know, just take take
the time, you know, watchit with subtitles. But uh, you
mentioned Alan So uh Tony Lynn LynnChuai. Uh. He's the undercover cop
(11:50):
posing as a Triad assassin and hemakes these orgami cranes every time he kills
someone. Uh again, this isjust one of those things where Wu happened
to see his daughter making him anddecided it was a nice trait to add
to the character. So you know, I mean, John Wu loves to
just throw stuff at the screen,and he's like a heat of the moment
(12:11):
kind of guy. You know,he's It's one thing I kind of dig
about him. You know, he'she's not he's not a storyboard guy.
He's not a planner. He justhey, let's let's see what happens.
I think that, Yeah, Ithought the symbolis. I didn't know this
about seeing his daughter make those,but I I if you notice, like
a lot of his films when there'sthere's a shootout or whatnot, there's always
(12:35):
some type of flying, whether it'spaper or doves or birds flying, you
know, Like I mean the teahousein the opening scene with the tea house
and everyone's got a damn bird.I'm like, I remember this stuff,
and everything goes birds go flying.So I thought that was somehow tied in,
you know, with the symbolism ofthe orgony. But should we talk
(12:56):
about that moment, that scene forreal quick because you brought it up.
I think this this scene is crazy, man, Like, what what kind
of place do you go? It'sa tea house where there's a bird cage
on every table. I don't Idon't get it, Like I don't know
if that's like a thing in HongKong or or what. But yeah,
(13:16):
it's it's a wild scene to saythe least. And one thing that I
was doing some research on this film, this blows my mind. That's actually
the tea house shootout is the firstthing that they that they shoot. They've
got five days to do it becauseI guess the place is getting demoed and
Wu doesn't have a script, hedoesn't have anything. He just says,
(13:39):
hey, let's go there and justshoot up, shoot something, and they
kind of on the spot, theyjust kind of create this, this this
situation, this little story, anduh, they're shooting it with with no
you know, like where we're gonnaput this in the movie? How's this
gonna you know, what is thisgoing to be for the movie? And
the idea that this is this becomesthe genesis for the film because it's got
(14:01):
It's not probably one of my favoritemoments, and I'll get we'll get to
it later, but one of myfavorite moments for John wu Is is in
the teahouse scene. But apparently they'regetting the real Triad show up to request
protection money while they're shooting. Andapparently this isn't something where you just call
the place and say, hey,get these guys out of here. You
(14:22):
pay him. M hm, Imean not a Hollywood set, right,
Yeah? Yeah, a little sketchy, a little bit mm hmm. Philip
Chan plays Tequila's superior, he's theboss. I immediately recognize this guy from
my favorite Van Damn film, bloodSport, he because he basically plays the
(14:43):
same guy he's in blood Sport.Wait a minute, yeah, uh he
who wait? Oh wait? Whowas he? He wasn't. He's he's
the police inspector. Remember when thereporter she tries to to get the Kuma
Tae shut down and she goes tocomplain to the police and he's like,
(15:05):
hey, my hands are tied kindof a kind of a thing. Yeah
yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, small a small role for him,
but he's he's kind of doing thesame thing, and I thought this was
cool. He's actually a real lifepolice commander in Hong Kong who happened to
supervise undercover agents. That was thatwas his job before he you know,
(15:26):
he kind of segued into I thinkhe was doing like a like a consultant
type role and uh in movies overthere, and then he kind of just
became, you know, kind offell into the acting role. So awesome,
definitely cool to see. I'll tellyou when one person I was not
(15:46):
expecting. I completely forgot that hewas in the film. But John Wu
is in the film. He's playingHe's playing Wu, the bartender at this
jazz club. Oh yeah, Ididn't even wow, Okay, yeah I
was. I was looking at thesign on the wall. I think it's
what is the place called jazz club? Jazz club. Yeah, so the
(16:12):
apparently this is a like this isa late late add to the script as
well. Uh, the characters createdafter a lot of Chilian fat scenes involving
his humanity were cut, so therewas there was a lot of scenes where
there was a lot more of himand Teresa Chang. There was another one
where Tequila plays the clarinet over hismurdered partner's grave, and they you know,
(16:36):
this movie is already to a littleover two hours, so they cut
a lot of that, and andChow wasn't happy. He was, you
know, he felt like his characterhad lost some of his love, his
his depth. So he asks JohnWu to write a mentor character into the
film and insists that John Wu playthe part himself so that they can showcase
their real life friendship. So Ithought, I thought that was kind of
(16:57):
cool. Wow, Yeah, Iwould I think I would have liked seeing
that as opposed to, you know, the stuff with the girl I say
her name was Teresa in the inthe because that wasn't playing for me,
you know, with the flowers andthat whole little back and forth between the
characters. It never paid off.It never Yeah, I would have enjoyed
(17:21):
seeing someone playing a sacks over thegrave and stuff like that a little more
impactful. Uh, you know,there's there's a reason the the Teresa Chain
character didn't really pay off for you. And again, this this goes to
the whole you know what you alludedto when we first started saying like it's
a little this plot's a little confusing, a little murky. Let's talk about
(17:41):
who isn't in the film. Soinitially, Michelle Yao was in this playing
one of Tequila's partners, and dueto scheduling conflicts, you know, kep
her out. But this was asubstantial role for they had to rewrite it.
It's drastically reduced, and it resultsin the Teresa Chang role, they
(18:03):
kind of you know, basically choppedit down to bare bones and just said,
hell, she's she'll have to justbe child Young's fat's girlfriend. Did
she She's Tequilla's girlfriend that works atthe station. So they didn't really invest
a lot into that character. Theydidn't really invest a lot into that that
subplot because it just you know,they needed they needed that that female voice,
(18:25):
but they didn't didn't know what todo with it, you know.
Yeah, and I'm trying Oh,I'm trying. I'm looking up what Teresa
was in before, what I mighthave known her from, because I didn't.
I didn't recognize it her at all. It's not that I mean,
that doesn't mean anything that's over herein America, or at least for me.
Yeah, she wasn't entered The FatDragon. I think that was entered
(18:47):
the Fat Dragon. Is that I'veseen that, but yeah, she I
don't know. Yeah, I thinkthat was probably wise of Michelle to not
take that part as well. Imean, they were it maybe maybe it
was. But at the same time, you remember when Michelle's involved, it's
not it's not the girlfriend role.She's she's a cop, she's you know,
(19:08):
she's she's on the case with withTekuila. So I don't know,
we you know, we can.It's uh, it's sad to think of
what could have been. I mean, the movie is awesome, but it
would I think it would have beensubstantially better with Michelle Yao. It's funny
too, because I don't know aboutUh, I've heard I've heard somewhere that
(19:30):
a lot of Hong Kong cinema,Chinese cinema, Uh, they're really not
big on the love uh interests.Uh kind of shy away from it because
you know, they say, likehow Jackie Chan never really is he's never
run around with a girlfriend. It'snever deep emotional stuff with women. Uh.
So you know the way this isglossed over, it's already a secondhand
(19:52):
thought, like she really had nono chance she does. So. Yeah,
well, let's take a quick breakwhen we get back. We're gonna
talk a little bit about the film'sbackground. We're back any Tom and myself
talking about John Wu's Hard Boiled.So Wu based the Inspector Tequila character off
(20:18):
of two of his favorite fictional cops, and he and he guesses Andy because
these are these are movies that Igotta believe in your in your collection.
I know this. Ihoot, itwasn't. I've read this, I swear
I have. Was it dirty?It wasn't dirty Harry? Was it?
It was? Was it? Itwas dirty? Harry? Was one I
(20:41):
can't remember. You can tell me, well, you had you had the
first one, Clint Easwoods Dirty Harry, Dirty Harry Callahan And Steve McQueen's Frank
Bullet. Oh I didn't know thatone. Okay, Yeah. The interesting
thing. Yeah, they said thescene was yeah, bullet right, right
right, Okay, gotcha. Yeah. The interesting thing is that both of
those characters were based off of reallife San Francisco PD detective David Tashi.
(21:04):
And you know, Tashi was famousfor investigating the Zodiac serial killer. So
in a way, you know,Tequila is kind of like another another Tashi.
I like to think. Let's talkabout why this plot is a little
murky. So the original story,the original plot of the film is famously
(21:26):
cut a month into production. Soif you're slightly confused as to why there's
a lot of time spent in andaround the hospital, it's because initially Tequila
is hunting down a psychopath that's killinginfants with poison in the maternity wing of
the hospital. Yeah, unbelievable.Everyone's a little uncomfortable with this this storyline,
(21:52):
and as Wu's agents are are tryingto court Hollywood and get him get
him over to America, everyone isfrowning at the idea of a guy killing
babies in the hospital, so theyhalt production for a solid month. They
pull in a screen ride. Iwant to say, his name is Barry
Wong. He goes starts slashing thescript rewriting it. He passes away unfortunately
(22:18):
before he can finish it. Soa lot of what we see is is
Wu jumping back in and saying,all right, we're gonna turn this character
into this We're gonna we're gonna makethis situation happen over here. You know.
It's actually it's Alan who we knowas the the undercover guy. He
was the psychopath that was murdering infants. So that whole thing changed. Michelle
(22:41):
Yao's gone, let's turn the thefemale cop into just the girlfriend character.
A lot's going on. And sowhile Hardboard is one, it's I mean
it's a classic, it is acult classic. It's one of Wu's best
movies. I think the idea thatthey're just throwing ideas out daily and rewriting
(23:02):
the script as they go, itblows my mind. Yeah, man,
that's a way to piece together afilm. I mean, I'm actually now
I'm pleasantly surprised, prized how coherentthe story was. Yeah, it sounds
like they had a lot of obstaclesto overcome. So yeah, yeah,
we kind of talked about the jazzaspect. Wu is a big jazz fan
(23:26):
and he actually wanted a jazz soundtrackfor The Killer, and when he was
turned down, when the producers werelike absolutely not, he ensured he'd get
his way at Hard Boiled by makingtequila jazz musician and making the jazz bar
a setting for the movie. Soif you're wondering, like because jazz does
feel a little displaced in this film, but you know, if you know
(23:48):
John Wu, then it makes sense. I guess what was that song that
when Teresa and the Superintendent, Well, it was a song going on,
remember that, Yeah, Like Iwas, yeah, I was waiting for
it to go. Oh, Irecognize that song because they were there spinning
lyrics and I'm like, oh,it's gonna click in. It's like and
(24:11):
I didn't know the song and thenuh, they were uncoated. They were
it was some code. It wasalmost like the I'm not a musician,
so you know, I was Iwas gonna lean on you. I was
hoping that you might have found outbecause I couldn't figure this out. But
it's almost like they're they're using theharmony to yeah and then yeah, And
(24:33):
there was a number of I getthat. I get yeah, but I
don't I don't understand the the Idon't understand why it's there though. I
I I can't figure out what theywere doing with it because it wasn't like
a fun little thing that he wasdoing with Teresa. It was like he
was sitting at to Teresa and thenshe's giving it to the captain and then
he's he's uncoding, like he's puttingit into the computer and then it's giving
(24:56):
out like a spit out like afortune cookie saying every time. So I
didn't know what was going on there, man, I need someone to explain
that to me. Well, he'sdead, so it's the writer who died,
probably, I get Yeah, itdies with him. Unfortunately, the
secret went with him. I thinkthat's it. Never know. One thing
I did find out. I washappy to learn this though. Yeah.
(25:19):
You remember the scene in the policestation where everyone's kind of taking a moment
to to show respector or prey tothis little, strange little statue. Yeah.
So the statue is called guan Yu, also known as General General Kwan,
that the Daoist god of War.He was a real general turned emperor
(25:44):
turned deity during the Sioux dynasty,and he represents bravery, righteousness, leadership,
protection, and triumph to this day, it's commonly worshiped by Chinese law
enforcement agencies. Oh no, way, okay, it's pretty badass. Like
I'm a I'm a fan. I'ma fan of General quand like we I
(26:06):
need I need one of these statues. You know, Joe they did they
did mention him by name too,which was interistic. Yeah, I didn't
know that. That's great. Solet's let's call some stuff out here,
you know, whether it's memorable moments, favorite scenes like what do you what
are you thinking? Andy? Becauseyou know we could talk, we could
talk at at length about some ofthese impressive shootouts. But does something stand
(26:29):
out for you? Uh? Impressiveshootouts, I mean they're always Here's here's
the thing where I think John willhe gets it right, because when you
have long shootout, you know whoelse gets it right is John Wick.
John Wick films long shootouts. It'sjust shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting,
shooting, shooting, shooting, andthen you can I tune out,
(26:52):
right, I go, all right, I get it. There's a gun.
But he's he's got an operatic wayto film these, uh, and
it's beautiful. It's like a ballet, and it's it's so each one has
its own moments. You know,you can't go this shootout in the factory
is greater the shootout because they're alllike, really well done. It's not.
(27:15):
I think he really helped American cinematoo. In that American cinema when
they just have a shootout, theyjust guys shoot guns at each other and
don't give it really an artistic thought, where he did, and he really
leaned into it heavily, you know, and he made it a work of
art. So the guns, yeah, exactly. And I don't think any
(27:37):
particular one was better than the other. They were all really great. There's
all great moments. Then there's alwaysa moment where you go, oh,
what the hell? Yeah, andI'm trying all right, So if I
had to pick a moment when giantfact comes down out of the ceiling and
he's fine, he's firing and heseems to be going on an angle which
makes no sense and no sense inthe world. Yeah, the laws of
(28:03):
physics didn't work that way, butit was still fun. Same thing with
the baby with the jumping out thewindow. None of it makes sense,
but it's so beautiful to watch.So yeah, all those moments are wonderful.
I don't think there's a real humanmoment where I go, oh,
that was really a nice human momentwhere they're just talking. I think it
(28:23):
was just all the action. Forme, I'm gonna I want to I
want to point something out that youjust said. You said, none of
it makes sense, but it's funto watch, and I want our listeners
to remember that you said that,because when we talk about John Wu,
I've got a quote from John Wuthat that just pairs perfectly with what you
(28:45):
just said. But before we getto that, I'll tell you one of
my favorite moments in this film.It's it's it's not a moment but a
shot. Okay. When I whenJames Buckley first said, hey, you
know, I'd love to hear youguys do Hard Boiled, the first thing
that popped in my mind is thetea house scene at the end when he
(29:07):
executes the gang member and he's coveredin that white flower, and we get
the close up execution headshot, andthen that that that bright red blood splatters
all over his his white face becausehe's covered in that that that that flower.
That is what I like to callbeautiful violence at its best, because
(29:27):
it's just it's so cinematic, andI mean, you know, they shot
that like two or three times,and it was the last take where Chili
and Fat said, hey, Igot an idea. What if I dive
this way through this, through thisthis flower bag and I get covered and
then you see the red blood splatterall over me and they were just like,
that's that's it. That's that's thekeeper. So a lot of a
(29:49):
lot of ad libbing on a set, well, you have to do ad
lib on a set like this,because I feel like with with this,
with this script specifically, we don'tknow what we're shooting today because we're kind
of making it up as we goalong. So absolutely love that the baby
in his arms is it's ridiculous,but it works. I don't care what
(30:10):
you say. It's it's fantastic.Yeah, it's funny because once again,
I the last time I saw thiswas probably nineteen ninety four. Yeah,
and I didn't remember hardly a thing. I just remembered there was a big
shootout in a hospital and he calledthe baby a little piss pot, and
that's how I went in with myson. I'm like, he's holding this
(30:33):
baby and he calls him a littlepiss pot, and I was right.
I remembered it. It was ahospital and that is one of my favorite
when on the fire puts out thefire. Yeah, I puts out the
fire. That's awesome. Man,you have to love it. It's this.
If this movie was made in Americaat the same time, it would
(30:56):
have been a Cannon film and itwould have worked even on even that way
too. But I'm glad. I'mglad we got John Wu doing Wu.
Speaking of John Wu, so onething we kind of been doing lately is
you know, two things you mightnot know about him, and then and
then a quote. So uh forthose that don't know. John Wu began
(31:19):
his career as an assistant director innineteen sixty nine working for Shaw Brothers Studios,
who I'll remind everyone we did.We actually did a Shaw Brothers film,
a film at forty five. Ourlimited series covered five deadly venoms.
But man, I don't know aboutAndy. I could I could just sit
down on a Sunday and do likea Shaw Brother's marathon and just not get
(31:42):
bored, how about you? Wellsee, yeah, I just saw that
in a Wow I should just probablyabout two years ago, I saw that
in the theaters out here five DeadlyDevenoms. But yeah, well where I
where I grew up was I liveright between Philly and New York, so
I got out of New York.Every Sunday they'd play it was called Driving
(32:07):
Driving Theater, but it was itwas in the afternoon, and and they
played two back to back kung fufilms. So I think that's what started
my just infatuation with the martial arts. So it was just Shaw Brother,
Shaw Brother, the Shaw Brother everyweekend double feature. I mean not saying
I sat through him all all thetime, but I was always you know,
the Flying Guillotine and Master Killer,thirty six, Chamber Chalette, I
(32:30):
mean everything. I was just enamoredwith it. So it wasn't uh Sunny
Chiba his his street Fighter films.They were they were Shaw Brothers, weren't
they. Oh No, So what'sweird because yeah, he's he's Japanese,
so he was doing karate, whichis I didn't see those until much later,
(32:51):
because you know, Chinese is kungfu and it's got a totally different
look, uh, And I alwaysgravitated to that. I mean that was
my first martial art I studied.Was back in like you know, a
white dragon kong Fu was and it'svery flowery and but sunny cheaba. If
you watch his films, they're verystiff and very you know, tempo karate
(33:13):
stiff, and it's hard style.So that's Japanese. His stuff was all
Japanese, all the sudden chieve ofstuff, so that was far removed from
any Chinese cinema. Another thing aboutJohn Wu. You may not know,
and this blows my mind. Theman has never owned a car. That's
(33:37):
I don't even know that's how thatworks. Man, like never I get
if you're like, hey, Iwas, I was forty before I got
my first car. But he hasnever owned one. I don't don't know
if and I couldn't find out ifit's a choice like he does it he
refuses to drive, or he doesn'tlike him or I don't know what's going
on there. But man doesn't owna car. I mean I'm looking because
all right, so I can,okay. So as he grew up in
(33:58):
Hong Kong, so that man sensebecause it if you if you grew up
in Hong Kong, I'm I'm assumingHong Kong is very similar to New York
City and New York City. Nobodyhas cars. You don't really need,
okay, you know, publication andwhatnot. So I guess that would make
sense. I wouldn't have if Iif I was raised in New York City,
I wouldn't. I wouldn't have acar. So I can. But
(34:19):
I mean, if he goes tomainland China, you know, and it's
pretty spread out, I don't knowhe I mean Andy, you're you know
he he currently he lives in PacificPalisades out there in California. Okay,
yeah, so you're the one.You know, you're you're in burd Bank,
like he's Yeah, you know,last I check, people are driving
cars in La So yeah, yeah, it's a weird one. Uh.
(34:45):
I got a quote for you.So as you said a little bit ago,
we're talking about the film itself,and in some of the scenes,
you said, uh, nothing makessense, but it's fun to watch.
I almost feel like John John WUIstalking to you specifically with this quote.
He says, and I quote,logic is very boring. When I'm shooting,
(35:07):
I do what I feel. I'mfree and open, so beautiful.
You can add that to the dowof Wu. As far as I'm concerned.
You know, it's fun. It'sfunny because like I hear that from
John Wu. I'm like, that'sbeautiful. Do what you want, brother,
But then you'll have some brand newfilm school student. Here's that I
(35:30):
can just shoot on this cellya Lloyd. It's gonna be great because it's just
what I want to do. Imean, there are certain rules he's probably
learned, and then it's kind oflike gi Kundo, like Bruce Lee's Jacundo.
You got to learn a certain andthen you can kind of start forgetting
and doing your own thing. Butthere is a certain parameters you have to
follow. I can handy, Ican yeah, I can imagine. I
(35:52):
can imagine an animator walks in toyour office and you're like, all right,
let's talk about your work, andhe says, you know, I'm
free. I just like to dowhat I feel and I'm open and right.
No, you're like, kid,give me the storyboards or get out
of my office, you know,waste my time. I remember I was
(36:14):
a young art student and a guywho's I won't mention his name, but
he's now as a really great comicbook artist. In fact, he won
an iSER Award, which is likean Emmy for comic books, and we
had to do this. We hadto draw a comic page that had a
three point perspective, which is adifferent way of drawing a landscape with buildings
(36:36):
and whatnot. And he didn't getit right. He fucked it all up
and it just looked terrible. Hisperspective was all wrong and he and he
says, well, I did thatbecause I wanted the viewer to feel a
little uneasy. And I was like, no, you didn't, you fucked
it up. You just you justdid it wrong. But he tried to
bullshit his way through it. No, man, everybody got him about it,
(36:59):
you know, and he, youknow, later he admits he's bullshitting.
But yeah, you can't bullshit yourway if you're John you know he's
not bullshitting. You know, youcan't bullshit it a bullshitter. So anyway,
well, this is usually about thistime we would we'd would get into
the filmography of the director. Butuh, you could say this special episode
(37:21):
is supplemental to our Hard Target episodefrom twenty twenty one, so please check
that episode out for our take onJohn Wu's phomography. But Andy, I
would like to hear if you have, whether it's a favorite John wu film
or one that you suggest people see. What do you what do you think?
(37:42):
I mean? Killer is his likeGodfather? I guess you know the
killer I did? I did?I did like a hard Target. I
thought that was I think that wasfun and face Off. Oh and I
have to add listen, I justheard this rumor this morning, and I
don't know if it's true that they'relooking to do another Face Off and they're
(38:07):
bringing back Travolta and Cage. Yeah, so I didn't. My friend just
told me this morning. So yeah, so it's it's Adam Wingert is the
director who's been who's been attached thisfor a little bit. And it started
off as like a continuation and thenit was like, hey, we're bringing
(38:28):
Travolta back, which I thought Iwas on board. It made sense.
But then here recently they're talking abouthow Nicholas Cage is coming back, and
I'm like, how do how doyou do that? Because Casher Troy dies
at the end of it, butthey're saying they're saying he didn't die,
So you gotta wonder what are theygoing to do with these two guys Because
(38:52):
it's been what like twenty five yearssince we've seen Face Off. Yeah,
oh my god, nineteen ninety seven, ninety seven. Yeah, I'll be
I'll be the first in line forthe buying a ticket, I'll tell you
that. But I mean I couldsee those old guys. Hey man,
you can rip off someone's face andput it on another body who knows nobody.
(39:14):
I don't think anybody can die,you know, you can always have
the guy's dead body owned and thenjust a handcomer and rip his face off
and then I guess question. Yeah, well, that's what's next for one
of his films. But let's talkabout what's next for John Wu. And
(39:34):
this one also shocks me. Andy. He's already in post production on an
English language remake of The Killer,which kind of feel like your favorite WU
film, my favorite WU film.It's starring Natalie Emmanuel from Game of Thrones
and Sam Worthington, who's Natalie Emmanuelin Game of She was remember Kalisi's like
(39:59):
lady in Waye who uh, verystunning. Yeah, she's gorgeous, very
very talented young actress. I'm assumingshe's the she's the character that gets blinded.
And Sam Worthington is playing the ChileanFat role. Okay, I don't
know how I feel about this man, because the killer is so good.
(40:20):
I don't feel like you can remakeit like you called it. You said
it it's it's Chile. It's uh, it's it's John Wu's godfather. So
how do how do you how doyou do this? Why do you do
this well? And I and Iwas anticipating you kind of asking if you
get a prequel, remake or uhsequel? And I was thinking if they've
remade it, like I wonder ifhe would carry his his sensibilities from those
(40:45):
the nineties films where you know,it's you know a little cheesy with the
slow mo and the you know thelike how should I say, it's kind
of like a little cringey watching itnow, you're right, haanding, So
so would he abandon those you knowwhat like there? He would do this
one thing? And I noticed itas an animation director, where the the
(41:10):
camera there's a scene there's a closeup on Chaian Fat and then it freezes
and then it fades and then itcrosses off to the next shot. Yeah,
and it was always weird and it'sfunny because in the program that we
use in the industry, it's it'sTone Boom Storyboard Pro where we do our
storyboards, and it has this likeglitch in it where like, let's say
(41:31):
you have a panning background and sayyou want to cross us off to something,
it can't. As soon as youstart the crosses off, everything stops
in the shot. So it's kindof like a giant I'm like, he's
got this storyboard glitch that we haveto deal with, like it he'll he'll
freeze that and then dissolve out ofit, and it's kind of jarring.
(41:52):
It's very weird to see. Soanyway, those little earmarks that John wu
does, I'm one. And ifhe does remake something like that, would
he still do that type of stuff? I'm hoping he doesn't. Yeah,
yeah, me too. And notto say that, I'm not saying it's
bad, don't get me wrong,It's just it seems dated. Yeah,
(42:15):
and I like to see, youknow, I mean, it would be
balls if he did and he hadhe had the characters with those pleaded,
big fat pleated pants with their bigdumb jackets like x x L jacket.
Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, it's you know, he
(42:36):
he uh, he just came back, you know. He after after you
know, he's in America for alittle while, he goes back to Hong
Kong. He did like the RedCliff movies, a couple others. He
just came back last year for thatfilm he did at Christmas time called Silent
Night with Joe Kinneman, which Ididn't see it. It's I'd say it's
(42:59):
it's in your wheelhouse because it's ait's an interesting concept. It's it's got
it like a death wish vibe toit because, uh, drive by shooters
inadvertently kill Joel kim AND's son andthey shoot him in the throat so he
can't speak, and then he goesfull on punisher and like goes after him.
So it's called it's Silent Night becauseit's a Christmas movie, but it's
(43:22):
also kim And for the pretty muchthe whole thing doesn't talk. I think
I saw it a cool gimmick movie. You know, Yeah, I might
have seen it. I liked thetitle, and yeah, it didn't make
a lot of It didn't make alot of money, you know, and
I think it's just people weren't readyfor it, or people didn't expect it.
I don't know what the situation was. But John Wu fans, well
(43:43):
we'll appreciate it. I can't saythat much. I liked it as a
John Wu movie. Yeah, okay, well if I I'll check it out
and see if I did see it, it sounds very familiar. Yeah,
anyway, Yeah, I love thoserevenge stories like that. But Andy,
your your thoughts on on hard Boil. Sadly you can't. You can't stream
(44:06):
this one anywhere. If you're gonnawatch it, you gotta you gotta spend
three bucks on Prime or or Googleor whatever. Yeah. Worth a watch
though, right, Oh yeah,definitely definitely. I mean, if I
was gonna out of ten, i'dgive it a eight point seven or something.
And you know, it's it's reallyit's really well done. I mean
(44:28):
it's you could if you argue thatit's his best work, I wouldn't argue
back. You know, there's there'sa lot there. And then hearing what
you're you're telling me all the obstaclesthat they had to overcome, I mean,
come on, and he deserves anotherpoint for just that, for making
a decent film out of it.Well, you know, you're not alone.
(44:49):
I'm right there with you. Iagree and so so good. In
fact, there's actually there's a Criterioncollection version of this film i'd love to
get my hands on. Last Ichecked, it's going for upwards like seventy
bucks on Amazon and eBay, SoI don't. I don't know if I'm
ready for that, but uh,I am ready for more John Wu.
So I hope he's he's got.I look forward seeing what he's gonna do
(45:10):
with this Killer remake? But ishe producing? I'm sorry, sorry to
drag it back, but I knowI think he's directing. If I'm not,
if I could be wrong, butI'm pretty sure. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, it's in post gotcha.Yeah, I think I was looking
strange, strange situation, you know, I think. I don't think it's
(45:30):
often that a director will remake oneof his own films. So unless you're
George Lucas and you're just tinkering WetStar Wars for thirty years. But anyways,
listeners, what do you think ofJohn Wu and his action classic hard
Boiled? You can let us knowon social media. We're on Facebook,
(45:50):
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the show and send you some aFilm By swag. Join us tomorrow for
(46:16):
our Star Trek themed series Phaser Setthe Stunt Wayne. David and Scott are
continuing their recap of Discovery's final seasonon Friday. Our limited series A Film
at forty five is heading to summercamp because David and Scott will be celebrating
the forty fifth anniversary of the BillMurray classic Meatballs and next time on a
(46:39):
Film By, we'll hit the waveswhen we talk about a film by John
Malius, his nineteen seventy eight surfclassic Big Wednesday. Andy, it's always
a great conversation when you join us. Thanks for talking John will with me.
I'm hoping you'll come back more often, you know, Yeah, Man,
(47:01):
you got you gotta let me know. Man, if there's a if
there's a director we need to talkabout. You know, you're in the
business, so if you if there'ssomeone that you want to talk about,
you gotta tell me so we can. We can get this set up.
Man. Yeah, we got somestuff cooking. We'll get we'll get something
coming up soon. Hopefully good deal, good deal. Uh. Definitely want
to thank James Buckley for putting usto work on this one, and as
(47:22):
one of our Patreon producers, I'mexcited to see what he'll choose for us
next. James, we appreciate yoursupport, man, and as always,
for those of you out there listeningto us every week, liking, sharing,
following, and subscribing on your streamingapp of choice as well as our
Patreon, we thank you
This special episode is brought to youby James Buckley. Not only is James
a friend of the show, he'salso one of our Patreon subscribers that gets
the opportunity to select an episode ofhis choosing. When we asked James,
he said, I want to hearyou guys talk about a film by John
wu his nineteen ninety two action packedclassic Hard Boiled. Hello everybody, I'm
(00:49):
Jeff Johnson. This is a filmby podcast, So we're doing Hard Boil
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(01:14):
Each level gets you a film bymerchandise like stickers, t shirts, and
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you get to direct us on whichdirector or film we'll cover here on
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(01:34):
day trial, head over to patreondot com backslash a film by podcast and
sign up. Now you'll find alink in the show notes. And guess
what, even when you sign upfor the free trial and cancel after seven
days, we're still sending you somea film by swag Andy Tom is here
today. If anyone has the properpedigree to discuss a John Wu film,
(02:00):
it's got to be you. Welcomeback, man, my Gangster. Well
yeah, but you know you wouldyou you would fit right at home in
a John Wu film. I feellike, you know, on on either
side of the controversy, you know, uh yeah, yeah. This is
(02:22):
one of John Wu's biggest films priorto his coming to America. Andy,
for the listeners that haven't seen it, could you could you tell us a
little bit about what Hard Boiled isall about. The synopsis is a tough
as nails cop teams up with anundercover agent to shut down a sinister mobster
(02:42):
and his crew. So, yeah, there you go. I did.
I did. Yeah, short andsweet. I as far as the storyline,
I did get lost a little bitand I just saw it just recently.
Now. I have to say thatI saw this back in the early
nineties, when Hong Kong films werestarting to make their way over here and
(03:07):
you could find them at these smallerrental change So I did catch this probably
twenty five years ago, and Iremember it being amazing, and then I
watched it again here and I wasgetting a little lost. I'm like,
wait, now, who's this?Now? Who's this? So the storyline,
although it is playing kind of spelledout real really nice in that synopsis.
(03:31):
I did get a little lost,but it's not it's look, man,
are you going there to watch aJohn film for a brilliant story or
you know, eye Candy? SoI'm watching it for the John Wuye candy.
And I think there's a reason whypeople do get a little caught up
in this film as far as what'sreally going on. And we'll get to
(03:53):
that. But you talked about theEye Candy. I want to talk about
something that I feel we got tocover. We talked about this briefly.
The first time we did a Johnwu film was back in twenty twenty one.
We covered Hard Target, the VanDamn film, which is kind of
like a most Dangerous game plan onMost Nagerous Game. I kind of briefly
(04:16):
mentioned this so I do have tobring this up back up, though,
I want to talk about the Taoof Wu, as I like to call
it, so, listeners, Taoismis a Chinese philosophy based on the writings
of Lao Su. The Tao meaningthe Way is all about three aspects,
the way of reality, the wayof nature, and the way of human
(04:40):
life. So inspired by those teachings, I'd like to offer what I call
the Way of Wu, which hasfive aspects. So andy follow along with
me, because I think you're gonnarecognize these five aspects are always in a
John Wu film. The Way ofdoves. This represents peace, you know,
or rather someone or or some conflictis about to be resolved and or
(05:01):
put to an end. You don'tget a John Wu movie without doves often.
Okay, we got s. Wegotta see them right. Next one
the Way of Guns of Kimbo.So I'll remind listeners anyone that doesn't know
that phrase guns of Kimbo. Thisis kind of like the art form of
using two guns at once, aswell as turning them into me lee weapons,
(05:24):
which is a staple in every JohnWu film. Think about was there
ever a time you didn't see ChowYoung fat, grab two Brettas and shoot
simultaneously. It's it's you gotta seeit, you know, you gotta see
it. Next up the way ofgun fu, so film and shootouts like
(05:46):
a ballet or a dance. Charactersare always in his movies. Characters are
always jumping, they're diving, they'reflailing their arms as a shoot with an
artistic rhythm, and it's it's,yeah, sure it's a shootout, so
it's chaotic, but it looks beautiful. It looks it looks like it was
rehearsed time and time again. It'sit's an art form. It's a dance
gun fu, which I think thatthat term actually got made popular after the
(06:10):
first Matrix film in ninety nine becausethey obviously took a lot of license from
Wu. Number four. The wayof the Standoff, also known as the
Mexican standoff. Characters will engage inmeaningful conversation whilst aiming guns at one another
up close, sometimes separated by awall, allowing them to talk back to
(06:31):
back. I can't think of aJohn Wu movie that that didn't have this
situation. You know, got tohave it, or like three or four
in those Yeah, and then Lastly, the way of the chase elaborate in
nature, you could expect overwhelming obstaclesinvolving multiple people and or vehicles, whether
it's like a boat versus helicopter,or horse versus helicopter, if you're talking
(06:54):
like a face off, or youknow, something like this where it's just
you know, chasing one guy througha maze of the hospital, just trying
to trying to get out, tryingto break free. It's it's always over
the top. So these five aspectsare commonly depicted in a John Wu film,
and when you see them, youcan be certain that you're watching a
John Wu film, or that you'rewatching a film that was influenced by John
(07:15):
Woo. That's that's what I liketo call the way of Wu. Yeah,
yeah, no, those aren't bad. Well, I I think another
one would be like his. Whenthe guns create maximum effect. I wouldn't
say damage, but whenever a gunsor whenever there's gun play involved, there's
(07:38):
always a stack of papers, somesparks flying, there's always it's never just
you know, it's just one shotand an adult thood it's just the most
maximum carnage. Especially in this movie, when they were had to shootout in
that factory and just sparks everywhere whenyou're shoot at in the cars. I
mean, it was just outrageous,the the the the amount of damage I
(08:01):
was doing. Also, when youmentioned the chase, I guess you're you're
you're saying in this movie with thehospital chase, but there was no car
chase in this film, right inthe film, this one didn't have a
car chase. Yeah, yeah,most of the time they did. It
wasn't match of a foot chase either. I mean, you know, there
was a cat and mouse kind ofthing inside the hospital. But we'll get
(08:24):
to that then. But yeah,absolutely. Let's talk a little bit about
the cast. So Chaw Young Fatas Inspector Tequila. So he's previously worked
with Wu on A Better Tomorrow,The Killer and wants a thief. You
gotta before we before we talk moreabout him, you got a favorite Chile
Young Fat performance when when we're talkingJohn Wu, what's what's your go to?
(08:48):
Well, we're talking John Wu TheKiller, maybe probably The Killer,
right right? Yeah, yeah,I as far as I like a lot
of other you know, uh,Giant Fat movies besides this, besides his
work with John Wu. It's funnybecause I when I introduced my well,
I watched it with my son lastnight. He's he's in his twenties,
(09:11):
and I I said, John wuis like Scorcese and and Giant Fat is
like Leonardo DiCaprio kind of thing,like they're they're just symbiotic, they're they're
they're So watch it with that inmind. Uh So, yeah, I
don't think I as far as forme, Giant Fat's best work wasn't with
(09:31):
uh John Woo. Unfortunately, Ireally like I'm a huge fan of Full
Contact. If you ever saw that, that Ringo lom movie, I haven't
seen that, or Gambler's kind ofGamblers is No, that's actually that's that's
my favorite of Giant Fats. ActuallyI have to have to backtrack. Yeah,
I really love that one. Ifyou saw that one, it's been
a long time. Yeah, it'sI gotta rewatch on that one. Yeah.
(09:56):
Not a lot of gun play,I don't remember. I just remember
gambling. Like I said, Now, I went through tons of these movies
in the early to mid nineties,so my memory is a little foggy,
but good memories. Yeah. Thecharacter Tequila, so his tough on criminal's
attitude and anger was taken from anactual police detective that John Wu interviewed.
(10:20):
And the funny thing here is thatoff duty, the guy found happiness as
a drummer in a local band,and we love that so much he decided
to make Tequila a jazz musician whenhe's off duty. So yeah, the
idea, okay, yeah, theidea of a guy working for the law
and then you know, blowing offsteam as a as a drummer in a
(10:43):
band. I dig that. Ireally dig that. It wasn't there a
line in the movie where he saidAlan was making the origami for every person
he killed, and then didn't saysomething like every note I blow, or
so he made equivalent something like everysax solo I make. Yeah, it's
(11:05):
yeah something like that. Did youwatch it before? Yeah? Real quick?
Did you watch this uh with subtitlesor did you do English dub subtitles?
Yeah, you can do subtitles.I watched titles today, but I
did. I I'm almost positive thefirst time I watched it in nineties it
was it was dubbed, But thisone I just subtitles. Yeah, my
first time watching this one definitely wasdubbed. And I think it took me
(11:28):
out of it a little bit.But because you're not you're not getting the
full I don't think you're getting thefull performance when you can't hear the actor's
voice. So so much better withsubtitles. You know, just take take
the time, you know, watchit with subtitles. But uh, you
mentioned Alan So uh Tony Lynn LynnChuai. Uh. He's the undercover cop
(11:50):
posing as a Triad assassin and hemakes these orgami cranes every time he kills
someone. Uh again, this isjust one of those things where Wu happened
to see his daughter making him anddecided it was a nice trait to add
to the character. So you know, I mean, John Wu loves to
just throw stuff at the screen,and he's like a heat of the moment
(12:11):
kind of guy. You know,he's It's one thing I kind of dig
about him. You know, he'she's not he's not a storyboard guy.
He's not a planner. He justhey, let's let's see what happens.
I think that, Yeah, Ithought the symbolis. I didn't know this
about seeing his daughter make those,but I I if you notice, like
a lot of his films when there'sthere's a shootout or whatnot, there's always
(12:35):
some type of flying, whether it'spaper or doves or birds flying, you
know, Like I mean the teahousein the opening scene with the tea house
and everyone's got a damn bird.I'm like, I remember this stuff,
and everything goes birds go flying.So I thought that was somehow tied in,
you know, with the symbolism ofthe orgony. But should we talk
(12:56):
about that moment, that scene forreal quick because you brought it up.
I think this this scene is crazy, man, Like, what what kind
of place do you go? It'sa tea house where there's a bird cage
on every table. I don't Idon't get it, Like I don't know
if that's like a thing in HongKong or or what. But yeah,
(13:16):
it's it's a wild scene to saythe least. And one thing that I
was doing some research on this film, this blows my mind. That's actually
the tea house shootout is the firstthing that they that they shoot. They've
got five days to do it becauseI guess the place is getting demoed and
Wu doesn't have a script, hedoesn't have anything. He just says,
(13:39):
hey, let's go there and justshoot up, shoot something, and they
kind of on the spot, theyjust kind of create this, this this
situation, this little story, anduh, they're shooting it with with no
you know, like where we're gonnaput this in the movie? How's this
gonna you know, what is thisgoing to be for the movie? And
the idea that this is this becomesthe genesis for the film because it's got
(14:01):
It's not probably one of my favoritemoments, and I'll get we'll get to
it later, but one of myfavorite moments for John wu Is is in
the teahouse scene. But apparently they'regetting the real Triad show up to request
protection money while they're shooting. Andapparently this isn't something where you just call
the place and say, hey,get these guys out of here. You
(14:22):
pay him. M hm, Imean not a Hollywood set, right,
Yeah? Yeah, a little sketchy, a little bit mm hmm. Philip
Chan plays Tequila's superior, he's theboss. I immediately recognize this guy from
my favorite Van Damn film, bloodSport, he because he basically plays the
(14:43):
same guy he's in blood Sport.Wait a minute, yeah, uh he
who wait? Oh wait? Whowas he? He wasn't. He's he's
the police inspector. Remember when thereporter she tries to to get the Kuma
Tae shut down and she goes tocomplain to the police and he's like,
(15:05):
hey, my hands are tied kindof a kind of a thing. Yeah
yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, small a small role for him,
but he's he's kind of doing thesame thing, and I thought this was
cool. He's actually a real lifepolice commander in Hong Kong who happened to
supervise undercover agents. That was thatwas his job before he you know,
(15:26):
he kind of segued into I thinkhe was doing like a like a consultant
type role and uh in movies overthere, and then he kind of just
became, you know, kind offell into the acting role. So awesome,
definitely cool to see. I'll tellyou when one person I was not
(15:46):
expecting. I completely forgot that hewas in the film. But John Wu
is in the film. He's playingHe's playing Wu, the bartender at this
jazz club. Oh yeah, Ididn't even wow, Okay, yeah I
was. I was looking at thesign on the wall. I think it's
what is the place called jazz club? Jazz club. Yeah, so the
(16:12):
apparently this is a like this isa late late add to the script as
well. Uh, the characters createdafter a lot of Chilian fat scenes involving
his humanity were cut, so therewas there was a lot of scenes where
there was a lot more of himand Teresa Chang. There was another one
where Tequila plays the clarinet over hismurdered partner's grave, and they you know,
(16:36):
this movie is already to a littleover two hours, so they cut
a lot of that, and andChow wasn't happy. He was, you
know, he felt like his characterhad lost some of his love, his
his depth. So he asks JohnWu to write a mentor character into the
film and insists that John Wu playthe part himself so that they can showcase
their real life friendship. So Ithought, I thought that was kind of
(16:57):
cool. Wow, Yeah, Iwould I think I would have liked seeing
that as opposed to, you know, the stuff with the girl I say
her name was Teresa in the inthe because that wasn't playing for me,
you know, with the flowers andthat whole little back and forth between the
characters. It never paid off.It never Yeah, I would have enjoyed
(17:21):
seeing someone playing a sacks over thegrave and stuff like that a little more
impactful. Uh, you know,there's there's a reason the the Teresa Chain
character didn't really pay off for you. And again, this this goes to
the whole you know what you alludedto when we first started saying like it's
a little this plot's a little confusing, a little murky. Let's talk about
(17:41):
who isn't in the film. Soinitially, Michelle Yao was in this playing
one of Tequila's partners, and dueto scheduling conflicts, you know, kep
her out. But this was asubstantial role for they had to rewrite it.
It's drastically reduced, and it resultsin the Teresa Chang role, they
(18:03):
kind of you know, basically choppedit down to bare bones and just said,
hell, she's she'll have to justbe child Young's fat's girlfriend. Did
she She's Tequilla's girlfriend that works atthe station. So they didn't really invest
a lot into that character. Theydidn't really invest a lot into that that
subplot because it just you know,they needed they needed that that female voice,
(18:25):
but they didn't didn't know what todo with it, you know.
Yeah, and I'm trying Oh,I'm trying. I'm looking up what Teresa
was in before, what I mighthave known her from, because I didn't.
I didn't recognize it her at all. It's not that I mean,
that doesn't mean anything that's over herein America, or at least for me.
Yeah, she wasn't entered The FatDragon. I think that was entered
(18:47):
the Fat Dragon. Is that I'veseen that, but yeah, she I
don't know. Yeah, I thinkthat was probably wise of Michelle to not
take that part as well. Imean, they were it maybe maybe it
was. But at the same time, you remember when Michelle's involved, it's
not it's not the girlfriend role.She's she's a cop, she's you know,
(19:08):
she's she's on the case with withTekuila. So I don't know,
we you know, we can.It's uh, it's sad to think of
what could have been. I mean, the movie is awesome, but it
would I think it would have beensubstantially better with Michelle Yao. It's funny
too, because I don't know aboutUh, I've heard I've heard somewhere that
(19:30):
a lot of Hong Kong cinema,Chinese cinema, Uh, they're really not
big on the love uh interests.Uh kind of shy away from it because
you know, they say, likehow Jackie Chan never really is he's never
run around with a girlfriend. It'snever deep emotional stuff with women. Uh.
So you know the way this isglossed over, it's already a secondhand
(19:52):
thought, like she really had nono chance she does. So. Yeah,
well, let's take a quick breakwhen we get back. We're gonna
talk a little bit about the film'sbackground. We're back any Tom and myself
talking about John Wu's Hard Boiled.So Wu based the Inspector Tequila character off
(20:18):
of two of his favorite fictional cops, and he and he guesses Andy because
these are these are movies that Igotta believe in your in your collection.
I know this. Ihoot, itwasn't. I've read this, I swear
I have. Was it dirty?It wasn't dirty Harry? Was it?
It was? Was it? Itwas dirty? Harry? Was one I
(20:41):
can't remember. You can tell me, well, you had you had the
first one, Clint Easwoods Dirty Harry, Dirty Harry Callahan And Steve McQueen's Frank
Bullet. Oh I didn't know thatone. Okay, Yeah. The interesting
thing. Yeah, they said thescene was yeah, bullet right, right
right, Okay, gotcha. Yeah. The interesting thing is that both of
those characters were based off of reallife San Francisco PD detective David Tashi.
(21:04):
And you know, Tashi was famousfor investigating the Zodiac serial killer. So
in a way, you know,Tequila is kind of like another another Tashi.
I like to think. Let's talkabout why this plot is a little
murky. So the original story,the original plot of the film is famously
(21:26):
cut a month into production. Soif you're slightly confused as to why there's
a lot of time spent in andaround the hospital, it's because initially Tequila
is hunting down a psychopath that's killinginfants with poison in the maternity wing of
the hospital. Yeah, unbelievable.Everyone's a little uncomfortable with this this storyline,
(21:52):
and as Wu's agents are are tryingto court Hollywood and get him get
him over to America, everyone isfrowning at the idea of a guy killing
babies in the hospital, so theyhalt production for a solid month. They
pull in a screen ride. Iwant to say, his name is Barry
Wong. He goes starts slashing thescript rewriting it. He passes away unfortunately
(22:18):
before he can finish it. Soa lot of what we see is is
Wu jumping back in and saying,all right, we're gonna turn this character
into this We're gonna we're gonna makethis situation happen over here. You know.
It's actually it's Alan who we knowas the the undercover guy. He
was the psychopath that was murdering infants. So that whole thing changed. Michelle
(22:41):
Yao's gone, let's turn the thefemale cop into just the girlfriend character.
A lot's going on. And sowhile Hardboard is one, it's I mean
it's a classic, it is acult classic. It's one of Wu's best
movies. I think the idea thatthey're just throwing ideas out daily and rewriting
(23:02):
the script as they go, itblows my mind. Yeah, man,
that's a way to piece together afilm. I mean, I'm actually now
I'm pleasantly surprised, prized how coherentthe story was. Yeah, it sounds
like they had a lot of obstaclesto overcome. So yeah, yeah,
we kind of talked about the jazzaspect. Wu is a big jazz fan
(23:26):
and he actually wanted a jazz soundtrackfor The Killer, and when he was
turned down, when the producers werelike absolutely not, he ensured he'd get
his way at Hard Boiled by makingtequila jazz musician and making the jazz bar
a setting for the movie. Soif you're wondering, like because jazz does
feel a little displaced in this film, but you know, if you know
(23:48):
John Wu, then it makes sense. I guess what was that song that
when Teresa and the Superintendent, Well, it was a song going on,
remember that, Yeah, Like Iwas, yeah, I was waiting for
it to go. Oh, Irecognize that song because they were there spinning
lyrics and I'm like, oh,it's gonna click in. It's like and
(24:11):
I didn't know the song and thenuh, they were uncoated. They were
it was some code. It wasalmost like the I'm not a musician,
so you know, I was Iwas gonna lean on you. I was
hoping that you might have found outbecause I couldn't figure this out. But
it's almost like they're they're using theharmony to yeah and then yeah, And
(24:33):
there was a number of I getthat. I get yeah, but I
don't I don't understand the the Idon't understand why it's there though. I
I I can't figure out what theywere doing with it because it wasn't like
a fun little thing that he wasdoing with Teresa. It was like he
was sitting at to Teresa and thenshe's giving it to the captain and then
he's he's uncoding, like he's puttingit into the computer and then it's giving
(24:56):
out like a spit out like afortune cookie saying every time. So I
didn't know what was going on there, man, I need someone to explain
that to me. Well, he'sdead, so it's the writer who died,
probably, I get Yeah, itdies with him. Unfortunately, the
secret went with him. I thinkthat's it. Never know. One thing
I did find out. I washappy to learn this though. Yeah.
(25:19):
You remember the scene in the policestation where everyone's kind of taking a moment
to to show respector or prey tothis little, strange little statue. Yeah.
So the statue is called guan Yu, also known as General General Kwan,
that the Daoist god of War.He was a real general turned emperor
(25:44):
turned deity during the Sioux dynasty,and he represents bravery, righteousness, leadership,
protection, and triumph to this day, it's commonly worshiped by Chinese law
enforcement agencies. Oh no, way, okay, it's pretty badass. Like
I'm a I'm a fan. I'ma fan of General quand like we I
(26:06):
need I need one of these statues. You know, Joe they did they
did mention him by name too,which was interistic. Yeah, I didn't
know that. That's great. Solet's let's call some stuff out here,
you know, whether it's memorable moments, favorite scenes like what do you what
are you thinking? Andy? Becauseyou know we could talk, we could
talk at at length about some ofthese impressive shootouts. But does something stand
(26:29):
out for you? Uh? Impressiveshootouts, I mean they're always Here's here's
the thing where I think John willhe gets it right, because when you
have long shootout, you know whoelse gets it right is John Wick.
John Wick films long shootouts. It'sjust shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting,
shooting, shooting, shooting, andthen you can I tune out,
(26:52):
right, I go, all right, I get it. There's a gun.
But he's he's got an operatic wayto film these, uh, and
it's beautiful. It's like a ballet, and it's it's so each one has
its own moments. You know,you can't go this shootout in the factory
is greater the shootout because they're alllike, really well done. It's not.
(27:15):
I think he really helped American cinematoo. In that American cinema when
they just have a shootout, theyjust guys shoot guns at each other and
don't give it really an artistic thought, where he did, and he really
leaned into it heavily, you know, and he made it a work of
art. So the guns, yeah, exactly. And I don't think any
(27:37):
particular one was better than the other. They were all really great. There's
all great moments. Then there's alwaysa moment where you go, oh,
what the hell? Yeah, andI'm trying all right, So if I
had to pick a moment when giantfact comes down out of the ceiling and
he's fine, he's firing and heseems to be going on an angle which
makes no sense and no sense inthe world. Yeah, the laws of
(28:03):
physics didn't work that way, butit was still fun. Same thing with
the baby with the jumping out thewindow. None of it makes sense,
but it's so beautiful to watch.So yeah, all those moments are wonderful.
I don't think there's a real humanmoment where I go, oh,
that was really a nice human momentwhere they're just talking. I think it
(28:23):
was just all the action. Forme, I'm gonna I want to I
want to point something out that youjust said. You said, none of
it makes sense, but it's funto watch, and I want our listeners
to remember that you said that,because when we talk about John Wu,
I've got a quote from John Wuthat that just pairs perfectly with what you
(28:45):
just said. But before we getto that, I'll tell you one of
my favorite moments in this film.It's it's it's not a moment but a
shot. Okay. When I whenJames Buckley first said, hey, you
know, I'd love to hear youguys do Hard Boiled, the first thing
that popped in my mind is thetea house scene at the end when he
(29:07):
executes the gang member and he's coveredin that white flower, and we get
the close up execution headshot, andthen that that that bright red blood splatters
all over his his white face becausehe's covered in that that that that flower.
That is what I like to callbeautiful violence at its best, because
(29:27):
it's just it's so cinematic, andI mean, you know, they shot
that like two or three times,and it was the last take where Chili
and Fat said, hey, Igot an idea. What if I dive
this way through this, through thisthis flower bag and I get covered and
then you see the red blood splatterall over me and they were just like,
that's that's it. That's that's thekeeper. So a lot of a
(29:49):
lot of ad libbing on a set, well, you have to do ad
lib on a set like this,because I feel like with with this,
with this script specifically, we don'tknow what we're shooting today because we're kind
of making it up as we goalong. So absolutely love that the baby
in his arms is it's ridiculous,but it works. I don't care what
(30:10):
you say. It's it's fantastic.Yeah, it's funny because once again,
I the last time I saw thiswas probably nineteen ninety four. Yeah,
and I didn't remember hardly a thing. I just remembered there was a big
shootout in a hospital and he calledthe baby a little piss pot, and
that's how I went in with myson. I'm like, he's holding this
(30:33):
baby and he calls him a littlepiss pot, and I was right.
I remembered it. It was ahospital and that is one of my favorite
when on the fire puts out thefire. Yeah, I puts out the
fire. That's awesome. Man,you have to love it. It's this.
If this movie was made in Americaat the same time, it would
(30:56):
have been a Cannon film and itwould have worked even on even that way
too. But I'm glad. I'mglad we got John Wu doing Wu.
Speaking of John Wu, so onething we kind of been doing lately is
you know, two things you mightnot know about him, and then and
then a quote. So uh forthose that don't know. John Wu began
(31:19):
his career as an assistant director innineteen sixty nine working for Shaw Brothers Studios,
who I'll remind everyone we did.We actually did a Shaw Brothers film,
a film at forty five. Ourlimited series covered five deadly venoms.
But man, I don't know aboutAndy. I could I could just sit
down on a Sunday and do likea Shaw Brother's marathon and just not get
(31:42):
bored, how about you? Wellsee, yeah, I just saw that
in a Wow I should just probablyabout two years ago, I saw that
in the theaters out here five DeadlyDevenoms. But yeah, well where I
where I grew up was I liveright between Philly and New York, so
I got out of New York.Every Sunday they'd play it was called Driving
(32:07):
Driving Theater, but it was itwas in the afternoon, and and they
played two back to back kung fufilms. So I think that's what started
my just infatuation with the martial arts. So it was just Shaw Brother,
Shaw Brother, the Shaw Brother everyweekend double feature. I mean not saying
I sat through him all all thetime, but I was always you know,
the Flying Guillotine and Master Killer,thirty six, Chamber Chalette, I
(32:30):
mean everything. I was just enamoredwith it. So it wasn't uh Sunny
Chiba his his street Fighter films.They were they were Shaw Brothers, weren't
they. Oh No, So what'sweird because yeah, he's he's Japanese,
so he was doing karate, whichis I didn't see those until much later,
(32:51):
because you know, Chinese is kungfu and it's got a totally different
look, uh, And I alwaysgravitated to that. I mean that was
my first martial art I studied.Was back in like you know, a
white dragon kong Fu was and it'svery flowery and but sunny cheaba. If
you watch his films, they're verystiff and very you know, tempo karate
(33:13):
stiff, and it's hard style.So that's Japanese. His stuff was all
Japanese, all the sudden chieve ofstuff, so that was far removed from
any Chinese cinema. Another thing aboutJohn Wu. You may not know,
and this blows my mind. Theman has never owned a car. That's
(33:37):
I don't even know that's how thatworks. Man, like never I get
if you're like, hey, Iwas, I was forty before I got
my first car. But he hasnever owned one. I don't don't know
if and I couldn't find out ifit's a choice like he does it he
refuses to drive, or he doesn'tlike him or I don't know what's going
on there. But man doesn't owna car. I mean I'm looking because
all right, so I can,okay. So as he grew up in
(33:58):
Hong Kong, so that man sensebecause it if you if you grew up
in Hong Kong, I'm I'm assumingHong Kong is very similar to New York
City and New York City. Nobodyhas cars. You don't really need,
okay, you know, publication andwhatnot. So I guess that would make
sense. I wouldn't have if Iif I was raised in New York City,
I wouldn't. I wouldn't have acar. So I can. But
(34:19):
I mean, if he goes tomainland China, you know, and it's
pretty spread out, I don't knowhe I mean Andy, you're you know
he he currently he lives in PacificPalisades out there in California. Okay,
yeah, so you're the one.You know, you're you're in burd Bank,
like he's Yeah, you know,last I check, people are driving
cars in La So yeah, yeah, it's a weird one. Uh.
(34:45):
I got a quote for you.So as you said a little bit ago,
we're talking about the film itself,and in some of the scenes,
you said, uh, nothing makessense, but it's fun to watch.
I almost feel like John John WUIstalking to you specifically with this quote.
He says, and I quote,logic is very boring. When I'm shooting,
(35:07):
I do what I feel. I'mfree and open, so beautiful.
You can add that to the dowof Wu. As far as I'm concerned.
You know, it's fun. It'sfunny because like I hear that from
John Wu. I'm like, that'sbeautiful. Do what you want, brother,
But then you'll have some brand newfilm school student. Here's that I
(35:30):
can just shoot on this cellya Lloyd. It's gonna be great because it's just
what I want to do. Imean, there are certain rules he's probably
learned, and then it's kind oflike gi Kundo, like Bruce Lee's Jacundo.
You got to learn a certain andthen you can kind of start forgetting
and doing your own thing. Butthere is a certain parameters you have to
follow. I can handy, Ican yeah, I can imagine. I
(35:52):
can imagine an animator walks in toyour office and you're like, all right,
let's talk about your work, andhe says, you know, I'm
free. I just like to dowhat I feel and I'm open and right.
No, you're like, kid,give me the storyboards or get out
of my office, you know,waste my time. I remember I was
(36:14):
a young art student and a guywho's I won't mention his name, but
he's now as a really great comicbook artist. In fact, he won
an iSER Award, which is likean Emmy for comic books, and we
had to do this. We hadto draw a comic page that had a
three point perspective, which is adifferent way of drawing a landscape with buildings
(36:36):
and whatnot. And he didn't getit right. He fucked it all up
and it just looked terrible. Hisperspective was all wrong and he and he
says, well, I did thatbecause I wanted the viewer to feel a
little uneasy. And I was like, no, you didn't, you fucked
it up. You just you justdid it wrong. But he tried to
bullshit his way through it. No, man, everybody got him about it,
(36:59):
you know, and he, youknow, later he admits he's bullshitting.
But yeah, you can't bullshit yourway if you're John you know he's
not bullshitting. You know, youcan't bullshit it a bullshitter. So anyway,
well, this is usually about thistime we would we'd would get into
the filmography of the director. Butuh, you could say this special episode
(37:21):
is supplemental to our Hard Target episodefrom twenty twenty one, so please check
that episode out for our take onJohn Wu's phomography. But Andy, I
would like to hear if you have, whether it's a favorite John wu film
or one that you suggest people see. What do you what do you think?
(37:42):
I mean? Killer is his likeGodfather? I guess you know the
killer I did? I did?I did like a hard Target. I
thought that was I think that wasfun and face Off. Oh and I
have to add listen, I justheard this rumor this morning, and I
don't know if it's true that they'relooking to do another Face Off and they're
(38:07):
bringing back Travolta and Cage. Yeah, so I didn't. My friend just
told me this morning. So yeah, so it's it's Adam Wingert is the
director who's been who's been attached thisfor a little bit. And it started
off as like a continuation and thenit was like, hey, we're bringing
(38:28):
Travolta back, which I thought Iwas on board. It made sense.
But then here recently they're talking abouthow Nicholas Cage is coming back, and
I'm like, how do how doyou do that? Because Casher Troy dies
at the end of it, butthey're saying they're saying he didn't die,
So you gotta wonder what are theygoing to do with these two guys Because
(38:52):
it's been what like twenty five yearssince we've seen Face Off. Yeah,
oh my god, nineteen ninety seven, ninety seven. Yeah, I'll be
I'll be the first in line forthe buying a ticket, I'll tell you
that. But I mean I couldsee those old guys. Hey man,
you can rip off someone's face andput it on another body who knows nobody.
(39:14):
I don't think anybody can die,you know, you can always have
the guy's dead body owned and thenjust a handcomer and rip his face off
and then I guess question. Yeah, well, that's what's next for one
of his films. But let's talkabout what's next for John Wu. And
(39:34):
this one also shocks me. Andy. He's already in post production on an
English language remake of The Killer,which kind of feel like your favorite WU
film, my favorite WU film.It's starring Natalie Emmanuel from Game of Thrones
and Sam Worthington, who's Natalie Emmanuelin Game of She was remember Kalisi's like
(39:59):
lady in Waye who uh, verystunning. Yeah, she's gorgeous, very
very talented young actress. I'm assumingshe's the she's the character that gets blinded.
And Sam Worthington is playing the ChileanFat role. Okay, I don't
know how I feel about this man, because the killer is so good.
(40:20):
I don't feel like you can remakeit like you called it. You said
it it's it's Chile. It's uh, it's it's John Wu's godfather. So
how do how do you how doyou do this? Why do you do
this well? And I and Iwas anticipating you kind of asking if you
get a prequel, remake or uhsequel? And I was thinking if they've
remade it, like I wonder ifhe would carry his his sensibilities from those
(40:45):
the nineties films where you know,it's you know a little cheesy with the
slow mo and the you know thelike how should I say, it's kind
of like a little cringey watching itnow, you're right, haanding, So
so would he abandon those you knowwhat like there? He would do this
one thing? And I noticed itas an animation director, where the the
(41:10):
camera there's a scene there's a closeup on Chaian Fat and then it freezes
and then it fades and then itcrosses off to the next shot. Yeah,
and it was always weird and it'sfunny because in the program that we
use in the industry, it's it'sTone Boom Storyboard Pro where we do our
storyboards, and it has this likeglitch in it where like, let's say
(41:31):
you have a panning background and sayyou want to cross us off to something,
it can't. As soon as youstart the crosses off, everything stops
in the shot. So it's kindof like a giant I'm like, he's
got this storyboard glitch that we haveto deal with, like it he'll he'll
freeze that and then dissolve out ofit, and it's kind of jarring.
(41:52):
It's very weird to see. Soanyway, those little earmarks that John wu
does, I'm one. And ifhe does remake something like that, would
he still do that type of stuff? I'm hoping he doesn't. Yeah,
yeah, me too. And notto say that, I'm not saying it's
bad, don't get me wrong,It's just it seems dated. Yeah,
(42:15):
and I like to see, youknow, I mean, it would be
balls if he did and he hadhe had the characters with those pleaded,
big fat pleated pants with their bigdumb jackets like x x L jacket.
Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Yeah, it's you know, he
(42:36):
he uh, he just came back, you know. He after after you
know, he's in America for alittle while, he goes back to Hong
Kong. He did like the RedCliff movies, a couple others. He
just came back last year for thatfilm he did at Christmas time called Silent
Night with Joe Kinneman, which Ididn't see it. It's I'd say it's
(42:59):
it's in your wheelhouse because it's ait's an interesting concept. It's it's got
it like a death wish vibe toit because, uh, drive by shooters
inadvertently kill Joel kim AND's son andthey shoot him in the throat so he
can't speak, and then he goesfull on punisher and like goes after him.
So it's called it's Silent Night becauseit's a Christmas movie, but it's
(43:22):
also kim And for the pretty muchthe whole thing doesn't talk. I think
I saw it a cool gimmick movie. You know, Yeah, I might
have seen it. I liked thetitle, and yeah, it didn't make
a lot of It didn't make alot of money, you know, and
I think it's just people weren't readyfor it, or people didn't expect it.
I don't know what the situation was. But John Wu fans, well
(43:43):
we'll appreciate it. I can't saythat much. I liked it as a
John Wu movie. Yeah, okay, well if I I'll check it out
and see if I did see it, it sounds very familiar. Yeah,
anyway, Yeah, I love thoserevenge stories like that. But Andy,
your your thoughts on on hard Boil. Sadly you can't. You can't stream
(44:06):
this one anywhere. If you're gonnawatch it, you gotta you gotta spend
three bucks on Prime or or Googleor whatever. Yeah. Worth a watch
though, right, Oh yeah,definitely definitely. I mean, if I
was gonna out of ten, i'dgive it a eight point seven or something.
And you know, it's it's reallyit's really well done. I mean
(44:28):
it's you could if you argue thatit's his best work, I wouldn't argue
back. You know, there's there'sa lot there. And then hearing what
you're you're telling me all the obstaclesthat they had to overcome, I mean,
come on, and he deserves anotherpoint for just that, for making
a decent film out of it.Well, you know, you're not alone.
(44:49):
I'm right there with you. Iagree and so so good. In
fact, there's actually there's a Criterioncollection version of this film i'd love to
get my hands on. Last Ichecked, it's going for upwards like seventy
bucks on Amazon and eBay, SoI don't. I don't know if I'm
ready for that, but uh,I am ready for more John Wu.
So I hope he's he's got.I look forward seeing what he's gonna do
(45:10):
with this Killer remake? But ishe producing? I'm sorry, sorry to
drag it back, but I knowI think he's directing. If I'm not,
if I could be wrong, butI'm pretty sure. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, it's in post gotcha.Yeah, I think I was looking
strange, strange situation, you know, I think. I don't think it's
(45:30):
often that a director will remake oneof his own films. So unless you're
George Lucas and you're just tinkering WetStar Wars for thirty years. But anyways,
listeners, what do you think ofJohn Wu and his action classic hard
Boiled? You can let us knowon social media. We're on Facebook,
(45:50):
Instagram, x. You can checkout a film by podcast dot com for
all of our episodes that are streamingfree. The entire library is there.
We've got some fun articles as wellfor you to for you to check out.
You can write to us at afilm By Podcast at gmail dot com
with your questions, comments and concerns. We may just read your response on
the show and send you some aFilm By swag. Join us tomorrow for
(46:16):
our Star Trek themed series Phaser Setthe Stunt Wayne. David and Scott are
continuing their recap of Discovery's final seasonon Friday. Our limited series A Film
at forty five is heading to summercamp because David and Scott will be celebrating
the forty fifth anniversary of the BillMurray classic Meatballs and next time on a
(46:39):
Film By, we'll hit the waveswhen we talk about a film by John
Malius, his nineteen seventy eight surfclassic Big Wednesday. Andy, it's always
a great conversation when you join us. Thanks for talking John will with me.
I'm hoping you'll come back more often, you know, Yeah, Man,
(47:01):
you got you gotta let me know. Man, if there's a if
there's a director we need to talkabout. You know, you're in the
business, so if you if there'ssomeone that you want to talk about,
you gotta tell me so we can. We can get this set up.
Man. Yeah, we got somestuff cooking. We'll get we'll get something
coming up soon. Hopefully good deal, good deal. Uh. Definitely want
to thank James Buckley for putting usto work on this one, and as
(47:22):
one of our Patreon producers, I'mexcited to see what he'll choose for us
next. James, we appreciate yoursupport, man, and as always,
for those of you out there listeningto us every week, liking, sharing,
following, and subscribing on your streamingapp of choice as well as our
Patreon, we thank you
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