City on Fire (1987 film)

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City on Fire
Hong Kong theatrical poster
Directed byRingo Lam
Screenplay byTommy Sham
Story byRingo Lam
Produced byKarl Maka
Ringo Lam
StarringChow Yun-fat
Danny Lee
Sun Yueh
Carrie Ng
Roy Cheung
CinematographyAndrew Lau
Edited byWong Ming-lam
Music byTeddy Robin Kwan
Distributed byCinema City & Films Co. (Hong Kong)
Release date
  • February 13, 1987 (1987-02-13)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
Box officeHK$19,723,505

City on Fire (traditional Chinese: 龍虎風雲; simplified Chinese: 龙虎风云; Jyutping: lung4 fu2 fung1 wan4) is a 1987 Hong Kong action film[1] directed by Ringo Lam, who also produced with Karl Maka. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Danny Lee, and Sun Yueh. Following A Better Tomorrow (1986), it helped establish Chow's popularity as an action star in Asia and to a lesser degree, North America.

Plot[edit]

An undercover cop, Chan Kam-wah, investigating a group of jewelry thieves, is killed by three attackers. Inspector Lau assigns Ko Chow, another undercover officer, to continue the investigation. Chow hesitates due to a past experience where he had to betray a friend during an undercover mission. The thieves attempt to rob a jewelry factory but are interrupted by the police which ends with one of the robbers killing a police officer. A task force led by Inspector John Chan is formed to investigate the gang, leading to a rivalry between Chan and Lau. Chow offers the gang weapons for sale through Tai Song, a middleman, but is followed by Chan's team during the meeting. Chow successfully plants a recording device on himself and arranges to meet the gang again. Chow's girlfriend, Hung, plans to leave with another man, Tso, to Canada. Chow tries to stop her and proposes marriage, but she challenges him to prove his sincerity by meeting her at the registry office the next day. However, Chow is arrested by Chan's team for the weapons deal. Chow is tortured by Chan's men, but Lau intervenes and suggests that Chow participates in the gang's planned robbery to catch them in the act. The police are unaware of which jewelry store the gang will target but have teams ready to respond. Chow spends time with the gang before the heist, growing closer to Fu, one of the gang members. The gang leader designates the Tai Kong jewelry store as their target. During the heist, a shootout occurs, and several gang members are killed. Chow realizes that Fu is the one responsible for killing the officer during the jewelry factory heist. Chow and Fu escape to a hideout at the harbor, and Chow is mortally wounded in the process. He confesses to Fu that he's an undercover cop and asks for a quick death. However, Fu can't bring himself to do it. The police surround the hideout, and in the ensuing confrontation, Chow dies from his wound. Fu is arrested, and Inspector Lau is devastated by Chow's death and violently confronts Inspector Chan for his arrogance and actions.

Cast[edit]

Sources:[2][3]

Production[edit]

Filming began in Hong Kong in 1986 and concluded around the Christmas season.

Reception[edit]

City on Fire has a rating of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.[4]

Influence[edit]

Quentin Tarantino's 1992 film Reservoir Dogs includes several similar key plot elements and scenes, including the Mexican standoff near the end of the film. After critic Jeffrey Dawson noted "in jest, similar elements" in Empire, other publications including Film Threat promoted the observation, and a Michigan film student created a 1995 short film, Who Do You Think You're Fooling?,[5] which mixed dialog and visuals from both movies to demonstrate the similarities.[6] In addition to Reservoir Dogs, critic Matt McAllister notes that one "can equally see the influence of City On Fire - and similar Hong Kong cops-and-robbers movies - on many other Hollywood 'undercover cop' movies such as Point Break."[7]

Chow Yun-fat and Danny Lee appeared together two years later in John Woo's The Killer where again their characters bond together despite being on opposite sides of the law, though there is a role-reversal as Chow plays a hitman while Lee is a cop.

The 2002 Bollywood film Kaante was inspired by both City on Fire and Reservoir Dogs.[8]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "City on Fire". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  2. ^ "City on Fire at HKMDB". Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  3. ^ "City on Fire at chinesemov.com". Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  4. ^ City on Fire (1987), archived from the original on 13 April 2019, retrieved 27 May 2019
  5. ^ "Who Do You Think You're Fooling?", by Mike White Archived 13 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine YouTube
  6. ^ Jeffrey Dawson (1995). Quentin Tarantino: The Cinema of Cool. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 90.
  7. ^ McAllister, Matt (26 April 2005). "City On Fire Film Review". Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  8. ^ "Movies: An interview with Sanjay Gupta". Rediff. 27 July 2002. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2014.

External links[edit]