Jump to content

Tragic Hero (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Just Another Cringy Username (talk | contribs) at 17:57, 17 June 2023 (beginning to cut down this recap into a summary--work in progress). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Tragic Hero
Traditional Chinese英雄好漢
Simplified Chinese英雄好汉
Hanyu PinyinYīng Xióng Hǎo Hàn
JyutpingJing1 Hung1 Hou2 Hon3
Directed byTaylor Wong
Written byManfred Wong
Stephen Shiu
Produced byJohnny Mak
StarringChow Yun-fat
Andy Lau
Alex Man
Danny Lee
Carina Lau
Ko Chun-hsiung
Pauline Wong
CinematographyAbdul M Rumjahn
Johnny Koo
Edited byMa Chung-yiu
A Chik
Music byJoseph Chan
Sherman Chow
Production
company
Johnny Mak Production
Distributed byWin's Entertainment
Gala Film Distribution Limited
Release date
  • 20 February 1987 (1987-02-20)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
Box officeHK$18,931,893

Tragic Hero (Cantonese Yale: Ying hung ho hon), also known as Rich and Famous II[1], is a 1987 Hong Kong action-crime film directed by Taylor Wong, and starring Chow Yun-fat, Andy Lau, and Alex Man. The film is the sequel to Rich and Famous[2] but was released first. [3]

Summary

The movie begins in 1980. Ah-chai meets with Chu Lo-tai, his previous rival, now his business partner. Ah-chai warns Chu Lo-tai that Yung is becoming too powerful. Chu Lo-tai acknowledges this threat and plots to have Yung assassinated. Chu Lo-tai and his gang meet for dinner, where Yung stabs Chu Lo-tai to death with a broken bottle. Yung now leads Chu's gang and begins asserting his superiority over Ah-chai and his family.

Ah-chai says that he will call a meeting with the other remaining gangs to wipe Yung out. Ai-chai's lieutenants, Number 6 and Big Eye, fear that their boss has grown soft. Number 6 decides to take matters into his own hands and proceeds with his plot to assassinate Yung. That afternoon, Number 6 tries to kill Yung before his men shoot Number 6 multiple times in the neck and face.

Ah-chai questions Big Eye about how Yung's men knew about Number 6's assassination plot. Big Eye admits to his betrayal and explains that he was only trying to save himself. Ah-chai spares him. Big Eye attempts to get out of the car and is killed by the driver. At a meeting of the triads, Ah-chai is arrested by the police. Yung taunts him that he no longer has friends on either side of the law.

After Ah-chai gets out of custody, he and his family escape to Malacca and visit Kwok. Yung sends assassins to Malacca to leave a bomb in the house.The bomb kills Kwok's wife, his adopted children, and Ah-chai's family. Chai and Kwok swear revenge on Yung.

Meanwhile, Yung is celebrating now that he rules supreme. He has one of his lackeys keep tabs on his father in the event that Ah-chai and Kwok attempt revenge. His lackey reports that Yung's father has gone crazy, crying endlessly at his daughter's grave, sitting and mumbling for hours at the docks and has no contact with his step son, Kwok. Yung is anxious and asks whether his father has been seen cohorting with Ah-chai and Kwok. The lackey does not know. The father shows up and confronts Yung about whether he killed Ah-chai and Kwok's family in Malacca. Yung denies it and then lies to him that someone else did it. Another lackey then reports that Yung's father was seen in the same area as Ah-chai and Kwok. Yung is enraged that his father has openly betrayed him and admits to the killings. His father attacks him and Yung tells his lackeys to beat his father. The lackeys hesitate but do so and throw him out of the house.

Yung's father gets in a waiting taxi. A lackey approaches the back of the car and is shot in the face. Ah-chai and Kwok jump out of the car and kill everybody in the vicinity. Chuan gets out and grabs a large of bag of heavy weaponry. They reach the mansion and it is quiet. Chuan goes out to inspect the pool area and is shot to death. A number of men show up and Ah-chai and Kwok are completely surrounded. They quickly pull out their heavy weaponry and blow up the mansion with grenades and rockets. They rush into the house and kill many of Yung's men.

At one point, Ah-chai is wounded by Yung's right-hand man and they become trapped in the fire at the house. Yung kills his right-hand man for suggesting the idea of retreating. Yung has gone completely mad. He wounds Ah-chai more and has a gun pointed at his face. Kwok charges out and knocks Yung over. Yung attempts to shoot Ah-chai and Kwok takes the bullets and is seriously wounded. Again, Yung has Ah-chai at gunpoint and suddenly Yung's father appears and shoots Yung. Yung shoots his father down. Ah-chai gets up and beats up Yung to the point where Yung is now hanging onto the edge. Ah-chai taunts Yung and throws Yung into the fire below. Yung blows up due to all the ammunition he had strapped onto his vest. Ah-chai falls down in exhaustion and Inspector Cheung shows up to save them. Chai tells Cheung that he alone killed all those people, and that Kwok and Kwok's father are innocent onlookers. Cheung says he will try to help Kwok at trial. Ah-chai and Kwok are carried out on stretchers as the movie ends.

Cast

Reception

A retrospective review at the release of the 2003 DVD stated: "The film is so muddled that it becomes incomprehensible and as a viewer your mind begins to wander off to do those algebraic equations that you've been putting off. Either that or it sends you to sleep. The film is dull in story and execution."[5]

References

  1. ^ Bona, J. J. "Tragic Hero | aka Rich and Famous II (1987) Review | cityonfire.com". Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  2. ^ Tragic Hero Blu-ray, retrieved 17 June 2023
  3. ^ "Rich and Famous and Tragic Hero". www.brns.com. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  4. ^ "Tragic Hero". chinesemov.com. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
  5. ^ "myReviewer.com - Review of Tragic Hero". www.myreviewer.com. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Tragic_Hero_(film)&oldid=1160615031"